May 11, 2020

Employee productivity proves remarkably resilient during pandemic

The surge in remote working coupled with the rapid adoption of communications and collaborative technology means many companies have seen no significant change in employee productivity, according to a new report from Willis Towers Watson. Organisations have responded to the rapid disruption caused by the dramatic spread of COVID-19 by finding innovative ways to help their workers cope with the impact of the pandemic, while at the same time preparing for an eventual return to the workplace for many employees, according to the survey of employers’. More →

May 7, 2020

Coronavirus crisis drives freelancer confidence to unimagined lows

by Neil Franklin • News

Freelancers’ confidence in their businesses and the wider economy has been driven to record lows by the Coronavirus crisis, according to research by IPSE (the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed) and PeoplePerHour, Europe’s largest freelance marketplace. Freelancers’ three month confidence in their businesses had already fallen to a six-year low last quarter because of concerns about the changes to IR35 tax regulations. More →

May 6, 2020

Organisations think empowering people is the route to success (but only a few act)

by Neil Franklin • News

Nearly 90 percent of organisations say their success depends on empowering frontline employees to make decisions in real, but only 7 percent offer people the tools they need, according to a new report from Harvard Business Review Analytic Services, sponsored by ThoughtSpot. The report, The New Decision Makers: Equipping Frontline Workers For Success, analyses the sentiments of 464 business executives from 16 industry sectors in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. Only one-fifth of organisations say they currently have a truly empowered and digitally equipped workforce while 86 percent agree their frontline workers need better technology and more insight to be able to make good decisions in the moment. More →

May 6, 2020

Employees reluctant to give up flexible working after lockdown

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News

New working patterns prompted by COVID-19 could cause employees to permanently reduce time spent in the office, as nearly half (45 percent) of Brits predict a permanent change to their employers’ approach to flexible working when lockdown lifts. O2 Business’ new report – entitled The Flexible Future of Work, conducted in partnership with ICM and YouGov – claims that employees will be reluctant to give up their new way of working after lockdown. Nearly half the workforce think flexible working will increase, with a third (33 percent) of this group expecting to increase the amount they work from home by at least three days a week after lockdown, and 81 percent expecting to work at least one day a week from home. More →

May 5, 2020

Three quarters of workers want the choice to work from home after lockdown

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News

Seventy-seven percent of the workforce say they want to continue to work from home, at least weekly, when the pandemic is over. That represents a 132 percent increase over those who did so before COVID-19. These and other findings from the Global Work-from-Home Experience Survey, which claims to be the largest post-COVID survey on the topic to date, will lead to profound changes in office space needs, workplace design, workforce policies and practices, and employer, employee, and environmental outcomes. More →

April 30, 2020

Immunity certificates could lead to a two-tier workplace

by Neil Franklin • News

Proposed “immunity certificates” allowing individuals to move freely in society could lead to discrimination, claims Edgar Whitley, Associate Professor from London School of Economics’ Department of Management, and other contributing experts in a new report. More →

April 30, 2020

Less desk sharing and more screens for receptionists, say property industry experts

by Neil Franklin • News, Property, Workplace design

Shared desking is likely to become less popular as a result of COVID-19, but we are likely to see an increase in the use of unisex superloos and screens for receptionists, according to a new thought paper by the British Council for Offices. The paper claims to outline how the workplace may change as a result of COVID-19, and how Britain can safely return to work in the coming weeks and months. More →

$Fewer meetings and fractured days – how people are adjusting to working from home$

April 29, 2020

Fewer meetings and fractured days – how people are adjusting to working from home

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News

Over half of UK employees are working different hours than they used to, with many spreading work out over a longer period as they adapt to working from home. Those are two of the findings from a new report from Asana, which looks at how British, American, Japanese, Australian and German employees have adapted to remote working. The UK findings are based on 1,016 respondents working full-time and, due to the pandemic, remotely. More →

April 24, 2020

Parents struggle to balance working from home with home schooling

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

Job board, CWjobs has released new research which claims parents are struggling with anxiety and stress as a result of having to home-school their children whilst they are working from home during lockdown. While previous research from the firm claimed that 80 percent of IT decision makers believe remote working would increase productivity in their business, productivity gains right now are unlikely for parents as they face an additional challenge: the balance of working from home and educating their children in light of continued school closures. More →

April 23, 2020

Carbon emissions from buildings fall, but more to be done

by Neil Franklin • Environment, Facilities management, News

Despite a fall in carbon emissions from buildings as a result of the lockdown, businesses can do much more to cut carbon and save costs during the COVID-19 lockdown reveals latest data from Carbon Intelligence which tracked and analysed energy usage from 300 buildings during this period. More →

April 22, 2020

Many workers believe leaders fail to understand their challenges

by Neil Franklin • News

One in five (21 percent) UK workers have admitted that their senior management teams do not understand the general challenges they regularly face. That’s according to new research from employee experience consultancy Qualtrics, which conducted a study of 500 UK employees about their views on workplace initiatives and the importance of CSR. More →

April 20, 2020

Two-thirds of US workers are working in isolation

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

Two-thirds of US based employees are currently working remotely at least part of the work week as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new survey from Clutch, a B2B ratings and reviews platform. The report claims that 44 percent of all workers are currently working from home 5 or more days per week, up from 17 percent before the pandemic. More →