Search Results for: flexible working

September 7, 2016

Working from home just as unproductive and frustrating as working in an office ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, Knowledge, News, Wellbeing, Workplace design

It’s always good to see academic research supporting ideas that would appear pretty obvious but go against a widely accepted narrative. So we should all welcome the results of a new study from researchers at the London School of Economics and Political Science, which found that the perceived benefits of working from home disappear over time for both employees and organisations when homeworking is a full-time arrangement. The report concludes that while previous studies have demonstrated how home workers are more productive than office-based workers, the LSE study of more than 500 employees shows that on a long term basis, there are no differences between home and office workers. The reason, according to Dr Esther Canonico from LSE’s Department of Management, the lead author of the report, is that employees no longer see home working as a discretionary benefit or a privilege when it becomes the norm in an organisation.

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August 30, 2016

Only 7 percent of workers say they’re most productive working in an office ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

Fewer interruptions from colleagues, fewer distractions make home the preferred place for maximum productivity, claims a new study from recruitment consultancy FlexJobs. The survey of more than 3,000 respondents interested in work flexibility claims that only 7 percent of workers say the office and traditional work hours form the best time and place for optimum productivity. More than half (51 percent) of people reported that their home is their preferred place to work. Eight percent said they would choose a coffee shop, coworking space, library, or other place besides the office and another eight percent would choose the office but only outside regular hours. 26 percent go to the office during regular hours to complete important work only because it’s not an option to go elsewhere. According to the survey, around two-thirds (65 percent) of workers think they would be more productive working from home than working in a traditional workplace.

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August 18, 2016

Uncompromising job candidates’ demands don’t include flexible work ⁰

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Workplace

Job candidates are becoming more demanding claims a new survey, with three quarters (79.2 percent) of UK workers polled not willing to compromise on certain areas when looking for a new role. Unsurprisingly, 18.2 percent say that a low advertised salary would put them off a role entirely, but other less tangible issues would also dissuade them from pursuing an application. This includes unclear job descriptions (20 percent) and a long recruitment process (10.2 percent); while 7.8 percent revealed that poor communication throughout the recruitment process would drive them away from a company. The research, which was conducted by CV-Library, surveyed 1,000 UK workers and found that candidates are growing increasingly impatient with their job hunt. Other key deterrents cited were poor traits about the businesses themselves, including a bad reputation (9.5 percent), a high staff turnover (7.1 percent) and poor management (6.1 percent).

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August 4, 2016

Office workers spend half their average week working remotely ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Flexible working, Wellbeing, Workplace

New research suggests that UK workers are overwhelmingly turning their back on the standard 9-5 office life with 72 percent agreeing that it’s not relevant for the 21st century. Working remotely and flexibly makes them more effective in their job said 82 percent of respondents to the TeamViewer report ‘The End of Nine-to-Five’ with 73 percent agreeing that having the ability to work flexibly makes them feel more valued and 82 percent that all employees should be offered flexible working hours without it affecting their career. With 79 percent of people rating work-life balance as more important than salary, the report suggests it is critical for businesses to ensure they are offering more than just monetary incentives, as almost half (49 percent) say that flexible working hours would be the most important factor to them when looking for a new job. According to the survey, UK office workers are already spending on average 2.5 days, half of their week, working remotely.

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July 27, 2016

A third of people have experienced mental health issues while working ⁰

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

According to new research from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, the number of people saying that they have experienced mental health issues while in employment has climbed from a quarter to a third over the last five years. Despite this, the majority of employees still don’t feel that people experiencing mental health issues are supported well enough at work. In response, the CIPD is calling on organisations to take a more preventative approach to employees’ mental wellbeing, encouraging a culture of openness in their workplace, whilst at the same time, training line managers to provide and signpost support for employees, in order to create healthier, more engaged and more productive workplaces. The new research from the CIPD claims that in 2016, almost a third (31 percent) of the over 2,000 employees surveyed said they have experienced a mental health problem at some point during their working life, compared with a quarter (26 percent) in 2011.

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July 26, 2016

Third of working parents struggle to find childcare during the summer ⁰

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

The summer can bring challenges for families and it seems the UK’s employees aren’t always that sympathetic. A new survey by Cotton Traders has found that almost a third of parents struggle to find childcare across the summer holidays (29 percent) and overall a quarter of parents have to take unpaid leave from work to cover childcare. The survey of 1,500 UK adults also found that 36 percent find it difficult to get time off work in the summer to spend time with family; almost half of parents (48 percent) think that having a more flexible workplace would help with this; 29 percent of parents dread the summer holidays due to the stress of finding childcare and 26 percent of parents work from home during the school holidays to spend more time with their children. There’s a lot of pressure on parents – 34 percent said that their children would be disappointed if they didn’t go on holiday abroad and 31 percent feel pressurised to do this.

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July 21, 2016

Offices not yet smart enough to support new ways of working ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Technology, Workplace design

Employees believe their workplace is not making best use of latest technology, but expect this to improve as remote work begins to provide both quality of life and productivity benefits. In the latest Future Workforce Survey conducted by Dell and Intel, nearly half of global employees believe their current workplace is not smart enough, while 42 percent of millennial employees say they are willing to quit their job if technologies are not up to their standard. The research suggest that the addition of collaborative tools and innovations such as internet of things (IoT) and Virtual Reality (VR) will soon become vital to the workplace. According to the poll of nearly 4,000 full-time employees in ten countries, over half (57 percent) believe they will be working in a smart office within the next five years, while 51 percent believe that better technologies will make face-to-face meetings redundant within the next five years.

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July 19, 2016

SMEs must offer flexible work or face recruitment and retention challenge ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Workplace

SMEs that neglect to offer flexible work options may find their employees decide to switch to somewhere that does, according to a survey from Regus. Over 3,000 professionals across a variety of sectors were quizzed on the importance of flexibility in their working life. SME respondents left very little doubt about the value of a flexible approach, with 92 percent of workers in SMEs saying that, faced with a choice of two similar jobs, they would choose the one that offered flexible work. A third of respondents (33 percent) also stated that they would have stayed longer in their previous jobs if flexibility had been offered. According to Richard Morris, UK CEO, Regus, SMEs should think long and hard about the type of roles that they are offering to today’s professionals. He argues that the days of the fixed hours, fixed location job are becoming as outdated as the office fax machine. Flexibility is no longer seen as a perk, it is now a key differentiator for talented individuals.

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June 29, 2016

Higher productivity levels reported by staff with flexible hours ⁰

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Workplace

Measuring productivity is hardly an exact science, but there are ways that individuals can analyse their working habits and come up with ways of improving their performance. According to research by Conference Genie we all have times where we’re very productive and others where we struggle to get any work done. The data gathered in the study of 2,000 UK employees who work from home or in an office, can be split into age, gender, region and industry sector and shows that over half of UK office/home workers say they sometimes waste time at work, and a further 15 percent say they often waste time at work. It seems that the older generation is most productive. Eighteen to 24 year old’s gave themselves the lowest productivity rating and 55+ the highest. And in a further indication of the benefits of agile working a third of those who gave themselves a productivity rating of 4/5 say that their employer offers them flexible hours.

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June 18, 2016

Productive workplaces + Long hours link to ill health + Coworking rise ⁰

by Sara Bean • Cities, Comment, Environment, Facilities management, Flexible working, Furniture, Newsletter, Technology, Wellbeing, Workplace

In this week’s Newsletter; Mark Eltringham says we must question the idea that there is one ideal form of office; and argues events such as Clerkenwell Design Week wouldn’t function unless there was some consensus on what constitutes good and bad design. The supply of flexible workspace in London outstrips conventional office space; emerging technologies will create more organic workspace; and employees thrive in a workplace that is sensitive to their needs and well-being. Women who work long hours could be damaging their health; the UK remains in the grip of a digital skills crisis; people welcome the idea of robot help and the IEA says cities can contribute to a cut in carbon emissions. You can download our Insight Briefing, produced in partnership with Connection, on the boundless office; visit our new events page, follow us on Twitter and join our LinkedIn Group to discuss these and other stories.

June 16, 2016

London market for flexible workspace outstrips conventional space ⁰

by Sara Bean • Cities, Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Property

The UK market for flexible workspace has grown 11 percent in just the last 12 months. The main driver of the upsurge is inevitably London, which saw the biggest increase of flexible space at 16 percent and now represents a third of the whole UK market. According to the new research by The Instant Group, traditional occupier inquiries for London grew at a lower rate (nine percent), meaning the supply of flexible workspace in London has outstripped conventional office space by some margin over the last year; a trend the report suggests that seems set to continue into the future. Double digit growth for flexible workspace was also been seen across the UK’s regions, with suburban locations seeing some of the UK’s most aggressive growth in terms of workstation rates and inquiries, despite a 12.5 percent increase in supply, as occupiers have chosen cheaper locations with good transport links over the highly competitive market in central London.

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June 9, 2016

Job seekers say telecommuting is most desired form of flexible work ⁰

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Workplace

According to research from Flexjobs, telecommuting has grown 103 percent since 2005 and approximately eighty to ninety percent of the workforce would like to telework at least part-time. Work-life balance (81 percent), family (56 percent), time savings (56 percent), and commute stress (48 percent) are the top reasons people seek flexible work arrangements. Millennials would put flexible working ahead of professional development training, company reputation and a sense of purpose when looking for a job. FlexJobs recently analysed the remote job listings of over 40,000 companies to determine which companies have been recruiting for the most telecommuting positions in recent months. Healthcare, technology and education were the most well-represented industries. The remote job listings at these companies are equally diverse, such as business analyst, product manager, developer, teacher, director of communications and market researcher.