March 23, 2021

Hybrid working must be at heart of plans for regeneration and growth, claims new report

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Property

A new report from think tank Demos and Legal & General calls on the UK Government to back policy change that supports growth of hybrid working and local offices to drive forward its plans for regeneration and economic growth. The report, Post Pandemic Places, claims that huge increases in home working, coupled with a desire for continued flexibility, could support significant increases in local spending. On the back of the findings, the report calls on the government to incentivise the establishment of more local offices and hybrid working initiatives. (more…)

March 23, 2021

UK tech jobs declined in 2020, but AI, cloud and robotics skills are on the rise

by Jayne Smith • Business, News, Technology

The number of technology job listings in the UK declined by 57 percent during the past year, with fewer than 55,000 open roles advertised, according to the latest UK Tech Talent Tracker from Accenture (NYSE: ACN). Despite this, demand for skills in cutting-edge technologies such as cloud, artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics saw a resurgence in many cities across the country. (more…)

March 22, 2021

The era of work personalisation is upon us

by Gary Chandler • Comment, Workplace design

You may have heard it said that any idea repeated often enough develops some form of legitimacy. We’ve had plenty of reason to reflect on whether this notion is true or nor over the past year, especially as all-encompassing pronouncements about the future of work have proliferated and intensified. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that around 80 percent of people only read headlines. This can be a particular issue when you see a headline like The Death of the Office Desk is Upon Us above an article that suggests the death of the personal desk is upon us, when the reality is rather more about the personalisation of work. (more…)

March 22, 2021

Discover the Yorkshire-made product that helps boost workplace productivity

by Freddie Steele • Company news

With workplaces up and down the country now following new rules and regulations – and with online meetings also the order of the day – colleagues everywhere may be feeling demotivated. (more…)

March 19, 2021

We can design kindness into working life just as easily as unkindness

by Joanna Suvarna • Comment, Wellbeing, Working culture

If I were to suggest that organisations were designing their processes, policies and relationships with unkindness at the core, you would probably reject it as an illogical proposition, it just doesn’t make business sense. It goes against the grain and against the values that are plastered on the walls of so many organisations. But as counterintuitive as it may seem, in my opinion, many organisations have done just that, designed unkindness into the things they do, albeit inadvertently. But if they can do that, they can also design kindness in too. (more…)

March 19, 2021

Graduates concerned about the pandemic’s negative career impact

by Jayne Smith • News, Wellbeing, Working culture

New research from graduate careers website Milkround claims almost two-thirds (62 percent) of graduates are concerned that the pandemic will negatively impact their future career development prospects, a sentiment which is shared by 55 percent of HR decision makers. (more…)

March 18, 2021

From the archive: Escaping the gravity of the fixed times and places of work

by Mark Eltringham • Features, Technology, Wellbeing, Working culture

In November 2019, just before that thing happened, there was this… The worst workplace related news story of 2019 is also one of the most widely reported. I’m not linking to it because I don’t want to give it any credibility, but it has been discharged into the ether by Fellowes along with a ‘behavioural futurist’ called William Higham. I will say only two things about it. Firstly, we flatly refused to publish a story about the damn thing and it’s a shame that the mainstream media couldn’t spot it for the utter drivel it is. The fact that they have picked up on it says something about the way such issues are covered in the press. That’s why you’re more likely to see a stress-related story about rats driving cars on the BBC than you are something meaningful. (more…)

March 18, 2021

Employers need to “catch up” with the mental health crisis

by Jayne Smith • News, Wellbeing, Working lives

During the pandemic, 1 in 4 (25 percent) employees say they’ve had no wellbeing check-ins from their workplace. The research from Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) England, of 2,000 employees, claims that almost a third (29 percent) of workers never discuss mental health in meetings with their employers. (more…)

March 18, 2021

Toxic workplace culture costing UK economy £20.2 billion per year

by Jayne Smith • News, Wellbeing, Working culture

The cost of poor company culture is a staggering £20.2 billion per year, according to research from HR software provider Breathe. The report ‘The Culture Economy 2021’, claims that almost a third (27 percent) of SME employees quit their job due to poor workplace culture, an increase of 6 percent from last year (21 percent). (more…)

March 17, 2021

Mental health and wellbeing are top of the priority list

by Jayne Smith • News, Wellbeing, Working culture

A new in-depth report by HR and payroll software providers, Natural HR highlights the trends, challenges and priorities facing the HR profession, and the impact of the pandemic. In 2019, the top priority of HR leaders was cited as recruitment and retention, however by the end of 2020 this had shifted to employee health and wellbeing. (more…)

March 16, 2021

HR technology that doesn’t help employees may just disappear

by Jayne Smith • News, Technology, Workplace

Human resources research and advisory firm Josh Bersin Research, claims that the biggest change in the HR technology market is the spread of HR applications into areas beyond payroll and employee administration to support a broad set of work activities. Other evolutions in the HR tech market include rising corporate determination to improve overall employee experience (EX) and the growth of HR tools designed for employees, not managers. (more…)

March 15, 2021

Serfs up for the self-employed and gig economy workers (and the middle class)

by Mark Eltringham • Features, Flexible working, Working culture

One of the most significant consequences of the 2008 economic crash was a remarkable shift in the nature of employment. The recession led to a surge in the number of people categorised as self-employed. The numbers have been increasing ever since, albeit at a lower rate. By the end of 2019, the number of self-employed people in the UK exceeded five million people for the first time. Fifteen percent of the workforce. (more…)