Search Results for: economy

The sustainable product lifecycle starts with a single step

The sustainable product lifecycle starts with a single step

sustainable product lifecycleEnvironmental responsibility is challenging and often conflicts with short term goals. In the July 2021 issue of IN magazine, I asked environmental campaigner, sustainability and wellbeing consultant, Georgia Elliot-Smith about the issue of the proliferation of Perspex screens designed to reduce transmission of the Covid-19 virus in the workplace – all made from virgin materials. Whilst some argue that we are likely to need them again over the winter months, the ‘end of useful life’ of the screens is approaching and, inevitably, more general questions raised about the product lifecycle. More →

Remote work one of the emergency measures that could cut energy use, says IEA

Remote work one of the emergency measures that could cut energy use, says IEA

remote workIn the face of the emerging global energy crisis triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, practical actions by governments and citizens in advanced economies and beyond can achieve significant reductions in oil demand in a matter of months, reducing the risk of a major supply crunch, according to new analysis released by the International Energy Agency. These efforts, including the uptake of remote work, would reduce the pain being felt by consumers around the world, lessen the economic damage, shrink Russia’s hydrocarbon revenues, and help move oil demand towards a more sustainable pathway, the IEA claims.

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Instant Group adds virtual office provider to flex space offering

Instant Group adds virtual office provider to flex space offering

Instant GroupFlex office provider The Instant Group has merged Davinci Virtual Office Solutions into its online marketplace for flexible workplace. Last week, Instant announced the creation of what it claims is the world’s largest independent marketplace for flexible workspace through the merger with key digital assets from IWG plc including: EasyOffices.com, Meetingo.com, Rovva and Worka. More →

Retrofit offers the greatest opportunity for a commercial property market beset by uncertainty

Retrofit offers the greatest opportunity for a commercial property market beset by uncertainty

Retrofit an opportunity for commercial propertyIn the context of a second major economic shock from war in Ukraine and continuing inflationary concerns, the PWC / ULI report Emerging Trends in Real Estate Global Outlook 2022 focuses on the global outlook for the real estate industry increasing pressure for finance to support the decarbonisation of real estate. The industry challenges lenders and their regulators to provide debt for the retrofit of existing buildings and the scale-up of the ‘climate tech’ needed. More →

The much talked about new normal doesn’t exist, but the world has changed in profound ways

The much talked about new normal doesn’t exist, but the world has changed in profound ways

no new normalThe World Health Organization officially declared COVID a pandemic on March 11 2020. Now, two years later, there’s light for some at the end of the tunnel. In many wealthier countries, which have benefited from several rounds of vaccination, the worst of the pandemic is over. We’ve got here by learning a lot of new health behaviour, like wearing masks and sanitising our hands. Many of us have also developed a variety of social habits to reduce the virus’s spread – such as working from home, shopping online, travelling locally and socialising less. But as parts of the world emerge from the pandemic, are these new habits here to stay, or do old habits really die hard? Is there a new normal? Here’s what data can tell us.

 

 

Work

One of the biggest changes predicted during the pandemic was a long-term shift towards home or hybrid working. However, there are already signs that this transition might not be as obvious or complete as expected.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]The signs of the transition to hybrid work are not as obvious or complete as expected[/perfectpullquote]

In the UK, the proportion of people working from home at least some of the time increased from 27 percent in 2019 to 37 percent in 2020, before falling to 30 percent in January 2022. Similarly, in the US the proportion working from home declined from 35 percent in May 2020 to 11 percent in December 2021.

One of the main reasons people are going back to the office is employers’ expectations. Many companies are concerned that more permanent home working might affect employees’ team building, creativity and productivity.

But among employees, there’s a greater appetite for hybrid and flexible working. One recent multi-national survey found that whereas roughly one-third of workers had worked at home at least some of the time before the pandemic, roughly half said they want to in the future.

 

Shopping

The pandemic didn’t create the habit of online shopping, but it makes more of us do it. Did this make us realise we don’t need actual stores anymore?

It doesn’t seem so. Shopping in bricks-and-mortar stores has already started to recover. Recent data on people’s movements, gathered anonymously from mobile devices, shows how in many countries, before omicron hit, travel to retail and recreation spaces was back up to pre-pandemic levels, and is already starting to rebound after omicron.

The rise in online sales has also not been as dramatic or sustained as many predicted. In the UK, online sales made up 20 percent of total retail sales before the pandemic. By February 2021 this had risen to 36 percent, before declining steadily to 25 percent in February 2022.

 

Travel

One habit that might take longer to recover is our pre-pandemic love of international travel. It has taken a hit around the world, and the sector is still struggling. The UN’s International Civil Aviation Organization projects that international travel in 2022 will still be down by nearly a half compared to 2019.

One British survey conducted last September found that while 80 percent of people were planning on holidaying in the UK in the next year, only around 40 percent were considering going abroad. In comparison, in the 12 months up to July 2019, 64 percent of Brits travelled abroad for a holiday according to one travel industry body.

People’s reluctance to travel has been largely down to concerns over the virus and confusion over travel rules. As worries decline and rules get lifted, we may see a “mini-boom” in holidaymaking.

 

Socialising

Early in the pandemic, some commentators – including the US chief medical adviser Dr Anthony Fauci – suggested we might never return to shaking hands. I, with my colleague Dr Kimberly Dienes, argued that it was vital these rituals make a comeback, as they have several social, psychological and even biological benefits.

Are social-distancing habits, including meeting fewer people and having less physical contact with those we do, here to stay? For most people, no. Data shows only one-third of people in the UK are still socially distancing regularly, the lowest proportion since the pandemic began.

 

No new normal

But truly, only time will tell how much the pandemic will have changed our habits. However, bolder predictions – that the pandemic was going to completely and irrevocably change our ways of working, shopping, travelling and socialising – now seem premature and exaggerated. The pandemic has taught us we can work, learn, shop and socialise in different ways, but the question now is whether we still want to.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” bordertop=”false” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]The pandemic has taught us that we need to connect with others[/perfectpullquote]

Humans have basic needs, such as autonomy, feeling related to others, and feeling effective and competent in what we do. Part of the challenge with home working, for example, is that it simultaneously fulfils one need by giving us greater autonomy but takes away another by making us less connected. Expanding adequately supported, equality-focused, hybrid and flexible working arrangements is perhaps a promising way to meet both needs.

Some people will have acquired a sense of competence, or at least familiarity, with the new ways of doing things during the pandemic and so may wish to keep doing them. In some areas – travelling overseas, for example – it may take longer for our competence, and confidence, in old habits to return. However, many seem to be quite quickly returning to old ways and re-learning how to feel competent at doing things that they did before.

The extent to which we’ll go back to our old ways may also depend on our personality traits, which have been shown to shape our compliance with new behaviour. For example, those more open to new experiences by nature, or more extroverted, may be more eager to travel internationally or socialise in larger groups.

Finally, the pandemic may have served as a reminder of how much we appreciate everyday interactions with others, in shops, restaurants and so on. People may be keen to return to familiar ways that revive this – for example, picking something up in a store on the way home from work. Above all, the pandemic has taught us that we need to connect with others and that there are limits as to how much online communication can replace real, face-to-face interactions.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Wellbeing, skills and diversity data absent from majority of FTSE 100 firms’ annual reports

Wellbeing, skills and diversity data absent from majority of FTSE 100 firms’ annual reports

wellbeing, skills, diversityNew analysis of FTSE 100 annual reports finds that while workforce reporting has improved in the past two years, the quantity and quality of disclosures still varies significantly and remains very poor in places. The new report, How do companies report on their ‘most important asset?, from the CIPD, the PLSA and Railpen, analysed the quality of workforce disclosures in the 2021 annual reports of FTSE 100 companies against seven key themes: Workforce cost and composition; employee relations and wellbeing; reward; voice; skills, capabilities and recruitment; and response to COVID-19. More →

Active commuting should be part of ESG strategy, says BCO

Active commuting should be part of ESG strategy, says BCO

active commutingPutting active commuting at the heart of ESG policies can shift commuters towards more sustainable forms of travel, improve individual health and wellbeing and help companies cut carbon emissions, new research from the British Council for Offices (BCO) has found. A new BCO research report, The Market Cycles II examines the rise of cycling in the UK over the past five years and its impact on office specifications. The report highlights that this period has seen an increase in cycling activity in the UK, with a particularly sharp rise in the past two years as the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a shift in travel habits, and a rise in active commuting. More →

Employee mental health not a priority for a quarter of managers, report claims

Employee mental health not a priority for a quarter of managers, report claims

employee mental healthA new poll claims that than one fifth (21 percent) of managers based in London believe that supporting employee mental health is not a priority for their company this year. The research commissioned by the South Westminster Business Alliance with Kings College London suggests that over three quarters (78 percent) of managers admit they struggle to spot the signs of poor mental health amongst employees. More →

ORGATEC TOKYO premiere already fully booked

ORGATEC TOKYO premiere already fully booked

Arper OrgatecAs an spin-off of the leading trade fair ORGATEC in Cologne, ORGATEC TOKYO promises a full-flavoured start to the ORGATEC year 2022. More than 80 leading brands will be showcasing their products and services at the inaugural ORGATEC TOKYO event, which runs from 26 to 28 April. Around six weeks before ORGATEC Tokyo opens its doors, the trade fair has already chalked up its first success: the entire Tokyo Big Sight, South Halls 1+2 exhibition space set aside for ORGATEC Tokyo is now fully booked. Leading brands such as Kokuyo, Okamura, Itoki, Uchida, Plus, Karimoku, Knoll, Wilkhahn, USM, UniFor, Kvadrat, Arper (pictured), Cassina and Häfele have confirmed they will be present. More →

Climate change risk should be factored in to investment decisions

Climate change risk should be factored in to investment decisions

Ahead of mandatory requirements to disclose climate change related risks coming into force in April 2022, the UK Green Building Council (UKGBC) has published a new Framework providing businesses with a consistent methodology for measuring climate-related risks across their built assets, as well as empowering asset owning businesses of all sizes to better understand and plan for the physical risks of climate change. More →

Urban and real estate recovery driven by talent and innovation focused firms

Urban and real estate recovery driven by talent and innovation focused firms

real estate recoveryInnovation-oriented industries and talent concentration are driving urban and real estate recovery, with notable hot spots in parts of the US, Europe and Asia, according to JLL’s new report, Innovation Geographies (registration). The authors claim that cities that perform best on these measures will be best positioned for economic growth post-pandemic, demonstrating a strong link between innovation, talent ecosystems and real estate performance. More →

Hybrid working? Let’s put on a show

Hybrid working? Let’s put on a show

hybrid working performanceI’m currently rereading Art Kleiner’s masterful book The Age of Heretics which describes the history of ground-breaking thought in management in the 20th Century and the lessons we forget. It remains a relevant book for the new era of ‘hybrid working’ because the book draws a distinction between two fundamental schools of thought in management theory. One of these sees management as a numbers game in which people are inherently problematic and so must be directed what to do based on data and routines of desirable activity and behaviour. And the other sees people as well meaning, capable and adaptable with managers there to facilitate and channel their abilities and help them develop. More →