July 21, 2021
New research commissioned by Kadence claims that despite restrictions being lifted, office workers in the UK are resistant to a full-time office return. The survey of 1,500 UK and US office workers claims that over half of British workers (55 percent) still expect to spend fewer days in the office per week, with more than a third wanting to come and go as they please (35 percent). (more…)
July 20, 2021
Access to workplace counsellors, mental health training and support groups are topping the charts on what workers want on their return to the office, according to new research by CERT Property. (more…)
July 16, 2021
Heidrick and Struggles has released the results of a new global CEO study Aligning Culture with the Bottom Line: How Companies Can Accelerate Progress which found that intentionally building a company’s working culture can impact the company’s financial performance in a number of ways. The survey of 500 CEOs across nine countries examines how working culture propels organisational performance in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Spain, the UK and the USA. (more…)
July 14, 2021
As businesses return to their offices they are faced with a challenge – how do they reappraise their space requirements post-Covid? Social and technological advancements are changing real estate from being a fixed physical product, into flexible, employee-centric spaces that enable new models of hybrid working and business operations. These have a significant impact on the ways that businesses work and the options available to them. (more…)
July 14, 2021
A fifth (19 percent) of employees do not know how their employer would support them if they were absent through ill-health or injury, 16 percent think that their employer provides no support and nine percent said they would only receive Statutory Sick Pay of £96.35 per week. This is according to new research from GRiD, the industry body for the group risk protection sector. (more…)
July 13, 2021
Organisational purpose, responsible business practices and diversity are growing in importance at Board level and for HR teams, as employers make the connection between good environmental, societal and governance practices and business growth, according to survey findings from the Reward & Employee Benefits Association (REBA) and Mercer Marsh Benefits (MMB). (more…)
July 12, 2021
New research by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) claims there are links between working from home during the pandemic and increased levels of loneliness and mental distress. NatCen analysed data from interviews carried out with 8,675 people before the pandemic and in May, July and November 2020 for the Understanding Society COVID-19 survey. (more…)
July 9, 2021
One of the problems facing businesses right now isn’t the so-called mental health pandemic, it’s that no one seems to know what to do about it. The increased focus on employee mental health and wellbeing has seen progressive leaps in the conversation that were unimaginable 10 years ago. Even the most cynical manager has had to concede that the circumstances of the pandemic have raised the profile and importance of taking care of your employees. The reaction is knee-jerk. Companies want to do something about their employees mental health and wellbeing and they want to do it now. Whatever ‘it’ is. The appetite is there, but they can’t find the menu. (more…)
July 8, 2021
One of the unintended consequences of the pandemic has been to focus attention on the issue of indoor air quality. But as Sarah Zhang points out in a recent piece in The Atlantic, this is an issue that we have long understood, and not just as a way to reduce the risks of infection. It is essential for our wellbeing. (more…)
July 8, 2021
The word ‘languishing’ is being bandied around in the media as the world tries to recover from the pandemic and is experiencing many struggles resuming a semblance of ‘normal life’. Recent articles in The New York Times and The Guardian have detailed languishing as an inability to focus, being off peak performance, feeling joyless and aimless and having a sense of stagnation and emptiness. (more…)
July 1, 2021
More 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…)
July 15, 2021
The weird science of personal creativity
by Robin Bayliss • Comment, Wellbeing, Workplace design