March 25, 2022

The compadre of teleworking, with Jack Nilles

by Freddie Steele • Features, Flexible working, Podcasts

In episode four of Workplace Geeks, Chris and Ian cross seven time zones to learn from the father of teleworking and environmental activist, Jack Nilles, about the multi-disciplinary research project that led to his 1976 book ‘The Telecommunications-Transportation Trade-off: Options for Tomorrow’. Teleworking has been proven to be an effective and valued part of hybrid working solutions since the 1970s. The barriers to implementation are rarely, if ever, technological or economic: they are cultural, often specifically managerial, and always have been. Despite this, tried and tested change methodologies can overcome these challenges. Now, more than ever, we need to embrace the many benefits of teleworking, not just for organizational and personal gain, but also as part of our strategies to address the climate emergency. (more…)

March 21, 2022

Remote work one of the emergency measures that could cut energy use, says IEA

by Neil Franklin • Environment, Flexible working, News

In the face of the emerging global energy crisis triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, practical actions by governments and citizens in advanced economies and beyond can achieve significant reductions in oil demand in a matter of months, reducing the risk of a major supply crunch, according to new analysis released by the International Energy Agency. These efforts, including the uptake of remote work, would reduce the pain being felt by consumers around the world, lessen the economic damage, shrink Russia’s hydrocarbon revenues, and help move oil demand towards a more sustainable pathway, the IEA claims.

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March 18, 2022

Flexible working and wellbeing? We already know how that all works

by Mark Eltringham • Features, Podcasts, Premium Content, Wellbeing, Wellbeing Matters

If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans. Woody Allen’s wise observation could have been made for this year. But it’s not just true for plans that go awry, but also those that go right in unexpected ways. For example, what better time to publish a book about the links between flexible working and wellbeing than in April 2020 as large swathes of the population were adjusting to completely remote work, many of them for the first time? (more…)

March 17, 2022

Flexible working now part of work culture for over a third of people

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News, Technology

UK workers and their bosses are reaping the benefits of flexible working, according to new research released by Microsoft. According to Microsoft’s latest Work Trend Index, the number of people working in a hybrid way across the world is up seven percentage points on last year at (38 percent), while 53 percent of people are likely to consider transitioning to hybrid working in the year ahead. (more…)

March 16, 2022

Working from home may help recruitment, but doesn’t stem resignations

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News, Workplace

Organisations looking to stem the tide of the so-called Great Resignation shouldn’t rely on working from home alone to retain their top talent, according to new research, which reveals that working from home (WFH), flexible working hours and even four-day work weeks, won’t necessarily be enough to keep employees onboard. HR software provider CIPHR conducted a survey of over 330 British employers last month to discover how the increasingly competitive talent market has affected their staff retention and recruitment drives over the past twelve months. Based on the results, nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of employers have experienced an increase in employees voluntarily resigning and 71 percent have found it more challenging to recruit new employees. (more…)

March 15, 2022

New ways of working and what we’ve learned about them over the past two years

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News

A report published by Advanced Workplace Associates (AWA): Change For Good: 10 Lessons From The Pandemic identifies what it says is the transformative effect of the new ways of working and why there is ‘no going back’ for employers or employees. (more…)

February 28, 2022

Hybrid working means we have to make the most of our time in the office

by Dr Omar Merlo • Comment, Flexible working

The covid-19 pandemic has drastically affected every aspect of our lives, whether it be in a personal, societal, or professional sense. One of the biggest changes to come from the pandemic is the impact it has had on workplaces, and what we now know our working world to be, including the advent for the first time of widespread hybrid working. Long gone are the days of long commutes, long days in the office and set working hours. (more…)

February 18, 2022

Hybrid working now just a fact of life for those people able to work flexibly

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News

Hybrid working has become commonplace for those employees able to work from home, a survey of firms has suggested. More than 80 percent of people said their employers had adopted hybrid working, most of them since the pandemic, according to the survey for the Chartered Institute of Management (CMI). However a majority of business are also actively encouraging employees to return to the office as part of their new working culture. (more…)

February 8, 2022

Remote work monitoring software used by four in five employers

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Technology

According to a new report from Instant Offices (registration), four in five employers whose staff are offered hybrid or remote work are already using employee monitoring tools to track work performance and activity. According to the study: 78 percent of companies report using employee monitoring software to track worker performance and online activity; 73 percent say stored recordings of calls, emails, and messages have affected team members’ performance reviews; over 50 percent say they are implementing non-traditional monitoring techniques; and 94 percent of employers track emails. (more…)

February 4, 2022

Flexible working most likely to be offered in tech, charity and creative sectors

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News

A new study claims that IT & Telecoms, Charity and Media, Digital & Creative are the topmost progressive sectors when it comes to offering jobs with a flexible working element. Conducted by e-learning platform Preply, the study analyses January 2022 job listings, ranking each job sector by the percentage of roles that offer the option for remote working. Other relevant factors the analysis also highlights are the percentage of remote jobs that are part time, average salary and the UK cities seeing the highest increase in demand for those specifically looking for remote work. (more…)

February 3, 2022

Working from home fuels concerns for energy consumption

by Sara Bean • Environment, Features, Flexible working

Back in February 2020, consulting firm WSP UK published some interesting research that revealed those working from home during the summer saved around 400kg of carbon emissions, the equivalent of 5 percent of a typical British commuter’s annual carbon footprint. The catch was that it was just a seasonal benefit. If an average employee worked at home all year round, they would produce 2.5 tonnes of carbon per year – around 80 percent more than an office worker. This is because, during the winter, most heating systems in Britain heat the whole house, which produces far more carbon emissions than would be produced from the commute. (more…)

January 31, 2022

Business leaders have undue confidence in the idea of hybrid working

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News, Technology

Flexible working has overtaken salary as the top benefit to employees (59 percent), highlighting that flexibility and autonomy over the working day is now more important than financial reward for most workers. This is according to a new report from Jabra; the Jabra Hybrid Ways of Working 2021 Global Report carried out amongst 5,000 knowledge workers in five countries worldwide, including the UK. However, the report also suggests that many business leaders have a false sense of confidence in their ability to implement hybrid working.