December 10, 2020

Office taxonomy and an increasingly diverse workplace ecosystem

by Mark Eltringham • Features, Workplace design

From the archive. First published in October 2015. It is perhaps the most common misconception of evolutionary theory that all animals are somehow evolving towards some end point – meaning us. This notion is perhaps best summed up when a sceptic asks: “If we have evolved from monkeys, why are there still monkeys?” The lesser of the two problems with this is its solipsistic assumption that humans are the pinnacles of life and that, if evolution were true, all species would eventually evolve into people. (more…)

December 10, 2020

Employers should explain their monitoring policies to workers

by Chioma Iwunze • Comment, Workplace

The number of companies monitoring their employees is growing. According to a Gartner survey, more than 22 percent of employees use employee movement data, while 17 percent of them are monitoring computer usage. With companies choosing to monitor employees, privacy laws are also catching up, and thus there is a need for explaining employee monitoring to prospective hires. Employee monitoring is defined as the use of monitoring devices and methods by companies to learn about their employees’ workplace behaviours and performance. (more…)

December 9, 2020

Freelancers stimulate entrepreneurship levels, claims research

by Jayne Smith • Business, News

Freelancers actively promote entrepreneurship, claims research from Trinity Business School, suggesting that a 10 percent increase in freelancers within the workforce leads to a 1 percent increase in entrepreneurial activity in the economy. (more…)

November 30, 2020

Rise of remote work monitoring technology to be investigated by taskforce

by Neil Franklin • News, Technology

Union body the TUC has today launched a new taskforce to look at the “creeping role” of artificial intelligence (AI) in managing people at work. The taskforce launch comes as a new TUC report, Technology managing people: the worker experience, claims that many workers have concerns over the use of AI and technology in the workplace. (more…)

November 24, 2020

Covid-19 will transform the way technology is used in offices

by Jayne Smith • News, Technology

A new paper from the British Council for Offices outlines how technology is being used in offices to combat Covid-19. While offices may be shut in the UK until 2nd December at the earliest, the paper outlines how the sector is adapting and embracing a range of new technology to ensure that offices can comply with hygiene and social distancing measures. (more…)

November 23, 2020

The workplace to become more human-centric than ever, as priorities change

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News, Working culture, Working lives

Companies are facing complex performance challenges as the COVID-19 resurgence heightens the need to reinvigorate employee engagement. JLL’s new “Human Experience” report explores these changing workforce dynamics and expectations in a post-pandemic world and offers insights for how forward-thinking companies can reimagine their approach to managing their people and workplaces to stay ahead in 2021. (more…)

November 20, 2020

HR professionals must seek a new connection with the IT team

by Joseph Morley • Comment, Technology

It has now been more than eight months since the government first advised people to work from home if possible, due to COVID-19. The shift to remote working happened suddenly in March and quickly became part of everyday life; in April 2020 alone, 47 percent of people in employment did some work at home, compared to just 16 percent in the whole of 2019. IT teams were extremely successful in getting staff up-and-running with the right technology, but there was little time for organisations to fully train users before driving adoption, or personalise the approach based on individual need. This places a new onus on HR teams. (more…)

November 16, 2020

Designing your employee financial wellness program

by Freddie Steele • Company news

For a lot of employers, the idea of an employee financial wellness program can be something of an afterthought. That is, beyond providing fair pay and a clear policy regarding taxation and benefits, it can seem unnecessary to take any other action regarding employee finances. What’s becoming more and more apparent, however, is that employers do need to take a more active approach toward implementing employee financial wellness programs. (more…)

November 13, 2020

Self-confidence vs resilience: What makes entrepreneurs thrive?

by Jayne Smith • Business, News

In times of economic stability, entrepreneurs who exude self-confidence are the most likely to thrive. However, when faced with unstable and adverse economic conditions, those entrepreneurs who possess greater resilience are most likely to come out on top, according to new research from Durham University Business School. (more…)

November 10, 2020

What Carl Sagan could teach us about knowledge and information

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Flexible working

Unbelievably for those of us who saw him as a personal hero, yesterday marked the 24th anniversary of the death of Carl Sagan. At the time of his death in 1996, the Internet was very much in its infancy but Sagan could see what was coming, including how we need to filter what is valuable from the deluge of information we now bob around in. Sagan put it like this: “all of the books in the world contain no more information than is broadcast as video in a single large American city in a single year. Not all bits have equal value.” (more…)

November 10, 2020

November lockdown reignites concerns about mental health and productivity

by Jayne Smith • News, Wellbeing, Working lives

A vast majority of managers (75 percent) faced challenges with employees when working remotely, causing concerns within businesses preparing for the second UK lockdown. (more…)

November 5, 2020

Leadership in a new age of virtuality

by Andrew Mawson • Comment, Facilities management, Property, Technology, Workplace design

We are living through a fundamental transformation in the way we work. The pandemic has forced organisations to go virtual. New government guidelines, including a tiered alert system, suggest that this will be the norm for the foreseeable future. But step back from the noise and it is easy to see how the current crisis is simply accelerating the inevitable. A confluence of forces, including advancements in technology and infrastructure, increasing globalisation, shifting demographics and COVID-19, has enabled greater connectivity and mobility, making obvious to organisations, their leadership and individuals the wisdom of adopting flexible work models. (more…)