November 13, 2019
Nuffield Health has released a review of remote working and its impact it on companies and their staff. According to The effects of remote working on stress, wellbeing and productivity (registration), while remote and flexible work help people deal with the conflicting demands of their lives, the evidence is unclear on how they affect productivity, stress and wellbeing. (more…)
November 13, 2019
UK employees are having to work harder to pay the bills, with the vast majority (91 percent) working beyond their contracted hours on a weekly basis and almost half (43 percent) not leaving the office or taking a break at lunchtime according to an analysis of Morgan McKinley’s Working Hours and Flexibility reports. And the growing practice of flexible working appears to be having no impact on the overworking culture.
October 29, 2019
According to a new study conducted by the Centre of Economics and Business Research (Cebr) with support from Citrix Systems, Inc., companies that leverage technology to enable flexible and remote working models can not only attract talent, but increase employee engagement and productivity, potentially boosting the US economy by as much as $2.36 trillion a year. Through an online survey of more than 2,500 US knowledge workers conducted in July, the Cebr study sought to determine the potential value to the US economy of the adoption of a more widespread, flexible working culture. It claims that in offering virtual/remote work options and providing the tools to enable them, companies can better compete in the battle for talent by dipping into untapped pools of workers. (more…)
September 25, 2019
Global life expectancy is growing at its fastest rate since the 1960s. Today, a 20-year-old has a 50 per cent chance of living to 100. Even if you are 60, you have an evens chance of reaching 90. A long life can be a gift, but of course it also has implications for how we live our lives and in particular how we plan to work and fund those extra years. Clearly there is a role for employers in creating work environments and flexible working cultures that recognise and maximise the potential of the 100-year life. (more…)
September 16, 2019
Women are a key part of a growing contingent workforce of freelancers, consultants and part-timers. Despite numerous government policies to attract more mothers back into the workplace, retention is still a significant struggle. Several data collected indicates working mums who return part-time, combining professional careers with raising a family, are increasingly frustrated. The research shows that the modern workplace often fails to cater for the needs of mothers and carers as they face the pressures of combining busy working lives with lifestyle and family obligations.
September 2, 2019
One in three (30 percent) requests for flexible working are being turned down, according to a new TUC poll published today (Monday). The polling – published as children around the UK go back to school this week – reveals that flexible working is not available to many workers, and that people in working-class jobs are most likely to miss out on it. (more…)
August 28, 2019
Two thirds (65 percent) of office workers that don’t currently have options for flexible working claim that they would be more motivated and productive in their jobs if given the option to choose their working hours, according to a new poll from coworking company, The Brew by rent24. The poll also claims that only 18 percent of workers at small and medium-sized businesses already have flexible working arrangements, falling to just 14 percent for 18-34-year olds.
August 23, 2019
A right leaning think tank’s suggestion that the UK should set a new retirement age of 75 and introduce a range of measures to extend people’s working lives to boost the economy and improve people’s wellbeing sparked an inevitable paroxysm of rage. Immediately followed by an equally inevitable and furious level of what passes for debate these days. A stramash the Scottish would call it. (more…)
August 7, 2019
The proportion of people with some form of flexible working has increased dramatically in the last two decades. That is according to an analysis of working trends by the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo). According to the 1999 Labour Force Survey conducted by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the percentage of people working flexible hours in the UK was 9.5 percent at that time. Recent statistics from CIPD, however, show that this number has drastically increased, with 54 percent of workers currently having the option of some form of flexibility in their time and place of work. (more…)
July 29, 2019
Although people have been talking about flexible working in one way or another for decades – the economist John Maynard Keynes declared in 1930 that technological advances would lead to a 15-hour working week – we may now be at the tipping point where work takes on an entirely different character. (more…)
July 8, 2019
Volkswagen has opened its new ‘We Campus’ in Berlin and claims that the agile working principles used in its design will transform the working lives and output of the 900 people at the facility. The campus will bring together about experts from Volkswagen and other firms who have previously worked at different locations. Volkswagen claims that the centre will be an essential part of what it calls the We ecosystem, which includes an electric car sharing service WeShare which has been launched in Berlin with 1,500 e-Golf cars. Volkswagen also plans to create new future-oriented jobs at the campus. (more…)
October 16, 2019
Remote working can increase stress and reduce wellbeing
by Stephanie Russell • Comment, Flexible working, Wellbeing