Search Results for: Working from home

Poor indoor air quality is a threat to health, say people coming into the office

Poor indoor air quality is a threat to health, say people coming into the office

by • Facilities management, News, Wellbeing, Workplace design

An image of the windows at the famous dancing house to illustrate the importance of ventilation and indoor air qualityA new poll claims that ‘hybrid employees’ in the UK are worried about how healthy their work environments are as we approach the winter season, with 53 percent saying they’re concerned poor air quality and ventilation will impact their general health, rising to 70 percent amongst London-based hybrid workers. The survey of 2,000 UK people by OnePoll, on behalf of Infogrid, claims that hybrid workers are facing a Catch-22 moment as we enter the colder months; balancing worries over the cost of working from home with concerns about their own wellbeing in the office as a result of poor indoor air quality. More →

Always connected in the age of disconnection

Always connected in the age of disconnection

by • Features, Flexible working, Wellbeing

All of humanity’s problems,” the French scientist and philosopher Blaise Pascal wrote in 1654, “stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” He may have been right, but then again, sitting in a room alone isn’t necessarily a great state of permanent being either. There was a time we used to talk with dismay about the Japanese phenomenon of intense social distancing known as hikikomori. We would consider with horror the isolation, lack of engagement with society, poor mental health and loneliness of the people who had almost completely withdrawn to their rooms. Those poor bastards locked up in enclosed spaces linked to the outside world only by screens. More →

Major new report offers snapshot of hybrid and remote work debate in the US

Major new report offers snapshot of hybrid and remote work debate in the US

by • Flexible working, News

Two colleagues in a coworking space to illustrate how hybrid and remote work is changingOwl Labs and Global Workplace Analytics have just released their sixth annual State of Remote Work report. Based on a survey of over 2,300 full-time workers across the United States, the report reveals the latest trends and perspectives on a range of issues from remote work and hybrid work, trust, intent to move, training offered, workplace redesign, intent and reasons for quitting, technology needs, employee surveillance, the 4-day workweek, and more.

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The underlying problems with the way we think about work

The underlying problems with the way we think about work

by • Features, Wellbeing, Workplace design

people and workAn 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 a 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 →

Three tips for battling noise in the workplace

Three tips for battling noise in the workplace

by • Company news

Offices have been reopening and trying to entice employees back for a while now. And while many people have thrived while working from home, the return to office has been a welcome change, with staff missing in-person interactions with their clients and colleagues. However, as people have become accustomed to the relative quiet at home (kids excluded, of course), being thrust back into an office setting could take some getting used to. Research shows 56 percent of office workers are concerned that noise levels in the office will make them less productive. Between colleagues chatting over each other, desk-phones ringing, and impromptu virtual calls, there are a range of distractions staff must contend with. More →

Will employees return to the office to save on energy bills this winter?

Will employees return to the office to save on energy bills this winter?

by • Comment, Flexible working

An isolated house in the night poses the question whether people want to heat a home officeThis winter will be tough for many UK households. Rising energy bills are driving a huge upswing in inflation, causing real incomes to fall as the cost of living goes up. And despite the UK Government’s announcement that energy prices will be ‘capped’ at an average of £2,500 per year, the Bank of England believes inflation will remain high for at least the next two years. According to government estimates, a £2,500 energy bill is almost double the average household’s energy bill in 2021. And as employees continue to work from their home office regularly, energy consumption is likely to rise. More →

Younger workers tend to rely on the office more

Younger workers tend to rely on the office more

by • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

Younger workers talk among themselves in an officeA new poll claims that people belonging to “Gen Z” rely heavily on the professional and social structure of the office, with 78 percent finding it easier to bond with colleagues in the workplace and 81 percent feeling disconnected from their peers when working from home. The survey of 3,000 people, from Unispace, claims that the majority (79 percent) of younger workers felt more active when working in the office, while among older workers this figure is 66 percent. More →

Three quarters of people admit to turning off webcam to hide what they’re doing

Three quarters of people admit to turning off webcam to hide what they’re doing

by • Flexible working, News, Technology

An owl camouflaged against a tree as a metaphor for hiding on webcam meetingsA new poll from Showpad, claims that three quarters of ‘office workers’ in the UK (76 percent) admit to turning off their webcam on video calls to hide what they are doing. The figure for workers under 24 rises to 85 percent. According to the State of Selling study, concentration on video calls when working from home appears to be one of the main issues with 80 percent saying they are more easily distracted in virtual meetings compared to real-world ones, with over half (52 percent) saying they have an attention span of less than half an hour in virtual meetings. More →

There is no F in work

There is no F in work

by • Comment, Flexible working, Wellbeing, Workplace design

Neil Usher is an energetic, wiry critic of workplaces and offices. Long ago – in 2018, actually – his proposal that the good office is composed of 12 simple elements, beginning with daylight, was also energetic and wiry. Here he widens out from the delicious nitty-gritties of temperature control and lighting in The Elemental Workplace to the wider phenomenon of work. As the title already suggests, the style is laden with expletives: there are no fewer than 25 mentions of the word ‘crap’. He is withering, too, about the ‘easiest fat-arsed squatting duck of targets, the hapless office, with its rituals and theatrics’. On top of a fresh, Elemental-style bow to the nostrum of inclusion, there is a critique of management fads, but also reference made to (white male) privilege, plus, in a lofty manner, ‘our essentially Stone Age cognitive wiring’.

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Work is more visible to managers when people are in the physical workplace

Work is more visible to managers when people are in the physical workplace

by • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

workplace visibilityAlthough workers think that their work location doesn’t matter, a new poll suggests that their bosses don’t agree. In the poll of US employees from workplace platform Envoy, 96 percent of respondents described as leaders say they take more notice of people’s work contributions when they are in the office. Just 42 percent of respondents described as employees agree. Gen Z employees, more than any other generation, value workplace visibility, with 73 percent believing their contributions are noticed more in-office than at home. Only 64 percent of Millennials, 53 percent of Gen X, and 45 percent of Boomers feel the same. Among executives, women are more likely than men to recognise work and contributions accomplished from home. More →

Poor acoustics hamper productivity and deter people from spending more time in the office

Poor acoustics hamper productivity and deter people from spending more time in the office

by • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace design

acousticsNoisy offices are lowering productivity, with 60 percent of office workers unable to concentrate and delivering poor quality work due to loud workspaces, is deterring people from returning to offices more often, and can even lead to violence. Those are the key findings of a new poll of 2,000 workers from Oscar Acoustics. The survey [registration] suggests that just 8 percent of people feel they work in a quiet office, with only a quarter of office workers working in a space that has well designed acoustics for their job. More →

Remote work and the things we have learned about it

Remote work and the things we have learned about it

by • Comment, Flexible working

remote workTwo plus years after the onset of the pandemic and many employees are continuing to work remotely, either full or part-time. We know that the ability to work remotely increases employee happiness by as much as 20 percent, but employees will tend to work longer hours and are more likely to experience burnout. The debate over whether remote work is “better” than being in an office is reductive and misses critical nuances around hybrid work models. More →

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