April 28, 2022

We need to seize the chance to make our buildings far more intelligent

by William Poole-Wilson • Comment, Environment, Property, Workplace design

Even before the pandemic, statistics were making the case for workplaces to be made up of more intelligent buildings. This includes the fact that offices generally operate at around 55-60 percent utilisation, and as we return to the office are currently at 45 percent utilisation. From presenteeism to absenteeism and many other factors in between, workplaces have seldom been utilised by entire workforces at the same time. However, the prevailing approach has been for firms to drive an office setup with one-to-one desking – a seat for every employee, even though five in 10 would not be in at any one time. More →

April 22, 2022

Great Resignation: nearly half of job quitters think they were better off in the old job

by Jayne Smith • News, Workplace

Nearly half of people (43 percent) who quit their jobs as part of the so-called Great Resignation during the pandemic now think they were actually better off at their old job. This revelation comes from a six-country survey of nearly 4,000 people by UKG that examines sentiment about quitting during the Great Resignation, including if job leavers felt that they made the right decision, the disconnect between managers and employees about why people quit, and the chances workers would boomerang back to their old job. More →

March 28, 2022

Corporate jargon is damaging your business

by Michael Blazek • Business, Comment

Between the stressful daily commute, the awkward small talk by the coffee machine and the endless hours of face-to-face meetings, there are many things that are unfortunately slowly creeping back into our daily lives as we gradually start heading back to office life. One thing in particular that we have all been dreading is the feeling of utter bewilderment and exasperation when colleagues spout buzzwords and phrases like ‘paradigm shift’, ‘low hanging fruit’, and ‘thinking outside the box’. Corporate jargon is everywhere and we’ve all succumbed to using it at some point in our professional lives, whether it was to ‘leverage a results-driven approach’, ‘give 110%’ to ‘make sure the juice is worth the squeeze’, or ‘circle back’ on an email or conversation. More →

March 8, 2022

Flexible working can lead people to work longer and harder, according to new book

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

Flexible working has become the norm for many workers since the COVID-19 pandemic began, but it can actually lead many to work longer and harder, with work encroaching on family life. A new book by Professor Heejung Chung from the University of Kent’s School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research explores how workers’ wellbeing and gender equality may in fact be jeopardised by flexible work, rather than providing a better work-life balance. More →

February 20, 2022

How to convey company culture instantly while hiring

by Nicky Garcea • Jobs, News, Workplace

Thirty-eight million American workers left their jobs last year. While better pay and more flexible working conditions typically top the list of reasons for leaving an employer, workers need a bit more than that to seal the deal. To be sure, in a recent Cappfinity /YouGov survey, 80 percent of job seekers said it’s important to understand a company culture before accepting an offer. Company culture, in fact, has played a key role in the pushing and pulling of workers from and to jobs. Some job seekers are motivated by the escape from a toxic work environment. Others are looking for companies that have figured out how to support more social interaction across teams. If you can’t authentically convey your own company’s culture to job candidates, they won’t be able to determine whether the job is right for them. More →

January 18, 2022

Firms need to do more to engage, attract and retain staff

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Workplace

Over 40 percent of employers are finding it more difficult to retain and recruit staff, according to Aon’s Benefits and Trends Survey 2022 (registration). The report claims that many employers have adjusted their benefits strategies to address an intense labour market, in which employee work motivations have shifted in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Forty-one percent of employers said they have found it more difficult to retain staff in the last year, while 44 percent have found it more difficult to recruit new staff. Many employers anecdotally expressed in the survey that they need to pay higher salaries or sign-on bonuses to entice new recruits. More →

January 10, 2022

People want employers to open up about environmental impact

by Neil Franklin • Environment, News

Research from?PLAY, a product development studio, suggests that more than three-quarters of people (77 percent) want the company they work for to be more transparent about their environmental impact. More →

December 16, 2021

Pandemic highlights the need for smarter, more adaptable offices and cities

by Cedrik Neike • Features, Technology

The coronavirus pandemic is a new experience for every one of us. It has changed life as we know it – at work, at home and for public interactions. As some countries start to ease restrictions on public life, how can we go back to ‘normal’ while still maintaining social distancing and feeling safe? How do we manage crowded public spaces like shopping malls, cinemas and restaurants? How do we optimize safety in our offices and factories? More importantly, how do we avoid shutting down entire cities and countries when the next pandemic hits? More →

December 15, 2021

Company culture, linked to share price, funding success and growth

by Jayne Smith • Business, News, Working culture

A new research report from Culture Amp, claims that company workforces’ overall confidence as well as employees’ belief in their leaders are the biggest differentiators when it comes to achieving sustained stock price increases between July 2020 and June 2021. More →

December 14, 2021

Why employee development is vital in manufacturing

by Freddie Steele • Company news

Employee development is vital in any sector of work. Your business is only as good as the employees you have on board working with you to drive it forward. Continuously developing these employees and enriching their careers is a vital part of ensuring that they are happy and fulfilled at work. More →

November 26, 2021

Flexible working currently contributes £37bn to the UK economy

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News, Working lives

New research, ‘Flexonomics: The economic and fiscal logic of flexible working’, highlights the economic benefits of flexible working to the UK economy. Flexonomics builds on our long-standing support of the Flex Appeal campaign by Anna Whitehouse, aka Mother Pukka, and follows the publication of our “Forever Flex: Making flexible working work beyond a crisis” report, published last year. More →

November 8, 2021

Are these the top ten most annoying behaviours while working from home?

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News, Working culture

With more of us working remotely than ever before, Premier Inn has surveyed over 1,000 working professionals to highlight the most endearing (and frustrating) behaviours displayed by colleagues while working from home. More →