Search Results for: working from home

The shape of things to come for the world and the workplace

The shape of things to come for the world and the workplace

Originally published in March, right at the start of all this. Makes me wonder how far we’ve come in nine months. In Dorian Lynskey’s The Ministry of Truth, a “biography” of Nineteen Eighty-Four, the author describes how Orwell’s  book was the end point of an obsession with utopian (and ultimately dystopian) fiction that characterised the first half of the Twentieth Century, and reflected the competing political, social and economic ideologies of the era. More →

Events of 2020 have proved the value of personal resilience

Events of 2020 have proved the value of personal resilience

No-one could have predicted what 2020 would deliver.  A pandemic, lockdown, moving the workplace into the home. We are in uncharted waters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines resilience as being able to withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions. Resilience is an almost stoic quality, and a pandemic a time of crisis. It almost feels like they are a match made in heaven.  But how does this affect organisations? What can be done? Is it really that important to build employees’ resilience? More →

Organisations weigh up options to make workplace fit for the future

Organisations weigh up options to make workplace fit for the future

a fit for the future workplaceAvison Young, realestateworks and HLM Architects have launched a new report that assesses the impact of this year’s pandemic on workplace and corporate real estate strategies in the longer-term. Over 100 private and public sector companies were asked about their evolving approach to working culture, office design and portfolio strategies in the context of multiple forces of change, including greater resilience, the decarbonisation agenda, personalisation, remote working and the integration of the physical and virtual workspaces. More →

People centric innovation will be key business priority in near future

People centric innovation will be key business priority in near future

InnovationThe pandemic has shaken up business priorities and many predict that it will continue to have lasting influence on the future direction of organisations. It is predicted that innovation and more compassionate leadership will take centre stage, according to a new study by ‘Future Trends in Leadership & Management – shifting priorities’, from The Institute of Leadership & Management. More →

Firms should be aware of the legal implications of employee monitoring

Firms should be aware of the legal implications of employee monitoring

employee monitoringEmployee monitoring is an emotive topic. Businesses may wish to monitor their staff for a variety of reasons. For instance, they may wish to prevent the unauthorised disclosure of confidential or sensitive information, or detect attempts to steal valuable intellectual property. In the current conditions, dominated by the coronavirus pandemic, many businesses have opted to use automated means to monitor staff productivity. However, from an employee’s perspective, the use of monitoring software may be intrusive if not distressing. Further, if it has been implemented without regard to data protection law, it is potentially illegal. More →

Office taxonomy and an increasingly diverse workplace ecosystem

Office taxonomy and an increasingly diverse workplace ecosystem

From the archive. First published in October workplace ecosystem2015. It is perhaps the most common misconception of evolutionary theory that all animals are somehow evolving towards some end point – meaning us. This notion is perhaps best summed up when a sceptic asks: “If we have evolved from monkeys, why are there still monkeys?” The lesser of the two problems with this is its solipsistic assumption that humans are the pinnacles of life and that, if evolution were true, all species would eventually evolve into people. More →

Majority of employees struggling with ‘always on’ work culture

Majority of employees struggling with ‘always on’ work culture

employeesHeightened anxiety during the Covid-19 pandemic has led to employees working longer hours and taking fewer sick days, all the while becoming less fulfilled by work and life, according to the latest analysis from Aviva. More →

Plans for 2 million sq. ft of offices in South East England

Plans for 2 million sq. ft of offices in South East England

developmentsThe Commercial Park Group, a partnership between Sir Robert McAlpine and the John Baker Group, has announced it will invest £200 million to kick-start developments of two million sq ft of new offices across locations in the south east of England. More →

Employee happiness and loyalty tested by furlough schemes

Employee happiness and loyalty tested by furlough schemes

A newly commissioned survey of 1,000 people conducted by Censuswide on behalf of KnowBe4, claims that almost a third of respondents (28 percent) feel less loyal to their employer post-furlough. Of these individuals, 70 percent conceded to either not feeling supported by their employer, receiving little to no information or guidance prior to returning to work and/or did not receive regular communications from them. In fact, the actions employers take, or lack thereof, to ease the transition from furlough appears to play a significant role in employee sentiments upon their return to work.  More →

Creative firms have most to lose from a loss of serendipity

Creative firms have most to lose from a loss of serendipity

creative office designMost 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. More →

Generational stereotypes unhelpful when it comes to digital behaviour

Generational stereotypes unhelpful when it comes to digital behaviour

TechnologyWindsor Telecom decided to take a look into the UK’s current working styles and trends to discover what tools and technologies are needed to bridge the generational gaps in the workplace. 341 people where surveyed to understand if their technology generation matched up with the generation they were born into. More →

London commercial property market shows some resilience

London commercial property market shows some resilience

market

New analysis by McBains, of commercial property transactions worth £100m-plus completed in London over a 12-month period suggest a fall in the total value and volume of deals, but the market holding relatively strong in the face of COVID-19 and uncertainty over the UKs impending EU exit agreement. More →