Search Results for: covid

People want their offices to perform more like hotels

People want their offices to perform more like hotels

Soft seating from Connection furniture that could be set in offices or hotelsEmployees today want more ‘hotel-style’ amenities such as areas for socialising, state-of-the-art infrastructure, outdoor spaces, onsite cafes, air conditioning, and flexible work facilities to entice them back to offices, according to a new poll from MRI Software. The firm’s Workplace Report [registration] claims almost two-thirds (64 percent) of respondents say such hotel-style features impact their decision on whether to work for an organisation, including more than one in ten who see failure to provide the right amenities as a deal breaker. More →

Getting past the uncertainty of GDP to find something better

Getting past the uncertainty of GDP to find something better

Epicenter Coworking Space in Stockholm, where Sweden has an economic model that deals with the uncertainty of GDP as a focusThe other night, my fourteen-year-old daughter was revising for her Economics exam, and we discussed the Swedish Economic Model and its relevance in our own age of uncertainty. According to the International Monetary Fund, Sweden’s national debt to GDP ratio has fallen chiefly since 1995. We proceeded to discuss the term Gross National Product (GDP). GDP measures the monetary value of final goods and services produced in a country in a given period of time over three months or a year. More →

New study claims people who can work remotely come into the office for less than two days a week

New study claims people who can work remotely come into the office for less than two days a week

A global study of 220 offices in 33 countries, representing nearly 250,000 employees, has revealed that hybrid working is becoming established as the norm for those who can work remotely. Those people now come into the office an average of just 1.5 days a week, versus nearly four days a week before the Covid-19 pandemic. AWA’s second Hybrid Working Index study, conducted between September and November this year, found that on average people go into the office 29 percent of the time. Among employers surveyed in both the first study, in the summer, and this one, attendance was steady at around 25 percent. More →

The failures of work give us hope for the future

The failures of work give us hope for the future

Workplace engagement is approaching an all-time low, and typical employer reaction has been characteristically resigned. Actually, that last statement was inaccurately soft. Let me rephrase: most employees either don’t care about or actually hate their jobs, and employers couldn’t care less. More →

Poor indoor air quality is a threat to health, say people coming into the office

Poor indoor air quality is a threat to health, say people coming into the office

An image of the windows at the famous dancing house to illustrate the importance of ventilation and indoor air qualityA new poll claims that ‘hybrid employees’ in the UK are worried about how healthy their work environments are as we approach the winter season, with 53 percent saying they’re concerned poor air quality and ventilation will impact their general health, rising to 70 percent amongst London-based hybrid workers. The survey of 2,000 UK people by OnePoll, on behalf of Infogrid, claims that hybrid workers are facing a Catch-22 moment as we enter the colder months; balancing worries over the cost of working from home with concerns about their own wellbeing in the office as a result of poor indoor air quality. More →

Office sector net zero targets require significant shift in thinking

Office sector net zero targets require significant shift in thinking

An image of the Earth from space to illustrate what is at stake for the office sector, which is one of the main contributors to carbon emissionsA new report, Delivering Net Zero Carbon in the Workplace [BCO members only] produced by University College London Consultants (UCLC) for the British Council for Offices (BCO), claims to identify the barriers that businesses are facing as they strive to drastically reduce the carbon footprint of their offices. The report, informed by over 100 office occupiers and building professionals, outlines the measures that those working in the office sector can take to overcome these barriers at what the report suggests is low or zero cost. More →

Lease cycle means West End office market will ‘reset’ by 2025

Lease cycle means West End office market will ‘reset’ by 2025

An ancient snakes and ladders game board to depict the vicissitudes of the office market in LondonA BNP Paribas Real Estate analysis claims that London’s West End office market is on course to ‘reset’ by 2025 following a major leasing event cycle commencing in 2023, which will see a flurry of renewals, expiries and break clauses executed by both landlord and tenant, which will alter the market as we know it by the milestone year.  According to the firm’s own West End data, 40 percent of the market will have a lease event in 2023 and 2024, with equally large volumes to follow in the two subsequent years. This freedom of tenant movement coupled with a restricted supply line, could drive rents on prime buildings from their current 2022 position of £140 sq ft to £200 sq ft in 2023 and £250 sq ft in 2024, and further into 2025 where the initial cycle ends. More →

Mental health flagged as major concern in HSE annual stats

Mental health flagged as major concern in HSE annual stats

The nose of a black dog, as a metaphor for work related mental health issuesThe estimated number of workers in Great Britain suffering from work-related illness is 1.8 million with mental health issues related to stress, depression, and anxiety making up around half of all cases. That is the headline figure in the latest annual statistics report from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). The figures from the workplace regulator show there were an estimated 914,000 cases of work-related stress, depression, or anxiety in 2021/22. An estimated 17 million working days were lost due to work-related stress, depression, or anxiety in 2021/22. This is over half of all working days lost due to work-related ill health.

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The workplace circus continues to entertain, but back in the real world…

The workplace circus continues to entertain, but back in the real world…

A painting of a clown sitting alone, waiting to enter the workplace circusThe Great Workplace Circus headlines its 322nd show of the year with everybody’s favourite distraction, Elon Musk, being driven into the ring by his own shoddily built clown car, declaring he needs everybody at Twitter to be ‘extremely hardcore’ before sacking a few people from his space programme, then setting fire to the tent himself. The swarm of stories spawned by this extraordinary behaviour include this tired and predictable rant in the Telegraph about ‘lazy Brits’. Ironically, there’s nothing lazier than a columnist on this rag with some space to fill. More →

Summing up where the office now stands in the scheme of things

Summing up where the office now stands in the scheme of things

A painting in the style of Edward Hopper of a lone man waiting to board a commuter train to get to the office The argument about what it takes to encourage people to come into the office more often seems to have boiled down to an equation. It’s now common to hear somebody argue that the office has to be worth the commute it takes to get to it. So, if you want people to spend more time in the building, you need to do the maths. O must be greater than or equal to C More →

UK will be only developed country in world with lower employment in 2023 than pre-pandemic

UK will be only developed country in world with lower employment in 2023 than pre-pandemic

The cover image of the report into UK employment, consisting of a large arrow made up of numerous peopleA new report claims that the UK is undergoing one of the worst employment recoveries in the world, fuelled by a shrinking workforce and lack of access to effective employment support. Coming the week after the Bank of England forecast that unemployment could rise by half a million next year, and a week before the government announces its new spending plans, the case for reforms to how we help people and employers to fill jobs has never been stronger. More →

Workplace wellbeing remains a neglected issue for many firms

Workplace wellbeing remains a neglected issue for many firms

Two people sharing a coffee and a joke at work to illustrate workplace wellbeingTwo in five businesses have either cut or maintained workplace wellbeing budgets despite growing pressures on their staff, according to a new report. Faced with stressors such as the cost-of-living crisis, political uncertainty, and the ‘return to work’ post-Covid, just 16 percent of directors and risk practitioners said their wellbeing budgets had seen a significant increase. Around 40 percent of businesses had increased their budgets slightly to tackle issues such as mental, physical, financial health, organisational vision, values, culture and working standards, according to the poll by Deloitte, the International Institute of Risk and Safety Management (IIRSM) and the Institute of Directors (IoD). More →