March 31, 2021

From the archive: A new approach to office design is redefining property ⁰

by Gary Chandler • Comment, Facilities management, Property, Workplace design

At the end of the 18th Century it was becoming apparent that overpopulation was something the human race would need to address for perhaps the first time. Advances in technology and the urbanisation that followed the Industrial Revolution had created a new set of challenges. These were most famously laid out in a 1798 book called An Essay on the Principle of Population, written by an English cleric called Thomas Malthus.

March 16, 2021

Half of freelancers planning to stop contracting in the UK after IR35 reforms

by Jayne Smith • Business, News, Working lives

Half (50 percent) of freelancers are planning to stop contracting in the UK after the changes to IR35 come into effect in April – unless they can get contracts unaffected by the changes – according to new research by IPSE (the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed). Instead, they are planning to seek contracts abroad (24 percent), stop working altogether (12 percent), seek an employed role (17 percent) or retire within the next year (11 percent). More →

March 9, 2021

New guidance for renewable energy procurement and carbon offsetting

by Jayne Smith • Environment, News

The UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) has published Renewable Energy Procurement and Carbon Offsetting Guidance for Net Zero Carbon Buildings. This guidance provides clarity for the property and construction industry on the procurement of high-quality renewable energy and carbon offsets for net zero buildings and organisations in the UK. More →

March 5, 2021

From the archive: Flexible working may improve productivity, but does it diminish creativity?

by Maciej Markowski • Comment, Flexible working, Workplace

Originally published in December 2014. Homeworking seems to have become a bit of a hot topic this year, but one sentence published on the www.gov.uk website brought a cold sweat to the brows of many managers and employees across the United Kingdom. “From 30 June 2014, all employees have the legal right to request flexible working – not just parents and carers.” More →

March 4, 2021

Highly educated entrepreneurs rarely want to grow their firms

by Jayne Smith • Business, News, Working culture

Highly educated solo-entrepreneurs value the autonomy of their work above everything else and as a result do not want to employ people, according to new research from Trinity Business School. The researchers used a survey to interview solo entrepreneurs as they started their business to investigate their hiring plans. They claim that only one third of solo entrepreneurs intend to hire employees later on. More →

March 4, 2021

Work is the silver lining to the pandemic for employees

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought anxiety to many, but people are positive about their work, claims a new survey from The Myers-Briggs Company, which looks at how people’s personality type influences their feelings about the pandemic. More →

March 2, 2021

Two thirds of small businesses predict return to business as usual in 2021

by Jayne Smith • Business, News

There is real optimism amongst small businesses owners that their businesses will return to pre-COVID normality by the end of the year, claims Tide. In a study conducted amongst small business leaders (of up to 50 employees), over two thirds (64 percent) agreed it was likely that with the successful vaccine roll-out their businesses could get back to normal before the end of 2021. More →

February 18, 2021

Two million people in the UK have not worked for at least six months

by Neil Franklin • Business, News

Almost two million workers were unemployed or fully furloughed in January – and had been for at least six months – highlighting the scale of lasting damage to the UK’s labour force that will need to be addressed in the Budget, according to major new research published today by the Resolution Foundation. Long Covid in the labour market – supported by the Health Foundation – examines the state of the labour market during the current lockdown, the cumulative impact of the longer than expected crisis so far, and workers’ prospects for the months ahead as the economy starts to recover. More →

January 20, 2021

Work-life balance is the key to workplace happiness

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Working lives

Research by Ezra, digital coaching provider, claims that work-life balance is the driving factor behind happiness in the UK workplace. The survey claims that a notable 78 percent of those in employment are happy in their current job. More →

December 18, 2020

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

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

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 →

December 18, 2020

Working from home stresses have had the greatest impact on women

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

A review of research in organisational and workplace psychology conducted by an international team of academics claims that working from home has been more disruptive for women than men. The review paper, entitled COVID-19 and the Workplace: Implications, Issues, and Insights for Future Research and Action and originally published in American Psychologist, features urgent insight from UCL School of Management Professor, Sunny Lee into the sex- and gender-related implications of changes in work practices that have taken place over the course of 2020. More →

December 10, 2020

Three quarters of US workers suffering from burnout

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing

A December 2020 online study of 1,136 employed U.S. adults carried out by wellbeing provider Spring Health claims that more than three-quarters (76 percent) of U.S. employees are currently experiencing worker burnout. The coronavirus pandemic — along with major political upheavals and natural disasters ranging from wildfires to hurricanes — has led to skyrocketing rates of depression, anxiety, and stress for U.S. employees, setting the stage for another crisis: worker burnout. Among U.S. employees experiencing worker burnout, 57 percent say worries about COVID-19 have been a contributing factor to their experiencing burnout, while 33 percent say worries about political issues have contributed to the problem. More →