Search Results for: stress

From the archive: Flexible working may improve productivity, but does it diminish creativity?

From the archive: Flexible working may improve productivity, but does it diminish creativity?

flexible working and creativityOriginally published in December 2014. Homeworking seems to have become a bit of a hot topic this year, but one sentence published on the www.gov.uk website brought a cold sweat to the brows of many managers and employees across the United Kingdom. “From 30 June 2014, all employees have the legal right to request flexible working – not just parents and carers.” More →

GreenMe is the little cube working to create better buildings

GreenMe is the little cube working to create better buildings

GreenMe better buildingsAn 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 →

Work is the silver lining to the pandemic for employees

Work is the silver lining to the pandemic for employees

pandemicThe COVID-19 pandemic has brought anxiety to many, but people are positive about their work, claims a new survey from The Myers-Briggs Company, which looks at how people’s personality type influences their feelings about the pandemic. More →

People working from home hide mental health impact from employers

People working from home hide mental health impact from employers

working from homePeople working from home during the pandemic are experiencing higher levels of stress and withholding mental health conditions from their employer, for fear of a negative impact on career progression, according to a new health and safety at work report by Lloyd’s Register. More →

Zoom fatigue is real and has four basic causes

Zoom fatigue is real and has four basic causes

zoom fatigueThe much discussed idea of Zoom fatigue turns out to be a real phenomenon according to new peer reviewed research from Stanford academics. The study published in the American Psychological Association’s journal Technology, Mind, and Behaviour found that meetings conducted via video calls leave participants feeling more exhausted and emotionally drained than those held face to face. The study found the four most important factors that make video calls so exhausting; the constant need for eye contact, the ability to see one’s own face constantly during meetings, the need to sit still for long periods and difficulties in interpreting or communicating via body language. More →

Half of employees think managers have become less empathetic in latest lockdown

Half of employees think managers have become less empathetic in latest lockdown

managersWhilst initial lockdowns saw a positive response from managers looking to support their teams, it seems maintaining this level of empathy a full year later is for some leaders proving unsustainable claims business training course provider, The Hub Events. The survey of 1115 employees who work from home claims that 53 percent felt their manager had become less empathetic during the most recent lockdown. More →

The best places to live for work-life balance

The best places to live for work-life balance

work-life balanceAs Brits continue to spend an extensive amount of time at home, the importance of maintaining a good work-life balance has never been so vital. For their 2021 Work-Life Balance Index, money.co.uk have delved through ONS data to uncover where in Britain is best situated for its residents to achieve a good work-life balance. More →

Working from home causes people to drift into a ‘cycle of fatigue’

Working from home causes people to drift into a ‘cycle of fatigue’

working from home and fatigueWorking from home is exacerbating an ‘always on’ culture. Data from a study of UK employees, conducted by virtual team building company Wildgoose claims that over half of respondents are struggling to keep their workloads within working hours. More →

Workplace things we have missed, and those we hope to regain

Workplace things we have missed, and those we hope to regain

return to the workplaceLet’s be honest, work life pre 2020 had its flaws, whilst the longing for variety of scenery, change of pace and even a train journey (somewhere…ANYWHERE) would be welcomed by many of us right now, many of us had become a bit ‘hamster wheel’ in our approach. Commuting was stressful, expensive and time hungry; our natural and individual rhythms squeezed into a set 9-5 schedule and workplace design had become a bit ‘quantity over quality’ – desks have been reducing in size year upon year in order that capacity could be increased. We had reached a point at which everything was ripe for change but there was largely a resistance to both flexible working requests and embracing much of the technological advancements that were already at our fingertips. More →

Line managers are the unsung heroes of white-collar work

Line managers are the unsung heroes of white-collar work

line managersHow good your line manager is makes the difference between an employee coping or struggling in lockdown. But too often line managers’ heroic efforts are not noticed by their employers, claims new report, titled Working under Covid-19 Lockdown: Transitions and Tensions. More →

COVID-19 is having an unequal impact on the mental health of workers

COVID-19 is having an unequal impact on the mental health of workers

black dog mental healthWhen the COVID-19 crisis hit the UK in March 2020, many commented that the virus didn’t discriminate and that its impact would be felt equally by everyone. However, as highlighted in Nuffield Health’s recent whitepaper, the mental health impact of the virus – rising from financial worries, anxiety around health and the direct impact of COVID-19 – has hit some groups harder than others. More →

Burnt out remote workers need more help than they are getting

Burnt out remote workers need more help than they are getting

Burnt out remote workers There’s no question that many people now, feeling the weight of lockdown 3 and with no clear view on the timing of any sort of ‘return to normal’, are finding it tough to stay motivated. Many are burnt out. We can gain some insight into what is going on for many individuals by way of neuroscience, specifically how the brain works and how it copes with changing situations. More →