March 17, 2022
A new poll from the ADP Research Institute (ADPRI) claims that 64 percent of the global workforce was negatively impacted by coronavirus. However, 66 percent of UK workers feel optimistic about the next five years at work, and a third think COVID-19 will have a positive effect on work cultures including through greater flexibility (34 percent) and better work-life balance (28 percent). More →
March 17, 2022
Two-thirds of UK employees (66 percent) feel that work life balance is crucial in their decision to apply for a job, yet a third (31 percent) do not currently achieve it, according to new research from Lenovo and Cebr. With over 2,000 UK employees surveyed, Lenovo’s “Future of You” report claims to shed light on the priorities for workers, tracking how these have changed in recent years as well as looking ahead to the future. It found that the offer of remote work is important to over half (54 percent) of workers today, compared to one-fifth (21 percent) ten years ago. Of those who are not currently offered remote work, most (83 percent) feel that their employer is not on track to deliver this in the next two years. More →
March 17, 2022
Businesses are investing in technology to expand online operations and facilitate remote work during the pandemic. But many of those same businesses are also eager to see their employees return to the workplace in greater numbers over the long term. Those are among the findings of a new survey of small and midsized business leaders conducted by The Harris Poll and sponsored by CIT, a division of First Citizens Bank. More →
March 3, 2022
The organisations and businesses leading the way in promoting their employees’ wellbeing have been honoured in a brand new awards series. The Great British Workplace Wellbeing Awards were founded last year by the Great British Entrepreneur Awards team and industry specialists Wellity Global to recognise the inspiring response of employers across the UK to the ongoing wellbeing and mental health crisis amongst the working population. More →
March 2, 2022
Almost a quarter (24 percent) of Gen Z employees (18 to 24-year-olds) would not work at a business that profits from unsustainable practices, according to a a new poll from PLAY. Among British employees more broadly, two-thirds surveyed (68 percent) felt it was important for the company they work for to be committed to acting sustainably, and nearly half (44 percent) want businesses to demonstrate the initiatives or goals that will make the entire business more sustainable (not just one part of the business). However, pay remains the most attractive job feature for most surveyed, inlcuding young people. More →
February 28, 2022
More than half of employed people in the UK (58 percent) say their job is the main source of their mental health challenges according to new research from Qualtrics which also claims that more employees in the UK would prioritise the ability to choose which hours of the day they work (55 percent) and what days of the week they work (22 percent) over the ability to work remotely from any location (14 percent). More →
February 23, 2022
The world is in a race. And it’s a race against time – against rising sea levels, overcrowded cities, and a virus that has shown us a thing or two about being adaptable. Although the current developments around infection rates and the omicron variant are cause for hope that the virus will soon become endemic, the experience of the last two years have emphasized something important: There is an urgent need to transform infrastructure across different dimensions – one of which is the physical space: the changing needs and expectations of people in their buildings, factories, facilities, offices and homes call for adaptability. More →
February 21, 2022
One of the world’s best known and most enduring foundational psychological experiments does not appear to be as clear cut as we commonly think. It was back in 1961 that a team led by the American psychologist Stanley Milgram asked a number of ordinary people to administer what they believed to be increasingly high levels of electric shocks to a person in another room while listening to their responses. More →
February 14, 2022
The writer Alan Moore believes in magic. Not hocus-pocus magic, double double toil and trouble, but in the power of words and art to change reality and bring things into existence. It’s a compelling idea, one that Moore shares with Picasso amongst others, and the evidence for it in its metaphorical sense is all around. More →
February 4, 2022
More obituaries have been written for the office in the past two years than at any time in history. It has often seemed like even the best office in the world couldn’t preserve the idea of the office. And it’s not like the obituaries were all that rare even before the pandemic forced us to reappraise our relationship with work and the times and places we do it. While all these death notices were being served, one particularly well-informed organisation was making some more interesting observations about it all. In particular, it constantly raised the most fundamental question of all. More →
January 27, 2022
Chief Information Officers are spending more time on innovation than they ever have, with three quarters stating they have increased innovation efforts, according to the 2021 Global CIO Survey (registration) from Logicalis. The study, which questioned 1,000 CIOs from around the world, claims that despite a strong focus on innovation, just 27 percent of CIOs describe it as an essential part of their company culture. More →
March 11, 2022
The much talked about new normal doesn’t exist, but the world has changed in profound ways
by Dr Simon Williams • Cities, Comment, Flexible working, Property, Technology
Work
One of the biggest changes predicted during the pandemic was a long-term shift towards home or hybrid working. However, there are already signs that this transition might not be as obvious or complete as expected.
[perfectpullquote align=”right” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]The signs of the transition to hybrid work are not as obvious or complete as expected[/perfectpullquote]
In the UK, the proportion of people working from home at least some of the time increased from 27 percent in 2019 to 37 percent in 2020, before falling to 30 percent in January 2022. Similarly, in the US the proportion working from home declined from 35 percent in May 2020 to 11 percent in December 2021.
One of the main reasons people are going back to the office is employers’ expectations. Many companies are concerned that more permanent home working might affect employees’ team building, creativity and productivity.
But among employees, there’s a greater appetite for hybrid and flexible working. One recent multi-national survey found that whereas roughly one-third of workers had worked at home at least some of the time before the pandemic, roughly half said they want to in the future.
Shopping
The pandemic didn’t create the habit of online shopping, but it makes more of us do it. Did this make us realise we don’t need actual stores anymore?
It doesn’t seem so. Shopping in bricks-and-mortar stores has already started to recover. Recent data on people’s movements, gathered anonymously from mobile devices, shows how in many countries, before omicron hit, travel to retail and recreation spaces was back up to pre-pandemic levels, and is already starting to rebound after omicron.
The rise in online sales has also not been as dramatic or sustained as many predicted. In the UK, online sales made up 20 percent of total retail sales before the pandemic. By February 2021 this had risen to 36 percent, before declining steadily to 25 percent in February 2022.
Travel
One habit that might take longer to recover is our pre-pandemic love of international travel. It has taken a hit around the world, and the sector is still struggling. The UN’s International Civil Aviation Organization projects that international travel in 2022 will still be down by nearly a half compared to 2019.
One British survey conducted last September found that while 80 percent of people were planning on holidaying in the UK in the next year, only around 40 percent were considering going abroad. In comparison, in the 12 months up to July 2019, 64 percent of Brits travelled abroad for a holiday according to one travel industry body.
People’s reluctance to travel has been largely down to concerns over the virus and confusion over travel rules. As worries decline and rules get lifted, we may see a “mini-boom” in holidaymaking.
Socialising
Early in the pandemic, some commentators – including the US chief medical adviser Dr Anthony Fauci – suggested we might never return to shaking hands. I, with my colleague Dr Kimberly Dienes, argued that it was vital these rituals make a comeback, as they have several social, psychological and even biological benefits.
Are social-distancing habits, including meeting fewer people and having less physical contact with those we do, here to stay? For most people, no. Data shows only one-third of people in the UK are still socially distancing regularly, the lowest proportion since the pandemic began.
No new normal
But truly, only time will tell how much the pandemic will have changed our habits. However, bolder predictions – that the pandemic was going to completely and irrevocably change our ways of working, shopping, travelling and socialising – now seem premature and exaggerated. The pandemic has taught us we can work, learn, shop and socialise in different ways, but the question now is whether we still want to.
[perfectpullquote align=”right” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]The pandemic has taught us that we need to connect with others[/perfectpullquote]
Humans have basic needs, such as autonomy, feeling related to others, and feeling effective and competent in what we do. Part of the challenge with home working, for example, is that it simultaneously fulfils one need by giving us greater autonomy but takes away another by making us less connected. Expanding adequately supported, equality-focused, hybrid and flexible working arrangements is perhaps a promising way to meet both needs.
Some people will have acquired a sense of competence, or at least familiarity, with the new ways of doing things during the pandemic and so may wish to keep doing them. In some areas – travelling overseas, for example – it may take longer for our competence, and confidence, in old habits to return. However, many seem to be quite quickly returning to old ways and re-learning how to feel competent at doing things that they did before.
The extent to which we’ll go back to our old ways may also depend on our personality traits, which have been shown to shape our compliance with new behaviour. For example, those more open to new experiences by nature, or more extroverted, may be more eager to travel internationally or socialise in larger groups.
Finally, the pandemic may have served as a reminder of how much we appreciate everyday interactions with others, in shops, restaurants and so on. People may be keen to return to familiar ways that revive this – for example, picking something up in a store on the way home from work. Above all, the pandemic has taught us that we need to connect with others and that there are limits as to how much online communication can replace real, face-to-face interactions.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.