May 20, 2021

The pandemic will transform the way we commute

by Tim Burgess • Comment, Flexible working, Wellbeing

Organisations and businesses have a lot to contend with as they begin to reopen their offices. From social distancing, working from home policies, office layouts, hand gel stations and more. But there also remains one key issue when it comes to welcoming employees back to the office. And that’s how they will get to work in the first place. That’s because the daily commute is going to look a lot different than it did pre-COVID. Firstly, while many employers and workers see the benefit of meeting in person, the hybrid world we now live in will see workers commuting to the office far less frequently. And, if they do travel to the office, there is an element of hesitancy about how they will get there; a recent study revealed 60 percent that ‘post pandemic’ commuting say hybrid working has reduced stress from not having to commute daily. (more…)

May 20, 2021

Is the time right for office furniture as a service?

by Joanna Knight • Comment, JK, Workplace design

The focus on creating a more sustainable workplace is increasing. Many designers, specifiers, manufacturers, suppliers and, of course, users are pledging their allegiance to the cause. Some are driven by a genuine recognition of the climate crisis whilst others are appreciating that commercially, it’s an essential direction. ‘Zero to landfill’ has been given ‘green bragging rights’ for some time. In reality, due to the significantly lower cost of incineration versus recycling, most material isn’t reclaimed, it is burnt. Whilst ‘energy from waste’ might alleviate some guilt, it is still contributing to pollution. (more…)

May 20, 2021

Flexible and hybrid working policies undervalued by UK Gen Zers

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News, Working culture

Only 3.7 percent of UK Gen Zers value flexible and hybrid working policies as most important to them in their future company, claims a poll of over 4000 UK Gen Zers from Yubo. Despite the current discussion regarding maintaining flexible working from home policies as the UK restrictions begin to ease, Gen Zers do not value this as highly as other aspects of work. (more…)

May 20, 2021

Majority of employers looking to shift to flexible work arrangements

by Jayne Smith • Business, Flexible working, News

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the transition away from traditional workforce models, and 56 percent of companies are expecting to shift more of their roles to contingent, project or contract work as a result, according to a new report by Randstad Sourceright. (more…)

May 19, 2021

Single parents in danger of being locked out of work and forced into poverty

by Jayne Smith • News, Wellbeing, Working lives

A report published by single parent charity, Gingerbread, and the Institute for Employment Studies highlights how the world of work simply doesn’t work for single parents and warns things are set to get worse before they get better – putting even more single parent families at risk of poverty and creating a two-tier society, with single parents firmly at the bottom. (more…)

May 18, 2021

DV Signage teams up with Scale Space to launch high-end collaboration workspace for hybrid working

by Freddie Steele • Company news, Technology

The workspace innovator DV Signage has partnered with Scale Space, the UK’s community for scale-ups, to offer an exciting new Collaboration-as-a-Service workspace to be branded Interaction.Works. The Interaction.Works concept responds directly to the emerging hybrid working trend as companies begin shaping the Future of Work as the UK emerges from lockdown. (more…)

May 18, 2021

New artificial intelligence regulations have important implications for the workplace

by Jose Alberto Rodriguez Ruiz • Comment, Technology, Workplace

The European Commission recently announced its proposal for the regulation of artificial intelligence, looking to ban “unacceptable” uses of artificial intelligence. Up until now, the challenges for businesses getting AI ‘wrong’ were bad press, reputation damage, loss of trust and market share, and most importantly for sensitive applications, harm to individuals. But with these new rules, two new consequences are arising: plain interdiction of certain AI systems, and GDPR-like fines. (more…)

May 17, 2021

Long working hours increase deaths from heart disease and stroke, says WHO

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing

Long working hours led to 745,000 deaths from stroke and ischemic heart disease in 2016, a 29 per cent increase since 2000, according to the latest estimates by the World Health Organization and the International Labour Organization published in Environment International today. In what the authors claim is the first global analysis of the loss of life and health associated with working long hours, WHO and ILO estimate that, in 2016, 398 000 people died from stroke and 347,000 from heart disease as a result of having worked at least 55 hours a week. Between 2000 and 2016, the number of deaths from heart disease due to long hours increased by 42 percent, and from stroke by 19 percent. (more…)

May 14, 2021

We need to acknowledge our bias if we want to see the world for what it is

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Wellbeing, Working lives

We’re all biased. We all recognise the sharp bump of our critical thinking skills kicking into life when confronted with ideas and information that go against our beliefs. We know how they doze in the comforting embrace of affirming data. So, it’s been entertaining this week to observe the reaction to the large-scale academic study of 10,000 IT workers which found that they had worked 30 percent longer hours while working from home, a fifth of it outside their normal times of work, without actually doing any more work. In essence their productivity had fallen by 20 percent in spite of their increased hours. (more…)

May 14, 2021

Employee optimism dampened by pandemic, but majority of UK workers remain positive

by Jayne Smith • News, Working culture

Optimism among workers in the UK has been shaken in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, claims the ADP Research Institute’s People at Work 2021: A Global Workforce View. Nevertheless, two-thirds still have a positive outlook on the world of work for the next five years, mirroring the sentiment of people across the world. (more…)

May 14, 2021

One in five employees now more comfortable taking a sick day

by Jayne Smith • News, Wellbeing, Working lives

New research from Love Energy Savings claims that one in five people are now more comfortable taking a sick day compared to pre-pandemic. This is in stark contrast to their findings pre-pandemic, when they found that 80 percent of UK employees went to work when sick, with one in 10 people attributing this to employee pressure and one in five to not wanting to let their teammates down. (more…)

May 13, 2021

People working from home might now be subject to a visit from the Pensions Regulator

by Anne-Marie Winton and Danyal Enver • Features, Flexible working

The Pensions Regulator might now have the power under current UK pensions legislation, to enter the private homes of employees when it is investigating their employer, if those employees are working from home. The current law has been in force since 2005 and it allows the Regulator to enter some premises at any reasonable time. This power is restricted to use only in relation to some limited statutory investigations. However, though currently limited, these regulatory powers will soon be widened and extended by the Pensions Schemes Act 2021 which is due to come into force in Autumn 2021.