PROFESSOR DYLAN JONES-EVANS

  This week’s column comes from New York where I have been spending the last few days exploring the ‘city that never sleeps’.  Thanks to the pandemic, this is my first visit to the USA for a while and it has been a fascinating to experience how the country has changed and adapted to the challenges of the last two years. Whilst the economy has recovered, the key trend has been that of the “Great Resignation” where a record number of workers have left their employers. In fact, a staggering 4.4 million Americans quit their jobs in February 2022. Why is this happening at a time when job stability should have been a key consideration for many after a turbulent period? According to a recent survey from the Pew Research Center, workers who quit a job in 2021 did so because of low pay (63%), no opportunities for advancement (63%) and feeling disrespected at work (57%). Also, the majority of those that left their previous employer for a new job have improved their prospects - the same ...

During the last two years, there have many changes to the way we work and live that will now become permanent features of our daily lives going forward. This ranges from a greater focus on local purchasing, the increasing use of delivery services and possibly the most significant of all, the growth of flexible working. Whilst working from home was initially a legal requirement across the World to deal with the health challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, as countries have opened up again, many employees have begun to realise that they did not want to go back into the workplace every day. For example, the “European Coworking Spaces During Pandemic” report recently suggested that the commute to the office will reduce with 78% of respondents expecting that there will be increase in the number of workers will want to work close to home with a further 73% expecting that there will also be a growth in home working. Another study from Work From Home Research showed that 68 per cent of those qu...

As restrictions have been lifted across the UK, there is an expectation that many employers will be looking to bring their workers back to the office after nearly eighteen months of working remotely.  But will everything return to normal or has the pandemic irrevocably changed the way we work and, more importantly, where we work? One indication as to the way that the post-pandemic future of work may pan out come from freelancing platform Upwork, which recently surveyed 4000 adults in the USA to understand the views of office workers on remote work and flexibility. The results are fascinating and, if repeated here across the Atlantic, present some key challenges to both employers and policymakers. With the economy reopening, it is not unsurprising to find that the survey suggests that whilst two thirds will be returning to the office for some of their time. However, only a quarter are excited about this compared to a third who were not.   This result had more to do with wh...

As the economy slowly opens up, there is a growing consensus that the world of work will not return to the pre-pandemic practices and there will be a ‘new normal’ in employment practices as a result of the changes in everyone lives since March 2020. That view is backed by a recent report from accountancy giant PWC which surveyed over 2000 workers in the UK about their hopes and fears for this year and found that they wanted new skills, flexible working options and jobs that make a difference. Whilst this seems like good news for the economy, it is not all positive with only 37% of UK workers feeling positive about how the future world of work is likely to affect them as against 50% globally.  Most UK workers also believe that the jobs that are around today will still be here in the future although they understand that the very nature of work is changing with greater flexibility and more purpose-driven jobs. For example, the majority of UK workers are demanding a mix of home and in-...

Imagine finishing work on a Thursday evening and then not having to go back to your employer until Monday morning? The idea of a four-day working week is what an increasing number of economists, thinktanks and even businesses are contemplating for a whole variety of different reasons including increased productivity, greater work-life balance and more efficient use of resources within both large and small organisations. Whilst some in industry may be thinking that this may have a negative impact on their businesses, the reality is that for many years there has been a realisation that too many hours of working are not good for productivity or, more importantly, for the health of workers. In fact, John Maynard Keynes suggested back in 1930 that advancements in. technology and living standards would result in a fifteen hour week by the end of the century with the main challenge being the use of an individual’s time to live “wisely” rather than working for other people. And whil...

I am sure that many can only dream of having a workplace where not only are you allowed the flexibility to set your own schedules but are offered unlimited paid time off by your employer. Yet that is what the technology firm Dropbox has recently implemented for its employees. In addition, staff get a ‘no-meeting’ Wednesdays that enables them to have uninterrupted time for real work. As a result, employee satisfaction has increased by 10% and the business is more efficient than ever. But Dropbox is not alone in pursuing such practices. Indeed flexible working arrangements are becoming more popular in the UK. It could be argued that this is driven by employees needs for greater work-life balance and partly because of legislation that now allows employees to have the statutory right to request work away from the office. But are employers themselves becoming increasingly supportive of this change in work behaviour? According to a recent survey from the CBI, 97% of employers ...