Search Results for: health and safety

Menopause may amount to a disability under law in some cases

Menopause may amount to a disability under law in some cases

menopauseWorld Menopause Day is held each year on 18 October and its purpose is “to raise awareness of the menopause and the support options available for improving health and wellbeing” according to the International Menopause Society. This autumn, we have seen this awareness translated into a practical response by the UK Government. More →

Lives at risk due to lack of first aiders in the office, warns St John Ambulance

Lives at risk due to lack of first aiders in the office, warns St John Ambulance

first aidersThe health charity claims that, in the last fortnight, less than half (49 percent) of the 2,000 UK workers surveyed believed there was a designated first aider in their workplace. More →

Helping the planet one chair at a time

Helping the planet one chair at a time

For Rainbow, looking out for the planet is just as important as taking care of clients. This is why they have been working hard to acquire the environmental standard ISO 14001, of which they have recently been accredited. Rainbow believes that receiving this attribution is important in illustrating their ongoing environmental commitments. More →

Developing a future of work strategy depends on asking the right questions

Developing a future of work strategy depends on asking the right questions

future of work strategyThe rapid changes to our working lives caused by the global pandemic have prompted a great deal of debate about the future of work, the workplace and corporate real estate generally. At the highest levels of management within many organisations, leaders are now reflecting on their experiences and asking searching questions about their ways of working. More →

Resilient companies need the trust of their employees more than ever

Resilient companies need the trust of their employees more than ever

Since offices reopened, there has naturally been a much greater focus on health and safety. Office managers everywhere have deployed one-way corridors, anti-viral disinfectant wipes, and daily temperature checks in order to ensure that those who have returned to the office feel safe. Globally, businesses have learned to cope with these adverse circumstances, but there are other lessons from the past year that we should use to refresh the workplace as well. More →

The reason we can’t stomach so many opinions on the future of work

The reason we can’t stomach so many opinions on the future of work

There’s a scene in the 1986 horror movie The Fly in which Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum) persuades the reporter Veronica Quaife (Geena Davis) to try two steaks, one of which Brundle has just sent between two teleportation pods in an effort to work out why they can’t process organic matter, including the organic matter belonging to a very unfortunate baboon. More →

Is it time for a carbon tax?

Is it time for a carbon tax?

productivity and environment carbon taxMost people now recognise that we are facing a climate emergency – the record breaking temperatures in the US are, perhaps, another reminder. Many would agree that economic and legislative change is the only way forward to achieve a sustainable change in behaviour. Who should pay for greater environmental responsibility? Is it time for a carbon tax to limit carbon hungry products and fund investment? More →

Indoor air quality needs to be talked about far more than it is

Indoor air quality needs to be talked about far more than it is

An open window indoor air qualityOne of the unintended consequences of the pandemic has been to focus attention on the issue of indoor air quality. But as Sarah Zhang points out in a recent piece in The Atlantic, this is an issue that we have long understood, and not just as a way to reduce the risks of infection. It is essential for our wellbeing. More →

Time to take stock about the future of the workplace

Time to take stock about the future of the workplace

When it comes to conversations about work and workplaces, the past year has offered a fully immersive experience. Everybody now has an opinion. Inevitably some of them are better informed and more rooted in experience than others. So, after a full year of talk and as we return to some form of routine working life, the time has come to take stock. Few organisations and people will remain untouched by the sudden shift in attitudes towards working life, so we asked four workplace experts for their views on the current state of play. More →

European businesses leading the charge towards progressive office models

European businesses leading the charge towards progressive office models

IDL TIFF file

New research conducted by Locatee claims that employee wellbeing is the top priority for CRE managers over the next five years. The research details the opinions of corporate real estate managers (CREMs) from across Europe, outlining the changes they have seen during the pandemic, and how their businesses will adapt for the future. More →

Majority of employees feel optimistic about returning to the office as UK opens up

Majority of employees feel optimistic about returning to the office as UK opens up

employeesAs pubs, shops and other workplaces re-open this week, the success of the vaccine rollout has helped employees feel much more optimistic about their return to work than they were following November’s lockdown, according to Aviva’s research of more than 2,000 employed adults across the UK. More →

Finding a new sense of purpose in the way we all do business

Finding a new sense of purpose in the way we all do business

Mental health and purposeIt is now a truism that society expects more of business than merely maximising shareholder value. Milton Friedman’s conviction that unswerving commitment to this single goal would ensure that business and society would prosper has come to be seen as blinkered, unfit for the twenty-first century and enabling of corporate greed. Instead of shareholder value maximisation, an idea that The Economist called ‘the biggest idea in business’ in 2016, businesses are now encouraged to recognise their responsibilities to an array of ‘stakeholders’, from employees, suppliers and customers, to the planet itself and other communities (real or imagined). So, it has never been more important for businesses to do good, have a clear sense of purpose and be seen as doing so. More →