January 19, 2024
A hazy shade of Winter: Nigel Oseland sounds off on the Workplace Cocktail Hour
It’s bitterly cold outside but over a glass of hazy IPA, Nigel Oseland and Mark Eltringham warm to a conversation about fish guts, the sounds that make us cringe, what comfort means to different people and what it would really take to get them to spend more time in the office. And it’s not free fruit, corporate sanctioned togetherness or quirky office features. Nigel also explains why firms might be getting it wrong when it comes to managing which people use which spaces in agile environments. We also discuss how people overestimate their own productivity and underestimate that of their colleagues and what that means for the way we organise. (more…)




















Monica Parker joins Mark Eltringham to share an Old Fashioned while discussing how to find wonder in the everyday, the limits of workplace design, our renewed obsession with productivity, how to achieve flow states in a world of distractions and what it means to be truly happy. There’s not much workplace news around right now as people are still finding their feet after Christmas, so we also explore some lessons we might take from the Post Office scandal about how organisations go wrong and the role of human nature in creating toxic cultures. 


Nobody seems to be calling it The Great Resignation any more, but two-fifths (40 percent) of the UK workforce are planning to move jobs in 2024, with one in six already beginning their search as staff look to boost their pay packet, according to the latest Candidate Sentiment Survey statistics produced by recruitment firm Robert Half. The survey’s authors claim these statistics demonstrate the resilience of the labour market as more candidates look to capitalise on skills shortages to boost earnings. Those aged 18-34 are more likely to move roles than any other age group (56 percent). 
A new poll claims that over one quarter (26 percent) of employees in the UK do not trust their CEO to be open and honest, while 24 percent do not trust their senior leadership to do the same. According to the survey of 2,000 employees in the UK from Personio, transparency and employer-employee communication are pivotal to a positive employee experience and trust in the workplace. The research suggests that feeling unheard by leadership could be fuelling employees’ distrust. Over a quarter (28 percent) of employees surveyed say that they are not given a chance to share feedback to leadership on their experiences. Meanwhile, less than half (46 percent) of employees feel that leadership in their organisation actually listens and acts on any feedback when given from staff. 
