Columnists
May 25, 2016
An out of hours email ban and why we all need the ‘right to disconnect’ 0
by Adrian Lewis • Comment, Flexible working, Legal news, Work&Place, Workplace
The recent announcement from President Francois Hollande’s Socialist Party that they plan to give French employees the “right to disconnect” by pushing through measures for an email ban out of hours has been the subject of great debate. Although many commentators have argued the need for employers to encourage people to ‘switch off’ when they […]
May 20, 2016
It isn’t easy to grow big when being small makes you more innovative 0
by Matias Rodsevich • Comment, Technology, Workplace, Workplace design
Today one of the key challenges most companies face is being able to scale rapidly while still keeping the innovative edge. Startups have less decision-makers making it easier to take the risks needed to remain as innovative. As these companies grow, they often experience a downturn in innovation as management rises. In fact, many larger corporations […]
May 19, 2016
Where is the data for disability on boards – and do businesses care? 0
by Neil Barnfather • Comment, Legal news, Workplace
When it comes to diversity on boards, I would confidently say that disability comes in a poor fourth behind gender, age and ethnicity. It’s something I take a great interest in as a blind person, a senior executive who sits on boards and as a start-up champion. While acknowledging a limited perspective, over the years […]
May 19, 2016
High cost for UK’s working mothers as European gender gap persists 0
by Sara Bean • Comment, Flexible working, News, Workplace
New research has been added to the growing body of evidence that a gender gap in employment persists in the UK and across Europe, and that this increases in the UK among working women with children. According to a new report from Glassdoor Economic Research, in a ranking of 18 countries, the UK comes 11th for […]
May 18, 2016
What the imminent arrival of driverless vehicles will mean for the way we work 0
by Mark Eltringham • Cities, Comment, Flexible working, Technology
Game changing technology doesn’t come any more disruptive than driverless vehicles. The problem is that we may find the whole idea easy to dismiss based on our past experiences of this sort of thing. Autonomous vehicles carry the whiff of Tomorrow’s World about them, yet they are about to go mainstream far sooner than we […]
May 18, 2016
Younger working mothers bear the brunt of maternity discrimination 0
by Sara Bean • Comment, Flexible working, Legal news, News, Workplace
As we’ve discussed before, when female workers have children their career prospects and salaries begin to slip. Having kids young and ramping up your career in your late 30s isn’t an option either as many working mothers find it difficult to secure flexible and well paid work with good career prospects while still in the early years of their […]
May 17, 2016
London’s central office market peak driving change for other zones 0
by Tobi Crosbie • Cities, Comment, Facilities management, Property
There are plenty of good reasons to believe that London’s Central office market has hit its peak. Rents are at an all-time high in the majority of core office locations and whilst the start of 2016 has seen rents rise, there is certainly a clear steadying of the pace. According to our own data, the […]
May 16, 2016
Women (and men) don’t enjoy the full wellbeing benefits of flexible working 0
by Dr Daniel Wheatley • Comment, Flexible working, Wellbeing
There has been significant expansion of flexible working arrangements (FWAs) in the last two decades, driven to some degree by the work-life balance agenda. However, in practice work-life balance and flexible working continue to be viewed as a ‘women’s issue’, as women more often reduce hours or work part-time. But recent research conducted by my own department suggests […]
May 12, 2016
Making sense of the relentless babble about flexible working
by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Facilities management, Flexible working, Workplace design
Not a day goes by when some organisation or other isn’t found extolling the virtues of flexible working or urging everybody to adopt the practice. While it’s easy to be cynical about the results of surveys from technology companies which are a staple part of this media onslaught, they are actually on to something. And […]
May 12, 2016
Third of those with mental ill health don’t tell anyone at work 0
by Sara Bean • Comment, News, Wellbeing, Workplace
As our story on levels of unreported stress in UK workplaces revealed yesterday, work is one of the greatest triggers for stress, depression and anxiety, which is why employers are constantly being reminded to look out for and address the causes of mental ill health. However, although it is often work that contributes to stress related […]
May 6, 2016
Can building design presage the decline of the world’s tech giants?
by Mark Eltringham • Architecture, Comment, Technology, Workplace design
At the movies, buildings are often used to denote hubris. The ambitions and egos of Charles Foster Kane and Scarface are embodied in the pleasure domes and gilded cages they erect to themselves and their achievements. Of course, the day they move in is the day things invariably go badly wrong. In the real world […]
May 25, 2016
Urban Millennials are worried about the same things as everybody else 0
by Mark Eltringham • Cities, Comment
The acid test for any survey of the attitudes and experiences of Millennials is whether you could replace its findings with those for another generation and come up with broadly the same results. The answer is very often ‘yes’, which can generally be explained by pointing out that, contrary to what you may have heard, […]