Search Results for: working lives

Anthropology might hold answers to the most difficult workplace challenges

Anthropology might hold answers to the most difficult workplace challenges

by • Comment, Workplace design

anthropology and the workplaceMany recent discussions have centered on the drawbacks of the open-plan office, a major format in the UK, and possible pathways to the communal workplace of the future. As part of this, it has been acknowledged that the factors responsible for determining the open-plan office’s performance are complex, and a number of the present-day workplace’s characteristics are messy and hard to quantify. In this brief article, I present anthropological methods as means for practitioners to further unpack the symbolic aspects of communication in open-plan offices and spark workplace solidarity.

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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

by • News, Technology

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…)

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

by • Comment, Wellbeing

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…)

Manifesto calls for action on disability inclusion as pay gap for disabled people widens

Manifesto calls for action on disability inclusion as pay gap for disabled people widens

by • News, Wellbeing

two people talking to illustrate the issue of disability inclusionA leading non-profit disability and business organisation is calling on the future Government to commit to a series of actions to support businesses to deliver on disability inclusion. Business Disability Forum published its ‘Manifesto for Inclusive Change’ today (3 December) to mark the United Nations International Day of Persons with Disabilities. The manifesto calls for action in seven areas to ensure that the role businesses play in disabled people’s lives is enhanced, not inhibited, by government policy. To read Business Disability Forum’s ‘Manifesto for Inclusive Change’ go to www.businessdisabilityforum.org.uk . Follow the debate at #DisabilitySmart. (more…)

Three quarters of young workers have faced mental health challenges

Three quarters of young workers have faced mental health challenges

by • News, Wellbeing

mental healthOver three-quarters (77 percent) of young workers in the UK have experienced mental health challenges, Accenture research suggests. In addition, nearly half (48 percent) of younger workers (aged 18-30) say they have experienced suicidal thoughts, but in organisations that are providing the right support, young workers were 37 percent less likely to have recent experience of a mental ill health challenge. (more…)

Office design can be a vehicle for equality and change

Office design can be a vehicle for equality and change

by • Comment, Workplace design

workplace design for inclusionThe way companies design physical environments is a direct reflection of their values and beliefs. Inequality is hardwired into the “standard” office layout, with perimeter offices and fixed desks offering limited settings for unstructured collaboration and recreation, further perpetuating the issue. Modern office design often favours extroversion and emphasises a hierarchy with values that benefit only a small portion of the overall workforce, contributing to organisation-wide imbalance. So how do we create more inclusive workplaces that can be leveraged as vehicles for change? (more…)

More active lifestyles would have far reaching economic impact

More active lifestyles would have far reaching economic impact

by • News, Wellbeing

activeThe results of a new academic study on the relationship between global economic growth and physical activity, carried out by Vitality and RAND Europe, reveal significant benefits to the economy and life expectancy if people adopted a more active lifestyle. The study suggests that the world’s GDP would gain more than $100bn (£80bn) each year until 2050 if people adopted a more active daily routine that could involve simple choices such as walking 15 minutes more a day, jogging slowly for half a mile a day, or walking 1,500 extra steps a day. (more…)

Fine tuning office design and its most wonderful invention to our needs

Fine tuning office design and its most wonderful invention to our needs

by • Comment, Workplace design

The best workplaces are always focused on people. Which is why many of the great pioneers of workplace thinking are from the social sciences, including disciplines such as psychology, ethnography and anthropology. These are the people who have shared the insights that help us to understand the characteristics of great office design. In particular, this relies on an awareness of the ways in which people interact in particular spaces. (more…)

The push and pull of the workplace for parents

The push and pull of the workplace for parents

by • News, Workplace

working parentsThe experiences and attitudes of working parents are explored in two new reports which offer contrasting views on what happens to the careers and skills of mothers and fathers. The first from CWJobs uncovers the fears parents have of being left behind by technology while they take time away from their careers to care for children, while the second looks at the ways in which parenthood might improve people’s skills and ability to deal with complex roles. (more…)

Always on work cultures commonplace and harmful

Always on work cultures commonplace and harmful

by • News, Technology, Wellbeing

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…)

Organisations must meet needs of young parents or risk failure

Organisations must meet needs of young parents or risk failure

by • Comment, Flexible working, Wellbeing

Organisations face a problem that could impact their very survival. Parents want to be supported by their employers during the transition to becoming working parents, but organisations are currently ill-equipped to deal with parental leave, or to keep people engaged throughout it. In a world of relentless change, companies failing to react to and meet the expectations of this part of their workforce risk disaster. (more…)

Wellbeing issues dog growing number of men unable to find work

Wellbeing issues dog growing number of men unable to find work

by • News, Wellbeing

wellbeing issues for unemployed menA new IZA World of Labor report suggests that the number of prime-age males who exist outside the labour force is increasing worldwide. The report claims that this development goes hand in hand with a decrease in wellbeing for the men themselves driven by higher levels of stress and has a wide range of economic and social consequences. (more…)

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