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 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 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…)

March 11, 2021

Escaping the gravitational pull of workplace data

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Technology, Workplace design

On the doorstep of the British Library you will find Edouardo Paolozzi’s imposing statue of Sir Isaac Newton. At first glance, this positioning seems to make perfect sense. Where better for a monument to the Enlightenment’s poster boy than raised on a plinth at the entrance to the world’s second largest library? And yet, there’s more going on here than is evident at first glance.

(more…)

March 10, 2021

Working from home experience boosts demands for hybrid working

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

New data from Steelcase claims to highlight what the UK workforce is enjoying most about working from home, and which elements of work are suffering without access to the physical office. Nearly all (97 percent) of respondents want to return to the physical office for some or most of the time when possible, but nearly a year of working differently has altered expectations of the office, and businesses need to make vital changes to reflect this. (more…)

March 9, 2021

The workforce is exhausted from meeting on camera

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

As employees continue to be forced home during the pandemic, nearly half of them are reporting high levels of exhaustion. A new study by Virtira Consulting claims 49 percent of employees experience a high degree of exhaustion from being required or pressured to be on camera during online meetings. (more…)

March 6, 2021

Well, at least nobody is whinging about open plan offices anymore

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Flexible working, Technology, Workplace design

Years of pathologising offices should have prepared us for the patholigisation of virtual spaces. It seems like months since anybody has come out with that tired old rant about open plan. Certain vociferous and obsessive authors on the subject have had to find some other outlet for whatever their real problem is. Still, it’s not hard right now to find similar stuff about the toxicity of virtual meetings and especially those hosted by poor old Zoom, who get the blame for everything.

(more…)

March 5, 2021

Half of employers don’t have a financial wellbeing policy

by Jayne Smith • Business, News, Wellbeing

Despite the financial hardship wrought by COVID-19, half of employers (49 percent) don’t have a financial wellbeing policy. This is according to the latest Reward Management Survey from the CIPD (which 420 employers responded to). (more…)

March 5, 2021

GreenMe is the little cube working to create better buildings

by Freddie Steele • Company news, Wellbeing

An innovative little box that resembles a Rubik’s cube is making its way into corporate workspaces to assist facilities managers and HR teams gauge energy consumption and monitor the building’s efficiency, as well as track air quality, temperature and overall comfort of their physical surroundings. It’s all about better buildings. If individuals feel good in their workplace, they’re more likely to care about (and take care of) the buildings where they spend a large part of their days. And to ensure that the sample is truly representative, each individual can have a lightweight and portable GreenMe Comfort Meter on their own desk. (more…)

February 26, 2021

The link between wellbeing and green design is driving material innovation

by Craig Stuart • Comment, Environment, Wellbeing, Workplace design

One of the most interesting developments in the way we talk about the design of buildings in recent years is how the issue of wellbeing has found an overlap with environmental concerns. We know instinctively that these are natural partners. What is good for the environment almost always has a direct beneficial effect on people’s physical and mental health, as well as their productivity. (more…)