Reconnecting older workers with the office: have we retired what matters most?

Reconnecting older workers with the office: have we retired what matters most?

by • Comment, Flexible working, Workplace design

If we look at what older workers are actually saying about work and workplaces, there is an appetite for change, says Julie LecoqOlder workers now make up a larger percentage of the workforce than they did two decades ago. Data from Legal and General and the Centre for Economic Research (Cebr) suggests that the number of over 50s in employment has increased by 36 percent in the last 20 years, with 47 percent of this age group predicted to be in employment by 2030. A combination of the increase in retirement age and rising costs of living have made it a necessity for individuals to stay in work longer. From a corporate perspective, the growing skills shortages in a range of sectors has also meant that employers are consistently seeking to attract and retain those in the latter stage of their professional career. (more…)

Hybrid working is the new normal and is here to stay, report claimzzzz

Hybrid working is the new normal and is here to stay, report claimzzzz

by • Flexible working, News

Mace has published a new report into workplace trends which claims that hybrid working with a collaborative central space is (brace yourselves) the new normal for a preferred post-pandemic working styleMace has published a new report into workplace trends which claims that hybrid working with a collaborative central space is (brace yourselves) the new normal for a preferred post-pandemic working style. The Mace Operate Workplace Survey looked at the enduring role of a central office for businesses and considered what an office space needs to offer in an era of hybrid working. The majority of respondents (87 percent) said that interaction with people and workplace culture are the main benefits of going to the office with employees and employers seeing eye-to-eye on the need for collaboration for motivation, resilience and effective hybrid working. (more…)

Hybrid working can reduce carbon emissions massively, claims report

Hybrid working can reduce carbon emissions massively, claims report

by • Environment, Flexible working, News, Property

Hybrid working can facilitate major carbon savings and has the potential for significant impact on the climate crisis, according to a new study by IWG and Arup.Hybrid working can facilitate major carbon savings and has the potential for significant impact on the climate crisis, according to a new study by IWG and Arup. The study measured the environmental impact of hybrid working on six cities across the US and UK with a deep dive on two major carbon contributors – London and LA. Others examined were New York City, Atlanta, Manchester and Glasgow. All six cities showed the potential for huge carbon savings through the widespread adoption of hybrid working, which has rapidly expanded amongst white collar workers, who are now using the available technology to work where is most convenient and they are most productive. (more…)

Employees 12 percent more likely to leave if employers don’t establish hybrid working norms

Employees 12 percent more likely to leave if employers don’t establish hybrid working norms

by • Flexible working, News, Technology

Organisations that lack explicit norms around hybrid working can increase the likelihood of an employee leaving by 12 percentOrganisations that lack explicit norms around hybrid working can increase the likelihood of an employee leaving by 12 percent, according to a new report from Gartner [paywall]. The report claims that the most successful hybrid models encompass three main categories of explicit norms that increase visibility, enable flexibility, and foster connections. (more…)

Remote workers have a few favourite excuses for not doing any work

Remote workers have a few favourite excuses for not doing any work

by • Flexible working, News

A new poll claims that technical difficulties are among the most common excuses for not working by remote workersA new poll claims that technical difficulties are among the most common excuses for not working by remote workers. Unexpected family events, sick family members, and other family emergencies come second with 18 percent. Other work obligations like attending a virtual meeting, or urgent tasks that require immediate attention are at the end of the list with 10 percent. (more…)

Women experience more stress than men when working hours are fragmented, claims new research

Women experience more stress than men when working hours are fragmented, claims new research

by • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

Women experience more stress than men when their employment hours are split into different sections during the day, such as with flexitime and working from homeWomen experience more stress than men when their employment hours are split into different sections during the day, such as with flexitime and working from home, new research claims. Zhuofei Lu, of the University of Manchester, analysed survey data recorded during the pandemic in 2020-2021 on 620 British men and women, 40 percent of whom had children. (more…)

Flexible working is the new “work-life currency”, claims new report

Flexible working is the new “work-life currency”, claims new report

by • Flexible working, News, Technology

A new report, Future of Work Life, from Ericsson Consumer & IndustryLab explores the ways in which employees and employers navigate the current work environment and their views on the future of work shaped by the pandemic, digitalisation and the fluctuating labour market. Almost half (48 percent) of the employees in the study say that they enjoy increased flexibility at work. 52 percent consider flexible work hours or locations as key requirements, and 25 percent say that flexibility is the top priority if they would start to look for a new job. Doing work rather than going to work is seen as central in this new way of thinking about work life. (more…)

Every workplace innovation contains the seeds of its opposite

Every workplace innovation contains the seeds of its opposite

by • Comment, Flexible working, Technology

workplace innovationThe announcement by Apple that it wanted its employees to work in an office for three days a week sparked the usual, tedious pile-on about how many days people should spend in a physical workplace each week. This included the columnist at Grazia who joins the tens of millions of people around the world who not only know where Apple is going wrong, but also how to run every other organisation in the world and what’s best for everybody who works for them. (more…)

Leesman partners with MIT Center for Real Estate to explore long term impact of hybrid working

Leesman partners with MIT Center for Real Estate to explore long term impact of hybrid working

by • Company news, Flexible working

Workplace analyst Leesman has joined the MIT Center for Real Estate (MIT/CRE) as a Strategic Partner and will be working with its Real Estate Transformation Lab to examine issues related to hybrid workingWorkplace analyst Leesman has joined the MIT Center for Real Estate (MIT/CRE) as a Strategic Partner and will be working with its Real Estate Transformation Lab to examine issues related to hybrid working. This collaboration will support Leesman’s three year investigation into the impact of hybrid working on people, places and societies.  The Leesman project, entitled ‘The Hybrid Future’, will survey over 10,000 participants from around the world, to explore the impact of hybrid working on everything from productivity, diversity and urban centres to the environment, wellbeing and even our love lives. With 24 surveys set to be issued every six weeks, the volume and diversity of data, length of study, and breadth of topic range, make The Hybrid Future the most comprehensive study of hybrid working ever conducted. (more…)

The five ages of the office and the man who shaped the way we talk about them

The five ages of the office and the man who shaped the way we talk about them

by • Features, Flexible working, Workplace design

Pioneering SAS office complex in StockholmThe office has passed through five ages. The ‘coffee houses’ of the 17th century, yielded to the ‘clerical factories’ of the 19th as machines revolutionised work. After the Second World War, the ‘corporate offices’ of global corporations and William Whyte’s Organization Man dominated the scene. Following the launch of IBM’s PC in the early-1980s, we saw the rise of ‘digital offices’ in the 1990s, complete with internet, email and social media. And for the past few years we have been moving inexorably towards the latest age: ‘network offices’. Each age was shorter than its predecessor: both the digital and network ages began less than a career span ago. (more…)

Getting back to basics in The Great Workplace Conversation

Getting back to basics in The Great Workplace Conversation

by • Comment, Flexible working, Technology, Wellbeing

There’s nowhere near enough talk about our base instincts in the Great Workplace Conversation.There’s nowhere near enough talk about our base instincts in the Great Workplace Conversation. Objectively speaking, we remain relatively highly evolved, communal and intelligent primates. And so we are driven by things we like to admit to – love, empathy and the Golden Rule. But also things we don’t care to admit to in quite the same way – status, jealousy and self-interest. (more…)

American employees spend 200 hours a year watching adult sites on their work computer

American employees spend 200 hours a year watching adult sites on their work computer

by • Flexible working, News, Technology, Workplace

American employees are wasting hundreds of contracted work hours a year using their work equipment for personal tasks and activities, according to a new survey from ExpressVPN. The survey, conducted by the consumer privacy and security company, found that some people are spending only 33 percent of annual contracted hours on work tasks. With a steep rise in hybrid and home working in recent years, many companies have provided employees with work devices to use in the comfort of their own homes, including work laptops, desktops, phones, and microphones. (more…)

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