About Neil Franklin

Neil Franklin is Insight's news editor

Posts by Neil Franklin:

Demand for a four-day week continues to grow

Demand for a four-day week continues to grow

four-day weekAccording to a new report from ADP exploring employees’ attitudes towards the current world of work, six-in-ten (60 percent) UK workers would like more flexibility as to when they work, such as condensing hours into a four-day week. This number increased to two-thirds (67 percent) in Greater London. The report claims that this desire for great flexibility comes at a time when there is a mental health “ticking timebomb” in workplaces. Over half (51 percent) of men and 45 percent of women believe that their work is suffering due to their poor mental health. This is leading to over a quarter (29 percent) of workers actively trying to change their job and/or move into another industry. More →

Change can make employees cynical so must be managed by effective communication

Change can make employees cynical so must be managed by effective communication

changeProviding clear, timely explanations and implementing an effective communications strategy can help minimise the damage to employee morale in the wake of adverse or significant change, new research from Aalto University School of Business and others suggests. Professor Marjo-Riitta Diehl and colleagues from Vlerick Business School, Católica-Lisbon School of Business and Economics, and University of Waterloo, discovered that workers vary in their level of attachment to the organisation that employs them and this affects how they react to major changes. More →

A third of UK office workers have no dedicated workspace at home

A third of UK office workers have no dedicated workspace at home

workspace at homeOver a third of UK office workers have no dedicated workspace at home, and only 6 percent have been trained for hybrid meetings, claims a new report from Leeds University Business School. The report is an interactive tool and suggests practical measures based on evaluation of stakeholders and employee interviews, industry workshops, cross-industry surveys of UK office workers, employee diaries and case study corporations. More →

Decarbonisation of buildings key to cities hitting net zero targets

Decarbonisation of buildings key to cities hitting net zero targets

decarbonisation of buildingsCity governments are setting ambitious sustainability targets, often well ahead of national goals; yet plans to tackle the carbon emissions from buildings are frequently given insufficient attention. To deliver an effective plan for the decarbonisation of buildings, partnerships with landlords, investors, developers and occupiers are essential, the report claims. In a study of 32 global urban centres, Decarbonising Cities and Real Estate, JLL’s research claims that real estate’s contribution to emissions averages 60 percent, even higher in the world’s largest business centres – as much as 78 percent in London, 73 percent in Tokyo, 71 percent in Washington, DC, 70 percent in Paris and 66 percent in New York. More →

Office occupiers should invest in neurodiversity, report argues

Office occupiers should invest in neurodiversity, report argues

office occupiers neurodiversityA new report from the British Council for Offices urges landlords and office occupiers to invest in design for neurodiversity, as disabling workspaces continue to hinder wellbeing. The report examines how the neurodiverse community remains underserved and often unsupported in the current employment ecosystem, and in turn, outlines the considerations that built environment practitioners can take to make offices enabling environments, and the crucial role of more inclusive designs. More →

Only a quarter of remote workers feel connected to company culture

Only a quarter of remote workers feel connected to company culture

remote workersThree quarters of HR leaders feel that hybrid work challenges employees’ connection to organisational culture, according to a survey from Gartner. The poll of more than 200 HR leaders claims the most challenging aspect of setting their hybrid strategy is adjusting the current organisational culture to support a hybrid workforce. While 40 percent of HR leaders reported they have increased their culture budget since the beginning of the pandemic, the survey of more than 3,900 hybrid / remote workers in December 2021 suggests only one in four are connected to their organisation’s culture. More →

Disabled workers to get their own mentor programme from World Economic Forum

Disabled workers to get their own mentor programme from World Economic Forum

disabled workersThe Valuable 500, which claims to be the largest network of global CEOs committed to disability inclusion, has announced the launch of Generation Valuable, a programme designed to accelerate opportunities for disabled workers to join the boardroom. Generation Valuable plans to connect and incubate C-Suite talent with disabled talent. Over 1.3 billion people across the world live with some form of disability yet, according to Return on Disability, only 4 percent of businesses are focused on making offerings inclusive of disabled people. Moreover, research shows that minority talent faces promotion barricades just below the Executive rung. More →

Climate neutral buildings roadmap for EU launched by Green Building Council

Climate neutral buildings roadmap for EU launched by Green Building Council

climate neutral buildingsThe World Green Building Council (WorldGBC) has launched a new policy plan for the European Union to accelerate progress on decarbonising buildings and construction, one of the most heavily emitting sectors in the world. Developed with the support of a coalition of over 35 leading industry bodies through WorldGBC’s flagship BuildingLife project, the EU Policy Roadmap claims to be the first of its kind in Europe to address the whole life carbon impact of the built environment with the aim of creating climate neutral buildings. More →

Coworking workstation price jumps nine percent

Coworking workstation price jumps nine percent

coworking

Between January 2021 and January 2022, the average price for a monthly hot desk rental at a coworking space increased by 9 percent globally, according to the latest report from Coworking Insights, a news source for analysis of the flexible workspace industry. Coworking Insights’ 2022 Hot Desk Price Index Report [paywall] compares pricing from 19,500 coworking spaces in 172 countries across six continents to provide evidence of the demand for shared workspace. More →

Younger workers want flexible working, but are sceptical of remote

Younger workers want flexible working, but are sceptical of remote

flexible workingWhile remote and flexible working roles continue to grow in almost all countries, 20-24 year olds are the age group making the fewest applications to fully remote roles, claims a new poll from LinkedIn.  LinkedIn analysed the labour market for career starters in the U.S., U.K, France and Germany – including job applications and hiring data – to understand which sectors offer the most opportunity for Gen Z job-seekers and employers looking to attract them. More →

Firms rethink office portfolios to accommodate hybrid working

Firms rethink office portfolios to accommodate hybrid working

hybrid workingA significant majority of businesses, (68 percent) expect to be promoting a more regular return to the office by the middle of this year, according to the latest EMEA Occupier Sentiment Survey from real estate advisor CBRE. Nearly a quarter of those surveyed (23 percent) said the process is already underway, with 45 percent focussing on the remainder of H1 as the return period. However, nearly three quarters are doing so as part of a shift to hybrid working. More →

Google opens new Bay View campus in California – image gallery and video

Google opens new Bay View campus in California – image gallery and video

Google Bay View CampusGoogle has announced the opening of its new Bay View campus in Silicon Valley, representing the company’s first time developing its own major campus.  The Bay View campus was designed by architects Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and Heatherwick Studio, as well as Google’s design and engineering teams, and spans 42 acres adjacent to the NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley. It totals 1.1 million square feet, with 20 acres of open space, two office buildings, an 1,000-person event centre, and 240 short-term employee accommodation units. More →