May 12, 2022

ESG ambitions should top organisational agendas

by Siobhan Byrnes • Comment, Environment, Wellbeing

When the idea of ESG (environmental, social and governance credentials) first surfaced nearly two decades ago in a 2005 United Nations report, it was just an acronym businesses were trying to understand and get to grips with. But in the last few years, ESG strategies have gathered steam – it has become integral to C-Suite strategy and business purpose, and is a deal-breaker not just for investors but also for those considering new roles. In fact, a recent report revealed that job-seekers are turning down job offers by companies showcasing weak ESG credentials, a sure sign of the importance of substantive ESG policies for potential talent. Most of the larger conglomerates (if not all) have set targets to reach net-zero by a set date – ranging from as early as 2025 to anywhere within the next two decades. But is this going far enough for employees, stakeholders, future talent, and more broadly, for society? More →

May 12, 2022

From commuting to computers, finding balance in the hybrid workplace

by Anni Hallila • Comment, Flexible working, Wellbeing

A recent survey from AT&T and Dubber found that 81 percent of respondents believe hybrid work will be the foremost working model by 2024, with 56 percent of work done off site. A striking 100 percent of respondents believe a hybrid work model will help attract young talent. While there are numerous benefits to being able to work from home, as the pandemic continues on, time has brought some of the challenges of remote work to light, serving as a reminder that balance is key to a hybrid work environment. Pre-pandemic, it seemed rare for companies to implement proactive solutions for workplace burnout. Businesses are now presented with the unique opportunity to find balance between in-person and remote work, and create workplaces that thrive within the hybrid workplace model. More →

May 11, 2022

Facilities managers: you never noticed us because we did such a great job

by Simon Heath • Comment, Facilities management, Workplace design

Getting all hot under the collar about brushed chrome door furniture is an understandable but classic displacement activity when much of your work is messy, unglamorous and even occasionally dangerous. You work alongside designers and architects and look longingly at their apparent casual trendiness and clean lines, marvelling at the quality of the beech from sustainably managed European forestries (kiln dried to 10-12 per cent moisture content) with which they have specified the side tables in reception. Achingly cool and effortless in a way you feel you’ll never be.

May 11, 2022

The truth about motivation, engagement and the employment of motivated idiots

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Facilities management, Workplace, Workplace design

The current obsession with engagement and motivation is evident every time you read the business media these days. This is understandable in many ways, not least because it seems true that firms and employees are often working in an atmosphere of mistrust. But one thing that is often noticeable when a profession such as HR gets itself into a debate of this nature is the gap that can exist between practitioners and everybody else offering a view. So while academics can talk about definitions and suppliers seek to apply their solutions to the issue, it is often down to those who work at the sharp end to dish up the truth, however unpalatable or cynical that can seem to be. More →

May 9, 2022

Human resources professionals should focus on boardroom partnerships

by Jeanette Wheeler • Comment, Workplace

The future of Human Resources remains a hotly debated topic, with conversations often focusing on whether the term is still accurate and how internal and external changes often put HR in a state of flux. As working models shift and new post-pandemic challenges emerge, the focus should be on what skills today’s HR leaders need to support the business and ensure its continuity and success in an evolving landscape. This includes embracing imminent changes to the HR strategy to develop additional skills and capabilities whilst ensuring compliance with new regulations, overcoming staff shortages and meeting heightened candidate expectations. More →

May 5, 2022

Flat organisations are handing out inflated job titles to hang on to staff

by Dan Huckle • Comment, Workplace

We’ve seen more talk of the glass ceiling in recent years than for some time, and part of the explanation is the way we’re creating false career ladders within businesses which don’t need to be there and don’t really lead anywhere. We are seeing companies trying to retain people in a time of skills shortages and one of the ways they are going about it is to accelerate ‘promotions’ within organisations for individuals to encourage them to stay. And some of these promotions do not involve much more than the creation of inflated job titles. More →

May 3, 2022

Get ready for the artificial intelligence revolution

by Reece Akhtar • AI, Comment, Workplace

Behind every successful business strategy is a talented and motivated workforce that is ready to apply itself and achieve great things. A leader may have a flawless strategy, but if they cannot staff their teams with the most talented individuals, their vision will stay just that. A vision. Unfortunately, the tools organizations use to identify and recruit the best talent have not changed much over the last few decades: resumés, interviews, and reference checks continue to be the predominant methods for evaluating potential. Sadly, many studies demonstrate that these methods are unpredictive, biased, and are inefficient. The good news is that innovations in artificial intelligence offer exciting tools that improve the recruitment process for both organizations and candidates. More →

April 29, 2022

Working from home can present particular challenges for women

by Rachel King • Comment, Flexible working

The pandemic has brought with it many different trials and tribulations over the course of the past few years. An area that has impacted teams across the country, and the world, has been working from home and other forms of remote work. Once a necessity imposed by the UK government to stop the spread in the early stages of the pandemic, it has now become a part of working life for many people in many different sectors. It has offered many employees the new luxury of time: no commutes resulting in more time to spend with family and friends and creating a better work-life balance. More →

April 28, 2022

We need to seize the chance to make our buildings far more intelligent

by William Poole-Wilson • Comment, Environment, Property, Workplace design

Even before the pandemic, statistics were making the case for workplaces to be made up of more intelligent buildings. This includes the fact that offices generally operate at around 55-60 percent utilisation, and as we return to the office are currently at 45 percent utilisation. From presenteeism to absenteeism and many other factors in between, workplaces have seldom been utilised by entire workforces at the same time. However, the prevailing approach has been for firms to drive an office setup with one-to-one desking – a seat for every employee, even though five in 10 would not be in at any one time. More →

April 25, 2022

What Jacob Rees Mogg really got wrong about working from the office

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Flexible working, Property

One of the challenges of taking part in The Great Work Conversation is swerving alignments with the wrong people. It’s easy enough to call out the crusty, passive aggressive notes apparently left by Lord Bufton Tufton on the desks of civil service drones. But it’s equally easy to find yourself tarred with the same brush if you dare to suggest not everybody is about to cocoon themselves in a bedroom forever or swap all they have for a life trundling from place to place in a dormobile, exchanging work for tokens. More →

April 25, 2022

The studied carelessness of agile workplaces

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Workplace design

In recent years we have grown very fond of borrowing foreign words to describe some of the more difficult to express ideas about wellbeing and the new era of agile, experiential and engaging work. We’ve adopted Eudaimonia from the Ancient Greek of Aristotle to describe the nuances of wellbeing, happiness and purpose. We went nuts briefly for the Scandinavian idea of hygge to describe a copy and laid-back approach to life that we felt we’d been lacking. More →

April 22, 2022

Hybrid working and how we escape the constraints of leadership

by John Higgins and Jennifer Bryan • Comment, Flexible working

Jennifer was at the ballet the other day, watching Acosta Danza, and there was a dance with ropes. In the movement of the relationship of the dancers, the mood, the emotion were all defined using the rope. It was very beautiful. Then towards the end the ropes were taken away and everything changed – the performers were liberated, unconstrained. At first like a frenzy, but then the dancers started to gel together letting go of the need for the rope. And this got her thinking about the role of constraint in leading change, especially in the new era of hybrid working. More →