Setting out the known unknowns about work

Setting out the known unknowns about work

With the majority of COVID-19 restrictions in England due to be lifted later this month, it is understandable that many are limbering up, ready for some grand ‘return to the office’.  Yet, unlike the pubs, hairdressers, and gyms we are not going back to what we left. This was an inevitability. The workplace was, and remains, an ever evolving and multifarious beast.    More →

Half a million employees could be made to return to the office before they’re ready

Half a million employees could be made to return to the office before they’re ready

returnMore than a half a million UK employees could be made to return to their normal workplaces before they are comfortable doing so, according to new research from Benenden Health. More →

Employers must do more to address flexible working inequality

Employers must do more to address flexible working inequality

flexible workingThe CIPD is warning of the risks of potentially creating a two-tier workforce after its analysis of official data claims the use of different flexible working arrangements is unequal across the UK – with some areas exposed as ‘flexible working notspots’. More →

Employees consider leaving jobs if health and sustainability expectations go unmet

Employees consider leaving jobs if health and sustainability expectations go unmet

healthReturning to the office is causing a growing rift between workers and managers according to a new report from NEXT Energy Technologies, Inc. The report claims most employees (74 percent) are willing to leave their jobs if existential issues like health and sustainability are not adequately addressed in the workplace. More →

The new era of flexible working and knowing when to lie flat

The new era of flexible working and knowing when to lie flat

flexible working and knowing when to lie flatWhen people first started working from home in large numbers for the first time in the Spring of 2020, one of the most talked about issues was how the productivity of most stayed the same or improved. This shouldn’t have been that surprising given all that we have learned about remote and flexible working over the years, but it certainly drove the debate for a while. More →

Insecure income, boredom and physical health impacted employee wellbeing most in lockdown

Insecure income, boredom and physical health impacted employee wellbeing most in lockdown

physical healthHaving an insecure financial situation, being bored in both work and free time, and worsening physical health were the biggest factors affecting employee’s wellbeing, during the first covid-19 lockdown, according to new research from emlyon business school. More →

Gen Z reject ‘right to work from home’ proposal

Gen Z reject ‘right to work from home’ proposal

Gen ZAmid news that the UK government is mulling plans to grant Brits the right to work from home permanently, a new Clockwise survey claims that a majority of Gen Z workers would in fact prefer to work from an office. More →

UK employees working £4.2 billion unpaid overtime every week

UK employees working £4.2 billion unpaid overtime every week

unpaid overtimeThe amount of unpaid overtime that workers around the world are doing has soared in the past year; unpaid overtime in the UK has steadily risen from six hours in 2019 to seven hours in 2020 in the advent of COVID-19, to almost eight hours in 2021, claims a new study by the ADP Research Institute, People at Work 2021: A Global Workforce View. More →

‘WFH paranoia’: Half of UK workers send emails late at night or early morning

‘WFH paranoia’: Half of UK workers send emails late at night or early morning

paranoiaOne-in-five (20 percent) UK workers now have their work instant messaging app on their personal mobile phone, as WFH paranoia sets in, according to new research by Furniture At Work. More →

Scottish homeworkers struggle with work-life balance and excessive workloads

Scottish homeworkers struggle with work-life balance and excessive workloads

ScottishThe significant shift to homeworking as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed deep differences in job quality across the Scottish workforce, according to CIPD Scotland’s annual Working Lives Scotland report. More →

Winning the war for talent in the post-pandemic world

Winning the war for talent in the post-pandemic world

pandemicThe Future Forum, a consortium launched by Slack Technologies, Inc., has released a new study that unpacks how 15 months of pandemic work has shifted employee expectations. More →

HR should play a more strategic role in business resilience

HR should play a more strategic role in business resilience

HR and resilienceAlmost every organisation now knows it must become more resilient as the economy emerges from the pandemic. As well as coping with crises and global events, organisations must excel in the face of the many less high-profile disruptions that hit an organisation – from supply chain bottlenecks to shifts in demand and sudden skills shortages. HR departments have a major role to play in this but to do so successfully requires a change of mindset, taking a step back from traditional administrative functions and reviewing the entire business as if they were an outsider. More →