Search Results for: flexible working

Startups fuelling growth in demand for flexible offices

Startups fuelling growth in demand for flexible offices

flexible officesAccording to  data from The Instant Group 584,097 companies have been registered in the UK since the start of 2021 – this equates to 1,781 per day. The most companies registered in 2021 so far have been in London, Birmingham, and Manchester. The growth in start-ups has fuelled an increase in demand for flexible offices across the UK’s cities, with large proportional increases outside London. Requirements for coworking and serviced offices has grown significantly in cities such as Bristol (41 percent), Manchester (28 percent), and Reading (27 percent) over the past year. (more…)

Working from home can increase work-family conflict for women in traditional gender roles

Working from home can increase work-family conflict for women in traditional gender roles

conflictNew research by the University of Kent claims that working from home can increase feelings that family responsibilities hinder work responsibilities, but only for women in traditional gender roles. Despite its advantages, such as less commuting and more flexibility, the study published in the journal Community, Work and Family discovered that working from home can increase rather than decrease feelings that work and family demands conflict with one another. (more…)

What big city exodus? Minority of Londoners are working from home full time

What big city exodus? Minority of Londoners are working from home full time

LondonersResearch carried out by Momentive (formerly SurveyMonkey), exploring Londoners’ changing experience and expectations of work claims that despite common beliefs, COVID-19 has not caused the end of ‘city life’ with just 14 percent working remotely full time. (more…)

Hybrid working could save the NHS more than £4 billion per year

Hybrid working could save the NHS more than £4 billion per year

hybrid workingHybrid working could save the NHS more than £4 billion per year by giving workers more time to look after themselves and their families, according to a new study by Virgin Media O2 Business and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr). (more…)

Hybrid working is both a challenge and opportunity for comms firms

Hybrid working is both a challenge and opportunity for comms firms

hybrid working and commsHuge swathes of workers have been returning to the office in recent weeks – many for the first time in almost two years. A significant number of companies, however, will never return to the pre-pandemic ‘normal’ of a five-day office week and will instead integrate hybrid working permanently. According to the CIPD, 40 percent of employers expect more than half their workforce to regularly work from home after the pandemic has ended.  (more…)

Working culture should align and balance with commercial objectives

Working culture should align and balance with commercial objectives

positive working cultureThroughout the pandemic, we have had to constantly adapt to new models of work and a new working culture. And what makes this process even more challenging is that we’re having to work against a backdrop of uncertainty at every turn. Business leaders that are emerging from the pandemic successfully have been clear on priorities throughout and know how to balance them. This is certainly easier said than done but is integral to leadership as we enter the next chapter of workplace transformation. (more…)

Hybrid working: too few companies are making the workplace changes they need

Hybrid working: too few companies are making the workplace changes they need

hybrid working and office designAt a recent Women in Office Design event on the subject of hybrid working and workplace change, the founder of WOD Harsha Kotak posed a question which I thought was extremely important but often goes unasked. “Whilst I have a great understanding of how the workplace landscape will change”, she said, “are companies making these changes?” This is a brilliantly relevant question because in my opinion based on my research and experience of the past year and a half, not enough companies are. (more…)

Impact of flexible work demonstrates a fragile post-pandemic business world

Impact of flexible work demonstrates a fragile post-pandemic business world

impactLucid and Vitreous World, have launched the results of new research that surveyed individuals across the UK to analyse employee sentiment and the impact of flexible work as a direct result of the pandemic. (more…)

Hybrid working will define the future of work, but firms are unprepared

Hybrid working will define the future of work, but firms are unprepared

While the move to flexible and hybrid working is widely accepted by businesses, their preparedness to implement such a strategy is not yet fully realised. That is the key finding of a new report from Siemens subsidiaries Comfy and Enlighted. Commissioned by Siemens from analyst firm Verdantix, the study polled 75 corporate real estate (CRE) executives from global companies with annual revenues of over $1 billion on the strategic considerations of redefining workforce models due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (more…)

Shift to hybrid working highlights the value of weak ties

Shift to hybrid working highlights the value of weak ties

hybrid workingSomething we can expect to hear a lot about in the near future is the power of weak ties. It’s a well-established idea in sociology, anthropology, and social network analysis theory. But it’s about to be invigorated as a way of thinking about workplaces in the wake of two major peer-reviewed studies into the effects of remote work and hybrid working on people and the way they work with each other. According to the most widely cited paper on the subject of relationships, Mark Granovetter’s The Power of Weak Ties, The relationships between people can be categorised as strong, weak or absent. The latter is self-explanatory. Strong ties exist between people who are related, friend or who interact on a day to day basis. (more…)

Brits shun traditional working hours, favouring flexibility and family life

Brits shun traditional working hours, favouring flexibility and family life

workingNew research released by Samsung Electronics Co Ltd, claims that Brits are feeling much more relaxed about the new world of work and redefining what is now ‘acceptable’ when it comes to working norms – including sending work emails from the school run, using short form and emojis in emails to the boss, or working in pyjamas from the bedroom. (more…)

Workers feel more trusted and motivated thanks to hybrid working

Workers feel more trusted and motivated thanks to hybrid working

workersNew research from Kadence (formerly Chargifi) claims that after a year of flexible working, almost two-thirds of US and UK office workers (62 percent) now feel more trusted to do their job effectively. Of those workers, half also feel more motivated to do a better quality job (51 percent) and go the extra mile (48 percent) thanks to their new working arrangements. (more…)