Search Results for: workplace

Working from home during pandemic has taken toll on mental health

Working from home during pandemic has taken toll on mental health

working from home

New research by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) claims there are links between working from home during the pandemic and increased levels of loneliness and mental distress. NatCen analysed data from interviews carried out with 8,675 people before the pandemic and in May, July and November 2020 for the Understanding Society COVID-19 survey. (more…)

Yoga is not a wellbeing strategy

Yoga is not a wellbeing strategy

Yoga is not a wellbeing strategyOne of the problems facing businesses right now isn’t the so-called mental health pandemic, it’s that no one seems to know what to do about it. The increased focus on employee mental health and wellbeing has seen progressive leaps in the conversation that were unimaginable 10 years ago. Even the most cynical manager has had to concede that the circumstances of the pandemic have raised the profile and importance of taking care of your employees. The reaction is knee-jerk. Companies want to do something about their employees mental health and wellbeing and they want to do it now. Whatever ‘it’ is. The appetite is there, but they can’t find the menu. (more…)

Indoor air quality needs to be talked about far more than it is

Indoor air quality needs to be talked about far more than it is

An open window indoor air qualityOne of the unintended consequences of the pandemic has been to focus attention on the issue of indoor air quality. But as Sarah Zhang points out in a recent piece in The Atlantic, this is an issue that we have long understood, and not just as a way to reduce the risks of infection. It is essential for our wellbeing. (more…)

Not waving, but drowning: why we need to take languishing more seriously

Not waving, but drowning: why we need to take languishing more seriously

A becalmed boat faces a storm to describe the problem of languishingThe word ‘languishing’ is being bandied around in the media as the world tries to recover from the pandemic and is experiencing many struggles resuming a semblance of ‘normal life’. Recent articles in The New York Times and The Guardian have detailed languishing as an inability to focus, being off peak performance, feeling joyless and aimless and having a sense of stagnation and emptiness. (more…)

Onboarding experiences during the pandemic short of the mark for some

Onboarding experiences during the pandemic short of the mark for some

onboardingResearch from Totem has highlighted the major difficulties faced by people who switched jobs during the pandemic, with only 15 percent of respondents stating that they had an excellent onboarding experience when joining their new company. Almost a third (29 percent) said that their onboarding experience was ‘average’. (more…)

Climate Commission launched to identify green investment opportunities

Climate Commission launched to identify green investment opportunities

climateThe new UK Cities Climate Investment Commission begins work to identify Green Investment opportunities across UK Cities. Cities, investment and innovation experts have launched a Commission which begins the process of identifying a transformational programme of Green Growth for the UK’s cities. (more…)

How your boss could be spying on you with monitoring software

How your boss could be spying on you with monitoring software

A recent study by StandOut CV claims that one in five companies are actively using (or intend to use) employee monitoring software, with the figure expected to grow as more firms look to offer or make remote working a standard offering. (more…)

One fifth of UK workers do not intend to commute again post pandemic

One fifth of UK workers do not intend to commute again post pandemic

commuteAs employees across the UK are to set to embark on their return to the workplace following the easing of COVID-19 restrictions, new research by Kura, claims that commuters are reluctant to return to the office in the coming months, mainly due to increased concern over infection control and social distancing on the daily commute. (more…)

Setting out the known unknowns about work

Setting out the known unknowns about work

With the majority of COVID-19 restrictions in England due to be lifted later this month, it is understandable that many are limbering up, ready for some grand ‘return to the office’.  Yet, unlike the pubs, hairdressers, and gyms we are not going back to what we left. This was an inevitability. The workplace was, and remains, an ever evolving and multifarious beast.    (more…)

Redwigwam scoops largest ever contract to provide 10,000 flexible workers

Redwigwam scoops largest ever contract to provide 10,000 flexible workers

Redwigwam has won its biggest ever contract as demand surges for flexible workers across the UK. The Liverpool-headquartered company specialises in providing fully managed, trained and flexible staff for a wide range of sectors including the retail, logistics, cleaning and hospitality industries. It has just won a contract which will provide employment for 10,000 temporary staff across the country, in a variety of roles, over the next six months. (more…)

Turn your commercial buildings into virtual power plants

Turn your commercial buildings into virtual power plants

A new white paper from OakTree Power explains how an innovative technology called Green Demand Side Response (DSR) can help organisations transform their commercial buildings into a virtual power plant. Paradoxically, commercial buildings not only represent one of the biggest sources of greenhouse gas emissions, but also have the potential to utilise their own electricity as a resource to sell back into the Grid – a process familiar to many domestic homeowners with solar panels or Tesla Powerwalls. (more…)

Resilience is a key determinant of employee performance, claims report

Resilience is a key determinant of employee performance, claims report

employeeA new report from MHR International claims differences in employee performance within UK and Ireland organisations are often based on their level of workforce resilience. Gaps in performance in competitiveness, productivity and other important capabilities exist between organisations with highest and lowest levels of resilience. Despite almost all HR professionals surveyed (93 percent) agreeing that workforce resilience is a priority. (more…)