Search Results for: covid

The pandemic may have changed our personalities, say researchers

The pandemic may have changed our personalities, say researchers

by • Flexible working, News

While we often view personality as a fixed entity, a new study suggests the COVID-19 pandemic may have left a subtle but enduring mark on some aspects of our personalities. Published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, the research suggests that while significant personality changes weren’t widespread, conscientiousness levels generally increased throughout the pandemic, while extraversion dipped slightly. Interestingly, openness to new experiences remained relatively stable. More →

People who work from home are less likely to get pay rises and promotions

People who work from home are less likely to get pay rises and promotions

by • Flexible working, News, Workplace

People who work from home all or part of the time are less likely to get pay rises and promotions, a new study of outcomes from hybrid working suggestsPeople who work from home all or part of the time are less likely to get pay rises and promotions, a new study of outcomes from hybrid working suggests. The survey of 937 UK managers found that they were 11 percent less likely to give a promotion to staff who worked entirely from home than to those who were completely office-based. Hybrid workers – those working partly in the office and partly at home – were on average 7 percent less likely to be promoted. More →

Virtual meetings can boost wellbeing and performance

Virtual meetings can boost wellbeing and performance

by • News, Technology, Wellbeing

Virtual meetings – often derided as impersonal and prone to technical glitches – can improve employee wellbeing and performanceVirtual meetings – often derided as impersonal and prone to technical glitches – can improve employee wellbeing and performance, a new study led by a Trinity Business School researcher has found. The research, conducted alongside Karin S. Moser (UniDistance Suisse, University of Queensland), Stefan Diestel (University of Wuppertal) and Isaac Alshaikh (South East Technological University Waterford), conducted during the ongoing shift to hybrid work environments and just published in the Journal of Vocational Behavior, concludes that virtual meetings, a staple of the COVID-19 pandemic, are not just a necessity but can also be beneficial. More →

Sick pay reform should encourage people back into work, government claims

Sick pay reform should encourage people back into work, government claims

by • News, Workplace

A parliamentary committee of MPs has called for a 'long-overdue' boost to statutory sick payA parliamentary committee of MPs has called for a ‘long-overdue’ boost to statutory sick pay (SSP), emphasising the need to strike a delicate balance between workers’ wellbeing and employers’ financial constraints. The Work and Pensions Committee has recommended aligning the SSP rate with the flat rate of Statutory Maternity Pay, a move that they say could significantly improve the financial safety net for workers. More →

AI will leave a lot of people with nowhere to go in the job market

AI will leave a lot of people with nowhere to go in the job market

by • AI, News, Technology, Workplace

Non-graduates, 'silver surfers' and those in lower socio-economic brackets will be left behind as AI creates a 'skills glass ceiling'Non-graduates, ‘silver surfers’ and those in lower socio-economic brackets will be left behind as the rise of AI creates a ‘skills glass ceiling’. That’s according to the latest Robert Half Jobs Confidence Index (JCI) – an economic confidence tracker produced in partnership with the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr). The latest iteration of the Robert Half JCI revealed that almost half (45 percent) of the UK workforce is concerned that AI will disrupt their career in the next six to ten years. More →

Forty percent of companies calling staff back to the office five days a week

Forty percent of companies calling staff back to the office five days a week

by • Flexible working, News

Two in five companies are returning to a five-days-in-the-office work week, according to new data from Virgin Media O2.Two in five companies are returning to a five-days-in-the-office work week, according to new data from Virgin Media O2. The Telecoms giant’s Movers Index suggest that around 40 percent of firms now require five-day-a-week office work. Meanwhile, 92 percent of companies had some kind of mandatory in-office policy. Wednesday remains the top day for office work, with about three quarters of office workers coming in for the midweek. More →

UK greenhouse gas emissions fall to lowest level since 1879

UK greenhouse gas emissions fall to lowest level since 1879

by • Environment, News

The UK’s greenhouse gas emissions fell by 5.7 percent in 2023 to their lowest level since 1879, according to a new analysis from Carbon Brief.The UK’s greenhouse gas emissions fell by 5.7 percent in 2023 to their lowest level since 1879, according to a new analysis from Carbon Brief. According to the report from the researchers, the last time UK emissions were this low, Queen Victoria was on the throne, Benjamin Disraeli was prime minister, Mosley Street in Newcastle became the first road in the world with electric lighting and 59 people died in the Tay Bridge disaster in Dundee. More →

TRILUX illuminates award-winning one Portwall Square with cutting-edge lighting solution

TRILUX illuminates award-winning one Portwall Square with cutting-edge lighting solution

by • Company news, Lighting

Trilux have created a lighting solution for the award winning One Portwall Square building in Bristol, which prioritises wellbeing In the heart of Bristol’s bustling commercial district stands a beacon of innovation and sustainability: One Portwall Square. This ground-breaking office development, adjacent to Temple Meads Station, prioritises occupant wellbeing and environmental responsibility in a post-COVID world. TRILUX, the renowned technical lighting expert, was pivotal in providing a comprehensive lighting solution for this award-winning project. More →

You couldn’t make it up. Boots orders staff back to the office five days a week

You couldn’t make it up. Boots orders staff back to the office five days a week

by • Flexible working, News

Boots has ordered staff to return to the office full-time, five days a week, starting from the first of September this year. Employees at the company’s headquarters in London, Nottingham, and Weybridge were reportedly informed via email this week about the stricter policy on remote work. This is a shift from Boots’ current policy, implemented after the COVID-19 outbreak, which encouraged a three-day-a-week office presence. More →

There never was a new normal

There never was a new normal

by • Comment, Flexible working, Wellbeing

Our strength will come in admitting that the ‘new normal’ was a mirage. It’s time that we all stopped focusing so hard on trying to reach it.Four years ago this month, we were all given our first ‘work from home’ mandate. A clear, unambiguous instruction from the UK government that, in the grip of a quickly spreading global pandemic, we should all work from home where possible. And amid the biggest seismic shift of our lifetime, it was an easy instruction to follow. Hunker down and wait patiently until we find a ‘new normal.’ But four years on, the question remains – are we nearly there yet? Are we ever going to find a ’new normal’? More →

Finding the spark of creativity in the routine and boredom of every day

Finding the spark of creativity in the routine and boredom of every day

by • Features, Premium Content

Every day, after a leisurely breakfast in bed and the opening of his post, Roald Dahl would wander down his garden to the grubby little hut crammed with personal paraphernalia he had created. There he would sharpen the six yellow pencils that were always by his side while he worked, settle into an armchair, put his feet up on an old suitcase filled with logs, place an American yellow legal pad of paper onto a makeshift board on his lap and work for two hours. More →

New plans for public sector productivity ‘will deliver up to £1.8 billion worth of benefits by 2029’

New plans for public sector productivity ‘will deliver up to £1.8 billion worth of benefits by 2029’

by • News, Public Sector

The UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt has outlined plans to improve public sector productivity that the government claims will deliver up to £1.8 billion worth of benefits by 2029.The UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt has outlined plans to improve public sector productivity that the government claims will deliver up to £1.8 billion worth of benefits by 2029. The statement focuses on public sector productivity because the government says it is “an alternative to accepting an ever-increasing bill for public services as [it] sticks to its plan to move on from the high spending and high tax approach that was necessary to get the UK through the shocks of Covid and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. A new focus is needed on the long-term decisions required to strengthen the economy and give people the opportunity to build a wealthier, more secure life for themselves and their family.” More →

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