News Archives - Page 9 of 53

Every Brand Has a Story

Posted on June 14, 2021 | by Magdalena Lew

The world of marketing reaches across borders, with talented teams ensuring that their clients tell the best story possible about themselves. It’s an industry where pushing into the unknown is rewarded, with innovation championed at the highest levels. We look at leading CEO Billy Thompson to discover how he has led Lumegent to new and dizzying heights of success in the USA.

The importance of marketing cannot be lost on modern companies, with organizations vying to find new ways of making their stories stick with potential customers. Leading the way in this field is the team from Lumegent, under the careful guidance of their CEO Billy Thompson. Championing an approach that goes above and beyond on behalf of customers, it’s little wonder that Mr. Thompson and his team have achieved such high levels of success.

Mr. Thompson has long championed a high-energy, hands-on approach, and it is this practical experience that has guided the development of what Lumegent offers its clients. The outlook supported by the team sees them working hard to foster new and exciting relationships both within the company and with those who are using its services. By embracing a culture centred around learning, developing, and adapting alongside one another, Lumegent has attained some of the world’s highest standards.

The team has been able to work with clients ranging from individuals to start-ups to Fortune 500 companies. Each receives the same care and attention, which is why they continue to turn to Lumegent for work. When Lumegent is engaged, the team actively works to ensure that what they deliver is in line with a company’s goals and objectives. Great concepts are all well and good but are nothing if there is no ability to execute them effectively. By taking the time to know a business, the team at Lumegent can ensure that they support any business through any marketing challenge.

As a result of both the approach championed and the firm’s attitudes, Lumegent is proud to offer a boutique service in every sense of the word. Every aspect of a strategy is carefully calculated to ensure that a firm’s brand has a strong identity that stands out, even in the most crowded of business spaces. Lumegent’s individualized program ensures that clients can access services that can be built and streamlined in the most effective of ways.

The team does not take on a great deal of clients, preferring to focus on the quality of results instead of the quantity of clientele. Customers who turn to Lumegent can rest easy knowing that they will maintain consistent standards to ensure growth and development. The team doesn’t have a high turnover of clients, with most working alongside the team for over ten years.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, these principles were put to the test, requiring strong leadership to ensure that the firm could make progress. For Mr. Thompson, the decisions that needed to be made were simple and straightforward, reflecting the years of experience he had in the field. Firstly, he approached the business as though a recession had hit, pausing to allow the team to rethink, create and work hard. While the rest of the world shut down, Lumegent could bounce back quickly with a new direction and get back to work.

The results speak for themselves, with Mr. Thompson encouraging the Lumegent team to meet the needs of a very different world. They have proven themselves more than capable of the task, developing and producing products that clients have needed to continue essential business and supporting clients through the marketing, branding, and awareness challenges that come with a national lockdown. One of the biggest successes of 2020 was how a client was able to roll out this program on a national scale. This allowed them to reach over 2,000 locations and generate millions of dollars despite the year’s difficulty. It’s not always easy to find the right approach, but the results speak for themselves.

This would not have been possible had it not been for the keen eye and wit of Mr. Thompson. His career has been spent building relationships in the same manner as the team he manages at Lumegent, ensuring strong connections across the United States and abroad. Throughout his career in leadership, Mr. Thompson has been a coach, finding this approach early on and applying it to the various organizations he has been involved with running. It has evolved over the years into a more progress-focused and inspirational style as the businesses have grown. During his time at Lumegent, Mr. Thompson’s approach has proven to be ideal, and he has been able to not only hone this skill set but apply it across a business.

Taking an attitude that doesn’t just look out to clients but looks in at running a business is not always easy, but it is what sets Lumegent apart from the competition. He ensured that no matter the growth being looked at for the firm, it is reflected in how the people who work in the business are treated too. By taking the time to build up businesses and the people within them, Mr. Thompson has achieved some extraordinary results.

2020 was meant to begin the journey of expansion across the global landscape, but these have been held back until 2021. With such a strong track record of success, it’s little wonder that the team is already looking at ways of implementing this growth this year. When clients turn to Lumegent, they will be turning to an organization that can bring a unique experience of marketing to the table. International clients will be able to benefit from the styles of the USA when it comes to telling their stories to the world.

Working on the international stage is bound to bring cultural differences to the fore. Still, it will also allow Lumegent to introduce new techniques and concepts to businesses that have not had access to the team’s resources and products. By expanding how people can market in different countries, the team will develop how marketing is seen as a whole. As the world gets back on its feet after the pandemic, it’s clear that new ways of working will be essential. When it comes to growth, marketing will be critical.

Throughout 2020, the team at Lumegent has achieved the remarkable, and this is a credit to the skill and ability of its talented team under the stalwart leadership of Mr. Thompson. His visionary approach has ensured not only that clients trust the team’s decisions but that the team has been able to move quickly in unprecedented circumstances. Such success is not to be ignored and should be celebrated wherever possible!

Billy Thompson can be contacted through www.lumegent.com or by email at [email protected].

Sure-fire Ceramic Success

Posted on June 10, 2021 | by Magdalena Lew

As one of the largest ceramics’ brands in the world, overseeing the work of RAK Ceramics is no easy feat. The firm specialises in supplying ceramic products that include porcelain wall and floor tiles, tableware, sanitaryware, and faucets, all of which are made at one of more than twenty state-of-the-art manufacturing plants across the United Arab Emirates, India, Iran, and Bangladesh. In 2020, we at CEO Monthly highlighted the success of the firm by focusing on its CEO, Mr Abdullah Massaad. Discover why he was One to Watch back then, and remains that now.

On a yearly basis, RAK Ceramics can produce upwards of 120 million square metres of tiles, five million pieces of sanitaryware, twenty five million piece of porcelain tableware, and one million faucets, and each is just as exceptional as the last. Serving clients in more than a hundred and fifty countries all over the world, RAK Ceramics is headquartered in the United Arab Emirates. Whether the ceramics products are needed in Europe, North Africa, Asia, the Americas, Australia, or the Middle East, RAK Ceramics ensures that it delivers the best possible products every single time. As a firm that works on a global scale, RAK Ceramics has also sought to ensure that all of its global operations are overseen and delivered by a team of fifteen thousand staff members that hail from more than forty nationalities. That same staff team is also wholly committed to building a sustainable society by focusing on a wide variety of initiatives that seek to make the world a better place to be for both staff and clients alike.

Just a handful of the initiatives includes providing water and shelter to underprivileged communities, supporting active and healthy lifestyles, promoting creativity and innovation, creating a diverse and inclusive work environment, and enhancing the economic development of the communities where RAK Ceramics operates. As far as its own services go, RAK Ceramics is renowned for its wide product range and ability to produce bespoke ranges for both small and large scale projects. RAK Ceramics’ products are on display in some of the world ‘s most iconic buildings, and it always seeks to respect, inspire, improve, and deliver nothing but the best.

Not only does RAK Ceramics ensure that it delivers outstanding quality, but it has also established a reputation as being a pioneer in introducing high-tech innovations that are a breakthrough in the industry. RAK Ceramics makes full use of a wide range of technologies, including digital printing technology, as well as granitech, technoslate, twin press, dry glaze, and waterjet technologies. Of course, none of this would be possible without the work of the firm’s outstanding CEO, Abdullah Massaad. Mr Massaad is an individual who understands the core focus of RAK Ceramics, and how the firm can continue to innovate the industry whilst delivering excellence service and top-quality products.

Mr Massaad has long been an individual who understands the corporate landscape, but also understands the necessity for outstanding community-focused initiatives. RAK Ceramics is a firm that truly understands the needs of its customers, and the needs of the world around it. As CEO, Mr Massaad has lead the firm to greater heights of success than it has ever achieved, and that is also despite the challenges brought about by 2020 and all that it included. As for the future, with Mr Massaad at the helm, RAK Ceramics is in the very best of hands.

For more information about RAK Ceramics, contact Abdullah Massaad.

Actionplus Foundation: “Take Action Now”

Posted on June 10, 2021 | by Magdalena Lew

Founded by the Apostle Fred Osei Annin in 1997, Actionplus Foundation is an international organisation dedicated to destigmatising HIV/AIDS within the faith communities of the BAME population. Its award-winning ‘Take Action Now’ model has been implemented across the world, transforming churches into refuges dedicated to HIV prevention and intervention. We take a closer look at the life-changing work of Fred Annin and Actionplus.

Actionplus Foundation was established with a simple yet powerful mission at its heart: to transform the lives of people within BAME communities living with and affected by HIV/AIDS. Based in the UK but with branches in three African countries, the charity partners with international organisations to develop initiatives that empower leaders of faith communities to spread vital information on sexual health alongside their messages about the love of God. In doing so, Actionplus is eliminating the negative perceptions of HIV/AIDS and providing the path to better healthcare and support for the afflicted.

The organisation was founded by the Apostle Fred Osei Annin in Lambeth and Southwark in 1997 which, at the time, had the highest rate of HIV infection of any UK community. Since then, the organisation has established branches in Fred’s homeland of Ghana, and also in Kenya and Uganda. This man of God found that the most significant factor in the spread of HIV/AIDS was the ignorance surrounding the disease, which fuelled the stigma attached to it by churches and faith communities. This has had a devastating impact on victims and their loved ones.

The church is the pillar of many African communities, both at home and abroad, and faith leaders used to preach that the disease was God’s punishment for “immoral lifestyles” – and that it could be treated through prayer alone. To others, the disease was a dangerous threat that dared not speak its name; so it was shut out. Its victims were shunned, rather than being embraced and treated with readily available medication.

It was Fred’s vision that the church should be a place of sanctuary and support for those with HIV/AIDS, rather than a place of judgement and condemnation. This was the vision that gave birth to the Actionplus Foundation, and its award-winning “Take Action Now” programme. This entailed African faith leaders being given training and information about HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections. The scheme succeeded in correcting the negative perceptions previously held by many pastors, empowering them to spread the word about proper treatment and care to those who relied on them for guidance.

Actionplus’ mission can be broken down into four key outcomes: preventing transmission by raising awareness; promoting the benefits of early diagnosis, which increases the chances of managing the virus; challenging prejudice by tackling the stigma surrounding HIV and AIDS through education; and tackling poverty by giving HIV-positive people and AIDS sufferers the resources to support themselves when they are ill.

After successfully establishing the model of his organisation in the UK, Fred returned home to Ghana in 2007 to begin rolling out the initiatives in communities on the African motherland. In just over five years, the Ghanaian branch of Actionplus made a momentous impact, reducing the country’s rate of HIV infection from 3.6% to 1.3%. As a consequence Apostle Fred became one of the recipients of the African Prestigious Awards in Accra, Ghana, in 2015. Past recipients include the Presidents of Ghana and Tanzania.

The successes of this hub of healthcare led the organisation to develop exciting new initiatives and projects to continue destigmatising HIV/AIDS and supporting those afflicted with the illness. The branches in Kenya and Uganda came online subsequently. Another one will be set up in Cote d’Ivoire later this year. Indeed, Apostle Fred Annin’s pioneering ‘Take Action Now’ model is becoming a global phenomenon.

As a direct result of this work, which has been described as “revolutionary”, HIV testing centres now operate in churches in the UK and Actionplus-affiliated churches in Africa. In the UK the charity has teamed up with the Mountain Movers Chapel International Church and the Living Flames Baptist Church, among others. With the emergence of the current Covid-19 pandemic, the organisation has also had to adapt accordingly, to provide support to HIV/AIDS victims who have tested positive for the coronavirus.

The charity’s success can be gleaned from the fact that it has won national and international awards every year since 2014. They include the Southwark Mayor’s Award for civic duty. Actionplus was named the “Best HIV Prevention Support Service in the UK 2020” at the Greater London Enterprise Awards this year.

This is no mean feat for an organisation that, despite its laudable and pioneering work in BAME communities across the UK, has received very little public funding. Apostle Fred, its visionary leader, said: “In the 24 years we have been doing this work, we have only been funded on two occasions by the Big Lottery fund – even though we have applied every year.”

The Actionplus founder and CEO says he is clueless as to why their charity has not been “lucky” with the National Lottery community fund, which supports charitable causes across the UK. He is, however, optimistic that they can find partners and supporters who can help them deliver their lifesaving and life-enhancing projects across the UK and internationally: “We know we are doing good work, and the community knows it. And the Almighty knows it too. That is why He has been supporting us. We trust in him always. And we are hopeful that the Lottery fund will see the light one day. In the meantime, we are soldiering on.”

The Actionplus model is one that is truly inspiring in the area of HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and support. And the response of benefactors and community members have also inspired new initiatives and campaigns led by Fred, who is now widely regarded as a leading advocate of HIV prevention, and is regularly interviewed on radio and television, and invited to speak at conferences and events.

Actionplus has led a revolution that is removing ignorance, stigma and fear in the church and in local communities as a whole. Thanks to the work of Fred Annin and his organisation, pastors and church members alike are part of a global community that is empowered to spread the word about HIV/AIDS prevention and intervention through a message of compassion and God’s love.

To discover more about Action Plus Foundation, email Fred Annin at [email protected]

Business Leaders Back Reforms to Make UK a home for Compassionate Capitalism

Posted on June 9, 2021 | by Akeela Zahair

Major business leaders, including CEO of Schroders Group and founders of Timpson and Octopus, support new report by research group, ReGenerate.
Recommendations include:

1. Reforms to help consumers spot companies benefiting society from those who are misleading the public.
2. Government to create a clear, obvious legal framework for purpose-driven companies.
3. Government to provide global leadership on impact measurement to make it easier for companies to report and stakeholders to understand a company’s social and environmental impact.

If accepted, the reforms would unlock the power of business to help us recover from Covid-19, reach net zero and level up the UK, making the UK a great home for compassionate capitalism.

A new report published by research group, ReGenerate, sets out how the UK government could harness the power of business to tackle some of the biggest environmental and social challenges, including recovering from the impacts of Covid-19, reaching net zero by 2050 and levelling up.

The reforms are ultimately designed to free business leaders to benefit society and builds on YouGov polling conducted last year that revealed half of UK business leaders think the role of business is to be purpose-driven, rather than pursuing the maximisation of profit.

The report has four main asks:

Make it easier for consumers to identify and support purpose-driven business, such as by creating a traffic light labelling system.
Government to provide global leadership on impact measurement at G7 and COP26 to make it easy for all companies to understand and report how they impact society, such as by creating a clear policy goal to make the UK a centre of excellence for impact reporting.
The UK Government to create a clear, obvious legal framework for purpose-driven companies, to make sure they are legally protected to operate in a way that benefits society.
Turbo-charge support for companies that intend to profitably tackle the challenges we face, such as recovering from Covid-19, reaching net zero and leveling up the UK, both through grants from Innovate UK and also greater collaboration from existing support organisations.

The paper’s reforms would ultimately bring to life ReGenerate’s vision statement for the future of business where purpose-driven business will become the new normal. A purpose-driven business exists to benefit society and sees profit as one of its vital outcomes of its business activity, rather than the sole reason it exists.

The vision statement is gaining significant attention and has now been signed by over 70 business leaders to date, including Julian Richer (Founder of Richer Sounds), Nick Jenkins (Founder of Moonpig.com and former Dragon’s Den investor), Fabienne Michaux (Director of SDG Impact, UNDP), Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones (Founder, The Black Farmer), Paul Dickinson (Founder, CDP), Sarah Gordon (Chief Executive, Impact Investing Institute), Stephen Muers (CEO, Big Society Capital), and Paula Fallowfield (Chief HR Officer, Natura & Co).

The report builds on ReGenerate’s research published last year, which revealed the majority of the UK public (53%) think that capitalism is the best ‘way to manage society’, but that it ‘needs to be fixed.’ Another survey by Zeno Group showed that consumers are four times more likely to purchase, champion and trust a brand with a strong purpose, while a survey by McKinsey showed that 72% of employees think that purpose should receive greater weight than profit.

Commenting on the report launch, Ed Boyd, Co-founder and Executive Director of ReGenerate said: “We are at a moment in history where the challenges we face are significant, but so are the available resources to tackle them. Much of this resource is held in the innovative power of businesses. They are keen to play a bigger role in helping tackle the world’s woes. It would be crazy to not enable them to do so.”

Numerous business leaders have also backed the report:

Chris Hulatt, Co-founder, Octopus, said: “If you look at the scale of problems the world faces, whether it’s climate change or the widening inequalities in society, it is clear that more is needed from business. Businesses have such a huge power to innovate and deliver at scale, and we need this power focused on the big challenges we face. This excellent report from ReGenerate contains some great ideas on how to re-shape the economy to unlock the power of business to do more good.”

Peter Harrison, Group Chief Executive, Schroders: “This report by ReGenerate offers constructive proposals on how to further help purpose-driven companies thrive, and is a welcome addition to the debate.”

Kresse Wesling MBE, Co-founder, Elvis & Kresse: “This report is very welcome. Businesses need to step up and help tackle the climate emergency. We’ve been doing this for 16 years; we rescue and transform wastes, donate 50% of our profits to charity, and run on renewables. Is this easy? No. If the reforms in this paper are implemented it will be easier for businesses to operate in a way that benefits society, and will increase transparency around those that don’t.”

James Timpson, Chief Executive, Timpson, said: “There is a common misconception that business leaders just think about profits. In my experience, this simply isn’t true. Timpson was set up to benefit society, as I know so many other companies were. ReGenerate’s report is as timely as it is needed. The reforms it contains – to create a clear legal form for purpose-driven businesses, to make sure they are well supported and to turbo-charge efforts to understand the impact a business has on the world – will help ensure businesses make their full contribution towards the big social and environmental challenges we face.”

Sir Ronald Cohen, Chair, Global Steering Group for Impact Investment and Author of Impact, said: “There is now no doubt: we need the innovative power of business to help us recover from Covid‘s social challenges and to tackle climate change. This ReGenerate paper is a welcome contribution and its reforms would help make the impacts of businesses far more transparent and drive support of businesses that seek to have a more positive effect on society.”

How to Support Transgender People in the Workplace All Year Round

Posted on June 8, 2021 | by Akeela Zahair

In June of 2020, the US Supreme Court handed down a ruling that barred employers from discriminating against queer and transgender employees. This was the latest of many fights happening worldwide to introduce or strengthen legislation to protect the LGBTQ+ community in the workplace.

While this landmark ruling is a great step forward, the LGBTQ+ community – and the trans and gender-diverse community in particular – still frequently face discrimination in workplaces around the world.

Alex Hattingh, CPO at HR Software platform Employment Hero, shares how you can look out for the signs that employers are creating inclusive environments for everyone.

1. If you hear it, call it out

Trans and gender-diverse employees are almost twice as likely to hear sexist jokes about people of their gender, or to hear demeaning comments about people like themselves. From this, they are three times more likely to feel like they can’t talk about themselves or their life outside work. This is likely part of the reason why trans people frequently think about leaving their company. So if you hear something transphobic or offensive, call it out and make sure there are disciplinary measures in place.

Fostering diverse and inclusive workplaces opens your business up to invaluable diverse thinking. Diverse and inclusive workplaces can also make a significant impact beyond the office door, creating better professional lives for people from minority groups and driving change in society-wide inequalities.

2. Find out what your company does to help transgender people live authentically

When your employees were onboarding, did you offer them a chance to select their gender identity when they’re filling out their onboarding documents? In addition to ‘Male’ and ‘Female’ tick boxes, companies should include ‘Non-binary’ or ‘Prefer not to say’, so you can understand their gender identity before they start the job. For example, Employment Hero has gender selection options of ‘female’, ‘male’, ‘non-binary’ and ‘would prefer not to say’ as a standard inclusion on the paperless onboarding system.

3. Know your pronouns

Personal pronouns are the words we use to describe ourselves or others – ‘he’, ‘she’ or ‘they’. For a non-binary or gender neutral person, you should use the word ‘they’ in the place of ‘he’ or ‘she’. For a trans person remember to use the pronoun that aligns with the gender of which they identify. If you feel uncomfortable or unsure about what pronouns to use with someone, ask them.

It can be distressing for a person who is trans to be called by the name they used prior to transitioning or by incorrect pronouns. Make sure when you’re talking to or about a trans person you remember to use their identified name.

Sometimes, mistakes will happen. If yourself or one of your employees do slip up, offer a private and professional apology and remember for the future. Increasingly, more companies are including gendered pronouns as standard for all staff on email signatures. This is a positive and inclusive way to support trans and gender-diverse way in being addressed by their correct pronouns.

4. Create a culture of allyship

In the workplace, allies can be leaders, managers or employees who acknowledge, respect and value differences. Being an effective and authentic ally means more than one single act of solidarity. It means taking the long road to understanding and empathising with the various inequalities minority groups experience.

Displaying allyship can include standing up against discriminatory behaviour when you see it, challenging microaggressions, and explaining sensitive topics to non-diverse employees so the individual doesn’t have to. The burden on individuals from minority groups, such as the trans and gender diverse community, to talk to their identity time and time again can be exhausting.

Whilst it’s great to get to know your trans and gender-diverse employees better, don’t spotlight or ask frequent questions about their identity or experience, even if it’s in a positive light.

5. Remember your inclusive terms

Here’s a glossary, to help you use language that is professional AND inclusive:

Transitioning

Transitioning is the process of a person beginning to live as another gender.

Gender Identity

An individual’s gender identity describes their personal conception of themselves as male, female or non-binary.

Cisgender

The term cisgender refers to a person whose sense of gender identity corresponds with their birth sex.

Folx

Folx is an alternative spelling to the word “folks”. The term can be used to indicate inclusion of different groups, and is a good alternative to “guys” or “ladies and gentlemen” when speaking.

How to Ensure a Stress-free Return to the Office

Posted on June 4, 2021 | by Akeela Zahair

By Alex Hattingh, CPO at Employment Hero

With Boris Johnson signalling that work-from-home guidance is set to be scrapped from June 21^st and business leaders calling for firm return to work plans to share with their employees, many people may be feeling stressed about the prospect of the commute, their safety, mental health and even career path.

Recent research has also uncovered concerning data around the pressures employees are facing as their employers push for a return to ‘normality’. With 44% of Gen Z employees admitting to being hesitant about the vaccine and nearly a quarter of Brits (24%) stating they feel forced to take a jab by their employers, the transition to back to office working won’t be easy.

Knowing this, Alex Hattingh, CPO at HR software platform Employment Hero shares her tips on how to manage stress as we slowly go back to the office, whether that’s full time, part-time or when employees are ready.

Be prepared and speak to your employer

Before transitioning back to the workplace, it is important that you understand the guidelines that have been set. Social distancing rules, desk layouts, room limits and mask conditions are all examples of potential guidelines that may be put in place. Speak with your employer and ensure that you have a solid understanding of the guidelines and what you must do to stay safe in the workplace. Remember to raise any concerns you may have with the guidelines.

Take necessary safety precautions

It is important that you do your part to keep yourself and others in your workplace safe. This also applies to social interactions that take place outside of work that may impact the workplace. We all need to work together to keep each other safe and avoid more lockdowns. Follow the restrictions, wash and sanitise your hands correctly and regularly, socially distance, wear a mask where necessary and stay at home if you are sick. If you show symptoms of COVID-19, get tested and isolate until you receive your results.

Take care of yourself

The pandemic has brought on new anxieties and stresses, remember that it is important to take care and to be kind to yourself. The last year threw challenges at us that we had never faced before. Once we understand how we feel, we can more easily take the right path to address it. If you are heading back into the workplace, ensure your body and mind is ready. Adjust your sleeping and eating patterns to what it would be like if you were in the workplace to help with ease the transition.

Focus on the silver linings

We have already overcome many COVID challenges: lockdowns, masks, time away from family, changing work situations and more. It may not always have been smooth sailing, but we made it through. There is now hope for a new normal and safely moving back into the workplace will play a vital part in this. Some of us have definitely had it tougher than others, but it’s important to stay positive (it’s a cliche because it’s true). Losing your job may have given you the chance to reflect on what is important to you and where you see your career going. Missing out on your holiday may give you some more time to save and have an even better trip when we can travel. It can be difficult to remain positive, but try to focus on the silver linings when you can.

Speak up!

If you feel like you are not coping with stress, anxiety or any other mental health issues, it is important to speak out about it. Whether it is just a conversation with a friend or colleague, or speaking with a health professional, speaking up can help you get the assistance you need to be your best self.

How Office Design is Shaping Employee Well-being

Posted on June 2, 2021 | by Akeela Zahair

by Edward Griffin, CEO, WorkPad

As we all prepare for the reality of returning to the office, businesses are asking for more in a workspace – from allowing ‘pandemic pets’ in the building, to flexible contracts, and creating an environment which keeps employees’ physical and mental well-being front of mind.

And with the focus on bespoke private spaces increasingly designed around well-being, mental health and collaboration, WorkPad CEO Edward Griffin has shared key emerging trends in office design as it moves to the forefront of redefining the office, ensuring new demand for ergonomic destinations can be met, while at all times putting employees at the heart of its spaces.

It’s so stuffy, why can’t I just open the window?
Allowing us to be the captains of their own health and comfort is hugely empowering, reduces a sentiment of helplessness and increases a sense of wellbeing. This can be as simple as opening a window, or as technological as installing a compliment of IoT devises measuring: CO2, humidity, temperature and occupancy. This data can be displayed, permitting us to understand the health-impact of our environmental conditions, and modify these conditions if desired.
Circadian Lighting: Lighting to fall asleep to
Installing the right colour temperature and intensity of light in our workplaces can influence our quality of wakefulness. This enables us to better concentrate and perform at work, meaning towards the end of the day, we are primed to sleep effectively.
Biophilia: Bring Nature Inside
Biophilia describes our innate tendency to seek connections with nature. This association results in a better sense of wellbeing. As most urban-dwellers spend more than 90% of the working day indoors. In order to safeguard our wellbeing, it is essential to maintain these links with nature, through bringing planting inside or creating visual and physical connections to the outside.
Sitting is the new smoking.
Standing burns more calories than sitting, and encourages movement and keeps us alert: especially useful during those afternoon slumps. Standing desks reduce blood pressure, increase productivity, boost your mood and help to prevent back pain from bad posture.
Just take the stairs.
Make circulation spaces vibrant and memorable to encourage regular and elevated movement.
If you have to sit, sit properly.
Ergonomics ensure our body is positioned correctly, meaning the loading on our muscular skeletal framework does not lead to chronic injuries.
Shhh!
For deep work, we need calm and quiet to think and process efficiently. In addition, noise can lead to stress and the feeling of helplessness. Noise-free focus areas are key in achieving this.
Pardon, what did you say?!
Along with areas for protected independent work, we need places that encourage interaction, discussion and learning. These are the places that help build our tribe; it is in these spaces that the synergy between differing wisdoms germinates, and where priceless new ideas are formed.

Not working 9-5! Nine in Ten Millennials Now Expect a Flexible Working Week

Posted on June 1, 2021 | by Akeela Zahair

Millennial workers are most likely to expect a flexibility in their typical working week
Demands for more flexibility rise across all age groups as BBC study reveals at least one million UK workers are not expected to come back full time

Those aged 25-34-years-old are most likely to expect more flexibility in their typical working week in a post COVID-19 world, according to research from flexible office specialists Workthere.

Among 25-34 year olds, 87% expect to have input on flexible working moving forward. This is a stark contrast to the older generation of employees, with less than 60% of those aged 55 and over sharing the same view.

The findings come from a Workthere study of over 1,000 UK office workers to gauge attitudes towards flexible working arrangements and their ideal working week in the new normal.

A year on from the first lockdown, further research this week from the BBC revealed at least one million UK workers are not expected to come into the office full-time once the crisis is over, with 43 out of 50 of the UK’s biggest employers committing to flexible working.

This pattern for shorter hours and more flexibility is particularly evident among younger workers, where almost 79% confirming that they already work less than the national average of 38 hours a week. With trends for a more relaxed approach to work appearing among younger workers, Workthere predicts the growing pursuit of flexibility could continue for generations to come.

Interestingly, workers aged 45-54-years-old are twice as likely to work more than 38 hours per week compared to 25-34-year-olds, with 40% admitting to overworking, compared to just 20% of their younger colleagues.

Furthermore, despite older workers already working more hours than their younger counterparts, it appears that 25-34-year-olds still have a higher desire to work fewer hours. Nearly 86% of workers in this age bracket said that their ideal working week would be less than 38 hours a week, compared to just over three quarters (78%) of 45-54-year-olds.

With the hybrid working model of office based work and working from home set to continue longer term, these findings suggest developing demand for better flexibility among the future generations of office workers, which Workthere predicts will drive greater demand for flexible office spaces.

Commenting on the findings, Cal Lee, Global Head of Workthere, said: “With so many people working from home over the last year, it’s clear that this is altering the approach and attitude towards what we previously perceived to be a standard working week.

“With the younger generations now used to having flexibility in their week, be it when or where they work, it appears this desire for more freedom is a trend that is set to develop further as the UK continues to recover from the pandemic.

“This in turn may see more and more businesses re-evaluate their previous practices and make changes to accommodate this.”

How to Navigate Being the Outsider When Employees Reunite

Posted on May 27, 2021 | by Akeela Zahair

HR Manager Claire Hobbs at Soaphub

If you were hired just before, or over lockdown, you may have never actually met your new colleagues face 2 face – so, post June 21^st, how do you slot into a workplace where you are neither new nor old?

Starting work during lockdown was a mixed bag. On the one hand you got to work from home, never had to worry about the daily commute and your lunch was never once mistaken for someone else’s. For many, it was the perfect way to ease into a new position without the problem of being overwhelmed by all the names to remember, or office politics to wade through. Now, with restrictions lifting, many of us are currently finding ourselves in an odd position – we are returning to a work place we do not know, with a group of people we have worked with professionally for months but never have met face to face.

Entering a new workplace can be daunting at times, but most offices are welcoming and understanding to ‘the new person’ – but if you are arriving to your new office, even though it is your first day, you might not be afforded the luxury of help from others as you are being as part of the woodwork already. Here, HR Manager Claire Hobbs at Soaphub explains how being the new to a team should not leave you frozen in your tracks, as well as providing tips for a post-lockdown world full of uninviting cliques and office confusion.

“It’s not a shock to hear that on re-entering the old, familiar world, we’re also entering a new unknown. As a society of workers, very few of us have been in a position of starting a job while everyone is working from home. No one wants to be the outsider in a workplace, and it’s vital that you feel comfortable in a place you spend so much time in, with people who you’ll be sharing responsibilities and tasks with.”

“Most people from the age of 25 to retirement work a total of 70,000 hours over the course of their work life, so making sure you enter a new work environment and settle in is vital to your well-being and mental health. And it’s not just your well-being that’s at stake, as fitting in is part of being able to efficiently show that you’re a reliable and well-rounded part of the team”.

Pay attention.

One thing that’s impossible to judge, no matter how good of a worker you’ve been over lockdown, is how the office culture works at your new company. Everyone knows how important it is to work out what isn’t and is acceptable at work, from how serious people take themselves, to dress code etiquette on a Friday. Every office, no matter how professional, has a set of unwritten rules that can only be gauged from being there day in, day out.

On starting, pay attention to the dynamic of the office, and try to forget everything you thought you knew about the place while working from home. Slowly but surely, things will begin to return to their normal office culture, so try not to be caught out doing something that you assumed was tolerable because everyone was doing it a month ago from home. Sit back and watch how things work for the first few weeks.

Find an Ally

If over the past year you’ve had to deal with constant video calls and daily e-mail back and forth conversations you’ve probably established a bond with at one person from your work, or at the very least encountered a personality that you think you’ll gel with.

Establishing an ally at work is vital to finding your feet over the first few weeks. You don’t have to go running to every new person you meet with arms wide-open, so it’s important to start a very basic bond with someone you can share a few minutes during a break with. Overtime, this person will help you settle into your company, while making you more visible to others which is perfect for places where they assume you’ve already settled in.

No matter how well you think you know people – avoid the politics

It sounds like an obvious point to make – stay in your lane and keep out of office politics – but after the stress and uncertainty of lockdown home working many people will return to the workplace all guns blazing in an attempt at radical change. If you’ve started during lockdown and want to stamp your identity on the new office as soon as possible, you may try and get involved in every single issue that comes up but try and reframe yourself and stay out of drama that isn’t yours. It can start off as something small, such as a new co-worker making a playful joke at someone else’s work over lockdown and looking to you for confirmation, but soon you’ll be embroiled in a “well so-and-so agreed with me” argument.

For the first few weeks back in the office you shouldn’t be taking a stance on things that don’t involve your position – just state that you don’t have enough context to make a judgement yet.

Have you been trained?

It can feel embarrassing to ask for training if you’ve been working for a company for some time, but these are exceptional circumstances, and it’s completely understandable to feel lost. Many people who have been working from home have been given no hands-on training and have been set tasks that maybe now won’t translate to office life.

Don’t hold back if you feel you’re out of your depth with new roles and ask how things work now you’re back in the office. No one is going to think you’re not capable of doing your job, and for the first few months there will be a settling in period for everyone returning – even the most experience staff members will need time to readjust.

… but there’s no rush

Even if you feel uncertain of your new position or role in the workplace, give yourself time to adjust before switching to panic mode. Try not to freak out after the first week if no one has suggested training at some point, because everyone is finding their feet again, not just you.

Most offices have been empty for nearly a year now, so the training of staff (who management are currently more than happy with) may take a backseat to everyday tasks like rearranging the space for new staff members. If you really feel lost, you can schedule an hour to sit down and go over questions you have, as opposed to asking flat out for help.

Ask how you’re doing

Chances are, as you’ve been working from home mainly on your own, you’ve had very little opportunity to ‘touch base’ with your boss on a regular basis. In some regards that may be a blessing in disguise, but you also may feel like you’re coasting by without any real feedback to guide you. You should never feel weird for wanting to know how you’re doing, and you should definitely check in with your boss after the first month of settling in, if they haven’t already.

From experience, bosses love an employee who wants to improve, not waste time devoting themselves to meaningless tasks, and seeks guidance in what to focus on. By doing this, you’ll get a better sense of what your role demands, as well as what your boss expects from you.

It’s also useful to get feedback on your role so far, as moving into the office can be a new beginning, and a way of removing some unwanted traits that you may be picked up from working at home.

COVID-19 Crisis Will Lead to a New Period of Transformative Growth: 10 Key Insights for Business Leaders

Posted on May 26, 2021 | by Akeela Zahair

Transformative change: Environmental, social and technological trends are converging, leading to rapid, disruptive and transformative change. Leaders need to be ready to act
COVID legacy: Organisations can harness innovative approaches taken during the pandemic to meet the challenges ahead, from experimentation in working practices to shifts in mindset
Tipping point: Society has reached a tipping point on an appetite for environmental sustainability, while new technologies are also supercharging the pace of change.

As we recover from the COVID pandemic, environmental, social and technological trends are converging, leading to rapid, disruptive and transformative change, the likes of which we have not experienced for more than a generation, argues Simon Sear, CEO and founder of Studio 44. Leaders need to ensure that they and their organisation are ready to innovate and transform.

Sear said: “The COVID crisis will lead to a new period of rapid, transformative growth and prosperity just like the First World War led to the roaring twenties, the Second World War to the golden age of capitalism and the recession of the late 1970s to the expansive growth of the 1980s. Spring always follows winter.”

Combining with this natural economic cycle are major tailwinds, such as society’s demand for more progress on racial and gender equality, social mobility and mental wellbeing, Studio 44 argues. Governments and wider society have reached a tipping point on progress with environmental sustainability, while technologies including artificial intelligence (AI), hyper-automation and the Internet of Things (IoT) are supercharging change.

These converging trends will result in rapid, disruptive and transformative change, the likes of which we have not experienced for more than a generation.

Sear added: “Economists are predicting record growth and leaders need to ensure that their organisations are bold, more agile and quicker to change than at any time in history in order to deliver competitive performance in terms of cost efficiency, revenues and return on capital”

Studio 44 has identified ten key insights by working with leaders during the challenging times of COVID, ranging from experimentation to mindset, technology to organisational culture.

Sear concluded: “The crisis has highlighted many insights into how leaders can prepare for this next phase of growth and the journey ahead. They are at a once in a generation inflection point, opportunity is coming, and they need to ensure that they and their organisation are ready to innovate and transform.”

Here is a summary of Studio 44’s top ten insights:

1. Create a common mission: Often, in non-crisis times, organisations pay lip service to their mission. It’s written down, but no one really buys it. If the crisis did one thing very well, it was to provide a focus.

2. The need for speed: The pace of change had been increasing, but the crisis supercharged this. Leaders need to focus their organisation on being able to respond quicker and with more agility than ever before.

3. Change the corporate mindset: Many companies have long-held beliefs that limited their ability to respond and transform assumptions that need to be put in the bin.

4. Make bold investments: The successful businesses of the last 12 months were the ones that had historically invested in new ways of working and bold new propositions.

5. Experiment: In a decade that will be defined by rapid change and transformation, inexpensive, fast experimentation needs to be in the DNA of an organisation.

6. Allocate your best people to your best opportunities: The pace of change is becoming ever faster and the war for talent continues to heat up. Leaders need to balance the need for transparency and fairness with quickly getting the right people in the right roles to optimise the chances of an organisation’s success.

7. Teach more than new digital skills: In building on the successes of working from home and a period of change and disruption, it’s crucial to teach employees new cognitive strategies and behaviours to enable them to adapt.

8. Break the silos: During the COVID crisis innovative leaders gathered a multi-skilled team, incentivised them all for success in the same way and gave them the space to make it happen. Many leaders are now thinking about how they can maintain this kind of operating model and not return to older ways of working and the inefficiencies they create.

9. Keep communicating

The pace of disruption and uncertainty in the next decade means that people will often feel unsettled and will seek reassurance. These are the same needs team members faced during the COVID crisis.

10. Practice stakeholder capitalism

Leaders need to take a cooperative model into the next period of transformation. They need to take a long-term view, to have a strategy that not only ensures financial performance in the short term, but invests, and is seen to invest, in longer-term positive outcomes for all stakeholders.

Help Your Team Thrive

Posted on May 24, 2021 | by Akeela Zahair

According to LinkedIn, 94% of employees would consider staying with a company longer if there was a clear investment in learning. Young people in particular put learning, development and progression high among their top motivators. With lockdown over, many employees may be looking for new positions and it’s important that employers look at ways to retain staff.

Sodexo Engage, specialists in employee engagement, has identified four tactics that businesses should consider this Learning at Work Week to support their employees:

Design a learning journey

Traditionally, a training session would be delivered in a classroom or via a long zoom meeting with little or, no follow-up session. The downside is that people tend to forget what they have learned without regular reinforcement.

It’s important to move away from a one-off session and make learning and development a continuous journey. This could include pre- and post-workshop,activities,digital learning, on-the-job coaching, and shorter skills based workshops. Employers should also consider rewarding this behaviour to encourage ongoing learning and development in their employees.

Focus on upskilling

With the COVID-19 pandemic causing a projected loss of 195 million jobs, at least 54% of all employees will need to upskill to meet changing work needs by 2022. Offering employees a chance to upskill not only supports their ambitions, but wider company success.

Digital skills, in particular, will grow in importance as the way we work and conduct our lives changes. Without the necessary skill sets, employers will find filling gaps challenging and ultimately lag behind more forward-thinking competitors.

Develop your managers

It’s easy to forget the important role of middle managers – they have a direct line of communication with employees and are often placed in a role without suitable training. Poor middle management can cause a rippling effect on engagement and staff retention. Companies should consider providing regular development to both new and existing managers to ensure they are fully equipped with the right tools.

Ensure staff have a say

While employers may think they know what staff want and need, there is no better way of making sure than opening the lines of communication. Regular feedback from staff on their ambitions and needs can ensure that everyone is given a chance to take control of their own learning journey. It’s important that requests aren’t left to just annual reviews or annual employee surveys and that they can flex around current needs and requirements.

Laura Coleman Head of Learning and Development at Sodexo Engage, comments:

“An unengaged workforce can be detrimental to employers Not only can it negatively impact staff retention, it’s also the biggest threat to an organisation’s bottom line. Providing employees with access to learning and giving them the opportunity to grow is a powerful way to keep employeesengaged, and ultimately be even better at their job now, and in the future.

“On a wider scale, upskilling is a key enabler for economic growth, and the growth of individuals and our community. Following COVID-19 it’s become even more important for learning and development to move up the corporate priority list.”

The power of community engagement

Posted on May 21, 2021 | by Patrick Doherty

Making your voice heard within your community is not always been the easiest. With a number of local governments still relying on traditional meetings, or pen-and-paper communications to allow the public to voice their issues or concern. CitizenLab saw an opportunity and created a digitalised community engagement platform designed to connect with residents, engage them in decision-making, and build trust through dialogue. Talking with CitizenLab co-founder Wietse Van Ransbeeck, we hear about recent business developments and what the future may hold.

Could you give us an overview/summary of CitizenLab, your role and what encouraged you to co-found the company?

“CitizenLab is a civic tech company on the mission to make public decision-making more inclusive, participatory, and responsive. We provide governments with an engagement platform to easily consult their community and give them a say on the topics they care about. CitizenLab is being used by 300+ governments worldwide today, ranging from small municipalities and large cities to federal governments.”

“I founded CitizenLab about five years ago, together with my two co-founders, Aline Muylaert and Koen Gremmelprez. As engaged millennials, we were looking for easy accessible ways to get involved in our city and make our voice heard, but couldn’t really find how to participate. Attending a town hall meeting on a Tuesday night at 8pm isn’t what you’re looking most forward to. That’s why we created a digital platform to make it easy for people to get in touch with their governments and discuss ideas, wherever and whenever they want.”

Following the pandemic, are you finding that more people/governments/leaders are open to the concept of civic technology?

“Absolutely. We have seen many governments starting to adopt digital tools to organise community participation.”

“What struck us most at the start of the pandemic was that so many governments were still relying on traditional public meetings. Suddenly, they were all scratching their heads wondering how they could still guarantee democratic continuity despite the lack of in-person public meetings. That’s why we decided to bring a “face-to-face” meeting component onto our digital platform, too. We developed an online workshops module which allows governments to organise public meetings online, similar to Zoom calls visually, yet with all the tools built in to facilitate these meetings efficiently and to capture input in a structured way that lends itself to post-meeting action. The town hall meeting has been brought online, which we can only applaud – with it comes greater transparency and the opportunity for more residents to participate. Almere, in the Netherlands, has run over 20 workshops with their community since we launched the feature, and have even used it for topics you wouldn’t typically associate with digital participation: engaging the elderly on how to improve welfare and support.”

“At the same time, we’ve seen a general awareness grow on the topic of community inclusion. A lot of local governments recognize the benefits of digital engagement -for instance, people can participate on their own time regardless of work schedules or personal obligations – but they’re also increasingly aware of limitations stemming from the digital divide. We’ve been really inspired by places like Lancaster, in the United States, which blend online and offline engagement methods to reach more of their diverse community. By updating their traditional methods – for instance, by partnering with the public housing authority – and adding in a digital engagement platform (plus supplementing it with things like multilingual notices and QR-code posters around the city), Lancaster increased their participation 13x, primarily from usually under-heard communities.”

What are the main challenges you have faced over the last 12 months?

“With more governments in need of digital alternatives for their community engagement projects, our client portfolio saw faster growth than we could have anticipated. Because we recognize that governments need a lot of education and training on digital participation, as it’s often totally new to them, we have a team of participation experts who are quite hands-on with our clients to help build their capacity so with this growth we realized we needed to do more capacity-building within governments. Seeing this as essential to making participatory endeavours successful, we are working on developing an academy to spread expertise on community engagement and train civil servants.”

“Internally, the pandemic challenged us in maintaining our strong company culture, staying connected, and keeping everyone motivated. Going fully remote as a company was, and continues to be, an interesting challenge. While the workplace has been totally redefined and we’ve all been exposed to totally new ways of working, we’ve been really honored and humbled by how flexible, collaborative, and kind our team continues to be with one another. We’ve also been able to grow internationally by opening vacancies to remote employees, helping us bring on a global team of colleagues across different countries and time zones.”

Do you feel the need for new ways to engage in democracy has become clearer since the pandemic began?

“The model of a mere electoral democracy, in which citizenship is defined by the act of voting every 4 years, has become totally outdated. Digital technology has empowered people around the world to make their voice heard through the internet, yet the channels haven’t always been well-designed for this to happen in the most constructive and impactful way. Luckily, we see more and more institutions developing their digital democracy platforms, creating an online public space for people from diverse backgrounds to gather and express their opinions on decisions that affect them in their daily lives.”

“However, there’s still much more work to be done. The big challenge for any digital democracy is bringing in the transformative effects of listening in real-life conversations to other perspectives. Citizens’ assemblies and the larger deliberative wave have shown us a clear way forward in recent years. The participatory democracy model of the future will be one that combines the power of digital platforms to involve many more community members with the design of deliberative bodies to optimally tap into collective intelligence.”

Where do you hope CitizenLab will be this time next year?

“We hope to have scaled our social impact much further, with a particular focus on being:

“Participatory: by creating more meaningful engagement opportunities; working beyond just the local level (which is where a majority of our work happens today); and working on more complex (trans-)national policy issues that require large-scale deliberation.”
“Responsive: by further increasing the influence residents can have on key decisions; and making those opportunities and their impact clearer by putting in place feedback mechanisms that communicate how one’s input has affected the actual decision-making process.”

What do you credit as being your biggest successes, since co-founding the business?

“The diversity of the 300+ governments and 10,000+ projects we’ve been able to support over the past few years, all over the world. To name just a few impactful projects: a €6M participatory budget in Ghent (Belgium), co-drafting cannabis regulation in Bermuda, deliberative polls about the decolonization of public space in Nuuk (Greenland), making the city center car-free in Kortrijk (Belgium), collective urban planning in the London Borough of Newham (UK), and designing more equitable community engagement in Lancaster (PA, United States).”

“But, we’re even more proud of having helped transition many cities into a continuous model of public participation, beyond just individual projects. Residents should be able to influence the decisions that affect them, and it’s great to see that so many governments started to make their public decision-making permanently open.”