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 11, 2022
The COVID-19 pandemic, lockdowns and shift to remote working has had a significant impact on organisations’ attitudes towards a shorter working week, new research from Henley Business School has revealed. The longitudinal study found that 65 percent of UK businesses surveyed are now implementing a four-day working week for some, or all, of their staff, compared with 50 percent who answered a similar survey carried out by Henley in 2019. More →
March 9, 2022
With 12 months to go, ‘Destination Workplace’ has been unveiled as the theme for the second edition of the Workspace Design Show. Taking place at London’s Business Design Centre on 27-28 February 2023, the Workspace Design Show will once again be bringing together the entire commercial interiors community to discover and discuss tomorrow’s workspaces. The Workspace Design Show has announced the members of an advisory board and is also launching an Amsterdam counterpart. The Amsterdam show will have a special focus on bringing UK exporters an opportunity to sell to the Benelux market. More →
March 3, 2022
The UK workforce is largely happier than it was pre-pandemic, according to a poll from Right Management. For female employees, the main reason for their increased contentment is that the pandemic gave them a newfound appreciation for their job and made them realise that they took their job for granted previously (41 percent). On the other hand, it was reuniting with colleagues that led to an improved mood among their male counterparts (39 percent). More →
March 3, 2022
The pandemic has changed the nature of work, which offers opportunities for organisations to adopt more considerate and efficient work practices as offices reopen. The latest study to come to this conclusion has been published by the University of Southampton and funded by the Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC). The research considered the longer-term implications of working from home and which new working practices should remain and be encouraged. Its findings offer lessons from lockdown that will guide organisations as they seek to make hybrid working a success. More →
February 21, 2022
A new poll claims that than one fifth (21 percent) of managers based in London believe that supporting employee mental health is not a priority for their company this year. The research commissioned by the South Westminster Business Alliance with Kings College London suggests that over three quarters (78 percent) of managers admit they struggle to spot the signs of poor mental health amongst employees. More →
February 8, 2022
The distillation of every received and laundered idea of the past two years leads us here. A claim from Gallup that in future just over a third of the desks in offices will be empty. Whatever Gallup thinks, this is great news for the office sector. One of the truths the office sector hasn’t always liked to talk about too much over the last few decades is that in a typical office over that period, around half of the desks have already been empty. More →
February 8, 2022
According to a new report from Instant Offices (registration), four in five employers whose staff are offered hybrid or remote work are already using employee monitoring tools to track work performance and activity. According to the study: 78 percent of companies report using employee monitoring software to track worker performance and online activity; 73 percent say stored recordings of calls, emails, and messages have affected team members’ performance reviews; over 50 percent say they are implementing non-traditional monitoring techniques; and 94 percent of employers track emails. 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 →
February 1, 2022
Half (48 percent) of UK C-suite leaders now feel less confident making business-critical decisions compared to before the pandemic, according to a report (registration / promotion) commissioned by Treasure Data. The survey of 500 business leaders in the UK the impact the pandemic has had on leadership decision-making, and reviews whether these decision making processes are fit for purpose in a new era of unpredictability. More →
January 20, 2022
Around two thirds of professionals say they are ‘highly likely’ to leave their job this year due to a lack of face time with leaders within their organisation. Following the announcement yesterday from Government that working-from-home restrictions will be dropped, an annual employee survey from recruiter Robert Walters claims to reveal the potential damage of upholding remote leadership in 2022. Results from survey suggest a correlation between a decrease in output and morale for professionals who claim they see their manager (face-to-face) less than once a week. 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.