Search Results for: covid-19

Nature positive cities have potential to transform the world

Nature positive cities have potential to transform the world

COVID-19 recovery packages that include infrastructure development will influence the relationship between cities, humans and nature for the next 30 to 50 years. With the built environment home to half the world’s population and making up 40 percent of global GDP, cities are an engine of global growth and crucial to the economic recovery. More →

One way businesses can help employees get back to the office

One way businesses can help employees get back to the office

One of the many unprecedented things about 2020 is the way that the global COVID-19 pandemic has led to millions of workers around the world staying away from their office or workplace. Either through furlough schemes or temporary ‘working from home’ measures, many people across the job spectrum have had to adapt to a new way of doing things. More →

Office space costs fall for only the second time

Office space costs fall for only the second time

office space

Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH) has published the results of its annual Total Office Costs Survey (TOCS), claiming that the average outlay of occupying office space in the UK fell by 1.3 percent over the 12 months to June 2020 for new build accommodation and 1.6 percent for 20-year old buildings. This is only the second time costs have fallen in the survey since the global financial crisis in 2008 and contrasts sharply with the 3.6 percent increase in costs in 2019. More →

Employees grow increasingly concerned about prospect of burnout

Employees grow increasingly concerned about prospect of burnout

In a survey of employees and business leaders across 11 nations, The Workforce Institute at UKG (Ultimate Kronos Group) claims only a fraction of employees (20 percent) felt their organisation met their needs during the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic. But there is a silver lining: a third of employees globally (33 percent) say they trust their employer more now than before the pandemic began because of how organisations reacted. More →

The stage is set for the next phase of working life

The stage is set for the next phase of working life

The debate about the effects of the pandemic on working life appears to have entered its next phase. Don’t ask me to define it precisely because I’m still coming to terms with the others. But here it is. More →

Remote working set to triple in the post-COVID world

Remote working set to triple in the post-COVID world

Remote workingA new survey from XpertHR, claims that the average percentage of employees remote working at least part of the time is projected to nearly triple from 12 percent before the COVID-19 pandemic to 30 percent after the pandemic. The survey Employer Response to COVID-19 was completed by 835 US employers. More →

Employees concern over the fairness of who returns to the office

Employees concern over the fairness of who returns to the office

FairnessFairness around office rota decisions and implementation is a top employee concern, claims new research by HSM. As employers now consider the impact of a second wave of Covid-19, the Government is now encouraging people to work from home and grapple with decisions around how and when to bring people back to the office. More →

Back to the floor: how life on the stock exchange has changed

Back to the floor: how life on the stock exchange has changed

Let’s face it: there can’t have been many workplaces left untouched by the coronavirus pandemic. On the busy trading floors at the major stock exchanges and investment companies – and the big financial districts as a whole – life has changed considerably. More →

BCO invites NextGen members to design the post-pandemic workplace

BCO invites NextGen members to design the post-pandemic workplace

The BCO has launched a competition for its ‘NextGen’ members, who will be asked to design an office fit for 2025. Entrants will be asked to consider key global issues, from the pandemic, tackling the impending climate crisis, to ongoing issues around equality and inclusivity. More →

Millions of working days lost each year through poor mental health

Millions of working days lost each year through poor mental health

Poor mental healthMore than 11 million UK working adults have taken time off work for poor mental wellbeing, costing businesses an estimated 40 million working days each year, claims new research from healthcare provider, Benenden Health. As many as a third (35 percent) of UK employees took time off work due to poor mental health in 2019, with workers absent for between two and five days on average, costing UK businesses an estimated 4o million individual days of work. More →

New demand for office space indicates mass `return to work`

New demand for office space indicates mass `return to work`

Return to workWater cooler chats and the buzz of office life is set to remain on hold until at least the New Year as businesses look to restructure their office needs from January. A government drive to see more office employees return to work in the workplace has seen a rise in commuters to more than 60 percent according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics. More →

Singapore, Helsinki and Zurich are top of the world`s smart cities

Singapore, Helsinki and Zurich are top of the world`s smart cities

Singapore, Helsinki and Zurich have taken the top three places positions in the 2020 IMD-SUTD Smart City Index Report, a collaboration between IMD and Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD). The 2020 Index ranked 109 cities, 7 more than in last year’s inaugural edition, by using both economic and technological data, taken together with citizens’ perceptions of how “smart” their cities were. It is published under the aegis of the IMD Smart City Observatory (SCO). More →