August 5, 2022

The four day week might be the wellbeing solution workers need

by Mark Hall • Comment, Flexible working, Wellbeing

It’s been a couple of months now since 70 companies in Britain began their four day week pilot program, where thousands of employees went from celebrating the Queen’s 70th Jubilee to celebrating shorter work weeks without reduction in pay for the remainder of 2022. The pilot had been highly anticipated by workers and employers alike – and has already seen tremendous results — but it’s also created a heated debate on whether it’s actually workable across industries, demographics, and different sized companies. More →

August 4, 2022

ESG: only a third of people think their workplace has a positive impact on society and the environment

by Neil Franklin • Environment, News, Wellbeing

According to a poll from YuLife and YouGov, just over a third (39 percent) of people think their place of work has some sort of positive impact on society and the planet. This is in spite of the many announcements from organisations about how ESG (environmental, social, and corporate governance) can boost employee engagement and help them stand out from their competitors. With many businesses having upped their ESG investment in recent years, the new YuLife-YouGov report claims to shed light on what UK working adults want and expect from their workplaces, equipping businesses with vital insights into how to focus their ESG programmes most effectively. More →

August 1, 2022

Employees who practice mindfulness are more likely to think their job is stimulating

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing

Employees who practice mindfulness are less bored at work and less likely to quit, according to a new study. Researchers found that in monotonous jobs, employees who are more ‘mindful’ have greater job satisfaction, are less likely to quit and think their job is less boring. The study, entitled “It’s so boring – or is it? Examining the role of mindfulness for work performance and attitudes in monotonous jobs”, has been published in the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology and is co-authored by Andreas Wihler of the University of Exeter Business School, Ute Regina Hülsheger of Maastricht University, Jochen Reb of Singapore Management University and Jochen?Menges of the University of Zurich and Cambridge Judge Business School. More →

August 1, 2022

Podcast: the weak arguments in favour of offices and the problem with the future of work

by Neil Franklin • Features, Flexible working, Podcasts, Property, Technology, Wellbeing, Workplace design

Mark Eltringham the publisher of Workplace Insight and IN Magazine recently joined Caleb Parker, the founder of Bold, on his Work Bold podcast for an unscripted chat on: the future of work and how it may shape the future of commercial real estate; the reasons why anybody might ever want to go back to an office to work; the problem with weak arguments both for and against offices; and the importance of culture and flexibility rather than fixed times and places of work in determining people’s day to day experiences of work. The prompt for this conversation was the occasional discussion on social media over the past couple of years and a recent article exploring the value of weak ties. More →

July 28, 2022

Personal space is not merely an issue of hygiene, but a biological imperative

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Wellbeing, Workplace design

The current debate about how much space we will need in the office from now on is not new. As with many of the debate’s facets, the point at which we find ourselves has long been our destination. We’re just here earlier than we might have expected. More →

July 28, 2022

Generational careers divide opens up in wake of pandemic

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

Almost half of UK employees aged between 18 and 24 think that COVID-19 has decreased the importance placed on their careers, compared to 35 percent of 55-64 year-olds. And more than half think the pandemic has negatively impacted their career progression, compared to just 35 percent of 35-44 year olds and 17 percent of 54-65 year olds. Those are the key findings of a poll presented in a report from Employment Hero, shows that COVID-19 has caused a widening generational divide in the career motivation and wellbeing of UK employees. More →

July 28, 2022

MPs call for Menopause Ambassador role to help women in the workplace

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Lack of support from employers for women with symptoms of the menopause is pushing ‘highly skilled and experienced’ women out of work, claims a new report from the cross-party House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee. The authors call on the Government to act, amending the Equality Act to introduce menopause as a protected characteristic, and to include a duty for employers to provide reasonable adjustments for menopausal employees. The MPs also urge the Government to remove dual prescription charges for oestrogen and progesterone as part of Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) nationwide, replacing it with a single charge for all women.

July 25, 2022

Have we arrived at a point of equilibrium in the great workplace conversation?

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Flexible working, Wellbeing

Perhaps the greatest irony of the tedious home v office debate is that the absolutists on both sides rely on many of the same fallacies. They tend to build their arguments around a simplistic view of the office and remote work that has little basis in reality. Unsurprisingly, when they do get their way, reality often bites them in the arse. More →

July 21, 2022

Digital presenteeism now a pervasive cultural pressure

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

Damaging habits from the office have been imported into remote work, with a pervasive culture of digital presenteeism taking hold, according to a new report Killing Time at Work from Qatalog and GitLab Inc. The research also claims to reveal a new phenomenon which the authors have dubbed ‘async privilege’, with C-suite execs taking advantage of new freedoms to work on their own schedule, but not providing those same opportunities to junior members of staff. More →

July 20, 2022

Toxic work culture continues to bedevil certain sectors

by Jayne Smith • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Healthcare is among the worst industries in the UK for a certain type of toxic work culture, a new study by Delamere claims. The study claims to have identified the industries with the worst attitudes towards what it calls toxic hustle culture. Hustle culture refers to people feeling pressured to work tirelessly in order to constantly make money and be productive. More →

July 20, 2022

People who are proactive at work find their jobs more meaningful

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Being proactive at work is key to finding your job meaningful, a new study from ESSEC Business School suggests. According to the research, undertaken by Karoline Strauss, Professor of Organisational Behaviour at ESSEC Business School, proactivity at work and job meaningfulness are linked, especially when employees are otherwise unsure about the impact their tasks will have. More →

July 14, 2022

There are now fewer taboo workplace subjects, and we should talk about that

by Peter Nagle • Comment, Wellbeing

Rewind even a few years and issues like mental health were not really talked about in the workplace. Now we’ve seen dramatic improvements around certain topics, we should ask what other areas of employees’ lives could employers help with? There’s been a lot of discussion around what employers can do to support women going through the menopause. Though the construction industry is a traditionally male dominated sector, NHS Employers says that “Menopause is not just a gender or age issue as it can impact on colleagues both directly and indirectly and it should therefore be considered as an organisational. issue.” More →