Hybrid working not always well supported by current tech infrastructure

Hybrid working not always well supported by current tech infrastructure

by • Flexible working, News, Technology

A steampunk office illustrating the poor state of tech supporting hybrid workingAlmost two thirds (63 percent) of IT directors are not very confident in their IT estate’s ability to fully support hybrid working, but over seven-in ten (71 percent) of organisations are not placing IT investment at the top of the priority list. These are among the findings from a new poll undertaken by Apogee Corporation. Due to limitations with the current IT setup, 89 percent of respondents identify that it is preventing effective collaboration, with almost half (48 percent) admitting that remote staff don’t have access to the same solutions as office workers. (more…)

In person work can make the signs of burnout easier to spot

In person work can make the signs of burnout easier to spot

by • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

A snuffed out candle to illustrate the issue of burnoutA new poll from Barco claims that a third of people who mostly work in the office found it easier to tell when a colleague is overworked or stressed when seeing them face to face, leaving some remote workers at risk of struggling under the radar of management teams. This comes as over a quarter of staff report experiencing burnout over chronic work-related stress that has not been managed successfully.  (more…)

New study claims people who can work remotely come into the office for less than two days a week

New study claims people who can work remotely come into the office for less than two days a week

by • Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Workplace design

A global study of 220 offices in 33 countries, representing nearly 250,000 employees, has revealed that hybrid working is becoming established as the norm for those who can work remotely. Those people now come into the office an average of just 1.5 days a week, versus nearly four days a week before the Covid-19 pandemic. AWA’s second Hybrid Working Index study, conducted between September and November this year, found that on average people go into the office 29 percent of the time. Among employers surveyed in both the first study, in the summer, and this one, attendance was steady at around 25 percent. (more…)

The Great Relearning about the Great Office Problem

The Great Relearning about the Great Office Problem

by • Comment, Flexible working, Technology, Workplace design

A person using computer in style of edward hopper in an office at nightOne of the latest people to invent activity-based working is sociologist Ana Andjelic, who combines it with the similarly familiar hub and spoke office model on her substack as a solution to the Great Office Problem. She’s not the first and is a less surprising pioneer of a decades old model than some other people who should really know better. That includes an architectural practice who came up with the idea earlier this year and whose name escapes me. (more…)

Flexible working should be the norm for as many people as possibe

Flexible working should be the norm for as many people as possibe

by • Comment, Flexible working

The UK government has announced that all workers will now gain the right to request flexible working as a day one right – as to after 6 months of employment in the previous legislation. This move is a very welcome one, yet not enough to make flexible working a norm for all workers. To ensure that workers are truly able to access flexible working arrangements, we need to tackle the flexibility stigma still rampant in the UK. (more…)

Millions now able to request flexible working on day one of employment

Millions now able to request flexible working on day one of employment

by • Flexible working, News

Millions of employees will be able to request flexible working from day one of their employment, under new government plans to make flexible working the default. Flexible working doesn’t just mean a combination of working from home and in the office – it can mean employees making use of job-sharing, flexitime, and working compressed, annualised, or staggered hours. The raft of new measures will give employees greater access to flexibility over where, when, and how they work, leading to happier, more productive staff. Flexible working has been found to help employees balance their work and home life, especially supporting those who have commitments or responsibilities such as caring for children or vulnerable people. (more…)

The failures of work give us hope for the future

The failures of work give us hope for the future

by • Flexible working, News

Workplace engagement is approaching an all-time low, and typical employer reaction has been characteristically resigned. Actually, that last statement was inaccurately soft. Let me rephrase: most employees either don’t care about or actually hate their jobs, and employers couldn’t care less. (more…)

Women far more likely to have disadvantageous flexible working arrangements

Women far more likely to have disadvantageous flexible working arrangements

by • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

An illustration of a women slumped at a table with a laptop, to illustrate the specific challenges of flexible working for womenWomen are much more likely than men to be in flexible working arrangements that mean they lose hours, and therefore pay, according to new TUC analysis of official statistics.  The findings have been published, a year after the government closed its consultation on flexible work, and ahead of the next committee stage of Yasmin Qureshi MP’s private members bill on flexible work. (more…)

Always connected in the age of disconnection

Always connected in the age of disconnection

by • Features, Flexible working, Wellbeing

All of humanity’s problems,” the French scientist and philosopher Blaise Pascal wrote in 1654, “stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” He may have been right, but then again, sitting in a room alone isn’t necessarily a great state of permanent being either. There was a time we used to talk with dismay about the Japanese phenomenon of intense social distancing known as hikikomori. We would consider with horror the isolation, lack of engagement with society, poor mental health and loneliness of the people who had almost completely withdrawn to their rooms. Those poor bastards locked up in enclosed spaces linked to the outside world only by screens. (more…)

Borderless working will erode company culture, bosses fear

Borderless working will erode company culture, bosses fear

by • Flexible working, News

A lighthouse to illustrate the challenges of working in isolation as a metaphor for borderless workingA poll from Perkbox claims that almost half of businesses moving towards more borderless working (47 percent) are concerned how the shift will impact their company culture. These concerns stem from perceptions around managing a globally distributed workforce and the challenges this can bring. For example, a third of business leaders (33 percent) say different time zones make collaboration less effective. Meanwhile ,31 percent state inconsistency in different employee expectations around benefits or working styles causes friction between borderless managers and their teams. (more…)

Inconsistent flexible working strategies drive people away from businesses

Inconsistent flexible working strategies drive people away from businesses

by • Flexible working, News

A group of people in a shared flexible working / coworking spaceA new poll of 3,450 people in a dozen countries from Unit4 claims that around two in five organisations have lost employees over the last year because they believed they would enjoy better flexible working options elsewhere. While most firms now have a formalised approach to flexible working, the report claims that policies vary enormously, exacerbating the challenge of recruiting and retaining people for those firms with an inconsistent approach.  (more…)

The workplace circus continues to entertain, but back in the real world…

The workplace circus continues to entertain, but back in the real world…

by • Comment, Flexible working, Technology, Wellbeing

A painting of a clown sitting alone, waiting to enter the workplace circusThe Great Workplace Circus headlines its 322nd show of the year with everybody’s favourite distraction, Elon Musk, being driven into the ring by his own shoddily built clown car, declaring he needs everybody at Twitter to be ‘extremely hardcore’ before sacking a few people from his space programme, then setting fire to the tent himself. The swarm of stories spawned by this extraordinary behaviour include this tired and predictable rant in the Telegraph about ‘lazy Brits’. Ironically, there’s nothing lazier than a columnist on this rag with some space to fill. (more…)

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