November 30, 2020

We need to understand and channel workplace conflict in the right way

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 Cummings and Director of Communications, Lee Cain, was precipitated by workplace conflict and a series of internal disagreements, which had pushed their relationships with certain colleagues to breaking point. More →

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 to just 16 percent in the whole of 2019. IT teams were extremely successful in getting staff up-and-running with the right technology, but there was little time for organisations to fully train users before driving adoption, or personalise the approach based on individual need. This places a new onus on HR teams. More →

November 12, 2020

New to working from home? Here is how you should set up

by Freddie Steele • Company news

The past year has been something of a game-changer in many ways and perhaps one of the most unexpected has been how people have had to embrace the idea of working from home. More →

November 5, 2020

Leadership in a new age of virtuality

by Andrew Mawson • Comment, Facilities management, Property, Technology, Workplace design

We are living through a fundamental transformation in the way we work. The pandemic has forced organisations to go virtual. New government guidelines, including a tiered alert system, suggest that this will be the norm for the foreseeable future. But step back from the noise and it is easy to see how the current crisis is simply accelerating the inevitable. A confluence of forces, including advancements in technology and infrastructure, increasing globalisation, shifting demographics and COVID-19, has enabled greater connectivity and mobility, making obvious to organisations, their leadership and individuals the wisdom of adopting flexible work models. More →

October 15, 2020

Working women face new challenges in the era of Covid

by Jayne Smith • News, Working culture

The latest edition of the Women in the Workplace survey from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) claims working women across the green building industry are facing historic challenges in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. Of nearly 500 women surveyed, 86 percent are feeling supported by employers, yet nearly 90 percent note they are still facing challenges when it comes to financial, familial and professional responsibilities. More →

September 18, 2020

Supporting hybrid teams, both in and out of the office

by Jayne Smith • News, Working lives

As the UK is in the midst of the traditional ‘back to school’ period, many workplaces are debating over when to return to the office, and how. The sudden move to remote working during lockdown has proven that a new hybrid way of working is in fact possible for numerous organisations, but this has come at the expense of face to face communication and in person collaboration. More →

September 2, 2020

Stress and burnout threaten the benefits of working from home

by Jayne Smith • News, Wellbeing

A new study by Adaptavist, suggests the threats to long-term productivity and employee wellbeing posed by improvised solutions during the transition to remote work. Overall, 82 percent of people report they are equally (47 percent) if not more productive (35 percent) working from home, and company-wide communications have improved during the pandemic. However, the lack of a shared understanding of which tool to use and how to communicate with it, combined with the ‘always on’ nature of working from home, brings added stress and motivational challenges for remote workers. More →

August 3, 2020

Isaac Asimov’s remarkable 1964 predictions about life and work in the 21st Century

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Technology, Wellbeing, Workplace design

Making predictions about the future can leave people hostages to fortune. Just ask the Decca record executive Dick Rowe who in 1962 rejected a contract with The Beatles confidently asserting that “guitar groups are on their way out, Mr Epstein” or even multi-billionaire Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer who declared in 2007 that “there’s no chance that the iPhone is going to get any significant market share.” Some people buck the trend however. More →

July 31, 2020

Return to work offers us a unique opportunity to change everything

by Simone Fenton-Jarvis • Comment, Facilities management

The way we worked before covid was fundamentally broken; our wellbeing, our climate and our business efficiency. The genie is out of the bottle; going back just simply isn’t an option. When considering the return to work, there are organisations making knee-jerk decisions trying to avoid a complex minefield of potential missteps which could impact the safety of their employees and health of their business. Simply creating a ‘covid secure’ workplace right now would be a great opportunity lost in cementing real change and transformation into the world of work; for our wellbeing and our planet. More →

July 29, 2020

Remote work and office life go hand in hand in a flexible future

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Property

The COVID-19 pandemic changed numerous aspects of how we live and work and led to a massive remote work experiment. A JLL survey of more than 3,000 employees working in multi-national companies across the globe claims that 71 percent of people have worked from home during the pandemic, and that 58 percent missed the office and 44 percent missed human interaction and socialising with colleagues. The largest cohort who missed the office was the under 35s, or millennials, with 65 percent citing poor home-office environments and missing support from their managers.

July 23, 2020

BCO launches podcast to explore the future of offices

by Mark Eltringham • Company news, Property

The British Council for Offices (BCO) has launched its first podcast, a 12-episode series, hosted by chief executive Richard Kauntze, which explores how COVID-19 is impacting the office, both in the long and short term. The interviews are edited versions of a recently run video series by the BCO. More →

July 22, 2020

Employee anxiety and stress levels massively up on last year

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing

Anxiety in employees has rocketed over the last year, according to a new report from Inpulse. The research, which includes the views of over 3,000 UK employees, claims that anxiety is the most dominant negative emotion at work and has risen 240 percent over the same period as last year – up from 5 percent to 17 percent. Stress is another high negative emotion for employees, at 11 percent, while Isolation rates stands at 7 percent. More →