February 10, 2021
Search Results for: change
Working from home is exacerbating an ‘always on’ culture. Data from a study of UK employees, conducted by virtual team building company 
February 8, 2021
Business leaders set out plans to create ‘tech supercluster’ in West Midlands
Generating £27.8 billion gross value added annually, and employing more than 360,000 people, the West Midlands is the UK’s largest centre for business, professional and financial services (BPFS) outside London. Now, business leaders from Shoosmiths, Wesleyan, Bruntwood CBRE amongst others, are working with the region’s just under 12,500 leading tech and digital companies to see how they can integrate AI and advanced technology into their everyday activities. (more…)
February 5, 2021
Workplace things we have missed, and those we hope to regain
Let’s be honest, work life pre 2020 had its flaws, whilst the longing for variety of scenery, change of pace and even a train journey (somewhere…ANYWHERE) would be welcomed by many of us right now, many of us had become a bit ‘hamster wheel’ in our approach. Commuting was stressful, expensive and time hungry; our natural and individual rhythms squeezed into a set 9-5 schedule and workplace design had become a bit ‘quantity over quality’ – desks have been reducing in size year upon year in order that capacity could be increased. We had reached a point at which everything was ripe for change but there was largely a resistance to both flexible working requests and embracing much of the technological advancements that were already at our fingertips. (more…)
February 5, 2021
Majority of the workforce will need new skill sets to do their jobs successfully
HR leaders are finding it increasingly difficult to quickly find and develop talent with the most in demand skills, yet 58 percent of the workforce needs new skill sets to get their jobs done, according to Gartner, Inc. (more…)
February 5, 2021
Remote working affects both ends of the career ladder
Working together in person has far-ranging benefits on everything from mental health to economic growth according to a new report by Landsec and written by IC&CO and Honeycomb Analytics. The report, In Person: why coming together for work matters, includes interviews with business leaders and analysis of recent data to delve into topics including the ability for leaders to lead and the younger generation’s capacity to learn whilst remote working. (more…)
February 5, 2021
More than two-thirds of FM leaders resistant to technology progress
Outdated attitudes towards technology amongst senior facilities management business leaders are at risk of jeopardising future business survival, claims new research by Sigma Dynamics. The Connected Enterprise report claims that 71 percent of C-suite executives, directors and senior managers are sceptical about the benefits of implementing new business technology. (more…)
February 5, 2021
Microsoft unveils new employee experience and wellbeing platform
Microsoft has announced Microsoft Viva, which it claims is the first employee experience platform to bring tools for employee engagement, learning, wellbeing and knowledge discovery, directly into people’s workflow. Viva is designed to help employees ‘learn, grow and thrive’ in the new era of working life, and is designed to work alongside existing solutions such as Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams. (more…)
February 4, 2021
When business leaders open up about mental health, we all benefit
The Covid-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented effect on the way in which we work and has brought in to focus the challenges around mental health and wellbeing. The recognition that we are in the midst of the biggest mental health crisis since the Second World War brings the challenge in to stark focus. Time to Talk Day (today) aims to get the nation talking more openly about mental health, and there could not be a better time for it. Research from Wondrous published this week found that one in six people (17 percent) who have switched to remote working during the pandemic have seen their mental health suffer, rising to 20 percent among women and younger workers. I suspect that the inherent stigma that still surrounds mental health is masking the true percentage of people being affected. (more…)
February 4, 2021
Working from home wellbeing outcomes vary enormously across groups
With working from home set to continue for millions of UK workers, research by the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) claims that there are key health and wellbeing disparities between different groups of people who made the move to home working as a result of Covid-19. (more…)
February 3, 2021
Amazon unveils latest plans for new US headquarters campus
Amazon has submitted plans for its new $2.5 billion headquarters campus, known as HQ2, in Arlington County. Virginia. The NBBJ designed proposal for the PenPlace campus includes a 350 ft glass tower, three 22-story towers offering 2.8 million sq. ft of office space, a 250-seat outdoor amphitheatre, public green space, and several other buildings. The centre piece tower, officially dubbed The Helix, is a plant covered structure to emphasize the firm’s commitment to the environment and biophilic design. (more…)
February 3, 2021
COVID-19 is having an unequal impact on the mental health of workers
When the COVID-19 crisis hit the UK in March 2020, many commented that the virus didn’t discriminate and that its impact would be felt equally by everyone. However, as highlighted in Nuffield Health’s recent whitepaper, the mental health impact of the virus – rising from financial worries, anxiety around health and the direct impact of COVID-19 – has hit some groups harder than others. (more…)
February 9, 2021
Getting the measure of better working cultures
by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Flexible working, Technology, Wellbeing, Workplace design