Columnists

The four day week won’t necessarily help us cope with workplace stress

by • Comment, Flexible working, Wellbeing

Scotland is to become the latest nation to trial a four-day working week, after the SNP government announced it was setting up a £10 million fund to enable some office businesses to cut workers’ hours without reducing their pay. Similar trials are underway in Ireland and Spain, following on from trials in Iceland several years […]

Metrics can help businesses define their impact on the environment

by • Comment, Environment

Today, companies cannot shy away from their responsibilities towards the environment. With Extinction Rebellion keeping the climate crisis firmly on the news agenda, and COP26 in November gathering more international attention than ever, how businesses approach and champion sustainability is under significant scrutiny. At a local level, organisations are being set targets by the UK […]

The Great Workplace Conversation gets quieter and more interesting

by • Comment, Flexible working, Wellbeing, Workplace design

I recently stumbled upon the phrase epistemic trespass, which describes the phenomenon of people making judgements in fields in which they have no expertise. I came across it as it was used to explain the sudden explosion of opinions about Afghanistan from a hitherto unknown horde of experts. Which may or may not be the […]

I’m a Luddite. You should be one too

by • Comment, Technology

I’m a Luddite. This is not a hesitant confession, but a proud proclamation. I’m also a social scientist who studies how new technologies affect politics, economics and society. For me, Luddism is not a naïve feeling, but a considered position. And once you know what Luddism actually stands for, I’m willing to bet you will […]

Working from home: how far we’ve come and where we might be headed

by • Comment, Flexible working, Workplace design

We’ve all learnt a great deal about working from home over the past eighteen months. We’ve seen how for some, it can be incredibly beneficial to employees, enabling them to better balance their work and personal lives and can also benefit the company, enabling business as usual during the Covid-19 pandemic, even improving efficiency. It’s […]

Changing workplace means a changing role for finance heads

by • Comment, Jobs, Technology, Workplace

The CFO and Finance Director role is undergoing rapid change. Not only are they required to manage the traditional priorities of the job, but they must now also juggle a wide array of operational, transactional and commercial responsibilities. With added pressure from clients because of Covid-19 and a rapidly evolving workplace, the role is increasingly […]

Executives think work should be split 70:30 between office and home

by • Comment, Flexible working

A new survey from the Economist Intelligence Unit backs up the most commonly cited form of ‘hybrid working’ by claiming that business executives on average think work should be split 70 percent / 30 percent between the office and home respectively.  In A changed workplace after covid-19, published  by The Economist Intelligence Unit and sponsored […]

Gig economy could lead to a labour shortage…but better off workers

by • Comment, Flexible working, Workplace

The long-term impact of COVID-19 on the economy (and the gig economy) will not be clear for some time. But in the UK, the easing of pandemic related restrictions has coincided with significant labour shortages and the driving up of wages. Statistics show that wages have risen 7.4 percent in the past year, and the […]

Workplace technology helped meet short term lockdown challenges, but its real impact is yet to come

by • Comment, Technology

Thinking back to the fast pace of life 18 months ago, the working day looked very different. COVID-19 forced a significant adjustment in how many workforces operate, including the enforced use of multiple workplace technology tools to collaborate. How will our use of collaboration tools change as we go through pandemic recovery? How can businesses […]

The reason we can’t stomach so many opinions on the future of work

by • Comment, Workplace design

There’s a scene in the 1986 horror movie The Fly in which Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum) persuades the reporter Veronica Quaife (Geena Davis) to try two steaks, one of which Brundle has just sent between two teleportation pods in an effort to work out why they can’t process organic matter, including the organic matter belonging […]

We need to take a long term view on workplace sustainability 

by • Comment, Environment

One of the more welcome outcomes from the pandemic has been a reinvigorated and better conversation about the environment in general and workplace sustainability in particular. There were some immediate quick wins in the Spring of 2020. Cleaner air became evident in atmospheric readings and satellite images. People literally took to the streets as traffic all […]

No rush to get back to the office despite easing of restrictions

by • Comment, Flexible working, Working culture

Restrictions may have been lifted but there is no major rush for everyone to head back to the office. Many firms are being cautious about bringing employees back and the official government guidance is for employers to plan a gradual, safe return to places of work. Official guidelines aside, this doesn’t even start to factor […]

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