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Other things being equal, this year will see the end of open plan and start of a four day week

Other things being equal, this year will see the end of open plan and start of a four day week

You’ll only get one prediction from me this year and that’s about how all of the other workplace predictions will be cut and paste jobs from the past three decades and more. If you want to take a cynical approach to the whole thing, you’ll find one from your humble servant here. Apart from that, if you only read one set of actual predictions for 2020 or even the Twenties (that’ll take some getting used to), then make it this from an author also jaded and burdened by too many glib pronouncements about work and workplaces in general and the annual parade of predictable predictions in particular. (more…)

From the archives: Is this the missing piece of the facilities management puzzle?

From the archives: Is this the missing piece of the facilities management puzzle? 0

facilities managementThe IFMA Foundation Workplace Summit of summer 2014 felt like an optimistic time for facilities management and the workspace industry. Heavyweights from the sector were asking searching questions about our organisational contribution, with thankfully less of the internally focused, debate-free hubris typical of much of the industry narrative. The newly announced (and now evidently historical) collaboration between BIFM and CIPD was in full swing, endorsed by social media savvy Twitterati under The Workplace Conversation banner. (more…)

Most people have no idea what impostor syndrome is, but they know they have it

Most people have no idea what impostor syndrome is, but they know they have it

impostor syndromeA new survey claims that only 15 percent of UK adults know what impostor syndrome is, although more than three-quarters (77 percent) claim to have suffered from it at some point in their lives. The survey of more than 500 UK adults was carried out by media agency UM. It suggests that office workers and those in professional services were the most likely among all those in full-time employment to suffer from impostor syndrome – behind only school and university students. (more…)

Self-driving cars will be most transformative future tech, bosses say. Techies disagree

Self-driving cars will be most transformative future tech, bosses say. Techies disagree

Self-driving cars are set to have a significant impact on society and change our future the most over the next 20 years, according to research from CWJobs. Working in collaboration with “futurologist” Melissa Sterry, the report (registration) surveyed over 2,000 UK business decision makers and IT workers to determine the technological inventions with the greatest impact on society since 2000 and what’s to come in the next 20 years. (more…)

Avoiding the minefield of WhatsApp communications

Avoiding the minefield of WhatsApp communications

Whether to keep colleagues updated or to share a new idea, WhatsApp groups are increasingly becoming a go-to communication tool in the workplace.  There are benefits to having such informal communication channels – they can be less hierarchical and improve cohesion within the team, as well as being a fast and easy way to communicate and share images. On the flip side, the lack of formality means that there are risks associated with them.   (more…)

Wellbeing is increasingly in the hands of HR and the future looks bright as a result

Wellbeing is increasingly in the hands of HR and the future looks bright as a result

Wellbeing in office designThe future of workplace wellbeing is in HR’s hands; hence, the discipline is even more pivotal to organisational success. As admin and payroll become increasingly digitised and automated, time can be spent more effectively, supporting good people to do good work. Influential people are now catching on to the importance of wellbeing. New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern told More than GDP, “We need to address the societal wellbeing of our nation, not just the economic wellbeing”. Her government will set a budget to measure wellbeing and the long-term impact of policy on the quality of people’s lives. (more…)

Firms turning to “corporate wellness” programmes as a solution for stress

Firms turning to “corporate wellness” programmes as a solution for stress

corporate wellness and stressA new report by workforce performance firm CR Worldwide (CR), drawing on data from 287,000 employees at over 120 large enterprises, claims that as the incidence and awareness of the issue of stress grows, firms have responded with a 22 percent year-on-year increase in UK spending on perceived solutions such as corporate getaways with companies now spending an average of £3,100 per person per trip. The proportion of activity or nature-based business trips involved in such wellness programmes has more than doubled to 56 percent in 2019 compared to the previous year. With human-animal interactions believed to have therapeutic effects on mental health, UK firms are also increasingly offering ‘nature tourism’, from orangutan treks in Borneo to working with endangered rhinos in Rwanda and shark diving. Husky sledging is now among the top 5 Christmas corporate travel activities for UK firms. (more…)

Nearly half of employers need help to implement flexible working

Nearly half of employers need help to implement flexible working

Eighty five percent of employers think demand for flexible working is likely to increase, with demand coming from across the board, but over four in 10 would like more support to implement it, according to a workingmums.co.uk survey. The results of the survey of around 200 employers are interesting in light of current policy discussions about flexible working which tend to focus on forcing employers to flex more by advertising jobs that are flexible from day one and enforcing employees’ flexible working rights. (more…)

The unexpected benefits of not saying sorry

The unexpected benefits of not saying sorry

sorry blackboardOn October 5th 2018, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons said sorry about something on social media 151 times between them. There were no product recalls. It was just a normal day on corporate social media. I picked that date because it just happened to be the same day that Topshop apologised for removing a feminist book display and it made for a handy comparison. The book display apology got the headlines, but in the shadows of Topshop’s high-profile faux pas, four of Britain’s largest retailers were busy asking forgiveness too. (more…)

WeWork, false narratives and the superstate of office design

WeWork, false narratives and the superstate of office design

WeWork New YorkSo, WeWork then. As the dust settles on whatever has happened, some lessons may be emerging. Many of them are presented in this comment in The Economist and this piece in The Intelligencer in which Scott Galloway of NYU Business School claims that the problems have been evident for a long time. He doesn’t hold back. (more…)

Workplace interruptions are not all bad

Workplace interruptions are not all bad

An email pops up on your screen. It’s a client sharing a project update. A Slack message appears. It’s your boss asking a question. A text alert beeps. A colleague wants to know if you will be attending a meeting. Sound familiar? People are increasingly besieged at work by workplace interruptions through email, messaging apps, social media and in-person encounters. (more…)

People cannot focus for length of most meetings

People cannot focus for length of most meetings

An overwhelming majority (83 percent) of UK office employees are unable to concentrate in meetings for over 45 minutes, yet research from Sharp reveals that the average meeting lasts 49 minutes. This finding was supported by 55 percent of those surveyed, who claimed that work meetings are too long. This dissatisfaction appears to be caused by the difficulty in sustaining concentration in long meetings, with only 36 percent of UK employees indicating they are able to concentrate for a full 30 minutes. (more…)