Search Results for: management

Work from home advocates beckon us to a living hell

Work from home advocates beckon us to a living hell

flexible workingLook, I work from home. The liberal in me says: if you want to and can work from home, then why not? Yes, few of Britain’s cramped homes – especially those occupied by young people – are well equipped for home working, which can be stressful. But, as I say, I see no problem in working from home if you choose to. It’s one thing to say people should be free to work from home (WFH). It’s quite another to endorse it as the New Normal, the way to go, and as a path to a low-pollution, low-emissions paradise on Earth, as many are now doing. More →

Research suggests men are more likely to struggle with lockdown isolation

Research suggests men are more likely to struggle with lockdown isolation

mental healthNew research claims that more than three quarters of men who live alone feel isolated while they’re working from home and two fifths of 18-30 year olds feel their mental health has deteriorated. This latest research from The Institute of Leadership & Management ‘Homeworking trials and triumphs during Covid-19: mental health and wellbeing’, explores the impact of working from home on mental health, suggesting  hat a significant number of men who live alone (79 per cent) are struggling with feelings of isolation during lockdown. More →

The links between coffee, shared ideas and the office go back a long way

The links between coffee, shared ideas and the office go back a long way

cafe culture in office design and the workplaceThe BBC recently published a piece on its website to commemorate the 40th Anniversary of Ridley Scott’s movie Alien and what it could tell us about office design and the workplace (of whatever sort). One of the interesting points raised in the piece was how the depiction of the conditions on board the spaceship Nostromo did away with the gloss and swish of previous visions of the future, replaced by grime, exposed services and strictly utilitarian interiors. The environment was one of the characters, a trick Ridley Scott later repeated in Bladerunner. More →

Investment in talent will drive market share gains as economy rebounds

Investment in talent will drive market share gains as economy rebounds

talentOrganisations that favour agile working and make strategic investments in human capital during the coronavirus crisis will be best positioned to gain market share and overtake competitors, according to a new Talent Trends report released by Randstad Sourceright. More →

Charles Handy was a true visionary about the modern workplace

Charles Handy was a true visionary about the modern workplace

It’s incredibly hard not to be impressed by Charles Handy and even harder not to find him likeable. The scope of his intellect and humanity is evident on the page, in his interviews and in his broadcasts. He reeks of credibility and warmth. Do a Google image search of him and the pictures you find epitomise English middle-class academic decency (despite the fact that he’s Irish); jumpers, churchyards, armchairs and a benign smile. More →

Virtual work has the potential to harm trust, social cohesion and knowledge sharing

Virtual work has the potential to harm trust, social cohesion and knowledge sharing

virtual workTrust, social cohesion and information sharing are the most potentially vulnerable to damage when people work virtually, according to a study of around 750 academic papers conducted on behalf of the Advanced Workplace Institute (AWI), a global workplace management body. As organisations rapidly embrace home working and virtual work in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the study warns that without active management to respond to changes in working, team dynamics are under risk with a knock on effect on both employee happiness and performance. More →

Workplace technology enters new `golden age`

Workplace technology enters new `golden age`

A ‘golden age’ of workplace technology could be coming, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic according to a new report, co-authored by Professor Michael Dickmann from Cranfield University which investigated the Global Mobility response to COVID-19. The report claims that some multinational companies were completely lacking crisis response plans when the pandemic hit, and many are now adjusting their goals because of movement restrictions and employee wellbeing. More →

Study suggests need for UK employers to offer employee mental wellbeing support

Study suggests need for UK employers to offer employee mental wellbeing support

mental healthA survey of 2,000 UK consumers by digital health company BioBeats suggests that nearly a quarter (21 percent) of UK employees say that their mental health will be negatively impacted by extending remote working measures post-lockdown. Only 5 percent of respondents state that their mental health will improve as a result of extended remote working but alarmingly only 3 percent say they would ask for help in coping with this new way of working, which presents a striking gap between employees’ needs and their ability to seek support from their employer. More →

Building a culture of trust has never been more important

Building a culture of trust has never been more important

building a culture of trustTrust is a concept we often find hard to describe. It’s sticky, intangible and difficult to pinpoint but we know when trust is absent. When it’s missing from a workforce, a culture can unravel. According to the Culture Economy Report 2020, 43 percent of employees in UK SME’s don’t trust their employer to do the right thing – a 16 point decline since 2018. This is alarming. Working remotely over the last few months has highlighted just how important workplace trust is, between employees and management, and vice versa. More →

Mental health in UK tech deteriorates in lockdown

Mental health in UK tech deteriorates in lockdown

mental healthThe easing of lockdown restrictions and a return to offices is raising the stress levels of over a quarter of UK tech professionals (26 percent) at a time when over 1 in 3 (36 percent) report that their mental health has deteriorated during Covid-19, according to a new Harvey Nash Study. The relaxing of restrictions has left tech professionals worrying most about bringing Covid-19 back into the home, and the health risk of their daily commute. More →

Firms should adopt a hybrid model as they return to work

Firms should adopt a hybrid model as they return to work

As mandatory working from home lifts, managers should be aware that employee expectations around how they work have evolved significantly. In a report (registration) published by Soldo in collaboration with several UK universities, management experts advise that companies need to radically redesign their business processes. Employees who worked productively at home throughout the lockdown will strongly resist managers enforcing limitations on where and when they do their work. More →

UK professionals claim lack of workplace communication during pandemic

UK professionals claim lack of workplace communication during pandemic

workplace communicationThe Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted workplace communication as the area leadership most needs to improve on, according to almost half (43 percent) of professionals in a nationwide survey conducted by Hays. This is well ahead of other areas including strategy and planning (23 percent) and remote staff management (13 percent). From over 16,000 respondents, two in five (40 percent) also say that communication is the aspect of their organisation that has undergone the most change since the coronavirus outbreak, ahead of people (24 percent) and processes (22 percent). More →