August 27, 2020

Workers routinely conceal mental health issues from employer

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 20, 2020

Workers only apply newly learned skills half of the time

by Jayne Smith • News, Workplace

Employees are applying only 54 percent of the new skills they learn, despite the number of skills required for a single job increasing by 10 percent year on year, according to Gartner, Inc. Gartner TalentNeuron data also claims that 33 percent of the skills needed three years ago are no longer relevant. More →

August 11, 2020

Freelancer income fell by a quarter during lockdown

by Jayne Smith • News

In the second quarter of 2020, freelancers’ average income dropped by 25 percent, according to the latest freelancer Confidence Index by IPSE (the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed). According to IPSE, the drop in income was driven by a record fall in the average number of weeks freelancers worked this quarter. Between March and June, the average freelancer went 5.5 weeks out of 13 without work. Combined with a 3 percent fall in freelancers’ average day rates, this led to average quarterly earnings declining by 25 percent from £20,821 in Q1 2020 to £15,709 in Q2 2020. More →

August 7, 2020

Wrong approach to leadership makes a fifth of CEOs a bad fit for their firm

by Neil Franklin • Business, News

Nearly a fifth (17 percent) of CEOs are largely unsuited to the companies they lead, according to new research from academics at Imperial College Business School, Harvard Business School, Columbia University and the London School of Economics. The paper, CEO Behavior and Firm Performance, is based on an analysis of the leadership behaviour of 1,100 CEOs based on their daily schedules. More →

August 4, 2020

Boardroom heroes needed to transform working cultures

by Alex Fleming • Comment, Flexible working

Even as the UK starts to open back up following the COVID-19 enforced lockdown, there are still many unanswered questions about how almost every aspect of our lives will be impacted. What is certain though, is that we will continue to see a paradigm shift take place across all areas of the workplace. Employers must ensure they have the right measures and policies in place to deal with the transformations that have taken place across the UK’s labour market throughout the lockdown period. This is crucial, as only those who have a strong workplace culture will succeed in the post-pandemic world. More →

July 27, 2020

Bene launches Pearson Lloyd designed PORTS system

by Freddie Steele • Company news

Created by the well-known London design studio PearsonLloyd, and a pre-launch winner of the “Red Dot Design Award: best of Best” and the “iF Gold Awaard 2020”: Bene has launched a revolutionary office concept in the form of a completely new design line – PORTS. The world is changing and we are changing with it. Stability, flexibility and agility are the key success factors for dynamic organisations. PORTS embodies this new reality in interior design and furnishings, creating multifunctional spaces that allow for many different styles of working and that are flexibly adaptable. PORTS is both a design line and an office concept, bringing people, ideas and functions together – to lead together. More →

July 23, 2020

Firms whose leaders aim to serve, enjoy higher profits and employee morale

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Managers who put themselves at the service of their teams, rather than the other way around, actually have a positive impact on profit, according to new research led by academics at emlyon business school. This claims to be the first research paper to find that, not only does servant leadership improve employee morale, but it also increases company profit too. The paper, published in the Journal of Business Ethics complements what was previously the general consensus on servant leadership; it’s good for people management and employee morale, but did not positively impact on company performance or profits. More →

July 23, 2020

BCO launches podcast to explore the future of offices

by Mark Eltringham • Company news, Property

The British Council for Offices (BCO) has launched its first podcast, a 12-episode series, hosted by chief executive Richard Kauntze, which explores how COVID-19 is impacting the office, both in the long and short term. The interviews are edited versions of a recently run video series by the BCO. More →

July 22, 2020

Don’t be a commute Canute, Boris

by Andrew Mawson • Comment, Flexible working

So, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has told the British people to get back to work by Christmas. This means that millions would be renewing their season tickets, getting up in darkness to dress up for work, crowding onto those trains, buses and tubes while swaddled in facemasks and battling their way into the office (which for the time being will be a pretty dull experience with social distancing). More →

July 22, 2020

Herman Miller and Logitech launch gaming edition of Embody chair

by Freddie Steele • Company news

Logitech G, a brand of Logitech and Herman Miller have taken a first step into the world of seating ergonomics for gamers, streamers, and esports athletes today with the launch of a series of high performance gaming furniture and accessories, including the Embody Gaming Chair, the industry’s first truly ergonomic chair. Together, the two companies spent nearly two years studying esport pros and players around the globe to understand their needs. “Prior to the in-depth research we did, we knew many gamers loved our current offering as we are constantly rated highly in almost every gamer product review,” said Tim Straker, Chief Marketing Officer for Herman Miller. “The main feedback we received was they wanted more variety.” More →

July 21, 2020

Workplace design in a new age of reason

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Facilities management, Workplace design

The enduring but changing struggle to improve the working conditions and performance of people through workplace design and management has more than a whiff of the Enlightenment of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries about it. The Enlightenment marked a new era in which the old superstitions and dogmas were to be overthrown by pure reason.