September 2, 2020

Video call fatigue amounts to millions of unproductive businesses hours

by Jayne Smith • News, Technology, Wellbeing

A recent study, which was commissioned by Bayfields Opticians & Audiologists and questioned 2000 people, claims people spent an average of three hours and 12 minutes each week on video calls – an increase of 120 percent compared to before lockdown. Connected Brits admit to spending hours getting ready for work-related video calls during lockdown and struggling to get back into the zone once the call is over, leading to millions of hours of ‘wasted’ work time since lockdown.

September 1, 2020

Large majority of people want to continue some form of flexible working

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News

Nine out of ten employees who have worked at home during lockdown would like to continue doing so in some capacity, research suggests. The report, by academics at Cardiff University and the University of Southampton, presents the first analysis of employee survey data focusing on homeworking, which was gathered for the Understanding Society Covid-19 Study. More →

August 28, 2020

A new social contract can improve the everyday experience of work

by Mark Spratt • Comment, Workplace

It’s not happening quickly enough for some and too slowly for others, but most companies are in the midst of managing a return to work and grappling with a very different post COVID-19 world and what it means for employees. HR professionals are paying close attention to how well employees are faring and are looking to build new forms of employee care into company cultures and values. But maybe there is something more they can do to foster employee trust and safety? More →

August 27, 2020

Workers routinely conceal mental health issues from employer

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing

Three-in-ten (30 percent) office employees have claimed to be physically ill when calling in sick despite in fact suffering from a mental health problem, according to a new survey of 2,000 white-collar employees in London by Helix Resilience. The responses suggest that 18-24-year olds are the most likely to conceal a mental health problem when calling in sick – with 37 percent of this age group reporting to have done this at least once. More →

August 26, 2020

There is more to lighting a space than meets the eye

by Carolina Florian • Environment, Features, Wellbeing, Workplace design

The best lighting design is the one you don’t notice. Coco Chanel once said: “dress shabbily and they remember the dress; dress impeccably and they remember the woman.” It’s the same with lighting. If you notice the light sources, and you can feel annoyed by them, then the design just doesn’t work. Essentially, there’s more to lighting than first meets the eye. More →

August 25, 2020

Fifth of firms don’t offer support to employees with drug and alcohol issues

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing

Around one in five (21 percent) employers are failing to offer proactive support to workers to help prevent and provide support on issues of drugs and alcohol misuse, according to newly published research from the CIPD, the professional body for HR and people development. More →

August 20, 2020

Commuting, not Covid, main reason employees are avoiding offices

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing

Employees worried about returning to the office post-lockdown are most concerned about work-life balance and the daily commute, rather than their health, according to research from absence intelligence company e-days. Whereas only a quarter of employees are most worried about potential health implications, results of a snapshot poll of 100 workers show that 7 out of 10 of us are more concerned with impact to work-life balance (37 percent) or the office commute (34 percent). The research follows the change in government advice on 1 August 2020 meaning employers can make their own decisions about staff returning safely to work. More →

August 14, 2020

Survival, inquiry, sophistication – picking the right workplace battles

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Workplace design

We know, and have for a long time, that the workplace is in a state of near constant flux. The meteor strike of lockdown is an accelerant, not a deviation. It has also laid bare -yet again – the faulty assumption that there is some sort of general evolution towards an idealised version of the office. That is why we see so many people routinely willing to suspend their critical facilities to make extravagant and even absurd predictions about the office of the future or even the death of the office. More →

August 14, 2020

People increasingly confident about return to offices

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing

Half (49 percent) of employed British adults feel positive about the prospect of returning to their place of work after lockdown, with less than one in five (18 percent) feeling negative, an Aviva study claims. The findings paint a relatively positive picture for businesses that have supported their people through lockdown, such as regularly communicating with workers and taking necessary steps to manage the risk of infection in the workplace. However, where businesses have not embraced risk management and prevention strategies, employees may decide not to return to work at all. More →

August 12, 2020

The death of the office? Wait a minute

by John Williams • Comment, Property, Workplace design

I have observed with some disbelief the numerous articles that have heralded the “death of the office” and other click-bait driven headlines. It makes for a fun read but fails to really understand exactly what the office is for and how the modern workspace is actually used. The best way to take a view of this is to understand why we will be desperate to return to the office and why organisations should be doing everything they can to ensure it does. More →

August 11, 2020

UK faces urgent AI skills gap, Microsoft report claims

by Neil Franklin • AI, News, Technology

The UK is facing an AI skills gap that could leave companies struggling to compete with rivals from across the world, a new Microsoft report claims. The research, entitled AI Skills in the UK, also found that businesses in this country use less AI than firms overseas, and when they do it tends to be less advanced. UK organisations are also less likely to be classed as “AI pros” compared to the global average (15 percent versus 23 percent), and the UK has a higher failure rate of AI than the global average (measured by the number of projects generating no commercial value – 29 percent versus 19 percent). More →

August 10, 2020

Central London office leases fall by over half in second quarter of 2020

by Neil Franklin • News, Property

According to research from DeVono Cresa, the second quarter of 2020 saw 1.2 million sq. ft of office space leased across central London – a drop of 57 percent on the previous quarter. With the market feeling the full effects of the COVID-19 lockdown, demand, availability and rents in central London all trended as predicted, but with the pace somewhat subdued. Q1 2009, at the time of the Global Financial Crisis (921,000 sq. ft leased), remains the lowest quarter of take-up. More →