May 6, 2021

Why mobile site surveys have changed so dramatically

by Freddie Steele • Company news, Technology

Central to any business is the need to communicate effectively. Whether you’re relocating to new or refurbished premises, or switching providers, it is vital to ensure your communications networks are up to the job in terms of performance and reliability. Not only is this required to support conventional telecoms and OTT services, it is key to smart building and smart infrastructure applications. Connectivity should not be limited to Wi-Fi either. Businesses are increasingly pushing mobile-only strategies and landlines are fast becoming obsolete in the workplace. PwC, for example, removed all landlines from their offices back in 2018 and many other organisations have since followed suit, with smartphones providing a single point of contact for all voice and internet connectivity, as well as being used as resilient IT infrastructure. More →

April 27, 2021

Majority of employees feel optimistic about returning to the office as UK opens up

by Jayne Smith • News, Working lives

As pubs, shops and other workplaces re-open this week, the success of the vaccine rollout has helped employees feel much more optimistic about their return to work than they were following November’s lockdown, according to Aviva’s research of more than 2,000 employed adults across the UK. More →

March 26, 2021

Almost half of organisations won’t track employee COVID-19 vaccination status

by Jayne Smith • News, Working culture

A Gartner, Inc. survey of 227 HR leaders on claims that nearly half (48 percent) of large global organisations will not track the vaccination status of their employees. Only eight percent of survey respondents reported that they will require employees to show proof of vaccination. More →

March 17, 2021

Mental health and wellbeing are top of the priority list

by Jayne Smith • News, Wellbeing, Working culture

A new in-depth report by HR and payroll software providers, Natural HR highlights the trends, challenges and priorities facing the HR profession, and the impact of the pandemic. In 2019, the top priority of HR leaders was cited as recruitment and retention, however by the end of 2020 this had shifted to employee health and wellbeing. More →

March 10, 2021

Surging UK tech investment fails to deliver due to ineffective training

by Jayne Smith • News, Technology, Working culture

New research by CWJobs, claims three quarters of UK businesses (72 percent) increased their overall investment in tech tools, talent and training by an average of £1.48 million in 2020, as digital capabilities enabled them to maintain business continuity throughout the pandemic. More →

February 11, 2021

Firms split furniture budgets between home and office

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News, Working lives

As lockdown looks set to be extended until mid-March and many business professionals continue to work remotely, a new study by lighting supplier Ultra LEDs claims that only now are workers investing in their home office as they plan for the future. More →

February 4, 2021

Older executives are coping with WFH challenges better than younger leaders

by Jayne Smith • Business, News, Working lives

Senior executives aged 55+ have fared better than ‘millennial’ leaders (aged under 35) during the global pandemic. ABBYY’s COVID-19 Technology and Business Process Report claims that since the pandemic, executives of all ages have experienced huge challenges – in the UK alone, 81 percent of senior decision-makers struggled, particularly with collaborating with colleagues remotely (37 percent), motivation to work (29 percent) and productivity (26 percent). More →

February 2, 2021

Stress-related absence soars as COVID-19 exacerbates the UK’s mental health crisis

by Jayne Smith • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

‘Stress by Sector’ data released by e-days claims concerning statistics that stress-related appointments are up generally in business by 64 percent over 2019. The data claims that the sectors struggling most with stress-related sickness are unsurprisingly healthcare (0.64 days of stress related absence on average per employee), followed by Government and International Affairs (0.57 days on average per employee) and Human Resources and staffing (0.39 days on average per employee). More →

January 28, 2021

Disconnected leadership hinders effective employee engagement

by Jayne Smith • Business, News, Working culture

New research from Opinion Matters, commissioned by SocialChorus, the digital employee experience platform, claims that the digital employee experience (DEX) and employee engagement efforts by businesses across the US, UK and Nordics are hampered by the lack of collaboration between IT, HR and Internal Communications (IC) departments. More →

January 14, 2021

Mace achieves net zero carbon

by Freddie Steele • Company news

Mace has announced that it has achieved its ambition to be a net zero carbon business in 2020. Following the statement in January 2020 that the company had committed to the ambitious target, the executive board has confirmed that after driving down its carbon emissions as far as possible across its developments and operations it has offset the remaining emissions. More →

January 12, 2021

Employers failing to tackle age bias in recruitment

by Jayne Smith • News, Working culture

Employers are failing to identify and tackle potential age bias in their recruitment process, with most employers interviewed not seeing it as a ‘problem’ in their organisation, according to a new report by the Centre for Ageing Better. More →

January 8, 2021

Volunteering boosts employees during lockdown, research claims

by Jayne Smith • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

As companies struggle to motivate teams working remotely, new research by the charity Education and Employers and the CIPD, claims that employers who support their staff with volunteering in schools and colleges has found employees to be more motivated, more productive and have a better sense of well-being. More →