July 23, 2021

The unshocking truth about work and workplaces

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Workplace design

I recently read an interesting little book called Office by Sheila Liming. It’s a small book, easy to read in a sitting and linked to a series of essays in The Atlantic. The author is a Professor of English so it’s no surprise to find that it’s beautifully written and draws on a range of sources to illustrate its points. It’s pretty sound on its own terms but also illustrates perfectly what is wrong with so many current narratives about work. The writing may not be clichéd but the thinking often is. More →

July 23, 2021

HRIS software sets out on a people-centric future

by Freddie Steele • Company news, Technology, Workplace

In the past, Human Resources Information System (HRIS) software was largely created with the needs of HR professionals and system administrators in mind. The future of HRIS however, is an employee-centric system which has been come to be known as an Employee Experience Platform (EXP). PeopleSpheres is an EXP that centralizes all HR functions within a single portal. With this tool, employees and HR teams alike can seamlessly navigate between the different HR applications within their organisation while being confident that they have the best tools on the market to manage each part of the employee life cycle. More →

July 22, 2021

Flexible working valued at equivalent of £4,000 a year, say workers

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News

UK office workers would need a £4,000 salary bump to tempt them back to the office full-time. This is according to new research released today by Locatee – a workspace occupancy and analytics provider. Commissioned by YouGov, the Locatee research explores more than 1,000 UK office workers’ attitudes towards remote and flexible working, and the effects on job satisfaction, productivity, and security. More →

July 22, 2021

European workers positive about post pandemic partial move back to the office

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News, Working culture

With much of Europe having worked remotely for over a year and many continuing to do so for the foreseeable future, new insights from Sharp, claims that there is a significant appetite among European workers to return to the office for some of the working week. More →

July 22, 2021

Hybrid working poses challenges of culture, morale and training

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News, Working culture

As increasing numbers of companies offer post-pandemic hybrid working for employees, the challenges it poses to maintaining culture, morale, effective training and staff loyalty have been disclosed in a new survey of senior executives. More →

July 21, 2021

UK workers hesitant to return to the office

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

New research commissioned by Kadence claims that despite restrictions being lifted, office workers in the UK are resistant to a full-time office return. The survey of 1,500 UK and US office workers claims that over half of British workers (55 percent) still expect to spend fewer days in the office per week, with more than a third wanting to come and go as they please (35 percent). More →

July 21, 2021

British Safety Council launches updated Five Star Audit specifications for 2021

by Jayne Smith • News

The British Safety Council has revised and updated their Five Star Occupational Health and Safety Audit. It now places greater emphasis on assessing how effectively an organisation manages the combined risks to workers’ health and wellbeing, as well as business resilience and recovery. More →

July 20, 2021

Firms don’t use artificial intelligence much, so the current hype is tripe

by Wim Naudé • Features, Technology

Many governments are increasingly approaching artificial intelligence with an almost religious zeal. By 2018 at least 22 countries around the world, and also the EU, had launched grand national strategies for making AI part of their business development, while many more had announced ethical frameworks for how it should be allowed to develop. The EU documents more than 290 AI policy initiatives in individual EU member states between 2016 and 2020. More →

July 20, 2021

Majority of organisations are still developing a workplace strategy

by Jayne Smith • Business, Flexible working, News

According to a new survey from XpertHR, 70 percent of organisations are still actively planning or considering permanent changes to where employees carry out their work as lockdown restrictions are lifted. Fewer than one in 20 (4 percent) are not contemplating any changes. More →

July 20, 2021

Employees urge workplaces to focus on mental health as world reopens

by Jayne Smith • News, Wellbeing, Working culture

Access to workplace counsellors, mental health training and support groups are topping the charts on what workers want on their return to the office, according to new research by CERT Property. More →

July 19, 2021

Over two thirds of office workers dread speaking to their IT department

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

Research by Velocity Smart Technology, investigating how IT departments are coping with a move to remote working, claims that almost half (45 percent) of office workers have had to wait longer for an issue to be resolved whilst working from home – with 73 percent going on to say they have had to wait up to an extra five hours for an issue to be fixed. More →

July 19, 2021

British workers have picked up at least two new career driven rituals during lockdown

by Jayne Smith • News, Working lives

Additional time on people’s hands as a result of the pandemic has prompted the average British worker to pick up a range of good habits for their careers, according to a new study by Hitachi Capital Business Finance. More →