LEGAL VIEW UK FLEXIBLE OFFICE SPACE
6 JULY 2019
KIER TO EXIT FM BUSINESS
Kier Group has announced it is to exit from its facilities management business following a strategic
review of the Group, led by the company’s recently appointed Chief Executive, Andrew Davies.
The review, which aims to further simplify the Group, better allocate resources and identify
additional steps to reduce cash generation and reduce leverage, concluded that Kier’s Facilities
Management and Environmental Services businesses have limited operational synergies with Kier’s
core businesses, and as a result, Kier will seek to exit these businesses in due course.
The new strategy for the group will focus on its high-quality, market leading businesses, in
particular Regional Building, Infrastructure, Utilities and Highways, which are underpinned by longterm
contracts.
The Group’s portfolio will be simplified by either selling or substantially exiting non-core activities
which include: Kier Living, Property, Facilities Management and Environmental Services.
SLEEP-INS AND THE
NATIONAL MINIMUM WAGE
By Terry Hayward, HR Consultant,
Workplace Law – a division of
International Workplace
In an age of fl exible working, there are some
areas of work that require an on-site presence
around the clock, quite commonly within the
FM sector and care industry. This can be the
security guard who is only meant to be on-site
as a presence overnight in case of emergency,
or a care worker who will only be woken up if
the client they support has an emergency need.
However, that doesn’t always mean that the
worker will be actively working throughout
that time.
In these cases, current legislation states that if
the individual is not in ‘time work’ (i.e. available
and awake for the purposes of working) overnight
then their presence does not attract the national
minimum wage.
In place of being obligated to provide a salary
in line with the National Minimum Wage
Regulations, this leads to employers looking at
other ways to pay for their employees’ presence,
most commonly an allowance of some kind to be
‘on call’ (i.e. to be available to work outside of
normal working hours).
Being ‘on call’ is a common approach across
business but the challenge comes when the
person is required to be ‘on call’ within a place of
work rather than having the freedom to be tucked
up in bed at their own home.
In principle, you can be ‘on call’ anywhere
within reason but, in reality, the security guard or
on call estates manager really needs to be on-site
to meet the requirements of their role, resulting
in a ‘sleep-in’ arrangement.
Additionally, they may well be on a paid shift
just prior to the sleep-in shift, which has further
potential for confusing the matter. Needless
to say, there can be a myriad of alternatives
and nuances that can impact upon whether
the worker should be receiving an amount
equal to or above the national minimum wage
or not. There are a number of advantages to
operating sleepover shifts for companies, but
recent case law has also highlighted some of the
disadvantages.
The case law since 2002 has highlighted
common themes to ensure that all companies,
regardless of the sector that they operate within,
who employ staff with shifts that include some
sort of sleep-in or sleepover arrangement, paid
for with an allowance, can reasonably safely
continue to do so. No one situation is ever
completely the same as another, even within
the same organisation, so a review of each
arrangement is of vital importance to assess the
risk factors.
To read a full White Paper on this topic, which
includes a look at the case law, visit www.fmj.
co.uk/international-workplace-publishes-whitepaper
on-sleep-in-workers/
CONTINUES TO EVOLVE
The latest research from JLL, Disruption or distraction, where next for the UK flex
market sector, cites that the real revolution of flexible o
ice space lies in the variety
of solutions now on o
er and states the market has seen more changes over the last three
years than the previous 30 combined as it continues to grow and evolve.
The research predicts
that over the next five
years more than 10
million sq will be
added to the stock in
the key UK cities and
flex space will account
for over 8.5 per cent of
the total o‡ ice stock by
2023.
JLL’s research found
that the flex space
footprint in the UK grew
by 25 per cent in 2018,
a similar rate to 2017,
and whilst London
dominated the sector both Birmingham and Manchester each saw more than 100,000 sq
added to their flex stock in 2018 – which has already been followed in 2019 by 55,100 sq and
147,000 sq of lettings respectively.
Whilst the regional UK cities remain some way behind London in terms of the impact of the
flex sector, the Big 6 cities (Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester) have
seen strong activity over recent years from operators. Take-up rose 26 per cent between 2017
and 2018 to reach 584,000 sq , representing 10 per cent of overall transactions. JLL highlighted
that the pattern of the take-up in the Big 6 is following a similar trajectory to Central London but
lags around three years behind. All are expected to see continued growth and it is anticipated
that by 2023 flex space will account for an average of five per cent of stock.
In addition to the changes that the evolving flex o‡ ice model has brought for operators
and occupiers JLL’s research highlighted the inevitable e‡ ect it has had on landlords and
developers. They are being forced to consider what the rise of the sector means for their
portfolios and how to make sure that their space remains relevant and delivers the best returns.
JLL’s research suggested that the concept of a partnership model is gaining momentum as the
sector continues to evolve. This alternative solution will see landlords and operators partnerup,
with the former gaining the benefits of o‡ ering flexible space without having to enter
directly into the sector.
In addition to the increase in flex space JLL has identified disruptions occurring as operators
keep abreast of clients’ needs and seek to develop their own brand, culture and USP. A
consequence of a more focused client service has been the growth of centres targeting specific
verticals. Examples include Ministry of Sound, Huckletree and Runway East targeting tech startups
while London-based centres such as Third Door and Blooming Founders cater for family
and female focused customers respectively.
NEWS & ANALYSIS FMJ.CO.UK
/www.fmj
