September 30, 2021

‘Great Resignation’ means companies must adapt to needs of workers

Workers are leaving jobs like never before, and it’s causing a shortage of talent that has companies around the globe reeling, according to a survey conducted by Citrix Systems. Based on a poll of 1,000 US based knowledge workers, 40 percent have left at least one job in the past year or are considering doing so. The report from the firm sets out the factors behind the so-called Great Resignation and what firms may have to do in response. More →

September 1, 2021

Brits feel stressed eight days a month, study claims

by Jayne Smith • News, Wellbeing, Working lives

A new study, commissioned by CIPHR, claims that most British adults (79 percent) feel stressed at least once a month, with the average being eight days a month. More →

June 1, 2021

Real Estate, HR and Technology leaders must collaborate to create a future of work fit for the 21st Century

by Philip Nye • Comment, Property, Technology, Workplace, Workplace design

HR leaders, heads of real estate and IT decision-makers have not always spent huge amounts of time working together – their roles and responsibilities have often been siloed. But in the new world of work, that’s all changing. These three groups of senior leaders are being asked to collaborate on one of the biggest challenges corporate occupiers, as they try to figure out when and how to return to office-based working and shape the future of work. Failure to collaborate will increase the probability of workplaces having low occupancy rates, low employee engagement and decreased productivity. More →

May 27, 2021

Hybrid working most likely preferred by older, wealthier, and married people

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News, Working lives

Research from Totem, an employee engagement and culture app, claims there is a hybrid working gap, suggesting older workers are more likely to prefer hybrid working models than younger people. More →

May 11, 2021

UK business leaders pave the way for a hybrid working future

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News, Working culture

New research by Applaud, claims that UK business HR decision makers are paving the way for a new era of work post-pandemic, with organisations across the country looking to close or downsize their offices and focus instead on hybrid, remote working. More →

May 7, 2021

Societal change is driving businesses to focus on purpose

by Jayne Smith • Business, News, Working culture

Increasing pressure from investors, customers and employees are causing CEOs to focus their businesses on purpose, resilience and long-term sustainability, according to a new report from the Reward & Employee Benefits Association (REBA) and Mercer Marsh Benefits (MMB). The report, ‘People risk – why the need for change is urgent‘ claims a shift in business focus away from short term gains in favour of emphasising long term value creation as one way of managing people risk. More →

April 22, 2021

Relationships with colleagues are harder to build while remote working

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News, Working culture

New research by employee engagement and culture app, Totem, claims that 54 percent of workers feel it has been harder to build relationships with colleagues while working from home. The results demonstrate the difficulty many have faced over the past year, with 58 percent also saying that remote working has made joining a new company harder. More →

April 9, 2021

JLL announces plans for new UK headquarters at 1 Broadgate

by Freddie Steele • Company news, Property

British Land has announced that JLL has chosen 1 Broadgate for its new UK flagship office. JLL, the global real estate services firm, has signed an agreement for lease for 134,000 sq ft on a 15 year term, representing a pre-let of nearly a third of the office space. More →

April 1, 2021

Finding a new sense of purpose in the way we all do business

by David Lineen • Comment, Environment, Property, Wellbeing

It is now a truism that society expects more of business than merely maximising shareholder value. Milton Friedman’s conviction that unswerving commitment to this single goal would ensure that business and society would prosper has come to be seen as blinkered, unfit for the twenty-first century and enabling of corporate greed. Instead of shareholder value maximisation, an idea that The Economist called ‘the biggest idea in business’ in 2016, businesses are now encouraged to recognise their responsibilities to an array of ‘stakeholders’, from employees, suppliers and customers, to the planet itself and other communities (real or imagined). So, it has never been more important for businesses to do good, have a clear sense of purpose and be seen as doing so. More →

March 17, 2021

Mental health and wellbeing are top of the priority list

by Jayne Smith • News, Wellbeing, Working culture

A new in-depth report by HR and payroll software providers, Natural HR highlights the trends, challenges and priorities facing the HR profession, and the impact of the pandemic. In 2019, the top priority of HR leaders was cited as recruitment and retention, however by the end of 2020 this had shifted to employee health and wellbeing. More →

March 5, 2021

From the archive: Flexible working may improve productivity, but does it diminish creativity?

by Maciej Markowski • Comment, Flexible working, Workplace

Originally published in December 2014. Homeworking seems to have become a bit of a hot topic this year, but one sentence published on the www.gov.uk website brought a cold sweat to the brows of many managers and employees across the United Kingdom. “From 30 June 2014, all employees have the legal right to request flexible working – not just parents and carers.” More →

February 4, 2021

Older executives are coping with WFH challenges better than younger leaders

by Jayne Smith • Business, News, Working lives

Senior executives aged 55+ have fared better than ‘millennial’ leaders (aged under 35) during the global pandemic. ABBYY’s COVID-19 Technology and Business Process Report claims that since the pandemic, executives of all ages have experienced huge challenges – in the UK alone, 81 percent of senior decision-makers struggled, particularly with collaborating with colleagues remotely (37 percent), motivation to work (29 percent) and productivity (26 percent). More →