Columnists
December 10, 2020
Employers should explain their monitoring policies to workers
by Chioma Iwunze • Comment, Workplace
The number of companies monitoring their employees is growing. According to a Gartner survey, more than 22 percent of employees use employee movement data, while 17 percent of them are monitoring computer usage. With companies choosing to monitor employees, privacy laws are also catching up, and thus there is a need for explaining employee monitoring […]
December 4, 2020
The lost art of office furniture peacocking and the growing mental health crisis at work
by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Technology, Wellbeing, Workplace design
When Donald Trump was pictured recently sitting uncomfortably at a table that looked like it had been retrieved from a skip, it provoked the sort of sneering commentary about furniture choices last seen when Dominic Cummings popped in to the Downing Street garden to deliver some self-serving blather from behind a rickety trestle table.
December 3, 2020
Hybrid working presents us with a once in a generation opportunity
by Michael Cockburn • Comment, Coworking, Flexible working, Technology
In the face of the revolutionary and long-lasting changes to workplaces across the world resulting from the pandemic, some commentators have suggested that the wide-spread necessity of adopting remote working practices may have made the office obsolete. However, such a dramatic upheaval to the very foundation of the workplace and working dynamic won’t come without […]
December 2, 2020
Creative firms have most to lose from a loss of serendipity
by Gary Chandler • Comment, Workplace design
Most of the analysis about the effects of the 2020 pandemic on people’s working lives has tended to involve grand statements about new normals and the death of this or that, as if everybody wants the same things, has the same personal circumstances, works in the same ways, the same places and same sectors.
December 1, 2020
The great lesson of 2020 for small businesses is to be ready for anything
by Annil Chandel • Business, Comment
The repercussions of Covid-19 for the small business community have been particularly ruinous. Recent figures paint a worrying picture, revealing that approximately 76,300 SMEs in London alone ceased operations completely as a direct result of the pandemic, with lockdowns costing from £30,000 to £75,000 for one in ten small businesses. As the most vulnerable business […]
November 30, 2020
We need to understand and channel workplace conflict in the right way
by Jon Maddison • Comment, Workplace
Earlier this month, in a sudden and unexpected turn of events, the prime minister’s chief adviser, Dominic Cummings, walked out of 10 Downing Street for the last time, having resigned/been asked to leave, depending on whose account of the episode you believe. However, the affair unfolded in reality, it seems clear that the departure of […]
November 23, 2020
The crisis is making us more authentically human at work
by Jill Dark • Comment, Flexible working, Wellbeing, Workplace design
November 20, 2020
HR professionals must seek a new connection with the IT team
by Joseph Morley • Comment, Technology
It has now been more than eight months since the government first advised people to work from home if possible, due to COVID-19. The shift to remote working happened suddenly in March and quickly became part of everyday life; in April 2020 alone, 47 percent of people in employment did some work at home, compared […]
November 19, 2020
Covid-19 is levelling the playing field for disabled workers
by Ruby Gullon • Comment, Flexible working, Wellbeing
As many of us cope with yet another lockdown, optimism is easy to misplace but, for disabled workers, this could result in monumental change for future employment. On the month commencing the 25th anniversary of the Disability Discrimination Act and the run-up to International Day of Disabled Persons, could this be the final push for […]
December 10, 2020
Corporate inclusivity efforts must include disability
by Silke Muenster • Comment, Wellbeing
When we think about inclusivity and diversity in the corporate world, we often think of racial and cultural diversity, gender, or LGBTQ+ inclusion—but one aspect that has been too long forgotten or ignored is the topic of disability inclusion. Caroline Casey, disability activist, CEO and founder of the Valuable 500 initiative, notes that though 90 […]