Columnists
August 31, 2016
Addressing the five negative influences on organisational culture 0
by Matias Rodsevich • Comment, Flexible working, Knowledge, Workplace
Organisational culture should represent a clear vision from a firm about its very nature and identity as well as its values. A culture one that everybody within the organisation should understand and share. But this is not always the case as a growing number of firms are discovering to their cost. According to a paper […]
August 23, 2016
US Millennials ‘martyred’ behaviour helps drive culture of presenteeism 0
by Sara Bean • Comment, Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace
As the school holidays draw to a close, those Brits who’ve enjoyed their annual two-week holiday break will probably have squirreled away some days to take them through to the end of the year. Not so easy for the average US worker who earns on average just ten paid vacation days per annum, for each […]
August 19, 2016
The staggeringly cynical medicalisation of the air that we breathe 0
by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Wellbeing
As regular readers are no doubt aware, normally we don’t comment on the reports and surveys we publish, instead leaving people to form their own opinions. However, the study we’ve published today from the Building Engineering Services Association can’t pass without comment. You are still free to make your own mind up, but personally, I […]
August 17, 2016
Do people really matter when we design workplaces? 0
by Steve Maslin • Comment, Events, Facilities management, Workplace design
Some may think this is a daft question. They’ll argue that of course people matter when we design workplaces. Granted, there are those for whom the human experience of the built environment is really important. They demonstrate this it in their attitudes and actions. However, based on some of the attitudes and actions I have observed […]
August 17, 2016
Intelligent lighting can enhance workplace wellbeing and productivity 0
by Andy Gallacher • Comment, Environment, Facilities management, Lighting, Wellbeing, Workplace design
The main driver of the growing interest in wellbeing in recent years has undoubtedly been absenteeism. But workers don’t have to be ‘absent’ from the workplace to hamper productivity. Presenteeism, where employees are present but not productive can also influence the long-term success of an organisation. The interaction between the worker and their work environment has […]
August 16, 2016
A well executed wellness strategy benefits staff and employers 0
by Beate O'Neil • Comment, Wellbeing, Workplace
Employee health and wellbeing is moving up the agenda of many companies. A recent report from the Reward and Employee Benefits Association (Reba) and Punter Southall Health & Protection found that a third of companies have a wellness strategy in place, with 80 per cent having introduced one in the last three years. Of the 70 […]
August 16, 2016
Women struggling to reach senior executive roles in top US firms 0
by Sara Bean • Comment, News, Workplace
Progress for women in reaching the executive ranks within the UK’s FTSE 100 is too slow and the picture is less than inspiring on the other side of the Atlantic. A new analysis by Korn Ferry of the top 1,000 US companies by revenue finds the percentage of women in most executive positions is dramatically lower than […]
August 15, 2016
The traditional office is still very much alive, but it is changing 0
by Alex Gifford • Comment, Wellbeing, Workplace design
A skim through workplace features in the media and you’d be forgiven for thinking that the traditional office is no longer with us. According to the narrative, we’re all now 20-somethings, working in open-plan warehouses, with table football, bean bags and comfy sofas to lounge on, while drinking our custom-made soya lattes. When in actual […]
August 10, 2016
The solution to closing the digital skills gap starts at home 0
by Andrea Chadwick • Comment, Flexible working, Technology, Workplace
Much has already been written about the UK’s digital skills gap, and undoubtedly as the Government continues to develop and roll out its Digital Strategy for the nation, many more headlines will be devoted to it. For a country so focused on technological development it’s a problem which is both acute and imperative. Recent Government […]
August 9, 2016
Time to address ‘shocking disconnect’ between boardroom and staff pay 0
by Sara Bean • Comment, News, Workplace
As the new prime minister Theresa May has already indicated in her tenure, the growing gap between rewards for those at the top of organisations and everyone else is hard to justify at a time when economic uncertainty is intense and corporate performance mixed. So it’s shocking to learn that the average FTSE 100 CEO […]
August 8, 2016
Universal basic income is an idea whose time has come at last 0
by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Flexible working, Technology, Wellbeing
It is no longer a question of whether one of the world’s major economies will introduce a universal basic income for all of its citizens, but when. Over the weekend, the leader of the UK’s Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn announced in an interview in the Huffington Post that he was ‘instinctively looking’ at an idea […]
September 3, 2016
Electrosensitivity and the question of whether WiFi may be making us ill 0
by Mike James • Comment, Technology, Wellbeing
Electrosensitivity is a particularly 21st century disease. Also known as electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS) or Idiopathic Environmental Intolerance (IEI), it is a condition that is said to arise as a result of exposure to the low-level electromagnetic fields that now surround us, such as those that emanate from mobile and wireless technology, power lines and fluorescent and […]