Office still important for nurturing friendships and inclusivity, report claims

Office still important for nurturing friendships and inclusivity, report claims

by • Flexible working, News, Workplace

office friendshipsThe physical office remains vital for nurturing friendships, and supporting a diverse and inclusive workforce, according to O.C. Tanner’s 2022 Global Culture Report which analysed the perspectives of over 38,000 employees, leaders, HR practitioners and executives from 21 countries around the world, including over 2,500 from the U.K. Around two thirds (63 percent) of U.K. workers admit that it’s more challenging to form new friendships with colleagues when working remotely, and 58 percent of workers state that the office is where most of their new friendships are formed. More →

The Great Resignation will cast a long spell

The Great Resignation will cast a long spell

by • Comment, Flexible working, Wellbeing, Workplace design

the spell of the great resignationThe writer Alan Moore believes in magic. Not hocus-pocus magic, double double toil and trouble, but in the power of words and art to change reality and bring things into existence. It’s a compelling idea, one that Moore shares with Picasso amongst others, and the evidence for it in its metaphorical sense is all around. More →

New RICS framework aims to “put people at heart of commercial property”

New RICS framework aims to “put people at heart of commercial property”

by • Flexible working, News, Property

commercial property and peopleA new framework from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors has been designed to improve building use, support flexible working and put people at the heart of decision making about commercial property. RICS says the International Building Operation Standard will provide organisations an interactive easy-to-use framework, supported by an assessment tool, to measure and benchmark building performance, by collecting consistent data to satisfy the latest needs of occupiers, investors, advisors and end users. More →

The office sector needs to develop better arguments for its products

The office sector needs to develop better arguments for its products

by • Comment, Flexible working, Property, Workplace design

the office sector needs better argumentsThe distillation of every received and laundered idea of the past two years leads us here. A claim from Gallup that in future just over a third of the desks in offices will be empty. Whatever Gallup thinks, this is great news for the office sector. One of the truths the office sector hasn’t always liked to talk about too much over the last few decades is that in a typical office over that period, around half of the desks have already been empty. More →

Remote work monitoring software used by four in five employers

Remote work monitoring software used by four in five employers

by • Flexible working, News, Technology

remote work monitoringAccording to a new report from Instant Offices (registration), four in five employers whose staff are offered hybrid or remote work are already using employee monitoring tools to track work performance and activity. According to the study: 78 percent of companies report using employee monitoring software to track worker performance and online activity; 73 percent say stored recordings of calls, emails, and messages have affected team members’ performance reviews; over 50 percent say they are implementing non-traditional monitoring techniques; and 94 percent of employers track emails.  More →

Flexible working most likely to be offered in tech, charity and creative sectors

Flexible working most likely to be offered in tech, charity and creative sectors

by • Flexible working, News

flexible workingA new study claims that IT & Telecoms, Charity and Media, Digital & Creative are the topmost progressive sectors when it comes to offering jobs with a flexible working element. Conducted by e-learning platform Preply, the study analyses January 2022 job listings, ranking each job sector by the percentage of roles that offer the option for remote working. Other relevant factors the analysis also highlights are the percentage of remote jobs that are part time, average salary and the UK cities seeing the highest increase in demand for those specifically looking for remote work. More →

Working from home fuels concerns for energy consumption

Working from home fuels concerns for energy consumption

by • Environment, Features, Flexible working

working from home and the environmentBack in February 2020, consulting firm WSP UK published some interesting research that revealed those working from home during the summer saved around 400kg of carbon emissions, the equivalent of 5 percent of a typical British commuter’s annual carbon footprint. The catch was that it was just a seasonal benefit. If an average employee worked at home all year round, they would produce 2.5 tonnes of carbon per year – around 80 percent more than an office worker. This is because, during the winter, most heating systems in Britain heat the whole house, which produces far more carbon emissions than would be produced from the commute.   More →

Workplace culture needs a rethink in line with employees’ changing priorities

Workplace culture needs a rethink in line with employees’ changing priorities

by • Flexible working, News, Workplace

workplace cultureConsiderable job insecurity and uncertainty has pushed companies to rethink their workplace culture to meet employees’ new needs, priorities, and expectations, according to the annual Fjord Trends report from Accenture. According to the report, nearly two years of social, economic and employment disruption has resulted in a collective shift in people’s relationships with work and employees are re-assessing what they want and expect from a company culture and employee value proposition. This means enhancing workplace flexibility, benefits packages, and greater employee care and compassion will continue to be notable trends in 2022, creating both challenges and opportunities for businesses looking to retain and recruit talent. More →

The great workplace conversation (still) needs to be held with a great deal more humility

The great workplace conversation (still) needs to be held with a great deal more humility

by • Comment, Flexible working, Technology, Workplace design

great workplace conversation“Nobody knows anything”. William Goldman’s infamous summing up of the essential unknowability of the movie business also has a less quoted second part. “Not one person in the entire motion picture field knows for a certainty what’s going to work. Every time out it’s a guess and, if you’re lucky, an educated one.” It is a call for humility. That no matter how much we know about what we do and how good we are at it, we can’t always predict its outcomes. And that is clearly the case with the ongoing Great Workplace Conversation. More →

Business leaders have undue confidence in the idea of hybrid working

Business leaders have undue confidence in the idea of hybrid working

by • Flexible working, News, Technology

hybrid workingFlexible working has overtaken salary as the top benefit to employees (59 percent), highlighting that flexibility and autonomy over the working day is now more important than financial reward for most workers. This is according to a new report from Jabra; the  Jabra Hybrid Ways of Working 2021 Global Report carried out amongst 5,000 knowledge workers in five countries worldwide, including the UK. However, the report also suggests that many business leaders have a false sense of confidence in their ability to implement hybrid working.

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Flexible working models best for mental health of parents, research claims

Flexible working models best for mental health of parents, research claims

by • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

flexible working and mental healthEmployees who are able to split their working time between home and a formal workplace are 40 percent less likely to experience mental health difficulties, new research has shown. Wellbeing charity stem4 surveyed 1038 working parents and carers across the UK to mark Parent Mental Health Day (27th January). It suggests that four in ten overall (39 percent) were experiencing problems – most commonly stress (62 percent), depression (54 percent) and anxiety (50 percent). More →

Hybrid working is now the dominant business model for knowledge workers

Hybrid working is now the dominant business model for knowledge workers

by • Flexible working, News, Technology, Workplace design

hybrid workingFuture Forum, a consortium launched by Slack with founding partners Boston Consulting Group, MillerKnoll and MLT has released the latest findings from its  Pulse study, which shows that hybrid working has become the dominant work model for knowledge workers around the world. The report claims that the percentage of people working in hybrid arrangements has increased to 58 percent (from 46 percent in May 2021), as the share of workers who say their teams work exclusively either from home or from the office has declined sharply. More →

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