Search Results for: future of work

Hybrid working is now the dominant business model for knowledge workers

Hybrid working is now the dominant business model for knowledge workers

hybrid workingFuture Forum, a consortium launched by Slack with founding partners Boston Consulting Group, MillerKnoll and MLT has released the latest findings from its  Pulse study, which shows that hybrid working has become the dominant work model for knowledge workers around the world. The report claims that the percentage of people working in hybrid arrangements has increased to 58 percent (from 46 percent in May 2021), as the share of workers who say their teams work exclusively either from home or from the office has declined sharply. More →

Half of companies still not ready to meet the demand for flexible working

Half of companies still not ready to meet the demand for flexible working

flexible workingCompanies are unprepared for the structural shift to flexible working and must do more to create responsible, personalised and experiential workplaces, a new report from JLL suggests. Intensive experimentation and piloting are needed to achieve flexible working models that will deliver a unique workplace experience for all. The JLL research claims that globally organisations are looking to continue flexibility for where and when people work with 82 percent expecting employees to work remotely into the future at least part of the time – spending on average two days every week away from the office. Yet 48  percent of organisations in Europe Middle East and Africa (EMEA) still have not developed a future of work programme to meet the rising demands and expectations of their staff for greater work flexibility, exceptional and sustainable workplaces and increased wellbeing. More →

Employees are ready for work in the metaverse but sceptical about ability of firms to deliver

Employees are ready for work in the metaverse but sceptical about ability of firms to deliver

working in the metaverseJust as businesses are starting to find their groove with hybrid working, the workplace has begun to evolve again with the emergence of the metaverse. New research from Lenovo claims that close to half of employees (44 percent) are willing to work in the metaverse and believe that it can deliver benefits like productivity to the workplace. The metaverse is primarily defined as a shared digital space with digital representations of people, places, and objects. In the future, the metaverse can be a highly immersive extension of the physical world, with its rich user interface. At the enterprise level, this opens up possibilities for businesses to create a more viable, interactive workplace. More →

How to provide a great place to work for remote workers

How to provide a great place to work for remote workers

A great place to work for remote workersRemote working swiftly evolved from a stopgap lockdown solution into a globally successful workstyle – and it’s set to stay. According to research quoted by CityAM, “84 per cent of UK businesses plan on having a hybrid, flexible or remote workforce following the pandemic”. Some companies, like Deloitte, have placed all bets on remote in closing their offices and basing employees from home, enjoying a vast reduction in operational costs. This flexibility has offered immediate benefits for remote workers, ranging from lifestyle and financial to positive influences on wellbeing. Workers in particular social groups have experienced life-changing situations, securing work in previously inaccessible geographic locations. More →

Toxic workplace culture is driving staff to exit door

Toxic workplace culture is driving staff to exit door

toxic workplace cultureNearly two-thirds of employees who claim to have experienced a toxic workplace culture say the compensation they received did not make up for the emotional distress caused, according to new research from Culture Shift. The research from the impact software developer claims that 61 percent of those who have experienced problematic workplace behaviour have had to take a period of long-term leave, with over half (55 percent) saying the emotional distress lasted up to two years, while a third (34 percent) say it lasted three to four years. More →

Are we witnessing the demise of the knowledge worker?

Are we witnessing the demise of the knowledge worker?

Death of the knowledge worker?While the debate about working from home versus working in the office continues, should the real conversation focus on the implications for a typical knowledge worker? ‘Knowledge work’ is a term that dates back over sixty years. It’s said to be first coined by Peter Drucker in his 1958 book The Landmarks of Tomorrow. The business guru went on to talk about knowledge workers in a later book, The Effective Executive, in 1966. He defined them as ‘high-level workers who apply theoretical and analytical knowledge acquired through formal training, to develop products and services’. More →

The way we talk about hybrid working can reflect a failure of imagination

The way we talk about hybrid working can reflect a failure of imagination

hybrid working is not the only option we haveThe events of the last 18 months have given us a once in a generation opportunity to reinvent work. Our generation can create a discontinuity between the assumptions of the past and the opportunities of the future. To capitalise on these opportunities though we have to dispense with the assumptions we hold about work and the places where work takes place, including many of the assumptions we hold about hybrid working. We have to re-examine the purpose of the office and what form it might conceivably take in the future before we can decide if it has any place in our plans. More →

‘Great Resignation’ offers a one off opportunity to rethink our relationship with work

‘Great Resignation’ offers a one off opportunity to rethink our relationship with work

great resignationAfter nearly two turbulent years, which for many knowledge workers have been dominated by a ground-hog day like existence, people are looking for change. This is only natural as workers around the world are re-evaluating their priorities, reigniting their passions, or simply looking for something new. This has led to a mini-exodus from businesses, which is now being dubbed the ‘Great Resignation’. More →

Warning over worker welfare on 2022’s first day ‘not back in office’

Warning over worker welfare on 2022’s first day ‘not back in office’

officeThe 4th January was the first working day of 2022 for many employees, but due to ongoing working from home restrictions the majority will not be attending their usual workplaces. According to the latest research from the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management (IWFM), more than half of office workers had expected to be back in the office today, and three quarters would have been back by the end of this week. More →

Hybrid working will demand leaders develop new communication skills

Hybrid working will demand leaders develop new communication skills

hybrid workingKeeping on top of communication barriers in the business world can feel like an endless game of Whac-A-Mole, especially now in the new era of hybrid working. The usual culprits are well-known by now: patchy WiFi connections, crashing computer programmes, cloud syncing issues, important emails sneaking into spam folders – the list goes on. All can impede our ability to get the job done. More →

New era of work leaves workers feeling empowered

New era of work leaves workers feeling empowered

new era of workA majority of Americans feel newly empowered in the new era of work, according to a new survey from Randstad USA. Nearly three-in-four (73 percent) respondents feel as though they can make changes to their work-life balance, and 79 percent reported gaining new clarity regarding their professional goals, higher than the global average of 72 percent. 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 →