Search Results for: working hours

June 29, 2023

Over three quarters of hybrid workers watch television during the working day

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News

A survey from ink supplier Toner Giant claims that 82 percent of hybrid workers watch some form of television when working from home, with the average worker tuning in for nearly a third (28 percent) of their working hours. The poll of 2,000 hybrid workers across the UK, the survey suggests that men are the ‘biggest offenders’, being 5 percent more likely to watch TV and consuming an extra 19 minutes of television compared to women. More →

June 13, 2023

People now less engaged, less fulfilled and more stressed in their working lives

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

New research from the CIPD exploring the quality of UK working lives suggests there has been a negative shift in how people think about and value their work. The CIPD’s Good Work Index 2023 claims that most people like their work and find it satisfying. However, as many as 6-9 million workers, experience poor-quality work in some major respects. CIPD’s survey indicators show that there has been no significant improvement in job quality in the past four years and, in some respects, job quality has gone backwards. Compared to 2019, workers today are less enthused about work, less likely to perceive their work as useful and more likely to simply see work as purely transactional – simply for the money. More →

May 25, 2023

Four million UK employees have changed careers due to a lack of flexible working options

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

New research from the CIPD suggests that an estimated 4 million people have changed careers due to a lack of flexible working options, while an estimated 2 million have left a job in the last year for the same reason. As a result, the CIPD is warning that businesses may face a talent exodus if they fail to offer more flexible choices to people. The CIPD’s latest report, which explores employee and employer perspectives towards flexible and hybrid working practices, highlights that offering them is key to retaining and attracting staff, addressing the current skills shortage and fostering inclusive workplaces. More →

May 24, 2023

Hybrid working, work from anywhere and the evolution of the Third Place

by Chelsea Perino • Comment, Property, Workplace design

The restrictions brought about by COVID-19 altered where we work and thus also how, when and through which channels we do work related activities. These changes radically altered the way previously office-based workers thought about ‘work’ as an activity. This new era of hybrid working had a significant impact on traditional models of workplace provisioning. One could argue that pre-COVID-19 the ‘work mindset’ was almost an afterthought because there were distinguishing markers that indicated when you were expected to work and when you were not. If you were in the office, then you were expected to be doing work-related tasks. Then, at the literal end of the day, you switched off your computer and went home and mentally ‘turned-off’ until you returned to work the next morning. More →

May 24, 2023

Unintended economic consequences of remote working becoming evident

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News

New data suggests that office attendance in London has recovered strongly since the end of Covid restrictions, confounding predictions of remote working becoming the ‘new normal’, according to a new report from the Centre for Cities. However, recovery has stalled in 2023 and the report, London, Office politics: London and the rise of home working, co-authored with Professor Dan Graham and his colleagues from Imperial College and published in partnership with EC BID, addresses the possible economic risks of businesses adopting hybrid working permanently. More →

May 18, 2023

Four in ten low income working parents have gone into debt to pay for childcare

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News, Workplace

A new poll from Working Families in partnership with law firm Pinsent Masons, sets out to highlight the challenges that lower-income parents in the UK face as they balance work and caring for their children. The Working Families Index 2023: Spotlight on lower-income families reveals that many working parents on lower incomes are forced to go into debt, reduce their hours, or leave their jobs altogether due to problems affording and accessing childcare. The report also claims that working mothers on lower incomes take far less maternity leave than the UK average, and that working parents on lower incomes are often locked out of the flexible arrangements they desperately need to stay in work and earn vital income whilst balancing their childcare responsibilities. More →

May 5, 2023

Firms missing the chances to implement hybrid working and adopt new technologies

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Technology, Wellbeing

The new Slack State of Work Report [registration] claims that companies are missing opportunities to unlock new levels of employee productivity with new technology, hybrid working, and talent development. The report, based on a global survey of more than 18,000 desk workers – including 2,000 in the UK, found only 23 percent of companies are investing in technology to improve productivity and efficiency (21 percent in the UK), and just 27 percent of companies are using AI tools to help do so. More →

April 4, 2023

Flexible working is the new “work-life currency”, claims new report

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Technology

A new report, Future of Work Life, from Ericsson Consumer & IndustryLab explores the ways in which employees and employers navigate the current work environment and their views on the future of work shaped by the pandemic, digitalisation and the fluctuating labour market. Almost half (48 percent) of the employees in the study say that they enjoy increased flexibility at work. 52 percent consider flexible work hours or locations as key requirements, and 25 percent say that flexibility is the top priority if they would start to look for a new job. Doing work rather than going to work is seen as central in this new way of thinking about work life. More →

March 23, 2023

American employees spend 200 hours a year watching adult sites on their work computer

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News, Technology, Workplace

American employees are wasting hundreds of contracted work hours a year using their work equipment for personal tasks and activities, according to a new survey from ExpressVPN. The survey, conducted by the consumer privacy and security company, found that some people are spending only 33 percent of annual contracted hours on work tasks. With a steep rise in hybrid and home working in recent years, many companies have provided employees with work devices to use in the comfort of their own homes, including work laptops, desktops, phones, and microphones. More →

March 20, 2023

Lighting is just as important for those working from home as it is in the office

by Brendan Keely • Company news, Lighting

Working from home now constitutes a part of many office workers’ lives so the latest revision to The Society of Light and Lighting Guide now includes guidance for those creating an office in their home through the conversion of a bedroom or other room. This revision to The Society of Light and Lighting’s Lighting Guide 7: Lighting for Offices [paywall] is the most significant in a long time. Not because of the amount of information that has changed or been introduced, but because home working now constitutes a part of many office workers’ lives. Such a dramatic change for many could not have been foreseen when the previous edition of LG7 was published. More →

March 8, 2023

Despite rise of hybrid working, people spend majority of time on pointless work and meetings

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Workplace

Businesses and workers are still grappling with barriers to productivity despite the advent of more widespread flexible and hybrid working, claims a new report from Asana. According to the fourth Anatomy of Work Global Index, “work about work” – time spent on work coordination rather than the skilled, strategic jobs they want to do – remains how workers spend the bulk of their day. Conducted by GlobalWebIndex (GWI) on behalf of Asana, the 2023 Anatomy of Work Global Index surveyed the behaviours and attitudes of more than 9,615 knowledge workers across the United States, U.K., Australia, France, Germany, and Japan to understand the impact of cross-functional collaboration. More →

February 16, 2023

Flexible working drives productivity and stronger company culture

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News

Future Forum, a consortium launched by Slack with founding partners Boston Consulting Group, MillerKnoll, and MLT has published the latest findings from its global Pulse survey, which suggest that flexible working plays a key role in fostering organisational culture and has a significant positive impact on productivity. According to the poll, flexible workers were 57 percent more likely to say that their company culture has improved over the past two years compared with those required to be on-site five days a week—and they cited flexible working policies as the primary reason their culture is changing for the better. More →