August 3, 2020

Firms not doing enough to support flexible working

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News

A new study from academics at the University of Kent and the University of Birmingham claims that organisations still have work to do when it comes to understanding people’s experiences of flexible working. The report titled ‘Working from home during the COVID-19 lockdown: Changing preferences and the future of work’ was undertaken by researchers at the Work Autonomy, Flexibility and Work-Life Balance Project (Kent), and the Equal Parenting Project (Birmingham). 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 30, 2020

The golden age of procrastination and the tyranny of time keeping ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Features, Wellbeing, Workplace

Many of us start each day with a long to-do list, a new set of goals and a commitment not to repeat the same mistakes we have in the past. It’s likely that we will have promised ourselves to stop putting things off. On our hit list of the foibles we most want to dispose of, procrastination will be somewhere near the top. The problem is that because procrastination is linked to psychological factors such as an innate preference to do something we deem pleasurable to something we don’t, modern life encourages us to do it. More →

July 30, 2020

Working from home parents have struggled during lockdown

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News

New research from the University of Kent and the University of Birmingham suggests that the recent surge in the number of people working from home during the COVID-19 lockdown has presented significant challenges for those who are parents, particularly mothers. Despite this, the shift has also changed the way that many people intend to work in the future. 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 29, 2020

Many firms say over half of workforce will be gig workers in near future

by Neil Franklin • News, Workplace

An updated report from Aon claims that 26 percent of European HR directors believe that half of their workforces will comprise of so-called gig workers in five years time, while 18 percent of UK respondents say that 75 percent or more of their workforce will be made up of contractors over the same period. More →

July 27, 2020

Job market in London hit hardest by coronavirus pandemic

by Neil Franklin • News, Workplace

New analysis of online vacancy data suggests that parts of London are now the most economically at risk from the coronavirus pandemic. The analysis of the UK job market compares the number of people claiming unemployment-related benefits in each local area with the number of vacancies. It claims that the four areas with the highest number of unemployed per vacancy are London Boroughs – Lambeth, Haringey, Brent, and Barking and Dagenham – with more than forty claimants chasing each available job. More than a third of all areas with thirty or more claimants-per-vacancy are London Boroughs. More →

July 27, 2020

Bene launches Pearson Lloyd designed PORTS system

by Freddie Steele • Company news

Created by the well-known London design studio PearsonLloyd, and a pre-launch winner of the “Red Dot Design Award: best of Best” and the “iF Gold Awaard 2020”: Bene has launched a revolutionary office concept in the form of a completely new design line – PORTS. The world is changing and we are changing with it. Stability, flexibility and agility are the key success factors for dynamic organisations. PORTS embodies this new reality in interior design and furnishings, creating multifunctional spaces that allow for many different styles of working and that are flexibly adaptable. PORTS is both a design line and an office concept, bringing people, ideas and functions together – to lead together. More →

July 24, 2020

Wellbeing directly linked to levels of engagement with art

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing

Direct exposure to art has a significant effect on our wellbeing in ways that researchers cannot fathom completely, a new paper in the journal Emotion suggests. The study, co-authored by Peter Todderdell at the University of Sheffield and Giulia Poerio at the University Essex, explores the effects of engaging with art rather than taking part in artistic endeavours and other activities. More →

July 23, 2020

Firms whose leaders aim to serve, enjoy higher profits and employee morale

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Managers who put themselves at the service of their teams, rather than the other way around, actually have a positive impact on profit, according to new research led by academics at emlyon business school. This claims to be the first research paper to find that, not only does servant leadership improve employee morale, but it also increases company profit too. The paper, published in the Journal of Business Ethics complements what was previously the general consensus on servant leadership; it’s good for people management and employee morale, but did not positively impact on company performance or profits. More →

July 23, 2020

Balancing the rights and responsibilities of employee wellbeing

by Nathan Berkley • Comment, Wellbeing

Health and wellbeing has been at the top of the agenda for HR departments for a long, long time, but there’s nothing like a global health emergency to catalyse a fundamental rethink of how you approach your responsibilities as an employer. Corporate healthcare has moved from the remedial approach to curing existing ills, to the preventive approach that encourages employees to take care of themselves through services such as gym membership. More →

July 22, 2020

Don’t be a commute Canute, Boris

by Andrew Mawson • Comment, Flexible working

So, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has told the British people to get back to work by Christmas. This means that millions would be renewing their season tickets, getting up in darkness to dress up for work, crowding onto those trains, buses and tubes while swaddled in facemasks and battling their way into the office (which for the time being will be a pretty dull experience with social distancing). More →