January 28, 2020
Getting on well with colleagues gives workers greater job satisfaction than having a good salary, new research has claimed. “New Decade, New Direction” by the Institute of Leadership & Management asked more than 2,100 workers to identify the factors that affect their job satisfaction and explored their career plans for the new decade. More →
January 17, 2020
Cass Business School and Slack have published new research into the nature future of teamwork which identifies the relationships between team alignment and execution, drivers for competitive advantage, and the role of new workplace technologies. It suggests that teams are the fundamental building blocks of modern organisations but their role in delivering better outcomes for an organisation is still undervalued. More →
January 7, 2020
Imagine a world with no freelancers, holiday cover workers, or people to help fill the hiring gaps on projects. With IR35 extending into the private sector, this could be a reality; and we should be worried that a skilled and flexible workforce of freelancers could soon be extinct. Instead of dealing with the headache of the new regulations, 20 percent of UK businesses said they plan to axe contract workers. Freelancers themselves might be worried about how the new iteration of IR35, due to come into force in April next year, will affect their ability to work, and hastily take on permanent positions. More →
October 9, 2019
Just under a third (29 percent) of employees agree with the idea that their workplace has an always on culture, but new research from Microsoft UK suggests that many more are adopting unhealthy ways of working that are having a profound impact on their wellbeing and personal lives. More →
October 2, 2019
We are working hard, but not smart. Research released by the TUC in April shows that UK workers are putting in the longest hours in the EU, but this isn’t translating into improved productivity. In fact, the research shows employees in Denmark put in over four hours less than UK workers – whilst productivity in Denmark is 23.5 percent higher than the UK. More →
October 1, 2019
Meeting rooms are a lot like buses. You wait ages for one and then three become available all at once. Sometimes none turn up at all. Research by Kinnarps, which we do as part our Next Office consultancy, has found something that might not come as a great surprise. Employees are deeply frustrated with the lack of meeting room availability, often even in agile workplaces, especially locked-down project rooms. More →
September 17, 2019
The BBC, Monzo and Skyscanner are the companies UK top tech talent wants to work for the most according to new research from Hired which has today released its annual Brand Health Report. However, despite the UK’s flourishing tech landscape, British business are not featured on the global list of the top 15 private or public companies indicating that UK brands are losing popularity. This is especially worrying at a time when 60 percent of London firms apparently anticipate a ‘Brexit Brain Drain’. More →
September 6, 2019
Hot-desking is a scourge on modern work. That’s the only conclusion you will draw by reading ‘The hidden hell of hot-desking is much worse than you think’ (published in the FT on 28 July 2019) and dozens more like it that continue to appear in national media and top business titles. The piece contends that organisations are using the guise of agile working to excuse their cost-saving prerogative. In reality it is a penny-pinching ploy that “strips people of their own desk and casts them out to the noisy, chaotic wasteland of shared work spots,” or so we’re told. More →
August 30, 2019
The workplace, as we know it, is rapidly evolving and the role of the traditional office is changing. In fact, what current trends are pointing towards is that the whole work culture is shifting, with the employee experience becoming equally important as consumer needs. The new norm of the workplace is being flexible, dynamic, and versatile – yet, more often than not, companies lag behind in providing the right tools to support these trends. We can often see a significant gap between what the workforce needs and what the workplace offers. More →
August 27, 2019
Taking time off improves the work performance of freelancers, a new study from IPSE (the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed) claims. The research suggests that almost two-thirds of freelancers believe taking holiday improves their work performance in some way. Asked what advantages came with taking more time off, 63 percent said it improved aspects of their work including productivity, energy, creativity and confidence in their work. More →
August 23, 2019
A new survey from CV-Library suggests that the UK’s professionals have a problematic relationship with work, with three-quarters (74.2 percent) claiming that their job is damaging their mental health. The research, which surveyed over 2,000 professionals, claims that four in ten (43.9 percent) workers even consider resigning from their job because of this, with a further 52.6 percent stating that their workplace doesn’t do enough to support employees. More →
January 20, 2020
Digital culture is key to attracting contingent workforce
by Mike Ryan • Comment, Workplace