April 29, 2020
According to a new study from employment law firm Kew Law a third of people claim to have been bullied at work in the last three years and nearly three quarters say they have either been bullied themselves or witnessed a colleague being bullied. According to the survey of employees of 131 companies in the UK, most of the instances involved unfair treatment, overwork and general undermining of an individual. (more…)
April 28, 2020
Office work has existed in some form ever since people started writing on tablets and papyrus. Depictions of clerical staff are common in the Bible and on the walls of pyramids. In the mid 14th Century the Church of San Nicolò, commissioned the artist Tomaso da Modena to create the fresco in the chapter room of the church depicting forty monks of the order hard at it at their desks. The word office itself derives from the famous Uffizi in Florence, created in 1560. (more…)
April 24, 2020
Job board, CWjobs has released new research which claims parents are struggling with anxiety and stress as a result of having to home-school their children whilst they are working from home during lockdown. While previous research from the firm claimed that 80 percent of IT decision makers believe remote working would increase productivity in their business, productivity gains right now are unlikely for parents as they face an additional challenge: the balance of working from home and educating their children in light of continued school closures. (more…)
April 24, 2020
The coronavirus crisis has already cost UK SMEs an average £277,893 each – and 64 percent expect their revenues to decrease by half in coming months, according to a nationwide survey released by Fiverr. The study of 1,000 SME owners and decision makers in 19 cities across the UK also claims that nearly one in three (29 percent) of UK SMEs plan to increase flexible working post-pandemic. (more…)
April 22, 2020
Setting aside the drastic personal tragedies, the financial devastation and the strain the virus has placed on government infrastructure, business, finance, and healthcare systems worldwide, the coronavirus has been able to achieve what legions of workplace strategists and change managers have been unable to do: encourage middle managers to give remote working a try. (more…)
April 22, 2020
The Transdisciplinary Workplace Research (TWR) Network will gather September 16-20 2020 in Weimar, Germany to develop solutions for the thorniest strategic and tactical issues in office design, planning, and ways of working. TWR2020 is an important opportunity for both practitioners and researchers to move their professional work forward in meaningful ways. The conference will take place with all attendees present in Weimar (pictured). If required the conference will be electronic, with appropriate adjustments in registration fees and reimbursements made. (more…)
April 20, 2020
It all seems like it was years ago. The calm mornings, the deep breaths of fresh air, the din of a happy, productive office. In fact, it’s been just a few short months since the COVID-19 pandemic upended just about every aspect of life: our schedules, our roles as parents, our certainty about the future. Millions of workers are feeling this strain, if not on their physical health and bank accounts, then surely on their mental status and ability to focus on simple things like sending emails or making small talk. (more…)
April 15, 2020
Behavioural insights combine psychology, neuroscience and behavioural economics with empirically tested results to understand and influence how people behave. These insights can be used to implement new policies more efficiently and successfully by nudging individual’s behaviour and shaping collective norms. (more…)
April 13, 2020
A consortium of Finnish companies backed by government funding have launched a smart buildings platform that they hope will will enable the collection, analysis and automatic application of data in building maintenance and design worldwide. (more…)
April 10, 2020
?In light of the numerous changes in daily behaviour across the world because of the coronavirus,?Microsoft has published the first edition of its?Work Trend .?It uses the Microsoft Graph of usage data to analyse productivity trends and observe how remote working scenarios are changing the way we connect with each other. (more…)
April 7, 2020
Manchester could be set to see an influx of tech talent in the next three years, according to new research from CWJobs, the UK’s leading tech job board. Surveying 1,000 tech workers, Manchester emerged as the top choice outside of the capital (22 percent) to work in, with a fifth (20 percent) also revealing it’s the city they would choose to set up a tech business in the next three years, ahead of Birmingham (11 percent) and Edinburgh (8 percent). In the same survey, 505 IT decision makers (IT DM) also placed Manchester as the best location to set up a tech business, with over a quarter (27 percent) choosing the city. (more…)
April 30, 2020
The lockdown gives us a chance to reconsider business ethics
by Mark Strassman • Comment