November 9, 2022

Workplace wellbeing remains a neglected issue for many firms

Two in five businesses have either cut or maintained workplace wellbeing budgets despite growing pressures on their staff, according to a new report. Faced with stressors such as the cost-of-living crisis, political uncertainty, and the ‘return to work’ post-Covid, just 16 percent of directors and risk practitioners said their wellbeing budgets had seen a significant increase. Around 40 percent of businesses had increased their budgets slightly to tackle issues such as mental, physical, financial health, organisational vision, values, culture and working standards, according to the poll by Deloitte, the International Institute of Risk and Safety Management (IIRSM) and the Institute of Directors (IoD). More →

November 7, 2022

EFG utilises KI products to create an elegant, sophisticated workspace

by Freddie Steele • Company news, Works Magazine

Swiss private bank firm EFG International has recently moved to Park Street in London’s Mayfair neighbourhood. Their new facilities are a manifestation of their brand and provide an elegant, sophisticated experience for their team and visitors alike. The move has allowed the business to change its layout from traditional offices to a more open space that supports hybrid working. The new space was designed by Simon Hart and Stefano Albanese of AIS Interiors. As part of the transition, project furniture consultants byBailey selected KI desking and storage solutions. More →

November 3, 2022

Ethical organisations can pave the way to hell with their good intentions

by Neil Franklin • Business, News

Despite the growing focus for more ethical investment and management styles, a new paper from Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM) claims to have uncovered eight unethical effects that can ‘sneak in’, even when organisations are doing their best to act ethically. In his research Muel Kaptein, Professor of Business Ethics and Integrity Management, has looked at how even ostensibly ethical organisations can sometimes facilitate unethical behaviour. More →

November 3, 2022

Younger workers turn to friends rather than colleagues for career advice

by Jayne Smith • News, Workplace

A new poll from Right Management, claims that British office workers aged 18-24 years are much more likely to turn to friends in similar jobs for career advice, than to seek guidance from their immediate manager or any other colleagues (older or younger) in their team. After two years of remote and hybrid working impacting on office life, younger workers who need career guidance are more likely (38.1 percent) to turn to their friends in similar jobs for advice, whereas all other working age groups (those aged 25+) prioritise getting their career advice directly from their immediate manager. More →

November 2, 2022

Who’s driving this bus, anyway? A critical review of Leading People in Change by Jennifer Bryan

by Neil Usher • Comment, Workplace

Writing about change isn’t easy, but too many people try it. I tried it with Elemental Change (LID, 2020). Jennifer Bryan succeeded where I didn’t, and managed a short book about change. Her book Leading People in Change also succeeds where I didn’t by focussing on one aspect of change, leadership. So far so good, despite my initial uncomfortable reaction to the title suspecting it might be a handbook for ensuring people did what we wanted them to do, regardless. Fortunately, not so. More →

October 26, 2022

World Green Building Council launches guide to climate change resilience

by Neil Franklin • Environment, News

The World Green Building Council (WorldGBC) has launched a new industry guide on ‘Climate Change Resilience in the Built Environment’, collating effective and practical steps that can be taken on a building, community and city scale in order to adapt and build resilience to the changing climate. Under the inevitable impacts of climate change, which are affecting at least 85 percent of the world’s population, bringing acute hazards such as droughts, rising sea levels, heat waves and floods increasing frequency and severity, resilience action is essential to build community capacity to survive and thrive in our built environments. More →

October 25, 2022

The underlying problems with the way we think about work

by Mark Eltringham • Features, Wellbeing, Workplace design

An idea that has never really gone away, but which seems to be enjoying a new lease of life is the tabula rasa. The conception of people as a blank slate is something a that has crept back into mainstream political and social thought for a variety of reasons. Arguably, it is also behind many of the most misleading notions about work and workplace design, perhaps most importantly that a change to some single element or characteristic of a working environment will lead to a specific outcome in the behaviour of people. More →

October 20, 2022

Winter is coming: don’t be in the dark about blackouts

by Jo Sutherland • Environment, Features, Wellbeing

The National Grid has warned that the UK could face blackouts this winter. The worst-case scenario is that homes and businesses could lose power for pre-defined periods of up to three hours if gas power plants are not able to keep running due to the energy crisis that keeps on giving – or rather, taking. While the British government has dropped its energy rationing campaign, which once formed a crucial part of its plan to prepare for potential energy shortages and blackouts, countries across Europe are drawing up winter contingency plans, as are forward-thinking businesses. More →

October 18, 2022

Monitoring remote workers is a good idea according to half of bosses

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Technology

A new poll from the CIPD and HiBob claims that more than half of bosses (55 percent) agree with collecting information on regular home workers, including the amount of time spent on laptops each day and email sending behaviours to identify risk of burnout. However, only three in ten (28 percent) leaders say their organisations are using software for monitoring remote workers and their productivity, according to the study. Where workplace monitoring is in place, the CIPD and HiBob urge employers to consider its purpose, and to be clear to staff about what is being monitored and why. More →

October 17, 2022

Working habits are changing in response to cost of living increases

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News, Workplace

The so-called cost of living crisis is having a fundamental impact on people’s working habits, according to Beamery’s latest Talent Index – Sixth Edition. Almost a third (29 percent) of workers polled for the report are now avoiding the office because of the increasing cost of travel whilst another third cited (31 percent) they were considering leaving their jobs completely due to lack of salary increases. More →

October 5, 2022

Why should anyone care about your change?

by Jennifer Bryan • Business, Comment, JB, Workplace

Whenever I first meet a potential client or am brought onto a new change project, there are three questions I ask: why, why now and why should anyone care about your change? Now the first two have typically been thought through and there are answers for them – not necessarily crystal clear and concise answers, but answers, none the less. However, the third question, in my experience, is rarely even considered, much less discussed or thought through. If it has been thought through, then this is many times expressed starting with the words, “effective…efficient…,” which is what I would call the management spiel. These are not answers that will motivate or galvanise employees and teams to support and adopt a change. More →

October 5, 2022

Condeco and iOffice + SpaceIQ announce merger

by Freddie Steele • Company news

Investment firm Thoma Bravo has announced the merger of Condeco, a provider of workspace scheduling software with workplace and asset management firm iOffice + SpaceIQ to create a new business called Eptura. The firm claims that the “strategic combination creates a global worktech leader that provides software solutions to power the modern workplace”. The merger follows previously announced investments in Condeco and iOffice + SpaceIQ by Thoma Bravo and JMI Equity, who will remain the primary investors in Eptura. Terms of the transaction have not been disclosed. More →