March 9, 2021
Employees could save over £2,200 a year and ‘get back’ 98 mins a day if companies adopted a ‘Work Near Home’ model for offices in the future, claims research from workspace company, The Instant Group and site location company, Hickey. For companies that adopt this approach, they could save upwards of 23 percent by utilising a “Hub and Spoke” model that removes reliance on city centres for office locations. More →
February 24, 2021
The feelings of isolation being experienced by employees is the biggest concern IT and cybersecurity teams have around home working, say almost one third (31 percent) of respondents to the latest Twitter poll run by Infosecurity Europe. The objective was to investigate views on the current threat landscape, as remote working remains the norm and ‘lockdown fatigue’ sets in. More →
January 14, 2021
New research by MHR International, shows one-in-three working parents (33 percent) have lied to their boss about how they are coping with the balance between home schooling and work during the current lockdown. More →
October 22, 2020
Sketch, the independent workplace furniture specialist, has launched Home-Work by Sketch – a homeworking furniture specification service, with an ordering website for the employees of corporate enterprise in the UK. Even before the Coronavirus pandemic, flexible and homeworking were becoming increasingly popular helping organisations to attract top talent and improving employee well-being, as well as supporting business continuity, and allowing an agile response to unexpected challenges. More →
August 4, 2020
People are productive at home and want to retain flexible working after lockdown, but struggle with sub-optimal working environments and a lack of interaction with colleagues. That is the main finding from a survey by property technology company, Equiem. The firm has published the results of its most comprehensive global office occupier survey to date, providing landlords and tenants alike with valuable insights into occupier sentiment amid the COVID-19 pandemic. More →
March 30, 2020
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and the International Facility Management Association (IFMA) collaboration are to throw their weight behind an emergency initiative by Leesman, building a global pan-industry response group to the threat posed to the real estate and facilities management industries by Covid-19 and addressing the huge uptake in home working. More →
November 8, 2018
Over half of home workers say they appreciate the benefits that home working offers but nearly a quarter complain of loneliness too, a new survey from BHSF claims. When asked how working from home makes them feel, the top three responses were: free (50 percent), in control (47 percent) and calm (46 percent). However, a significant number of those surveyed chose more negative words to describe their feelings. Just over a quarter (26 percent) said that working from home made them feel remote, 24 percent felt isolated and 21 percent lonely. More →
July 12, 2017
Perhaps it’s something to do with the housing issues many people from the younger generations now have to deal with; i.e. either live with parents or endure an overpriced house share, but those under 35 are reported to actually prefer working from the office to remote or home working. This differs from baby boomers, who would rather work from home. According to the survey by Maintel there are differing preferences between the multi-generational workforce, with those aged under 35 feeling they are most productive in the office (48 percent), while only 19 percent of those above 55 agree. Another reason why younger workers cling to the office is due to the fact that they require the face-to-face support of experienced co-workers. The survey also discovered that 28 percent found getting hold of colleagues or managers a challenge when working remotely. And it may also be down to the social aspects of office life and when seeking promotions – ensuring the visibility of hard work. On the other hand, older employees have responsibilities at home, and remote working allows them to be more efficient with their time.
May 3, 2017
The lazy assumption that employees who work from home are invariably shirking work is gradually dissipating, as flexible working becomes part of accepted working practice. Now new research suggests that to really get the best from their home workers, employers need to treat them as responsible adults who can actually be trusted. A new study, conducted by Nick van der Meulen of Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM) has revealed that job performance in working from home is driven by employee self-regulation and decision-making freedom rather than previous beliefs that it was achieved through managerial or peer control. In fact, any suggestion of shirking is erased by the evidence of a positive relationship between the extent of telework and number of hours worked. On average, full-time teleworkers perform just as well as those who do no telework at all — even under conditions of infrequent communication with the manager, low peer performance monitoring, and no outcome reward systems.
April 28, 2017
The UK’s appetite for remote and flexible working is being hampered by prohibitively slow broadband speeds and poor mobile coverage, according to new research from uSwitch.com. A quarter of employees (25 percent) have experienced issues with their telecoms services over the last year, resulting in a staggering four million being prevented from working from home. In the last 12 months, 43 percent of UK employees have worked from home at least once as people are taking advantage of the increasingly flexible work environments offered by businesses – a figure which rises to 55 percent amongst 18-34 year olds. Yet six in ten (58 percent) have fallen foul of sluggish internet speeds and patchy call quality in the last year alone. The problems have been so severe for half (46 percent) of those with issues that they believe they are no longer able to work from home while these problems persist.
October 11, 2016
According to a new study by researchers at Princeton University and Harvard University, the average American worker is indifferent to flexible working hours and instead prefers a set 40-hour workweek. According to the study, most workers aren’t willing to take even a small pay cut to determine their own working hours. However, if given the option to work from home, many workers — especially women — would take an 8 percent wage cut to do so. The findings, published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), also show that workers consistently dislike irregular work schedules set by employers on short notice. They would even give up one-fifth of their salary to avoid working evenings or weekends. Nearly half of jobseekers would not take an irregular-schedule job even if it paid a quarter more than a 9 to 5 job. This is true even of workers who currently have irregular work schedules.
September 10, 2016
Home working myths + Millennial’s needs + Global sustainability 0
by Sara Bean • Comment, Facilities management, Flexible working, Newsletter, Property, Workplace, Workplace design