Search Results for: covid

One in five employees now more comfortable taking a sick day

One in five employees now more comfortable taking a sick day

sick

New research from Love Energy Savings claims that one in five people are now more comfortable taking a sick day compared to pre-pandemic. This is in stark contrast to their findings pre-pandemic, when they found that 80 percent of UK employees went to work when sick, with one in 10 people attributing this to employee pressure and one in five to not wanting to let their teammates down. More →

The pivotal role of remote working in the journey to jab the nation

The pivotal role of remote working in the journey to jab the nation

At 6.31 a.m. on Tuesday, December 8, 2020, the UK became the first country in the world to administer the COVID-19 vaccine. Just over five months earlier, I had been deployed to the NHS England and NHS Improvement COVID-19 vaccination programme to help drive the highly complex design and planning needed to bring the nation to this point. My role involved leading the set up and embedding of the Estates, Equipment, Consumables and Logistics workstream. The purpose of this was to establish and combine the new and existing infrastructure required in England to manage the distribution, regulation and administration of multiple vaccines so that all systems would be ready to vaccinate on the ‘go-live’ date. More →

People working from home might now be subject to a visit from the Pensions Regulator

People working from home might now be subject to a visit from the Pensions Regulator

working from home and the new pensions lawThe Pensions Regulator might now have the power under current UK pensions legislation, to enter the private homes of employees when it is investigating their employer, if those employees are working from home. The current law has been in force since 2005 and it allows the Regulator to enter some premises at any reasonable time. This power is restricted to use only in relation to some limited statutory investigations. However, though currently limited, these regulatory powers will soon be widened and extended by the Pensions Schemes Act 2021 which is due to come into force in Autumn 2021.

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Workers dreading dressing smartly on their return to the office

Workers dreading dressing smartly on their return to the office

officeA new survey has suggested that people’s reluctance to head back into the office has much less to do with the risks of COVID-19 or other germs and more to do with the dress code of the company they work for. According to the poll from Airdri, as organisations across the country begin to welcome staff back from working from home, it seems many Brits are not looking forward to dropping the leisure wear and returning to a more formal attire needed when working amongst peers. More →

The UKs great digital divide narrowed by pandemic

The UKs great digital divide narrowed by pandemic

digital divideNew research by Rouge Media, highlights where in the UK has the most lapsed or internet non-users, following Ofcom’s announcement that the digital divide has been narrowed by pandemic, but around 1.5m homes remain without internet access. More →

Organisations are finally getting their heads around what the office is really good at

Organisations are finally getting their heads around what the office is really good at

Modern office design by BDGAs 2020 came to a close, there was a palpable sense of hope that 2021 would bring with it a fresh slate with the horrors of COVID behind us. Alas, that has not happened and it seems we have more of the same, certainly for the next few months and with that the speculation about the ‘future of the office’ will no doubt continue. More →

UK business leaders pave the way for a hybrid working future

UK business leaders pave the way for a hybrid working future

workingNew research by Applaud, claims that UK business HR decision makers are paving the way for a new era of work post-pandemic, with organisations across the country looking to close or downsize their offices and focus instead on hybrid, remote working. More →

Graduates alienated by remote working, with majority wanting social interaction

Graduates alienated by remote working, with majority wanting social interaction

graduates and remote workingGen Z is the largest generation in human history, and over the next 10 years, 1.3 billion of its members will enter the global workforce. However, the Covid-19 pandemic has meant that this new generation of graduates is entering one of the toughest job markets in decades. More →

Living life to the full, as we step out of lockdown

Living life to the full, as we step out of lockdown

lockdownNew research from comparethemarket.com claims that more than a third (36 percent) of Britons started planning their bucket list during lockdown. More than half (57 percent) claim their motivation for planning the list was due to their attitude that ‘life is too short’, whilst 29 percent say they want to do something for themselves. More →

Mental health is not a cultural priority for half of organisations

Mental health is not a cultural priority for half of organisations

An illustration depicting the mental health of individuals Koa Health, has released a new report titled Wellbeing at Work, exposing the impact of COVID-19 on mental health in businesses across the UK and organisations’ response to the crisis. Social listening research conducted by Pulsar on behalf of Koa Health claims that as COVID took told in the UK, content shared online about people’s declining mental wellbeing increased by 400 percent in the period from the last week of February 2020 to the final week of May 2020. More →

Why mobile site surveys have changed so dramatically

Why mobile site surveys have changed so dramatically

Central to any business is the need to communicate effectively.  Whether you’re relocating to new or refurbished premises, or switching providers, it is vital to ensure your communications networks are up to the job in terms of performance and reliability. Not only is this required to support conventional telecoms and OTT services, it is key to smart building and smart infrastructure applications. Connectivity should not be limited to Wi-Fi either. Businesses are increasingly pushing mobile-only strategies and landlines are fast becoming obsolete in the workplace. PwC, for example, removed all landlines from their offices back in 2018 and many other organisations have since followed suit, with smartphones providing a single point of contact for all voice and internet connectivity, as well as being used as resilient IT infrastructure. More →

Why some people are more productive working from home than others

Why some people are more productive working from home than others

working from homeHas working at home during lockdown made people more productive or not? This has been the subject of some lively debate recently. Many companies do not routinely measure productivity. A large number will have traditionally assumed that they get the highest output when staff work longer hours or under close supervision, but remote working is clearly causing some to re-evaluate this. Major firms, for instance professional services group PwC, have been sufficiently impressed to make remote working a permanent option for their staff. More →