May 4, 2021

Why some people are more productive working from home than others

by Stephen Bevan • Features, Flexible working, Wellbeing

Has working at home during lockdown made people more productive or not? This has been the subject of some lively debate recently. Many companies do not routinely measure productivity. A large number will have traditionally assumed that they get the highest output when staff work longer hours or under close supervision, but remote working is clearly causing some to re-evaluate this. Major firms, for instance professional services group PwC, have been sufficiently impressed to make remote working a permanent option for their staff. More →

April 13, 2021

After a year of lockdowns, people are burnt-out but happier

by Steven Buck • Comment, Wellbeing

Glint’s latest insights report shows that there is a worrying increase in employees experiencing challenges with their mental health, with burnout risk trending upwards year-over-year. That spiked in late March 2020 and climbed by nearly 4 percent between August and December 2020. That’s not a big surprise, given the first challenging months of the global pandemic. Paradoxically, employees say that despite feeling burnt-out, they also feel happier at work at the end of a year of lockdown than they did at the start. Is this some sort of contradiction—or evidence of something very encouraging about the state of HR? More →

March 29, 2021

Mental health transparency at the top is the key to workplace wellbeing

by Elaine Carnegie • Comment, Wellbeing

As the world emerges from the grip of the pandemic, the mental health crisis continues to worsen. One thing is for certain as we look to rebuild – the business community must put the mental health of all employees as top priority. But is there something that’s missing in the current conversation around workplace mental health and wellbeing? One thought is around leaders themselves, and that intrinsic connection to their own mental health and wellbeing. What many leaders have been carrying throughout the pandemic is exceptional, including the added weight of responsibility for the wellbeing and mental health of employees and to create mentally healthy workplaces, yet we rarely hear how leaders themselves are coping. More →

February 2, 2021

Working from home spells trouble for the careers of younger workers

by Helen Jamieson • Comment, Flexible working

Lockdown meant that the choice to work from home was made for us. However, for many the decision to continue to do so post-lockdown will be a personal choice. The question we should all ask ourselves is, whether when we are outside of any lockdown restrictions, is working from home really a workplace revolution or simply an act of selfishness? For thousands of workers who’ve spent years of their lives commuting to offices that feel more like soul-less factories than inspiring and engaging workplaces, it’s no wonder that enforced work from home has proven popular. More →

November 16, 2020

Built environment sector must think in radical ways and act quickly

by Neil Franklin • Cities, Environment, News

The construction sector, the real estate industry and city planners must give high priority to the same goal – to drastically reduce their climate impacts. Powerful, combined efforts across all of the built environment sectors are absolutely crucial for the potential to achieve the UN’s sustainability goals. And what’s more – everything has to happen very quickly. These are the cornerstones to a roadmap presented at the recent Beyond 2020 World Conference. More →

October 22, 2020

Everybody needs to be prepared for a new digital workplace

by Simon Hayward • Comment, Flexible working, Technology

Graduates today are largely considered to be the ‘net generation’. Growing up whilst social media accelerated, their years in higher education have been synonymous with digital literacy, even before COVID-19 turned their studies entirely virtual. This monumental move into a digital workplace also echoed throughout the job market. As offices closed in Spring and millions were furloughed across hospitality, retail and travel, demand spiked by 36 percent for roles advertised in the digital tech sector. More →

September 21, 2020

Time to get on board with the psychological effects of working from home

by Jörg Bakschas • Comment, Flexible working, Wellbeing

It almost goes without saying that this year has seen a rapid shift towards remote working, with many companies now moving to a flexible working model. From a business perspective, many employees are proving that they can still get their work done working from home. But what is the psychological impact of this? And are companies doing enough to research and prevent any negative psychological effects of remote working? More →

September 11, 2020

The next chapter for office life, remote work and the stories we tell about it all

by Mark Eltringham • Comment

One of the few interesting things about the deluge of tedious work-related stories over the last few months has been watching the narratives about remote work, office life and all the rest of it develop. Of course, you’ll still get the odd piece like this, a rambling, lazy string of unexamined clichés that could have been written by a bot. And soon will be. More →

September 2, 2020

New strategy tackles the post-COVID climate emergency

by Jayne Smith • Environment, News

Supported by its Green Building Councils and their members, the WorldGBC (World Green Building Council) network has launched Sustainable Buildings for Everyone, Everywhere — a new strategy to accelerate and mainstream the transformation of built environments around the world. Based on climate science and the Global Goals of Sustainable Development (SDGs), the strategy tackles global warming, health and wellbeing and resource impacts to deliver quality infrastructure — a critical need for our planet, communities and economies in the context of the COVID pandemic.
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August 20, 2020

Workers only apply newly learned skills half of the time

by Jayne Smith • News, Workplace

Employees are applying only 54 percent of the new skills they learn, despite the number of skills required for a single job increasing by 10 percent year on year, according to Gartner, Inc. Gartner TalentNeuron data also claims that 33 percent of the skills needed three years ago are no longer relevant. More →

August 11, 2020

UK businesses lead the way on lockdown wellbeing

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing

Business leaders around the world have focused on protecting their employees in their immediate COVID-19 response, with UK CEOs leading the pack on mental wellbeing support. Some 93 percent of UK CEOs (92 percent globally) prioritised protecting employee health and safety over everything else. However, UK CEOs were found to have been significantly more focused on their employees’ mental wellbeing than their global counterparts, with 90 percent providing wellbeing support and initiatives, compared with 61 percent of CEOs globally. More →

July 7, 2020

Overcoming the fear of going out

by Michelle McQuaid • Comment, Wellbeing

Over the last several months, some workers have exhibited a new ailment that has got nothing to do with the COVID-19 pandemic that sent them scurrying home to set up virtual offices in the first place. It’s called FOGO, as coined by Forbes magazine contributing writer Jodie Cook, and it refers to a new phenomenon known as the “Fear of Going Out”.