August 18, 2020

The challenge for the office is to stay relevant

by Ben Capper • Comment, Workplace design

The world is going through some painful changes at breakneck speed. As a result, the word unprecedented has reached number one spot on our ‘words to avoid’ list. What’s the big deal with unprecedented anyway? Our obsession with all things unprecedented taps into our fear of the unknown. But life itself is an unknown: Life is beta. Nothing is permanent. Every single day things happen that are unprecedented. Damn, said it again. More →

July 22, 2020

Graduates feel their education leaves them wholly unprepared for work

by Neil Franklin • News, Workplace

Many of this year’s graduates finished their degrees online and are due to enter the workplace amidst a tumultuous jobs market, however, fewer graduates felt like their university had prepared them for the workplace this year, with only 15 percent reporting that they felt completely prepared (down from 18 percent last year). Graduate jobs board Milkround’s survey of nearly 3,000 students, graduates and young workers has revealed that 10 percent of the next generation of workers feel wholly unprepared for the workplace after their degree. More →

July 22, 2020

Older people are happiest at work

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing

The latest edition of the annual Age Research by Engaging Works claims that the happiest people in the workplace are those beyond middle age. By comparison, young employees don’t feel rewarded or recognised and feel that their views are not heard at work. They are also more likely to suffer anxiety in the workplace. However, it’s middle aged employees who are struggling the most at work, admitting that they feel the least developed. They also feel that they have a poor feeling of wellbeing at work and that they don’t have enough information to do their job. More →

July 17, 2020

HR is often the last resort for people with mental health issues

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing

Stigma around mental health in the workplace persists in many organisations, amid signs that stress is putting significant pressure on workers across a range of industries, claims new research from the ADP Research Institute (registration). Only one in seven (14 percent) of respondents polled in ADP’s study say they would feel comfortable telling HR about a mental health problem or concern. One in four (25 percent) would not feel comfortable telling anyone at work. More →

July 8, 2020

Mental health of finance workers seriously harmed by lockdown

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

More than eight-in-ten London-based banking and finance professionals (86 percent) say Covid-19 lockdown has affected their mental health, according to a new survey of white-collar employees by Helix Resilience. According to the survey of 352 banking and finance professionals, over half (52 percent) of respondents claim to be less productive, and nearly four-in-ten (39 percent) say they find it difficult to concentrate outside the office. While most working in the sector (53 percent) feel their employer is doing enough to support their wellbeing during lockdown, a third (33 percent) do not feel supported. More →

June 29, 2020

Winners announced for 2020 KI Award from Royal College of Art and Imperial College

by Freddie Steele • Company news

The winners of the annual KI Award, now in its fifth year, were announced in the lead up to the upcoming digital graduation show. The awards and cash prizes are given to final year students selected from the RCA’s ‘Design Products’ and the RCA/Imperial College London’s ‘Innovation Design Engineering’ double masters course. The winning projects showed an outstanding approach to functionality, durability, sustainability and enhancement to user experience for our future working or learning experiences. A summary of each award winner is included below. More →

June 24, 2020

Carers consider giving up work due to lack of employer support

by George Eltringham • News, Wellbeing, Working culture

New research suggests that almost half (44 percent) of working carers in England and Wales, equivalent to around 1.6 million people, are struggling to cope with the pressures of balancing their work and caring responsibilities – and that a quarter (24 percent) have considered giving up their job entirely. These are the findings in a newly published report, titled “Supporting working carers: How employers and employees can benefit”, from the CIPD and The University of Sheffield. More →

June 18, 2020

Charles Handy was a true visionary about the modern workplace

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Technology, Workplace

It’s incredibly hard not to be impressed by Charles Handy and even harder not to find him likeable. The scope of his intellect and humanity is evident on the page, in his interviews and in his broadcasts. He reeks of credibility and warmth. Do a Google image search of him and the pictures you find epitomise English middle-class academic decency (despite the fact that he’s Irish); jumpers, churchyards, armchairs and a benign smile. More →

June 10, 2020

Firms should adopt a hybrid model as they return to work

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News

As mandatory working from home lifts, managers should be aware that employee expectations around how they work have evolved significantly. In a report (registration) published by Soldo in collaboration with several UK universities, management experts advise that companies need to radically redesign their business processes. Employees who worked productively at home throughout the lockdown will strongly resist managers enforcing limitations on where and when they do their work. More →

June 9, 2020

Piecing together a new world of work after lockdown

by Grant Gibson • Features, Working culture

After months of lockdown nobody can be certain how the world will look when we eventually re-emerge from the Covid 19 crisis. Yet something seems certain – things will never be the same again. Just as the Second World War spawned the NHS, it’s clear that society is going to be re-shaped quite possibly around a bigger, more proactive government, forced to step in to help any number of industries. Unlike the banking crisis of 2008, the powers that be won’t simply be able to re-assembled the shattered economic jigsaw as it once was. More →

June 8, 2020

The paradox of how routines can help us be more productive and creative

by Nick Chater • Comment, Flexible working

Former US president Barack Obama famously had a wardrobe full of identical suits. As a world leader, life presents more than enough big decisions – Obama’s reasoning was that it made sense to minimise the complexity of the small decisions. Artists are often thought of as rather different. Francis Bacon, for example, had a tempestuous personal life, a notoriously chaotic studio, and a penchant for late nights at London’s seedier drinking clubs. Yet even Bacon’s working habits were surprisingly regular – usually starting work at first light with strong tea, before heading out around midday for his first glass of champagne.

June 5, 2020

Brits are among the most fervent remote workers during the coronavirus crisis

by George Eltringham • Flexible working, News

A new survey by CASS Business School, IESE Business School and HR Service Provider SD Worx claims that two thirds (65 percent) of British employees are working remotely during the lockdown. Almost half (47 percent) of the new batch of remote workers had never worked remotely before the COVID-19 crisis. The research focussed on salaried white-collar workers and covered six countries: Belgium, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK. More →