November 2, 2020

Workers give over one thousand unpaid hours overtime a year to their employers

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News, Working lives

Millions of Brits give up more than a month of time each year by working additional unpaid hours, totalling five years overtime in their working life, according to new research by Hitachi Personal Finance. In a poll conducted for this year’s National Work Life Week, data suggests how much time Brits are spending working past their contracted hours and what else the nation could be doing with this time. More →

November 2, 2020

Massive increase in numbers of self-employed people on universal credit

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News

A new report from IPSE (the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed) suggests that there has been a massive increase in the number of self-employed people on Universal Credit since 2019. More →

October 30, 2020

Organisations shift attitudes on meeting costs of home office setup

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Workplace design

Eighty-two percent of US based employers now believe the organisation should absorb the cost of a home office setup for employees that work from home full-time. This is a dramatic increase over those who did so before COVID-19. These and other findings from The Future of Home Office Cost Sharing survey from Global Workplace Analytics and Design Public Group, will lead to profound changes in how companies procure and distribute technology and furniture, budget for workplaces, attract and retain talent, and manage safety risk, according to the report’s authors. More →

October 30, 2020

Trust from the boss outweighs all other factors for employee happiness

by Jayne Smith • News, Working culture, Working lives

While some organisations have welcomed remote working with open arms, other employers have struggled to trust their employees to work autonomously with some even ramping up on surveillance to track exactly what their workforce is doing. This may however be problematic for organisations looking to attract and retain talent as, according to a recent report from UK-based tech-for-good developer, Culture Shift, almost all (93 percent) of Britain’s workforce say having an employer that trusts them is important for their overall happiness at work. More →

October 29, 2020

Oslo tops list of cities with the best work-life balance

by Jayne Smith • Business, Flexible working, News, Working lives

Cloud-based access control company Kisi has released their 2020 work-life balance city index, highlighting how major cities from the 2019 edition have since been impacted by the global pandemic. While every city in the index suffered economic, social and structural consequences, the results of this year’s edition claim that having a safety net in place for workers made a large difference in how a city navigated the crisis. More →

October 28, 2020

COVID-19 driving top talent migration to rural parts of UK

by Jayne Smith • Business, News, Working lives

Over half (52 percent) of UK workers think we will see a “reverse brain drain” of talent migration away from big cities like London and Manchester towards regional areas as a result of COVID-19, according to latest research from the Adecco Group UK and Ireland. More →

October 28, 2020

British Sugar HQ named best corporate office in England’s central region

by Jayne Smith • News, Workplace design

CPMG Architects is celebrating success after its designs for the British Sugar head office scooped the title of Corporate Office of the Year at the British Council for Offices (BCO) Midlands and Central England Awards last week. More →

October 28, 2020

Millions of workers experience low levels of job satisfaction at work

by Jayne Smith • News, Wellbeing

A new survey conducted by Just Eat for Business, asked workers about their workplace behaviour, stress levels, mental health and job satisfaction, to get an idea of what Brits’ working lives look like and how they can be improved through a focus on employee wellbeing. The survey claims almost one in ten (8.2 percent) UK employees admit to experiencing quite or very low levels of happiness while at work. More →

October 28, 2020

Businesses feel more vulnerable to cyber-attack due to the increase in remote working

by Jayne Smith • Business, News, Technology

Research conducted by NFU Mutual, a commercial insurer, claims that 47 percent of businesses feel more vulnerable to cyber-attack since the increase of remote working. Despite increased concerns, 45 percent of businesses have not taken any action to protect themselves from cyber-crime. Of those who have not taken action, 79 percent think that because their business is small, the threat of cyber-attack is low. The remaining 21 percent were not aware of, or did not understand, the protection measures available to them. More →

October 28, 2020

Remote working is changing the attitudes of people towards their jobs

by Jayne Smith • News, Wellbeing, Working lives

Owl Labs has released their fourth annual State of Remote Work report. This year’s report offers new insights aimed at helping management and leadership teams better understand their employees’ expectations about remote work in a post-Covid-19 world. More →

October 27, 2020

Worker burnout has increased by a third, research claims

by Jayne Smith • News, Wellbeing, Working lives

According to new data from people success platform Glint, employee burnout is reaching new highs — with no signs of abating. People worldwide have been coping with a range of hardships this year, including a pandemic, social isolation, enforced working from home, school disruptions and major layoffs. More →

October 27, 2020

Half of British adults cannot stand how they look on a video call

by Jayne Smith • News, Technology, Wellbeing, Working lives

A new study by skincare brand Medovie, claims that the rise of the Zoom call has led to a national wave of self-consciousness with 50 percent saying they loathe seeing their own face on video calls. So bad is the problem that a quarter (25 percent) of British adults admit to avoiding the ubiquitous video call at all costs, believing they have a face for telephone but not for camera. More →