November 3, 2022

Are digital skills the key to a happier, more productive workforce?

by Katy Liddell • Comment, HR, Technology

The rising cost-of-living is impacting life and work in all four corners of the UK. Research from BCC has found that businesses feel compelled to increase their own prices. With costs rising, businesses are facing growing pressures. Not least the need to attract and retain the talent they can depend on to deliver. Research has shown that taking time to upskill current employees, especially in terms of their digital skills, benefits both productivity and engagement at all levels of an organisation. Our own Tech and Battle for Talent report recognises that 42 percent of employees in organisations across the UK would be more likely to stay in their current role if employers provided regular and intensive training, while 47 percent would be happier. More →

September 30, 2022

There is no F in work

by James Woudhuysen • Comment, Flexible working, Wellbeing, Workplace design

Neil Usher is an energetic, wiry critic of workplaces and offices. Long ago – in 2018, actually – his proposal that the good office is composed of 12 simple elements, beginning with daylight, was also energetic and wiry. Here he widens out from the delicious nitty-gritties of temperature control and lighting in The Elemental Workplace to the wider phenomenon of work. As the title already suggests, the style is laden with expletives: there are no fewer than 25 mentions of the word ‘crap’. He is withering, too, about the ‘easiest fat-arsed squatting duck of targets, the hapless office, with its rituals and theatrics’. On top of a fresh, Elemental-style bow to the nostrum of inclusion, there is a critique of management fads, but also reference made to (white male) privilege, plus, in a lofty manner, ‘our essentially Stone Age cognitive wiring’.

June 8, 2022

Burnout doesn’t have to be the inevitable outcome of proving your value at work

by Dr Sahar Yousef • Comment, HR, Wellbeing

Research from Asana shows that three quarters (75 percent) of UK knowledge workers experienced burnout in 2021. Perhaps even more concerning is that over a third (36 percent) of workers believe burnout is inevitable to career success. This worrying and unsustainable trend shows that for many employees, constantly checking email, working weekends, and burning out seems to be the best way to show their value at work. More →

May 11, 2022

Half of workers worried about the financial cost of the return to the office

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

Slack has released the results of a new poll which the firm claims reveals the current state of mental wellbeing among UK workers. Commissioned in partnership with NHS GP and TV Doctor, Dr Sara Kayat, and to mark Mental Health Awareness Week, the survey sets out to examines the impact of the office on wellbeing, the effects of the return to the office after the pandemic and indicates how businesses can build healthier workplaces. More →

January 27, 2022

Flexible working models best for mental health of parents, research claims

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

Employees who are able to split their working time between home and a formal workplace are 40 percent less likely to experience mental health difficulties, new research has shown. Wellbeing charity stem4 surveyed 1038 working parents and carers across the UK to mark Parent Mental Health Day (27th January). It suggests that four in ten overall (39 percent) were experiencing problems – most commonly stress (62 percent), depression (54 percent) and anxiety (50 percent). More →

January 20, 2022

Wellbeing ‘not necessarily’ harmed by long hours, study claims

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing

Putting in overtime often comes at a cost of stress, burnout and depression. But extra work doesn’t always negatively affect wellbeing. In fact, according to recent research from academics ESCP Business School, it could be the opposite. According to the study, the crucial difference lies in the motivation behind the long hours, whether they stem from an inner desire or external pressures. More →

November 2, 2021

Increased workload does not dampen many people’s preference for remote work

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Technology, Wellbeing

According to a Kaspersky survey of 4,303 IT workers, 56 percent of employees have reported an increased workload since switching to remote working, with 19 percent describing the increase as significant. 40 percent did not notice a change in volume, and only 9 percent noted a decrease in the scope of work due to new working conditions. More →

September 20, 2021

The four day week won’t necessarily help us cope with workplace stress

by Abigail Marks • Comment, Flexible working, Wellbeing

Scotland is to become the latest nation to trial a four-day working week, after the SNP government announced it was setting up a £10 million fund to enable some office businesses to cut workers’ hours without reducing their pay. Similar trials are underway in Ireland and Spain, following on from trials in Iceland several years ago. Some firms have also been experimenting with a four day week, while other nations such as Japan are encouraging their employers to think about it too. More →

August 17, 2021

Right to disconnect should be enshrined in law, says report

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

An overtime “epidemic” driven by the rise in home working during the pandemic must be curtailed with new right to disconnect laws, according to a report from think-tank Autonomy. The authors claim that unpaid labour is a growing problem in the UK, exacerbated by home working during the pandemic. They say employees are frequently contacted by their employers after the working day has finished officially to complete tasks, which impacts their mental health. The report proposes draft legislation to implement a ‘right to disconnect’ based on French law, which ensures respect for employee rest periods and allows them to ignore work calls and emails outside of working hours. More →

June 30, 2021

The new era of flexible working and knowing when to lie flat

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Flexible working, Wellbeing

When people first started working from home in large numbers for the first time in the Spring of 2020, one of the most talked about issues was how the productivity of most stayed the same or improved. This shouldn’t have been that surprising given all that we have learned about remote and flexible working over the years, but it certainly drove the debate for a while. More →

June 16, 2021

People have picked up bad cybersecurity habits while working from home

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News, Technology

A new report from Tessian claims that most IT leaders (56 percent) believe their employees have picked up bad cybersecurity behaviours since working from home. As organisations make plans for the post-pandemic hybrid workforce, Tessian’s Back to Work Security Behaviours report highlights how security behaviours have shifted during the past year. More →

May 17, 2021

Long working hours increase deaths from heart disease and stroke, says WHO

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing

Long working hours led to 745,000 deaths from stroke and ischemic heart disease in 2016, a 29 per cent increase since 2000, according to the latest estimates by the World Health Organization and the International Labour Organization published in Environment International today. In what the authors claim is the first global analysis of the loss of life and health associated with working long hours, WHO and ILO estimate that, in 2016, 398 000 people died from stroke and 347,000 from heart disease as a result of having worked at least 55 hours a week. Between 2000 and 2016, the number of deaths from heart disease due to long hours increased by 42 percent, and from stroke by 19 percent. More →