The Great Workplace Conversation gets quieter and more interesting

The Great Workplace Conversation gets quieter and more interesting

I recently stumbled upon the phrase epistemic trespass, which describes the phenomenon of people making judgements in fields in which they have no expertise. I came across it as it was used to explain the sudden explosion of opinions about Afghanistan from a hitherto unknown horde of experts. Which may or may not be the same horde that has been so very certain about immunology and public health during the pandemic. It’s an old idea and one that needs to be treated with care, for reasons set out by Noah Smith here. But it is useful in some ways because we all recognise the phenomenon and how social media amplifies it. More →

Hybrid working pushes up corporate Australia’s carbon emissions

Hybrid working pushes up corporate Australia’s carbon emissions

hybrid workingWhile lower occupancy has reduced the carbon footprint of many commercial office buildings amid the pandemic, higher CO2 emissions from hybrid working significantly outstrips these declines, according to data analysed by Cushman & Wakefield’s sustainability team. More →

Majority of younger workers fear loneliness from long-term home working

Majority of younger workers fear loneliness from long-term home working

homeNew research from Kadence claims that since working from home, Gen Z and Millenials feel disproportionately isolated, and say it is negatively impacting their ability to build and develop relationships at work – and potentially harming their career progress. More →

Landlords and occupiers must work together to meet climate change challenge

Landlords and occupiers must work together to meet climate change challenge

flexible work and climate changeDisruption, cost, building style, individual goals, responsibility and shared space are cited as the key sustainability challenges for the flexible office sector, according to the latest research report from The Instant Group. But while there is still a lot of work to be done in the sector as the role of the workplace evolves, Instant says that flex operators have an opportunity to lead the way in meeting the challenge of climate change. By creating innovative, low-carbon buildings, curating a clear engagement strategy with occupiers and landlords, and ensuring a low-carbon ambition is understood and adopted by everyone, flex operators can be the first to implement highly sustainable workplaces. More →

Uncertainty remains, but many people looking forward to meeting colleagues again

Uncertainty remains, but many people looking forward to meeting colleagues again

As businesses in the UK prepare to open their office doors en masse in the first week of September, new research reveals that office workers have got that back-to-school excitement and are feeling largely positive about the transition. Recruitment firm Michael Page questioned over 2,000 UK office workers on their attitudes to returning to the office and found that after eighteen months at home, around half claim to be ‘excited’ or ‘happy’ to spend more time in the office with their colleagues. Reminiscent of the first day back at school, almost three in ten (28 percent) said that they had picked out their outfit and packed their bag ahead of their first day back in the office. More →

Security and productivity main challenges for hybrid working

Security and productivity main challenges for hybrid working

hybrid working at homeWith a large number of firms now prepared to embrace a ‘hybrid working’ model, business leaders remain uncertain about how this may play out in practice according to a new report from Entrust called Securing the New Hybrid Workplace (registration). Respondents suggest that the most important challenges relate to the ongoing uncertainty about new Covid variants and the effect of hybrid working on security and productivity. As a result, while many are committed to changing their work culture, they are prepared to adapt their plans in response to any changing needs. More →

Growing health concerns and preference for hybrid work among US employees

Growing health concerns and preference for hybrid work among US employees

employeesEnvoy has released the results from its latest Return to Work report that gauges sentiment among 1,000 US employees who have returned to the workplace within the past year. As COVID-19 cases continue to rise, many companies are wrestling with the decision to postpone reopenings, even as scores of office workers are already back in the workplace. More →

Working from home: how far we’ve come and where we might be headed

Working from home: how far we’ve come and where we might be headed

working from home furnitureWe’ve all learnt a great deal about working from home over the past eighteen months. We’ve seen how for some, it can be incredibly beneficial to employees, enabling them to better balance their work and personal lives and can also benefit the company, enabling business as usual during the Covid-19 pandemic, even improving efficiency. It’s also prompted some important conversations about mental health that simply hadn’t been had, normalising the challenges that we all face, especially during lockdowns. More →

Working from home could help older workers stay in work longer

Working from home could help older workers stay in work longer

working from home setupOlder workers might choose to delay their retirement if offered the option of continuing to do their jobs working from home after the pandemic, according to new research from the UK’s Office for National Statistics. The ONS study found those in their 50s and 60s who worked from home during the coronavirus crisis said they were planning to retire later than those who were still travelling to their workplace. More →

Over half of UK employers say their staff work additional unpaid hours every day

Over half of UK employers say their staff work additional unpaid hours every day

unpaid hoursIn its latest whitepaper, Cendex, part of XpertHR, claims that staff at over half (53 percent) of UK organisations are working additional unpaid hours every day. A quarter (24 percent) of employers put this down to the pandemic and its resultant uptick in remote working, as they believe working from home blurs the line between work life and home life. More →

Executives think work should be split 70:30 between office and home

Executives think work should be split 70:30 between office and home

A new survey from the Economist Intelligence Unit backs up the most commonly cited form of ‘hybrid working’ by claiming that business executives on average think work should be split 70 percent / 30 percent between the office and home respectively.  In A changed workplace after covid-19, published  by The Economist Intelligence Unit and sponsored by Kyocera Document Solutions, the authors argue that Covid-19 was a watershed moment in the way we work. More →

Hybrid is most popular working set-up, but most would rather be full-time in workplace

Hybrid is most popular working set-up, but most would rather be full-time in workplace

hybrid‘Hybrid’ is the ideal working environment among Brits today, but twice as many workers would like to be 100 percent office-based than work permanently from home, according to the latest research from LifeSearch. More →