Search Results for: flexible

August 14, 2017

Seven ways in which flexible working is making our lives more rigid

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Flexible working, Technology

One of the main reasons why books such as Catch 22 and 1984 make such mediocre films, is because celluloid struggles to capture the books’ preoccupation with the ways in which language can be used to subvert meaning and rationality. We don’t always have to lean on the bookcase to see how this works. It’s been evident recently in the coverage of the massive growth of zero hours working worldwide, although they have now been banned in New Zealand. There are now up to 1.5 million people on zero hours contracts in the UK and the adjective most commonly associated with the practice in the media coverage has been ‘flexible’, despite the fact that from the perspective of the majority of the people working on such contracts they are anything but. It’s yet another example of the subversion in our use of the term flexible working. It’s Doublespeak; an expression which means something completely different to, or indeed the opposite of, the thing it is describing.

July 31, 2017

The partners of men with flexible working hours have higher incomes

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News

A new study suggests that the partners of men who have access to flexible working earn significantly more than those who have more rigid working cultures. The study of German couples, conducted by Dr Laura Langner at the University of Oxford’s Department of Sociology, explored changes in incomes once at least one partner is able to begin flexible working. The study suggests that once men started working flexible hours, their wives’ hourly wages increased significantly, particularly if they were mothers (14.2 percent after four years). The husband’s own hourly wages also increased by 7.4 percent over the following four years.

July 24, 2017

Flexible working increasingly seen as top option, claims major new study

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, Workplace

A new report from ManpowerGroup Solutions claims that 40 percent of job candidates cite flexible working as one of their three most important career considerations. The firm polled 14,000 people in 19 countries. Among the countries surveyed, the US had the highest percentage of job candidates who want work flexibility (45 percent). A majority (63 percent) of workers said they believe they can work outside the office, and the number of men who want flexibility has significantly increased according to the study. The report, Work, for Me: Understanding Candidate Preferences for Flexibility, Manpower Group Solutions claims to offer ‘both the immediate steps and the long-term actions that companies can take to better meet their prospective employees’ preferences around flexibility’.

July 13, 2017

What we may be missing about IBM’s decision on flexible working ⁰

by Gary Chandler • Comment, Flexible working, Property, Workplace design

In May, the Wall Street Journal reported that IBM had announced that it was obliging a significant number of its staff to give up on remote working and instead move back to corporate offices, many of them regional hubs. Although we had been aware of the change in policy since February, the issue only went viral as a result of the WSJ story. Comparisons were quickly made with Yahoo’s poorly received decision to summon staff back to its corporate HQ in 2013 and commentators expressed dismay that such a major corporation would be willing to return to the command and control structures of a previous era, especially given its sector and track record of encouraging flexible working. What such commentary missed was a particular nuance of the story that might suggest this is more of a continuation of existing IBM policy than they have been given credit for.

July 7, 2017

Flexible and family friendly workplaces across the UK named in charity’s awards ⁰

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Britain’s most family friendly and flexible employers have been recognised in this year’s Top Employers for Working Families Awards. Now in their 8th year, the annual Top Employers for Working Families Special Awards from the UK’s work life balance charity cover 11 categories across a range of work life policies and practices. Four new sector-specific awards are being introduced this year for the private, public and third sectors; as well as a category for small employers. Sarah Jackson OBE, chief executive of Working Families, said: “In many ways, flexible working and family friendly working have never been more part of the bloodstream of British business. We had a record-breaking number of entries this year, showcasing a wealth of exciting approaches to creating agility in the workplace. Congratulations to all this year’s Top Employers for Working Families award winners, singled out because they offer leading flexible workplaces that support the grain of their employees’ lives. I look forward to working with them to make work work, for people, families and the economy, so that families thrive and business prospers.”

July 3, 2017

One in five employees are too scared to ask for flexible working rights ⁰

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Workplace

Over one in five (21 percent) UK private sector employees – equivalent to 5.5m nationally – are too afraid to discuss flexible working with their boss because they think they will say no, Aviva’s Working Lives report claims. The findings come despite employees having the legal right to make a ‘statutory application’ to their employer to change their working pattern . Those aged 35-49 are the most likely to refrain from exercising this right despite the challenge some in this age group may face with juggling work and family life: nearly one in four (24 percent) shy away from starting a conversation for fear of rejection.

June 22, 2017

KI helps to create agile, flexible workspace at Paramount Pictures’ UK HQ ⁰

by Neil Franklin • Company news, Furniture, Insight promotion

KI has helped film production giant Paramount Pictures create an agile, flexible new workspace at their stunning new UK headquarters. Drenched in natural light, the offices offer staff and visitors views over the adjacent green space and lake, as well as sweeping views across London. Spread across two floors at Chiswick Park, the offices also accommodate the team of Paramount subsidiary United International Pictures. Working alongside office furniture supplier Rapid Office, Paramount Pictures selected KI’s UK designed and manufactured workstations, tables, storage, workwalls and breakout screening, enhanced by a palette of 12 colours from Camira’s Lucia fabric range. The vibrant combination of blues, purples, greens and beige have been used to differentiate departments.

June 21, 2017

British Land launches Storey flexible workspace brand ⁰

by Neil Franklin • Company news, Flexible working, Property

British Land has launched Storey, a new brand providing flexible workspace for businesses employing between 20 to 70 people and larger organisations seeking additional space on flexible terms. Created to fill a perceived gap in the London office market which customers say is not being satisfied, Storey provides offices for companies who have outgrown co-working space and whose needs have evolved. Storey also suits existing or larger office customers seeking project or shorter term space on top of their core requirements. Storey will operate within British Land’s existing London assets, predominantly at its Broadgate, Paddington Central and Regent’s Place campuses. These have ‘a critical mass of office customers and offer the ideal environment for ambitious organisations looking to grow. Storey customers will be able to access facilities traditionally reserved for larger organisations and automatically benefit from the broader campus environment where a focus on wellbeing also supports growth and productivity.’

June 19, 2017

Commercial property giant acquires controlling stake in London based flexible office provider ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Company news, Flexible working, Property

While we should never read too much into a single piece of business, the news that one of the world’s largest property investors is buying a young and still growing British flexible office provider is surely a sign of things to come. As Blackstone, a private equity giant with £140 billion of real estate assets worldwide acquires a controlling stake in The Office Group for £500 million, we must view the deal in the context of a market in which the most dynamic players are WeWork and its contemporaries. The Office Group has grown from seven buildings to thirty-six since it was founded in 2003 and provides flexible office and coworking space to start-ups, freelancers, small businesses and increasingly, corporates such as Facebook, Dropbox and British Gas.

May 31, 2017

IBM’s retreat from flexible working. The world responds ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Flexible working

In February 2013, Yahoo set off a mighty global stink when it sent a memo telling staff to forget about working from home, Starbucks, wherever and return to its corporate embrace. The intention of recently installed CEO Marissa Mayer was to increase collaboration and productivity by getting everybody in the same space. There is some logic to this, except for one thing. As Andrea Hak wrote for us in her masterful post mortem of the whole debacle last year: “With this change Yahoo was trying to attack a symptom rather than the root of the problem. Pitting employees against each other in a stack ranking style system actually discourages collaboration. The experiences of companies that ditched this system have shown that employees are more likely to try and undermine the competition than work together.” So who in the tech sector would possibly make the same mistake again? The answer is IBM.

May 19, 2017

Senior public sector managers feel more able to enjoy flexible working ⁰

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Public Sector

A growing number of senior managers in the UK public sector feel they are able to enjoy flexible working, although workloads remain a constraining factor, claims a new study by the FDA Union which represents senior civil servants. The study found that nearly all public sector bodies now offer some form of flexible working, but uptake is held back by job pressures. More than one in six managers now say they are able to work flexibly, according to a survey by the FDA union, a figure which has risen markedly over the last year. Nearly all respondents (95 percent) said their employer had flexible working policies in place, a slight increase from the previous year’s survey, when 93 percent of respondents said such policies were in place.

April 28, 2017

Poor home telecoms services deter four million employees from flexible working ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Technology

The UK’s appetite for remote and flexible working is being hampered by prohibitively slow broadband speeds and poor mobile coverage, according to new research from uSwitch.com. A quarter of employees (25 percent) have experienced issues with their telecoms services over the last year, resulting in a staggering four million being prevented from working from home. In the last 12 months, 43 percent of UK employees have worked from home at least once as people are taking advantage of the increasingly flexible work environments offered by businesses – a figure which rises to 55 percent amongst 18-34 year olds. Yet six in ten (58 percent) have fallen foul of sluggish internet speeds and patchy call quality in the last year alone. The problems have been so severe for half (46 percent) of those with issues that they believe they are no longer able to work from home while these problems persist.