June 18, 2021
Is it time to ban out-of-hours emails?
The global pandemic has blurred the lines between home and work for millions of people around the world. Where once there was a clear distinction between being on and off duty, the demands of remote working and ever-presence of smartphones has created an ‘always on’ culture in many organisations. The trend has led to a number organisations in the UK to now call for a ban on out-of-hours emails in order to alleviate pressures on employees mental health. But is this really necessary, or even logistically possible, for the new world of work? We asked four leading experts for their thoughts. More →
Paradoxically, more in-person work environments and the concentration of jobs in cities could be a medium- to long-term impact of the pandemic’s shift to remote working, suggests 
Research from 
A new report from 
While we remain eager to safely leave coronavirus restrictions behind us and return to normal, there are several changes brought about by the pandemic which UK employees hope will stick around. The most important one being hybrid working, according to new research from 
When considering a hybrid working method for your organisation, it’s far too easy to try think of what will work for all employees as a whole, rather than breaking this down and thinking about the different needs from certain groups of people. One example of this is age and experience. Employees from different age groups and at different levels of experience within in an organisation may have very different needs when it comes to hybrid working. Those who have been with the business, or in a similar work environment, for some time may be perfectly comfortable to work from home the majority of the week, with little help or supervision. However, this probably isn’t going to work as well for younger employees with less experience. 
A new report from the RSA and Vitality warns of the potentially serious impact on the long-term physical and mental health of employees. The authors claim that the ‘long lockdown effect’ should lead employers to see health and wellbeing as important strategic issues and place them on the company’s risk registers. With the shift to more flexible working cultures now set to continue, 
The future of work is neither here (at home) nor there (at the office). The hybrid post-pandemic model for the workplace is quickly coming into play, whereby employees work in the office for part of the week and log in from home for the rest, with staff rotating in and out, connecting virtually and in real life, all from various spots on the globe. Even as restrictions ease, it’s clear that work as we know it may never be the same. Full-time 9-5 commuting schedules are a thing of the past, but the practice of having the entire team conference together on Zoom from their couches is quickly ending as well. 
Employees feel they need to go back into the office in order to be promoted according to new research conducted within the “Reinventing Work” chair at 
The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has released new figures suggesting that over two thirds (66 percent) of businesses surveyed now offer flexible working to employees. The data, from a survey of over 900 businesses conducted in April 2021, also shows nearly three quarters of businesses expect to have at least one employee working remotely over the coming year, with the average expectation among those firms being just over half of their employees working remotely. 
June 16, 2021
We need to rethink the role of technology in corporate wellbeing
by Brendan Street • Comment, Technology, Wellbeing