July 13, 2020

Half of SME employees say working from home negatively affects mental health

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

Findings from a recent study show that there is little additional support from SME’s to meet employee wellbeing standards when working from home, as many make a more permanent change after lockdown. The Working from Home study, conducted by Wildgoose, surveyed employees from 133 companies throughout the UK as the Covid-19 lockdown eases. They were asked how their working day differs at home compared to in the office, whether they would be happy to continue working from home after lockdown is ended, and how companies could improve home working practices. More →

July 9, 2020

Three quarters of furloughed employers are worried about redundancy

by Neil Franklin • News

A new report claims that the majority of people who are currently on furlough are concerned about being made redundant when the scheme ends. Two thirds (67 percent) feel there’s been a lack of communication from their employer. The platform surveyed professionals currently on the government job retention scheme to find out if they are worried about job security, along with how being furloughed has impacted them. The survey revealed that the hospitality industry is where staff feel the least amount of job security, closely followed by travel/tourism and sales. More →

July 8, 2020

Nearly all businesses are aware of disability issues, but more needs to be done

by Neil Franklin • News, Working lives

A new study of 120 global brands shows how over 90 per cent of businesses now recognise the importance of disabled employees and customers. The study is the first to consider how businesses are serving the needs of disabled people at a global and local level and how to share best practice. More →

July 3, 2020

Watch where you sit: new workplace setups could hit productivity

by Geoffroy de Lestrange • Comment, Wellbeing

Slowly, it seems we are seeing a gradual return to some sort of normality. Shops are opening up as well as restaurants and pubs and many of us are now also heading back into the office. But these aren’t the offices as we once knew them. Workspace layouts and seating plans are being completely overhauled to bring in new social distancing and safety measures. Beyond just the physical changes this incurs, this could also have a wider impact on how we work – and businesses need to be prepared and ready for that too. More →

July 2, 2020

Leaders need to develop a high care quotient for the new challenges they face

by Chris Parke • Comment, Wellbeing, Working lives

Everything has taken a hit in 2020. Nothing has gone unscathed or unchanged – and the same goes for leadership. From boardrooms to living rooms, meeting rooms to spare rooms, leadership has moved away from face-to-face interactions to digital communications. Meanwhile, forward-thinking initiatives, spurred on by continuing diversity imbalances and widening gender pay gaps, have been put on hold. Following government guidance, only half of businesses published their 2018-19 gender pay gap report – which could reportedly push gender equality back a whole generation. We are risking losing sight of what’s important to us – and unless we’re intentional about how we make systemic, much-needed organisational changes, they’re not going to happen if we only focus on more ‘critical’ things, or keeping the lights on. More →

July 1, 2020

The loneliness of the long term flexible worker

by Dr Rachel Lewis • Comment, Flexible working, Wellbeing

Flexible working arrangements are those which ‘allow employees to vary the amount, timing or location of their work’ and may include part-time working, mobile/home working, compressed hours or job-sharing – among others. Before the lockdown, according to the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development (CIPD), more than half of all employees in the UK used at least one form of flexible working, while a study by Gallup in the US suggests as many as 43 percent of employees already worked flexibly. The practice has been found to have positive effects on job satisfaction, employee commitment, reducing work-family conflict – and for many is now an essential component of modern working life. More →

June 29, 2020

Recruitment firms remain upbeat about longer term economy

by George Eltringham • News, Workplace

Research conducted by Bullhorn, suggests that recruiting professionals are optimistic about COVID-19’s future economic impact. According to Bullhorn’s Global Recruitment Insights and Data (GRID) COVID-19 Impact Survey, only two percent predict a sustained depression that extends past 2021, and more than half (56 percent) expect the economy to improve by the end of the year. More →

June 26, 2020

Work from home advocates beckon us to a living hell

by James Woudhuysen • Comment, Flexible working, Wellbeing

Look, I work from home. The liberal in me says: if you want to and can work from home, then why not? Yes, few of Britain’s cramped homes – especially those occupied by young people – are well equipped for home working, which can be stressful. But, as I say, I see no problem in working from home if you choose to. It’s one thing to say people should be free to work from home (WFH). It’s quite another to endorse it as the New Normal, the way to go, and as a path to a low-pollution, low-emissions paradise on Earth, as many are now doing. More →

June 23, 2020

The key features of the post COVID-19 office you should consider

by Paul Seddon • Company news, Workplace design

With millions of people now working from home or furloughed, they may be wondering when they will be asked to return to the office, perhaps imagining what their office will look like on their return and feeling a little anxious about going back to their work space. A TUC survey issued 27 April 2020 confirmed that 39 percent of workers returning to the office are concerned about safe distancing from their colleagues. More →

June 16, 2020

Virtual work has the potential to harm trust, social cohesion and knowledge sharing

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

Trust, social cohesion and information sharing are the most potentially vulnerable to damage when people work virtually, according to a study of around 750 academic papers conducted on behalf of the Advanced Workplace Institute (AWI), a global workplace management body. As organisations rapidly embrace home working and virtual work in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the study warns that without active management to respond to changes in working, team dynamics are under risk with a knock on effect on both employee happiness and performance. More →

June 15, 2020

Wellbeing for remote workers should not be lost in translation

by Brendan Street • Comment, Flexible working, Wellbeing

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to disrupt the world of work – seeing many businesses remote working – employers are learning more about the importance of effective communication. Diminished in-person contact can lead to feelings of isolation and loneliness among employees. And managers are also facing new challenges in providing the level of social interaction and support that is crucial in maintaining the mental health wellbeing of employees while away from the office. More →

June 12, 2020

Half of HR managers say profession must change post-pandemic

by George Eltringham • News, Workplace

The role played by HR teams during the Coronavirus crisis has thrust the function into the spotlight and demonstrated the importance of an effective people strategy. That’s according to new research from Personio, which also finds that HR teams are eager to maintain a more influential and strategic role in the future. And with half (51 percent) of managers claiming that the function cannot continue as it did prior to the outbreak, it’s clear the pandemic has only accelerated the profession’s ongoing evolution. More →