Search Results for: lockdown

Events of 2020 have proved the value of personal resilience

Events of 2020 have proved the value of personal resilience

No-one could have predicted what 2020 would deliver.  A pandemic, lockdown, moving the workplace into the home. We are in uncharted waters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines resilience as being able to withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions. Resilience is an almost stoic quality, and a pandemic a time of crisis. It almost feels like they are a match made in heaven.  But how does this affect organisations? What can be done? Is it really that important to build employees’ resilience? More →

Working from home stresses have had the greatest impact on women

Working from home stresses have had the greatest impact on women

working from homeA 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 →

Preparing for a mental health epidemic is a shared responsibility

Preparing for a mental health epidemic is a shared responsibility

mental healthWith the continuous impact of the pandemic on people’s mental health due to isolation, work uncertainty, and anxiety over health, the topic has been dominating the news, begging the question of how we can achieve accessible and cost-effective treatment for all and prevent the expected acceleration of mental health issues in the coming months. As we juggle a different type of work-life balance brought about by working from home and the added worry of how the pandemic is affecting us, there is no doubt that our daily lives have been disrupted. The statistics are alarming; 60 percent of adults reported their mental health had gotten worse during the COVID-19 lockdown, and 51 percent said their mental health has got worse during this period. More →

The majority of employees admit to boozing while working from home

The majority of employees admit to boozing while working from home

working from homeTo say that 2020 has been a tough year is an understatement, and it appears that there has been an increase in the amount of alcohol being consumed whilst working from home since the pandemic began, according to Health and Safety software company Protecting.co.uk. More →

Workers feel overworked as a result of the pandemic

Workers feel overworked as a result of the pandemic

pandemicHardworking professionals are feeling the effects of longer working days and unpaid overtime, according to new research by law firm, Wright Hassall. The research claims that the average worker is performing nine or more hours of overtime in a given week, which totals more than one working day, compared to just three or more hours before the start of the pandemic. What’s more, 52 percent are actually doing so without being paid for this. More →

19 million annual leave days lost in the UK

19 million annual leave days lost in the UK

annual leaveAs lockdown restrictions and tier systems continue to cause chaos, Direct Line Travel Insurance claims 16 million UK workers still have unused annual leave as we near the end of 2020. With many unsure what to use holiday for as they are unable to go away or socialise with people, more than 19 million days of annual leave look set to be lost by UK employees. More →

Small businesses suffer most furlough stress

Small businesses suffer most furlough stress

furloughNew research from absence intelligence company e-days, claims that stress levels have spiked twice in 2020 following the changes to the furlough schemes. These peaks were especially noticeable in organisations with fewer than 250 employees as the effects of the pandemic proved more challenging for small and medium sized businesses (SMEs). More →

The lost art of office furniture peacocking and the growing mental health crisis at work

The lost art of office furniture peacocking and the growing mental health crisis at work

When Donald Trump was pictured recently sitting uncomfortably at a table that looked like it had been retrieved from a skip, it provoked the sort of sneering commentary about furniture choices last seen when Dominic Cummings popped in to the Downing Street garden to deliver some self-serving blather from behind a rickety trestle table. More →

Half of people say working from home has improved their relationships

Half of people say working from home has improved their relationships

A shining example of working from homeA new study from Perkbox claims that the increased amount of time spent at home together under lockdown has actually strengthened many people’s personal relationships. Just under half (45 percent) of employees claim that their relationship with the people they live with has become stronger during their time working from home together. 51 percent say that their relationship is the same as before, with just 4 percent feeling that their relationship is now not as strong. More →

Hybrid working presents us with a once in a generation opportunity

Hybrid working presents us with a once in a generation opportunity

hybrid workingIn the face of the revolutionary and long-lasting changes to workplaces across the world resulting from the pandemic, some commentators have suggested that the wide-spread necessity of adopting remote working practices may have made the office obsolete. However, such a dramatic upheaval to the very foundation of the workplace and working dynamic won’t come without a cost, and new data suggests that perhaps the office isn’t the dinosaur many assumed, but still a central pillar to effective businesses as part of a hybrid working strategy. More →

Businesses must face up to risks beyond the pandemic

Businesses must face up to risks beyond the pandemic

RisksThere’s no question what has occupied the majority of attention for risk managers during 2020. But Healix International, believes the all-consuming consequences of the pandemic could leave governments and employers exposed to other risks in 2021. More →

The great lesson of 2020 for small businesses is to be ready for anything

The great lesson of 2020 for small businesses is to be ready for anything

small businessesThe repercussions of Covid-19 for the small business community have been particularly ruinous. Recent figures paint a worrying picture, revealing that approximately 76,300 SMEs in London alone ceased operations completely as a direct result of the pandemic, with lockdowns costing from £30,000 to £75,000 for one in ten small businesses. As the most vulnerable business segment in the current crisis, SMEs needed the biggest support and, by the end of April, had already received over £4 billion via the government’s CBIL scheme. More →