Search Results for: people management

Information findability problems impact companies’ bottom line

Information findability problems impact companies’ bottom line

informationOver the past year, organisations experienced an increase in problems related to finding information, resulting in greater reliance on knowledge and information management tools than in previous years, according to a new survey by Sinequa and APQC. (more…)

UK employees working £4.2 billion unpaid overtime every week

UK employees working £4.2 billion unpaid overtime every week

unpaid overtimeThe amount of unpaid overtime that workers around the world are doing has soared in the past year; unpaid overtime in the UK has steadily risen from six hours in 2019 to seven hours in 2020 in the advent of COVID-19, to almost eight hours in 2021, claims a new study by the ADP Research Institute, People at Work 2021: A Global Workforce View. (more…)

Is it time to ban out-of-hours emails?

Is it time to ban out-of-hours emails?

The global pandemic has blurred the lines between home and work for millions of people around the world. Where once there was a clear distinction between being on and off duty, the demands of remote working and ever-presence of smartphones has created an ‘always on’ culture in many organisations. The trend has led to a number organisations in the UK to now call for a ban on out-of-hours emails in order to alleviate pressures on employees mental health. But is this really necessary, or even logistically possible, for the new world of work? We asked four leading experts for their thoughts. (more…)

Cities could be more important post-pandemic, not less, suggests report

Cities could be more important post-pandemic, not less, suggests report

Manchester, one of the UK's great citiesParadoxically, more in-person work environments and the concentration of jobs in cities could be a medium- to long-term impact of the pandemic’s shift to remote working, suggests Citi GPS Technology at Work: The Coming of the Post-Production Society, a report produced by Citi and the Oxford Martin School at the University of Oxford. The report cites the automation of manufacturing and clerical tasks alongside the potential for professional services jobs that can be done remotely to be done cheaper overseas as the start of a foundational shift in developed economies. The future of work in these countries, it suggests, could be based largely on innovation, exploration and creative thinking which require face-to-face interaction and geographic proximity. (more…)

Wellbeing should be part of business strategy after lockdown, claims new report

Wellbeing should be part of business strategy after lockdown, claims new report

wellbeingA new report from the RSA and Vitality warns of the potentially serious impact on the long-term physical and mental health of employees. The authors claim that the ‘long lockdown effect’ should lead employers to see health and wellbeing as important strategic issues and place them on the company’s risk registers. With the shift to more flexible working cultures now set to continue, Healthy Hybrid, a Blueprint for Business, claims to shine a light on the health impact of successive lockdowns on homeworkers. (more…)

Work factors that make the drive home more dangerous

Work factors that make the drive home more dangerous

driveMost road traffic accidents happen on the drive home from work, claims new research from Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM), which examines which characteristics of the working day have implications for road safety and why. (more…)

The bullshit jobs theory may turn out to be, well…

The bullshit jobs theory may turn out to be, well…

a charging bull depicting bullshit jobs

The so-called ‘bullshit jobs theory’ – which argues that a large and rapidly increasing number of workers are undertaking jobs that they themselves recognise as being useless and of no social value – contains several major flaws, argue researchers from the universities of Cambridge and Birmingham. Even so, writing in Work, Employment and Society, the academics applaud its proponent, American anthropologist David Graeber, who died in September 2020, for highlighting the link between a sense of purpose in one’s job and psychological wellbeing.

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Half of businesses have provided support for workers’ mental health during the pandemic

Half of businesses have provided support for workers’ mental health during the pandemic

mental healthHalf of workers in the UK (50 percent) say their employers have provided support for their mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic, while two-thirds of employees globally reported the same (65 percent). This may illustrate a growing awareness and concern from businesses about the potential psychological impact on staff, according to a new study People at Work 2021: A Global Workforce View by the ADP Research Institute. (more…)

Face-time pressure may force us back to the office

Face-time pressure may force us back to the office

officeEmployees feel they need to go back into the office in order to be promoted according to new research conducted within the “Reinventing Work” chair at ESCP Business School. (more…)

Real Estate, HR and Technology leaders must collaborate to create a future of work fit for the 21st Century

Real Estate, HR and Technology leaders must collaborate to create a future of work fit for the 21st Century

An office that depicts the future of workHR leaders, heads of real estate and IT decision-makers have not always spent huge amounts of time working together – their roles and responsibilities have often been siloed. But in the new world of work, that’s all changing. These three groups of senior leaders are being asked to collaborate on one of the biggest challenges corporate occupiers, as they try to figure out when and how to return to office-based working and shape the future of work. Failure to collaborate will increase the probability of workplaces having low occupancy rates, low employee engagement and decreased productivity. (more…)

Helsinki, Oslo and Zurich are cities with the best work-life balance

Helsinki, Oslo and Zurich are cities with the best work-life balance

work-lifeMobile access company Kisi has released their annual study examining which cities around the world promote the most holistic work-life balance. With the goal of enhancing an individual’s personal and professional life through technological innovation, Kisi has endeavored to find out which coveted metropolises worldwide are meeting their residents’ lifestyle demands to make their city a more attractive place overall to work and live. (more…)

For a workplace culture to flourish, sometimes you have to let go

For a workplace culture to flourish, sometimes you have to let go

Great workplace cultureTen years ago, the day after I left my full-time job at FM World magazine* to set up Magenta I wrote a blog called In Defence of the Office about how people feel when they’re asked to work flexibly. I talked about how many people struggle, finding that without the structure of day-to-day office life, they can’t manage their time properly, can’t discipline themselves to work and get distracted by domestic life. And they find, because perhaps they haven’t got to grips with the new technology, that they can’t locate important files or connect to that key person. They find that without the workplace they can’t work – or at least not as well. (more…)