Search Results for: people management

Underutilised office space? I just can’t be bothered with it

Underutilised office space? I just can’t be bothered with it

by • Comment, Flexible working, Workplace design

A while ago, Antony Slumbers asked me why I thought firms had never done anything much about the underutilisation of their offices. This was in the first throes of lockdown-driven remote work hysteria, prompted by one of those headlines about how offices being half empty was some signifier of hatred for them.

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Age gaps between colleagues linked to lower productivity

Age gaps between colleagues linked to lower productivity

by • News

Employees who are much younger than their managers report lower productivity than those closer in age due to a lack of collaboration between employees of different generations, according to new research from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in collaboration with consulting firm, Protiviti.  An external survey conducted by LSE of 1,450 employees in the finance, technology and professional services industries in the UK and USA, found that friction between different generations was driving down productivity and that firms need to develop intergenerationally inclusive work practices. (more…)

The final word on … responsibility

The final word on … responsibility

by • Business, Comment

There have been many experiments  over the years that expose the darker aspects of human nature. One of the most telling of these was carried out by two American researchers called John Darley and Bibb Latane in 1968. The two men’s work was partly inspired by a notorious 1964 murder in which a woman called Kitty Genovese was stabbed to death in public. The murder took place over a period of around half an hour, during which a number of witnesses who watched the crime from their windows failed to help the victim.

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The final word on workplace wellbeing

The final word on workplace wellbeing

by • Comment, Wellbeing

The final word? Of course not. Five years ago this month, we published an article that described how the quest for productivity had been supplanted almost entirely by a new emphasis on workplace wellbeingThe final word? Of course not. Nearly six years ago, we published an article that described how the quest for productivity had been supplanted almost entirely by a new emphasis on workplace wellbeing. It was the final nail in the coffin of scientific management and its central notion of the office as a factory, subject to rigid times and places of work and manufacturing’s culture of process, efficiency and productivity. The office a splice of factory and panopticon. (more…)

Workplace piffle, humane design and throwing away the blank slate

Workplace piffle, humane design and throwing away the blank slate

by • Comment, Technology, Wellbeing, Workplace design

workplace designThe piece I wrote on workplace bullshit came in for quite a bit of attention when it was published and also meant I was pointed to this excellent article on how to spot it when you see it. Lots is said about the skills we’ll need to cope with the challenges of the current Century, but this is perhaps one of the most important. Especially trying to spot it in ourselves. Paradoxically, but understandably, we already seem reasonably able to spot it in our politicians and other people we don’t quite trust. (more…)

Employers can be advocates for workplace eye wellness: four winning strategies

Employers can be advocates for workplace eye wellness: four winning strategies

by • Company news

Proper management of employee health and wellness is an important facet to consider when striving for success in the workplace. Properly supporting employee health helps them perform better, encourages productivity, prevents losses from absences, enhances job satisfaction, and improves overall morale. Employers can promote employee wellness in different ways, but one area you should consider prioritising is eye care in the workplace. (more…)

Amazon employee claims he was told you’ve still got a job, but not a role

Amazon employee claims he was told you’ve still got a job, but not a role

by • News, Workplace

An employee claims he has been told he no longer has a role with Amazon Web Services, but that he will still be paid while he makes the finding of a new job his number one priority.Last year Amazon made headlines for making 27,000 people redundant as part of a long-term cost-cutting exercise. One of the consequences was a fall in the firm’s share price. Now an employee has claimed in a blog post that the firm is handling its downsizing in more creative ways. Justin Garrison claims in the post that has been told he no longer has a role with Amazon Web Services, but that he will still be paid while he makes the finding of a new job his number one priority. (more…)

We are not blank slates and we don’t adapt to change in predictable ways

We are not blank slates and we don’t adapt to change in predictable ways

by • Features, Flexible working, Wellbeing

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 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…)

How employers should navigate the ICO’s guidance on monitoring workers

How employers should navigate the ICO’s guidance on monitoring workers

by • Comment, Technology

As technology continues to advance at a rapid pace, so does the prevalence of firms monitoring workers and the sophistication of the tools available to employers to monitor their staff's activitiesAs technology continues to advance at a rapid pace, so does the prevalence of firms monitoring workers and the sophistication of the tools available to employers to monitor their staff’s activities. Hand in hand with the increasing prevalence of workplace monitoring tools are concerns that their excessive use may infringe workers’ data protection and privacy rights. Employers must take heed of recent ICO guidance to ensure they do not fall foul of the law in pursuit of the hoped for benefits of workplace monitoring, such as boosting productivity and profit. (more…)

A bit of alien thinking on coffee and some other BS

A bit of alien thinking on coffee and some other BS

by • Facilities management, Features, Technology, Wellbeing, Workplace design

I’ve sometimes highlighted how our perceptions of the workplace are subject to an apex fallacy. The daily consumption of narratives about campuses, tech palaces and ‘cool’ design can obscure the fact that most people don’t experience this stuff in their daily lives. They work in adequate or possibly nice offices. Some in shabby offices or horrible offices. Many travel into work at the same time each day and sit with roughly the same people and do roughly the same things. They may work from home more frequently now, but they have a routine there too. Most will work in a mundane or nice home that mirrors the mundane office that awaits at the other end of the commute. (more…)

Workplace and property firms must wake up to the new era of networked businesses

Workplace and property firms must wake up to the new era of networked businesses

by • Features, Flexible working, Property, Workplace design

the networked workplaceWhile millions of words have been dedicated to the expected changes in post-Covid workstyles – how will people work, where will they work, how will they be supported – very little has been said about their employers: companies and corporations. Yet the anticipated changes to work and the workplace raise questions about the role of the company. Is it one just half of a transaction between employer and employee? Or is it something more? Indeed, what is the role of the company in the modern economy? Is the nature of the company likely to change? The answers could have a greater impact on workstyles than the pandemic. (more…)

UK built environment is woefully under-prepared for climate change

UK built environment is woefully under-prepared for climate change

by • Environment, News

New analysis published by UKGBC during the COP28 talks concludes that the UK’s built environment is severely under-equipped to adapt to our changing climate.New analysis published by UKGBC during the COP28 talks concludes that the UK’s built environment is severely under-equipped to adapt to our changing climate. On five out of seven critical climate resilience priorities, UKGBC’s scorecard finds that the Government policies in its Third National Adaptation Programme (NAP3) are insufficient, flawed, or missing, placing millions of homes and buildings – and the lives of people occupying them – at serious risk of damage from climate-related disaster. (more…)

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