A happy workplace makes a happy worker. Makes sense doesn’t it? Companies across the nation appear to believe so, as evidenced by the creation of new roles like ‘Chief Happiness Officers’ within corporations. This is just one way that we’re starting to see growing commitment to employee wellbeing. But with the rise of remote working (and with […]
Research: We’re Not Very Self-Aware, Especially at Work
Baker Stuart’s Insight: Our individual self-awareness at work has a huge impact on team performance. When individuals are less self-aware (i.e. there is a big gap between what individuals think they contribute to the team, and what their team members think they contribute), the team tends to make worse decisions, be less coordinated, and show worse conflict management strategies. If […]
Problems with noise at work? A lot of it is in our heads
Baker Stuart’s Insight: The problem of noise at work is particularly important at the moment because most UK employees are now working in open plan offices that are on average about 20 percent smaller than they were ten years ago. But much of the effect of workplace noise is due to psychological factors such as context […]
IKEA designs future autonomous cars that work as hotels, stores, and meeting rooms
Baker Stuart’s Insight: Is this the future of the mobile office? Ikea Labs thinks their autonomous cars which can serve as an ‘Office on Wheels’ could be. Their designs are envisaged as a way for us to work smarter; so in the future we could be holding meetings while watching the world go by, without having […]
Top global industries leading the way in remote work
Baker Stuart’s Insight: Remote working is on the up. Whilst this isn’t news in itself, the sectors leading the trend might not be quite what you expect. IT and Marketing are at the top of the leaderboard with 29% and 24% of employees working remotely – but the rest of the leaderboard, including business administration, app […]
Conversations may be more productive when held in the great outdoors
Baker Stuart’s Insight: Conversations may be more productive if they are had outdoors, research from the University of Manchester and Cardiff University shows. Their findings have potential parallels in workplaces, offering more evidence that getting out of the office, and into nature, can bring benefits. As the researchers write: “our research demonstrates that natural environments can […]
Do You Need a Workplace Culture Budget?
Baker Stuart’s Insight: Workplace cultures have been on the agenda for a long time now. But often, not enough is being done to concretely address culture problems in the workplace. This article reinforces that culture is really about behaviours, and discusses what we need to do to meaningfully change them. We’ve been talking about work culture […]
Fall in number of employees who feel motivated at work
Baker Stuart’s Insight: Levels of motivation amongst UK employees are on the decline, according to a new research report. The article also shows the top reasons for feeling motivated or unmotivated, year to year: from office environments, to work life balance, to job security and incentives. Employee motivation levels appear to be the decline, with 29 […]
What is the Function of Fear in Leadership?
Baker Stuart’s Insight: Does fear have a function in terms of leadership? No, argues Amy Edmonson, in her book ‘The Fearless Organisation’. Instead, she argues that we should try to create workplaces where employees feel that their opinions count, because psychological safety builds a better organisation . Recently, the president of the United States was quoted […]
The End Of Culture Fit
Baker Stuart’s insight: Hiring processes still using the term ‘culture fit’ as a criteria are reinforcing unconscious bias. This article considers why this goes against the move towards inclusivity and diversity, and why this is important for business growth. As more companies strive for diversity and inclusion, the term “culture fit” is falling out of favor. […]
