Search Results for: remote work

Hefty fine for Amazon has implications for employee surveillance policy

Hefty fine for Amazon has implications for employee surveillance policy

by • News, Technology, Workplace

Recent advancements in employee surveillance technology and the rise in remote working have led to employers now having both the ability and the excuse to look over employees’ shouldersThe French data protection watchdog CNIL has fined Amazon France Logistique €32m, equivalent to 3 percent of the entity’s annual turnover, approaching the maximum permitted level of 4 percent. Describing Amazon’s employee surveillance as “excessive”, the regulator also cited instances where the monitoring of staff was found to be outright illegal, by breaching the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). More →

The Kafka trap of return to office arguments

The Kafka trap of return to office arguments

by • Comment, Flexible working

This month I witnessed somebody misapplying the work of Kafka in an attempt to make a middlebrow point about the so-called return to officeRecently, I bemoaned how Orwell is often invoked in support of an argument by people who haven’t read him. They are usually drawing on some laundered misperception of his work, and especially Nineteen Eighty-Four. Well, just a few days ago, I witnessed somebody misapplying the work of Kafka in a similar attempt to make a middlebrow point about the so-called return to office. More →

Underutilised office space? I just can’t be bothered with it

Underutilised office space? I just can’t be bothered with it

by • Comment, Flexible working, Workplace design

A while ago, Antony Slumbers asked me why I thought firms had never done anything much about the underutilisation of their offices. This was in the first throes of lockdown-driven remote work hysteria, prompted by one of those headlines about how offices being half empty was some signifier of hatred for them.

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People have some very interesting views about their own productivity, and that of everybody else

People have some very interesting views about their own productivity, and that of everybody else

by • News, Workplace

Just as everybody thinks they are a better than average driver or more intelligent than average, a new survey from HR and payroll software provider Ciphr suggests that employees self-rate their own productivity far higher than they rate other people’s productivity levels.Just as everybody thinks they are a better than average driver or more intelligent than average, a new survey from HR and payroll software provider Ciphr suggests that employees self-rate their own productivity far higher than they rate other people’s productivity levels. They also think that people working in HR, marketing, and senior management roles are the least productive. According to the poll, UK employees perceive HR teams as being particularly unproductive, compared to other colleagues and departments in their organisations. More →

We are not blank slates and we don’t adapt to change in predictable ways

We are not blank slates and we don’t adapt to change in predictable ways

by • Features, Flexible working, Wellbeing

An idea that has never really gone away, but which seems to be enjoying a new lease of life is the tabula rasa. The conception of people as a blank slate is something that has crept back into mainstream political and social thought for a variety of reasons. Arguably, it is also behind many of the most misleading notions about work and workplace design, perhaps most importantly that a change to some single element or characteristic of a working environment will lead to a specific outcome in the behaviour of people. More →

Ten years of Insight and a few things I think I know (one of our most read pieces this year)

Ten years of Insight and a few things I think I know (one of our most read pieces this year)

by • Comment, Flexible working, Technology, Workplace, Workplace design

This website started in late 2012 as a way for me to explore both a new media format and a new way of thinking about work and workplaces. I’d already been active in various roles in the workplace, design and facilities sector for twenty odd years, but needed a new challenge. And this was it. I was going for a ride with an idea to see where it went. More →

People spending more time in offices in search of social interaction

People spending more time in offices in search of social interaction

by • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

Office workers now spend more time in the office, with the average creeping up to three and a half days per week compared to three days in 2022, according to a new report from international law firm, Gowling WLG. The report, titled Strategic moves: why the office is now a business-critical decision [registration], surveyed senior representatives responsible for making office lease decisions in companies, and a selection of office workers. It identifies that a more permanent approach to office usage is now emerging, as the shadow of the pandemic recedes, as well as demonstrating the changing metrics being applied by occupiers to decisions relating to premises requirements and the more complex environment for landlord asset management. More →

Squirrel! Distraction costing the UK economy nearly £20 billion a year

Squirrel! Distraction costing the UK economy nearly £20 billion a year

by • Business, News

Scrolling on social media, checking messages, daydreaming and other forms of distraction are costing the UK economy £19.9 billion each yearScrolling on social media, checking messages, daydreaming and other forms of distraction are costing the UK economy £19.9 billion each year, new research from The QEII Centre claims. The report The Distracted Economy: We are losing focus – how to hold attention and keep delegates engaged during business meetings and events was commissioned by the London conference and events venue. It suggests that 83 percent of people admit to being distracted during in-person meetings while the number rises to 85 percent during online meetings. More →

Are the days of landmark corporate headquarters over?

Are the days of landmark corporate headquarters over?

by • Comment, Workplace design

There’s something in the idea that the creation of a bespoke, landmark corporate headquarters is a sign that something has gone wrong - or is about to - for the firm behind it.There’s something in the idea that the creation of a bespoke, landmark corporate headquarters is a sign that something has gone wrong – or is about to – for the firm behind it. I’d first developed or come across this idea when visiting British Airway’s Waterside building in the late 1990s. At the time it was arguably the most talked about office building in the world, lauded for its inbuilt urban landscape, mix of settings and humane, biophilic design features. More →

New study reveals deteriorating employee wellbeing and eroding trust in employer efforts

New study reveals deteriorating employee wellbeing and eroding trust in employer efforts

by • News, Wellbeing • Tags: ,

WellbeingA new study from Alight reveals that 64 percent of the UK workforce would rate their overall wellbeing as low. This comes at a time where economic headwinds, budget cuts and remote work has created a feeling of uncertainty in the UK workforce, heightening the urgency for employers to act fast or compromise employee wellbeing.

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Beady-eyed employee monitoring is also subject to data protection law

Beady-eyed employee monitoring is also subject to data protection law

by • Flexible working, News, Technology

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is calling on organisations to consider both their legal obligations and their workers’ rights before they implement any employee monitoring in the workplaceThe Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is calling on organisations to consider both their legal obligations and their workers’ rights before they implement any employee monitoring in the workplace. With the rise of remote working and developments in the technology available, many employers are looking to carry out checks on workers. The ICO has today published guidance to help employers fully comply with data protection law if they wish to monitor their workers. More →

The challenge for office acoustics is to make people feel at home

The challenge for office acoustics is to make people feel at home

by • Comment, Workplace design

The need for quiet work remains wherever we work, and so our approach to office acoustics should shift in particular waysA number of apparent truisms about work and workplaces entered mainstream consciousness in the wake of the pandemic, and the shift to more flexible and hybrid working cultures. One of them is that people are better off carrying out focussed, quiet work at home, and creative and collaborative work in the office. And that this might suggest our approach to office acoustics would shift in particular ways. More →

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