About Neil Franklin

Neil Franklin is Insight's news editor

Posts by Neil Franklin:

Half of self-employed fear they cannot cover basic living costs

Half of self-employed fear they cannot cover basic living costs

self-employedNew research by IPSE (the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed) claims that almost half (45 percent) of the self-employed fear they will not have enough money to cover basic costs like rent and bills during the Coronavirus crisis, despite the government support on offer. Overall, two thirds (66 percent) also say they are worried they will burn through all their savings in the next three months. More →

Isolation and stress from pandemic have profound mental health impact

Isolation and stress from pandemic have profound mental health impact

The effects of isolation and stress from the coronavirus pandemic could be having an extremely profound effect on people’s physical mental health – now and in the future, say a group of prominent psychiatrists and psychologists writing in the The Lancet Psychiatry journal. More →

Toxic workplace culture costs firms and the economy dear

Toxic workplace culture costs firms and the economy dear

toxic workplace cultureA new report from HR software provider Breathe, suggests that the cost of toxic workplace culture is around £15.7 billion per year in the UK. The report, The Culture Economy 2020 (registration), claims that 1 in 5 (21 percent) of SME employees alone quit their job due to poor workplace culture last year. More →

Three quarters of people believe online meetings are a waste of time

Three quarters of people believe online meetings are a waste of time

A new study from CV-Library claims that three quarters (76 percent) of British workers think online meetings are a waste of their time with one in three admitting that they excuse themselves from online meetings that they get bored of.

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Sleeping habits improve under lockdown, but conspiracy theories abound

Sleeping habits improve under lockdown, but conspiracy theories abound

One of the surprising consequences of the current lockdown for many people is that they are sleeping more soundly. A new study claims that nearly two thirds of people are getting the same amount or more sleep than they were before the UK went into lockdown on March 23rd. However the report also uncovered some troubling attitudes amongst groups of people, even though the majority are informed and behaving as advised. More →

Take part in global working from home experience survey

Take part in global working from home experience survey

A global survey to gather data about the impact of Covid-19 on how and where people are working has been launched by the Workplace Evolutionaries (WE), a Community of Practice within the International Facility Management Association (IFMA).
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Over half of workers believe their company should invest in CSR

Over half of workers believe their company should invest in CSR

Over half (59 percent) of UK workers believe their business should invest in charitable initiatives. Those within the age bracket of 18-29 are most likely to have this viewpoint, with two-thirds (67 percent) admitting to feeling this way, compared to just under half (48 percent) of those aged 50 and above. That’s according to new research from Qualtrics, which conducted a study of 500 UK employees about their views on workplace initiatives and the importance of CSR. More →

Microsoft Teams data shows how the way we work is changing

Microsoft Teams data shows how the way we work is changing

?In light of the numerous changes in daily behaviour across the world because of the coronavirus,?Microsoft has published the first edition of its?Work Trend .?It uses the Microsoft Graph of usage data to analyse productivity trends and observe how remote working scenarios are changing the way we connect with each other.  More →

Working from home creates significant physical and mental challenges

Working from home creates significant physical and mental challenges

flexible workingThe Institute for Employment Studies (IES) has published a series of interim findings from the first COVID-19 homeworker wellbeing study, looking at how working from home for an extended period is affecting the UK workforce. These initial findings depict a worrying snapshot of the declining mental and physical health of many homeworkers. More →

Manchester set to be the next UK tech hub

Manchester set to be the next UK tech hub

Manchester could be set to see an influx of tech talent in the next three years, according to new research from CWJobs, the UK’s leading tech job board. Surveying 1,000 tech workers, Manchester emerged as the top choice outside of the capital (22 percent) to work in, with a fifth (20 percent) also revealing it’s the city they would choose to set up a tech business in the next three years, ahead of Birmingham (11 percent) and Edinburgh (8 percent). In the same survey, 505 IT decision makers (IT DM) also placed Manchester as the best location to set up a tech business, with over a quarter (27 percent) choosing the city. More →

Working parents still not getting enough support to deal with pandemic

Working parents still not getting enough support to deal with pandemic

A new report from work-life balance charity Working Families claims that there remains a pressing need for increased support for working parents during the COVID-19 pandemic. The report is informed by queries to the charity’s free legal advice helpline, which the charity says have quadrupled since the start of the pandemic. Since mid-March, over 36,000 people have accessed the charity’s coronavirus-focused legal advice web pages. More →

People lose half an hour a week to poor acoustics

People lose half an hour a week to poor acoustics

According to new research by market researchers IPSOS and EPOS, 95 percent of audio end-users and decision makers experience problems relating to sound that affect their concentration or efficiency at work. Common complaints include being disturbed by loud colleagues (50 percent), overall noise levels in working environments (48 percent) and interruptions from colleagues (46 percent). More →