Meetings often get a bad reputation. Many consider them time-wasting and unproductive. Numerous memes, jokes, and cartoons depict the pointless ramble of the typical meeting, usually summed up by the punchline, “Couldn’t this have been put in an email?”   Research from HBR shows that meeting frequency and length have significantly increased over the past 50 years. Today, executives spend an average of 23 hours a week in meetings — a massive increase from the 1960s when the average weekly total was only 10 hours.   That leaves the question of whether all those meetings are p ..read more

Meetings are an inescapable part of most jobs, but their usefulness tends to split opinions. Some treat them as a necessary evil; others try to avoid them whenever possible, and a few can’t get enough of them. However, most people would agree that an effective, efficient, well-run meeting is something to be welcomed. What makes a great meeting?  So, how do you deliver a meeting that achieves its specific objectives, encourages open discussion, and delivers tangible results in as short a time as possible? In today’s era of hybrid working, this issue also applies to virtual meetings, which ..read more

With over 1.2 billion full time jobs globally, spending 40 hours a week or more in an office or hybrid work environment is worth examining. So much has changed in the workplace over the last few years – more remote and hybrid work from home models have arisen – that it’s not as simple anymore to know how to navigate the workplace. Work and life balance is becoming more and more important to employees at all levels and job categories. Employee well-being and mental health have become front and center issues during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. So has employee and company support for the sust ..read more

There are lots of reasons why now is the time to consider how your office space is used, and how changes can be made to make it more efficient, more cost-effective, and serve the needs of your employees better. Where the highest priorities lie will vary from one business to another, but in the current business landscape, the following issues are commonplace: Flexible work: more employees working remotely more of the time has reduced the office headcount day-to-day Leasing costs: unnecessary office space generates unnecessary business costs, especially in major cities where rental costs are pa ..read more

As flexible working gains popularity, it’s easy to assume that the benefits of doing so from an employee’s perspective are purely tangible. Naturally, by working from home more of the time, employees are able to save time and money by not having to commute by car or by public transport every day. They’re also able to spend more time with their family, and often are able to prepare home-cooked food for their lunch, both of which also support the better work/life balance that flexible working can provide. However, the benefits spread far further than the bottom line, and can influence the qualit ..read more

Making things ‘smart’ is seemingly applied to just about anything these days. Smartphones, smart watches, smart fridges… the list is almost endless. But have you considered smart workspaces? Technology can be used in all sorts of different ways to transform our lives in the office, just as much as it has in our personal lives. The workspaces we use within the office are no exception to this, and it’s time to stop thinking of them as a collection of walls and bits of furniture. Augmenting our workspaces with technology can make office work more efficient, more transparent, and better suited to ..read more

So your business had been operating remotely for most of last year – whether you wanted it to or not. In the process, you’ve found that many of your employees are enjoying the flexibility that working from home brings, not to mention the time and money they’ve saved on commuting and lunches. So the old adage ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ applies here, and you should keep everyone working from home right through 2021 and beyond, right? Well, not necessarily. While home working has helped keep employees better protected from COVID-19, it remains a double-edged sword. Many have felt the menta ..read more