Columnists
June 2, 2020
Embracing emotion and empathy to drive us beyond this crisis
by Riccarda Zezza • Comment, Workplace
We’re currently living and working through some of the most intense, challenging conditions many of us will have had to endure – and we all will empathise that it can be particularly difficult to manage your working life. A recent study in Harvard Business Review found that tiredness, fear and panic all reduce our ability […]
June 1, 2020
Zoom fatigue and the new era of online meetings
by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Technology
When it comes to that annual announcement the publishers of dictionaries like to make about their Word of the Year, 2020 will have only one candidate. But if there were a shortlist, you can bet that Zoom would be on it. The uptake of Zoom and other apps to help people connect during the lockdown […]
May 26, 2020
The experience of working from home is not the same for everyone
by Anna Hern • Comment, Flexible working, Wellbeing
So we’ve demonstrated that we can work from home. But is it a permanent solution? We hear senior managers counting the numbers and working out just how much money will be saved if organisations no longer need their office space. It’s a seductive argument. So before we all settle down in our spare bedrooms with […]
May 22, 2020
Doing the homework on home-work
by Tim Oldman • Comment, Flexible working
COVID-19 will change the world in innumerable ways. It is already affecting how we think about disease transmission, consumption, labour, travel, and even space and distance. And it will change how we think about work. Almost immediately, however, designers, architects and everyone else with a stake in the future of workplace have spotted an opportunity […]
May 19, 2020
People working from home have the same legal protections as they do in offices
by Chris Salmon • Comment, Legal news, Wellbeing
Even as the COVID-19 lockdown eases, it is predicted that many people will continue to work remotely for the foreseeable future. Government advice remains that those who can work from home should do so. This throws up a key question for employers both in the current circumstances and going forward. Namely, what are employers’ ongoing […]
May 19, 2020
Getting beyond the hype of technological innovation and productivity
by Prof Henry Chesbrough • Comment, Technology
Not long ago, innovation was a largely internal affair. The journey from the laboratory to the marketplace took place largely within the four walls of the firm. Think of Bell Labs, IBM Research, or Xerox PARC. Each of them created important technological breakthroughs. And each breakthrough was commercialized through the company’s own businesses.
May 18, 2020
Neurodiversity measures do not hold up in the present culture
by Nadya Powell • Comment, Wellbeing
Until recently, the phrase ‘What’s neurodiversity?’ was a question I was frequently asked, often accompanied by a bit of a nervous stare. Fortunately, this is now changing, and thanks to continued research, community activism and representation in the media, people leaders now understand that neurodiversity means a unique talent to be tapped – not something […]
May 15, 2020
What the humble avocado can teach us about why we will always work in offices
by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Facilities management, Flexible working, Technology, Workplace
From the archive. Originally published in 2013. People have been talking about the death of the office for at least a quarter of a century. Leaving aside the often misleading conflation of flexible working with homeworking that is often involved, the underlying premise of such talk has been the same for all of that time. […]
May 12, 2020
From the archive: The future of work will be defined by a harmony of people and technology
by Peter Harte • Comment, Technology
Originally published November 26, 2019. As modern-day employees and consumers, technology has become so commonplace that it now impacts almost every aspect of our lives – both personally and professionally. We can now communicate with whomever we want, wherever we want with the simple click of a button or tap of a smartphone. We can […]
May 11, 2020
Reshaping ourselves to fit in a new era for work
by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Technology, Workplace
The ethical, practical and philosophical implications of how we live alongside new forms of technology is something we will have to address very soon. It is a point well made in this conversation between Kate Darling of MIT and the neuroscientist Sam Harris. But we’ve had parts of this conversation before. For example, while most […]
June 3, 2020
Data is changing the role of the workplace and HR
by Shaun Guyver • Comment, Property, Workplace
Business leaders have been heavily dependent on HR, real estate, and technology functions working together to help their organisation adapts to this new world of work during the pandemic. Ensuring personal safety, promoting wellbeing, encouraging collaboration, and maintaining efficient service delivery will never be more important than in the coming months. The challenge facing CRE […]