March 17, 2022
A new poll from the ADP Research Institute (ADPRI) claims that 64 percent of the global workforce was negatively impacted by coronavirus. However, 66 percent of UK workers feel optimistic about the next five years at work, and a third think COVID-19 will have a positive effect on work cultures including through greater flexibility (34 percent) and better work-life balance (28 percent). More →
March 17, 2022
The judges of the 2022 Davidson Prize have selected a longlist of 14 teams. Responding to this year’s theme of Co-Living – A New Future, the longlisted teams represent diverse and exciting collaborative approaches to transforming the architecture of the home. The Davidson Prize is a design ideas and communication prize established in 2021 in memory of architectural visualisation pioneer Alan Davidson. Following the success of the inaugural Prize last year, in 2022 teams made up of architects working collaboratively with other disciplines were asked to consider whether current notions of home in the UK are keeping step with the 21st century. More →
March 17, 2022
UK workers and their bosses are reaping the benefits of flexible working, according to new research released by Microsoft. According to Microsoft’s latest Work Trend Index, the number of people working in a hybrid way across the world is up seven percentage points on last year at (38 percent), while 53 percent of people are likely to consider transitioning to hybrid working in the year ahead. More →
March 17, 2022
Two-thirds of UK employees (66 percent) feel that work life balance is crucial in their decision to apply for a job, yet a third (31 percent) do not currently achieve it, according to new research from Lenovo and Cebr. With over 2,000 UK employees surveyed, Lenovo’s “Future of You” report claims to shed light on the priorities for workers, tracking how these have changed in recent years as well as looking ahead to the future. It found that the offer of remote work is important to over half (54 percent) of workers today, compared to one-fifth (21 percent) ten years ago. Of those who are not currently offered remote work, most (83 percent) feel that their employer is not on track to deliver this in the next two years. More →
March 17, 2022
Businesses are investing in technology to expand online operations and facilitate remote work during the pandemic. But many of those same businesses are also eager to see their employees return to the workplace in greater numbers over the long term. Those are among the findings of a new survey of small and midsized business leaders conducted by The Harris Poll and sponsored by CIT, a division of First Citizens Bank. More →
March 16, 2022
Organisations looking to stem the tide of the so-called Great Resignation shouldn’t rely on working from home alone to retain their top talent, according to new research, which reveals that working from home (WFH), flexible working hours and even four-day work weeks, won’t necessarily be enough to keep employees onboard. HR software provider CIPHR conducted a survey of over 330 British employers last month to discover how the increasingly competitive talent market has affected their staff retention and recruitment drives over the past twelve months. Based on the results, nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of employers have experienced an increase in employees voluntarily resigning and 71 percent have found it more challenging to recruit new employees. More →
March 15, 2022
A report published by Advanced Workplace Associates (AWA): Change For Good: 10 Lessons From The Pandemic identifies what it says is the transformative effect of the new ways of working and why there is ‘no going back’ for employers or employees. More →
March 14, 2022
A new poll from researchers Ipsos reveals the majority of UK adults aged 16-75 are in favour of introducing a law giving employees the right to ignore work-related communications, such as emails, texts and instant messages, outside of their official working/on-call hours. Around 60 percent would support the Government introducing an out of hours law, including 34 percent who would strongly support it. Only 1 in 10 (11 percent) indicated they would be against introduction of such a law. More →
March 11, 2022
The COVID-19 pandemic, lockdowns and shift to remote working has had a significant impact on organisations’ attitudes towards a shorter working week, new research from Henley Business School has revealed. The longitudinal study found that 65 percent of UK businesses surveyed are now implementing a four-day working week for some, or all, of their staff, compared with 50 percent who answered a similar survey carried out by Henley in 2019. More →
March 9, 2022
In this new episode of Workplace Geeks, Chris and Ian talk to WORKTECH Academy director, author and activist, professor emeritus Jeremy Myerson, about his award-winning research, ‘Space for thought: designing for knowledge workers’. The paper was co-authored with lead-researcher Catherine Greene back in 2011, and the findings are arguably even more relevant now in the aftermath of the pandemic, as many organisations grapple to unlock suitable alternative working arrangements for their diverse knowledge workers’ needs. More →
March 8, 2022
Flexible working has become the norm for many workers since the COVID-19 pandemic began, but it can actually lead many to work longer and harder, with work encroaching on family life. A new book by Professor Heejung Chung from the University of Kent’s School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research explores how workers’ wellbeing and gender equality may in fact be jeopardised by flexible work, rather than providing a better work-life balance. More →
March 11, 2022
The much talked about new normal doesn’t exist, but the world has changed in profound ways
by Dr Simon Williams • Cities, Comment, Flexible working, Property, Technology
Work
One of the biggest changes predicted during the pandemic was a long-term shift towards home or hybrid working. However, there are already signs that this transition might not be as obvious or complete as expected.
[perfectpullquote align=”right” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]The signs of the transition to hybrid work are not as obvious or complete as expected[/perfectpullquote]
In the UK, the proportion of people working from home at least some of the time increased from 27 percent in 2019 to 37 percent in 2020, before falling to 30 percent in January 2022. Similarly, in the US the proportion working from home declined from 35 percent in May 2020 to 11 percent in December 2021.
One of the main reasons people are going back to the office is employers’ expectations. Many companies are concerned that more permanent home working might affect employees’ team building, creativity and productivity.
But among employees, there’s a greater appetite for hybrid and flexible working. One recent multi-national survey found that whereas roughly one-third of workers had worked at home at least some of the time before the pandemic, roughly half said they want to in the future.
Shopping
The pandemic didn’t create the habit of online shopping, but it makes more of us do it. Did this make us realise we don’t need actual stores anymore?
It doesn’t seem so. Shopping in bricks-and-mortar stores has already started to recover. Recent data on people’s movements, gathered anonymously from mobile devices, shows how in many countries, before omicron hit, travel to retail and recreation spaces was back up to pre-pandemic levels, and is already starting to rebound after omicron.
The rise in online sales has also not been as dramatic or sustained as many predicted. In the UK, online sales made up 20 percent of total retail sales before the pandemic. By February 2021 this had risen to 36 percent, before declining steadily to 25 percent in February 2022.
Travel
One habit that might take longer to recover is our pre-pandemic love of international travel. It has taken a hit around the world, and the sector is still struggling. The UN’s International Civil Aviation Organization projects that international travel in 2022 will still be down by nearly a half compared to 2019.
One British survey conducted last September found that while 80 percent of people were planning on holidaying in the UK in the next year, only around 40 percent were considering going abroad. In comparison, in the 12 months up to July 2019, 64 percent of Brits travelled abroad for a holiday according to one travel industry body.
People’s reluctance to travel has been largely down to concerns over the virus and confusion over travel rules. As worries decline and rules get lifted, we may see a “mini-boom” in holidaymaking.
Socialising
Early in the pandemic, some commentators – including the US chief medical adviser Dr Anthony Fauci – suggested we might never return to shaking hands. I, with my colleague Dr Kimberly Dienes, argued that it was vital these rituals make a comeback, as they have several social, psychological and even biological benefits.
Are social-distancing habits, including meeting fewer people and having less physical contact with those we do, here to stay? For most people, no. Data shows only one-third of people in the UK are still socially distancing regularly, the lowest proportion since the pandemic began.
No new normal
But truly, only time will tell how much the pandemic will have changed our habits. However, bolder predictions – that the pandemic was going to completely and irrevocably change our ways of working, shopping, travelling and socialising – now seem premature and exaggerated. The pandemic has taught us we can work, learn, shop and socialise in different ways, but the question now is whether we still want to.
[perfectpullquote align=”right” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]The pandemic has taught us that we need to connect with others[/perfectpullquote]
Humans have basic needs, such as autonomy, feeling related to others, and feeling effective and competent in what we do. Part of the challenge with home working, for example, is that it simultaneously fulfils one need by giving us greater autonomy but takes away another by making us less connected. Expanding adequately supported, equality-focused, hybrid and flexible working arrangements is perhaps a promising way to meet both needs.
Some people will have acquired a sense of competence, or at least familiarity, with the new ways of doing things during the pandemic and so may wish to keep doing them. In some areas – travelling overseas, for example – it may take longer for our competence, and confidence, in old habits to return. However, many seem to be quite quickly returning to old ways and re-learning how to feel competent at doing things that they did before.
The extent to which we’ll go back to our old ways may also depend on our personality traits, which have been shown to shape our compliance with new behaviour. For example, those more open to new experiences by nature, or more extroverted, may be more eager to travel internationally or socialise in larger groups.
Finally, the pandemic may have served as a reminder of how much we appreciate everyday interactions with others, in shops, restaurants and so on. People may be keen to return to familiar ways that revive this – for example, picking something up in a store on the way home from work. Above all, the pandemic has taught us that we need to connect with others and that there are limits as to how much online communication can replace real, face-to-face interactions.
Dr Simon Nicholas Williams is a Senior Lecturer in People and Organisation at Swansea University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.