Search Results for: wellbeing

Intense pressure on HR teams to cope with new demands

Intense pressure on HR teams to cope with new demands

HR professionals are now moving beyond the immediate crisis stage in dealing with the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic as home-working, furloughing and heightened workplace health and safety measures bed in, research by XpertHR suggests. (more…)

Half of people working from home say their mental health has declined

Half of people working from home say their mental health has declined

working from homeHalf of UK workers (49 percent) say that their mental health has declined since working from home, according to a new survey from Qualtrics. The study also claims that actions taken by companies are having a significant effect on the wellbeing of their employees, with one in five (18 percent) claiming that their organisation’s actions have had a negative impact on their mental health. (more…)

Isolation and stress from pandemic have profound mental health impact

Isolation and stress from pandemic have profound mental health impact

The effects of isolation and stress from the coronavirus pandemic could be having an extremely profound effect on people’s physical mental health – now and in the future, say a group of prominent psychiatrists and psychologists writing in the The Lancet Psychiatry journal. (more…)

Picking through the workplace chatter

Picking through the workplace chatter

The Universe is a noisy place. Countless bodies chatter to each other against the backdrop of distant echoes from the Big Bang. Because we are curious, we have developed the technology to listen in and record the din and convert it from the electromagnetic vibration it really is into something we can sense with our ears. NASA has even produced a playlist of the noises from our own solar system and some of the objects we have propelled into it, which you can listen to here.   (more…)

Sleeping habits improve under lockdown, but conspiracy theories abound

Sleeping habits improve under lockdown, but conspiracy theories abound

One of the surprising consequences of the current lockdown for many people is that they are sleeping more soundly. A new study claims that nearly two thirds of people are getting the same amount or more sleep than they were before the UK went into lockdown on March 23rd. However the report also uncovered some troubling attitudes amongst groups of people, even though the majority are informed and behaving as advised. (more…)

Working from home creates significant physical and mental challenges

Working from home creates significant physical and mental challenges

flexible workingThe Institute for Employment Studies (IES) has published a series of interim findings from the first COVID-19 homeworker wellbeing study, looking at how working from home for an extended period is affecting the UK workforce. These initial findings depict a worrying snapshot of the declining mental and physical health of many homeworkers. (more…)

Working parents still not getting enough support to deal with pandemic

Working parents still not getting enough support to deal with pandemic

A new report from work-life balance charity Working Families claims that there remains a pressing need for increased support for working parents during the COVID-19 pandemic. The report is informed by queries to the charity’s free legal advice helpline, which the charity says have quadrupled since the start of the pandemic. Since mid-March, over 36,000 people have accessed the charity’s coronavirus-focused legal advice web pages. (more…)

Humanscale offers new service of online ergonomic consultations

Humanscale offers new service of online ergonomic consultations

Humanscale, the designer and manufacturer of high performance ergonomic products, has built its business by focusing on the health and wellbeing of workers around the world. In these unprecedented times, where employers and employees are unexpectedly working from home full time, Humanscale’s team of board certified ergonomists is offering a new digital service that provides online ergonomic consultations, to ensure a healthy and comfortable home arrangement. ErgoIQ LIVE is a first-of-its-kind online ergonomic consultation tool that provides online, on-demand access to Humanscale’s skilled network of certified ergonomists. (more…)

The slacker`s guide to working from home in ten easy steps

The slacker`s guide to working from home in ten easy steps

working from homeIt’s funny how all the stuff we read online over the last few years about how to be and behave at work suddenly contradicts all the guff about how to be effective while working from home over the last few weeks. Well, here’s the guide for those who’ve been taking their internet reading to heart over the last few years. (more…)

The lights are on and there is definitely someone home

The lights are on and there is definitely someone home

As COVID -19 has taken hold and the very necessary lockdown begins, there are A large number of workers thrown into semi-permanent work settings that we hadn’t anticipated a month ago. The transitions will be easier for some than others but we all need a space that feels comfortable AND is conducive to productive working. (more…)

Nudges do not change the behaviour of commuters

Nudges do not change the behaviour of commuters

The use of nudge theory in the UK government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic has raised some fresh questions about the applicability of the idea. The idea – that people can be encouraged to make significant changes in their behaviour with small interventions – has gained widespread acceptance around the world. While some have argued that the use of nudge theory in the initial response was questionable, other analysis has suggested it did have an effect. (more…)

Now is a great time to talk about staff absence in the NHS

Now is a great time to talk about staff absence in the NHS

The NHS lost nearly ten days per employee to absence last year, the highest level recorded in the last five years. Data is crucial to the decision-making and success of every business, and yet many NHS Executives will be unaware of this statistic. (more…)