August 6, 2021

Arrival of paperless office may have been accelerated by lockdowns

One of the least talked about potential casualties of the recent lockdowns is the printed page. In a sign that the arrival of the paperless office may have been accelerated, total worldwide page volumes printed from office and home devices plummeted nearly 14 percent year in 2020 after several years of stable but slow decline. According to the research from International Data Corporation (IDC), 2.8 trillion pages were printed in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic and the dramatic shift from offices to work from home models are behind the sharp decline, even for those who can manage to get a printer to work in the first place. (more…)

August 5, 2021

Negative perceptions of remote work persist among both managers and workers

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

New research from the US based Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) claims that there are widespread, persistent negative perceptions of remote work amongst line managers who are likely to express a preference for local work. In addition, remote workers themselves continue to express reservations about losing opportunities for networking and increased pay. More than two thirds of supervisors of remote workers surveyed by SHRM, or 67 percent, admit to considering remote workers more easily replaceable than onsite workers at their organization, 62 percent believe full-time remote work is detrimental to employees’ career objectives and 72 percent say they would prefer all of their subordinates to be working in the office. (more…)

August 4, 2021

No rush to get back to the office despite easing of restrictions

by Alexandra Anders • Comment, Flexible working, Working culture

Restrictions may have been lifted but there is no major rush for everyone to head back to the office. Many firms are being cautious about bringing employees back and the official government guidance is for employers to plan a gradual, safe return to places of work. Official guidelines aside, this doesn’t even start to factor in employees’ own attitudes to being back in the office. Certainly, there are plenty of people itching to be in and amongst the buzz of an office, popping out somewhere different each day for lunch and having that commute to distance work and home life. (more…)

July 30, 2021

Employers believe the way we work has changed forever

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Working lives

After more than a year of remote working, the majority of UK workers are well-versed in office-free employment. We’ve had plenty of time to think about how the experience has affected our working habits. Gazprom Marketing & Trading surveyed 1,000 employees across a range of sectors, asking participants about their working hours, mental health, and the challenges they’ve encountered along the way. (more…)

July 26, 2021

Older workers at risk of being ‘thrown on the scrap heap’

by Jayne Smith • News, Working culture

In face of growing skills gaps in the UK – post pandemic and Brexit – City & Guilds Group is urging businesses to stop the silver talent drain from the workforce by investing in upskilling valuable older workers – or risk further productivity shortfalls during the recovery period. (more…)

July 19, 2021

Thought Machine and LABS agree major deal for new Bloomsbury HQ

by Freddie Steele • Company news, Property

Thought Machine, core banking technology company, has agreed to lease all 67,000 sq ft, at 7 Herbrand Street, WC1, in a bespoke deal with leading flexible workspace provider LABS. The building will become its new London headquarters to support its ambitious growth plans. (more…)

July 8, 2021

Onboarding experiences during the pandemic short of the mark for some

by Jayne Smith • News, Working culture, Workplace

Research from Totem has highlighted the major difficulties faced by people who switched jobs during the pandemic, with only 15 percent of respondents stating that they had an excellent onboarding experience when joining their new company. Almost a third (29 percent) said that their onboarding experience was ‘average’. (more…)

July 5, 2021

Turn your commercial buildings into virtual power plants

by Freddie Steele • Company news, Environment

A new white paper from OakTree Power explains how an innovative technology called Green Demand Side Response (DSR) can help organisations transform their commercial buildings into a virtual power plant. Paradoxically, commercial buildings not only represent one of the biggest sources of greenhouse gas emissions, but also have the potential to utilise their own electricity as a resource to sell back into the Grid – a process familiar to many domestic homeowners with solar panels or Tesla Powerwalls. (more…)

July 5, 2021

Resilience is a key determinant of employee performance, claims report

by Jayne Smith • Business, News, Working culture

A new report from MHR International claims differences in employee performance within UK and Ireland organisations are often based on their level of workforce resilience. Gaps in performance in competitiveness, productivity and other important capabilities exist between organisations with highest and lowest levels of resilience. Despite almost all HR professionals surveyed (93 percent) agreeing that workforce resilience is a priority. (more…)

June 22, 2021

The office sector needs to face up to its landfill issue

by Joanna Knight • Comment, Environment, JK, Workplace design

Over the past ten years, reuse of furniture and furnishings has been extremely limited. Most redundant assets have been discarded to landfill. It’s a brutal fact that it is the easy and less expensive option. Many products sent for recycling often end up in landfill or incineration and so still contributing to carbon emissions. As offices plan for new ways of working, will the surplus products go the same route? (more…)

June 18, 2021

Is it time to ban out-of-hours emails?

by Freddie Steele • Features, Flexible working, Wellbeing

The global pandemic has blurred the lines between home and work for millions of people around the world. Where once there was a clear distinction between being on and off duty, the demands of remote working and ever-presence of smartphones has created an ‘always on’ culture in many organisations. The trend has led to a number organisations in the UK to now call for a ban on out-of-hours emails in order to alleviate pressures on employees mental health. But is this really necessary, or even logistically possible, for the new world of work? We asked four leading experts for their thoughts. (more…)

June 8, 2021

Third of firms plan to reduce office space

by Jayne Smith • Business, News, Property

Major UK employers plan to reduce their office space by up to nine million square feet, equivalent to 14 Walkie Talkie buildings – the 37 floor high rise on London’s Fenchurch Street – according to PwC’s Occupier Survey of 258 of the UK largest companies. The fresh figures show half of the organisations surveyed expect to reduce the size of their real estate portfolio and, of these, one third believe they will reduce their office footprint by more than 30 percent. (more…)