April 7, 2020
The Institute for Employment Studies (IES) has published a series of interim findings from the first COVID-19 homeworker wellbeing study, looking at how working from home for an extended period is affecting the UK workforce. These initial findings depict a worrying snapshot of the declining mental and physical health of many homeworkers. More →
April 7, 2020
Manchester could be set to see an influx of tech talent in the next three years, according to new research from CWJobs, the UK’s leading tech job board. Surveying 1,000 tech workers, Manchester emerged as the top choice outside of the capital (22 percent) to work in, with a fifth (20 percent) also revealing it’s the city they would choose to set up a tech business in the next three years, ahead of Birmingham (11 percent) and Edinburgh (8 percent). In the same survey, 505 IT decision makers (IT DM) also placed Manchester as the best location to set up a tech business, with over a quarter (27 percent) choosing the city. More →
April 6, 2020
A new report from work-life balance charity Working Families claims that there remains a pressing need for increased support for working parents during the COVID-19 pandemic. The report is informed by queries to the charity’s free legal advice helpline, which the charity says have quadrupled since the start of the pandemic. Since mid-March, over 36,000 people have accessed the charity’s coronavirus-focused legal advice web pages. More →
April 3, 2020
According to new research by market researchers IPSOS and EPOS, 95 percent of audio end-users and decision makers experience problems relating to sound that affect their concentration or efficiency at work. Common complaints include being disturbed by loud colleagues (50 percent), overall noise levels in working environments (48 percent) and interruptions from colleagues (46 percent). More →
April 1, 2020
As COVID -19 has taken hold and the very necessary lockdown begins, there are A large number of workers thrown into semi-permanent work settings that we hadn’t anticipated a month ago. The transitions will be easier for some than others but we all need a space that feels comfortable AND is conducive to productive working. More →
March 31, 2020
No more than 15 percent of healthy workers confined to their homes will work productively, argues new research from right leaning think tank the Institute of Economic Affairs. Government restrictions on social interaction designed to slow the spread of coronavirus have led to a rapid increase in the number of people working from home. But a new briefing paper from the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) suggests this is unlikely to be maintained in the long term. More →
March 30, 2020
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and the International Facility Management Association (IFMA) collaboration are to throw their weight behind an emergency initiative by Leesman, building a global pan-industry response group to the threat posed to the real estate and facilities management industries by Covid-19 and addressing the huge uptake in home working. More →
March 20, 2020
How supportive are you of your employees’ wellbeing? New research from CV-Library claims that two-thirds of Brits (61.7 percent) say being happy at work is the most important part of a job, but 87.9 percent feel their employer could do more to improve morale in the workplace.
What’s more, the study, which surveyed 2,300 UK professionals, suggests that Brits think being happy is more important than salary (22.1 percent) and location (15.5 percent) when it comes to work. Interestingly, being happy in their job was also more important for women (66.4 percent) than men (58.7 percent), as well as for 55-64-year olds (66.9 percent) and 45-54-year olds (64.8 percent). More →
March 18, 2020
The number of young workers leaving London is on the rise, with net migration away from the capital growing, claims new research from Totaljobs and Professor of Economics at Lancaster University, Geraint Johnes. The new research, taken from analysis of ONS data as well as the views of 2,000 Londoners, suggests that since 2014, more than one million professionals have left London, with just 900,000 coming in. This is a net loss of 88 workers every day, with the biggest shortfall down to workers aged 25-34, the majority (54 percent) of them having given up hope of ever owning property in the capital. There has been a 49 percent increase in outbound migration of those in their 30s over the last five years. More →
March 17, 2020
The government has launched a new intiative to test the introduction of green transport systems and also injected £90 million into funding three experimental ‘future transport zones’ across the UK aimed at establishing whether smart and green technology can be adopted. The new transport zones in the West of England, Portsmouth and Southampton and the East Midlands will be used to test innovations in the movement of people and goods. One project will trial the use of drones for carrying medical supplies from clinics in the Isle of Wight to hospitals in the mainland. This should cut down the time spent moving supplies by ferry or road while speeding up diagnosis. More →
March 13, 2020
Figures released today suggest that the UK is one of the least prepared countries to introduce a mass home-working strategy. Leesman has surveyed more than 700,000 employees worldwide. Of the 139,778 UK workers in its index, 55 percent have little or no experience working from home, compared with 52 percent of respondents globally. More →
March 24, 2020
A shift in the workplace axis might be a welcome outcome of this crisis
by Luke Munro • Comment, Wellbeing, Workplace design