Office vs remote. Where do you get most work done? Is one better than the other? Or is it just about implementing the right hacks to maximise your productivity? — For the past few months, I’ve been thoroughly enjoying Erik S. Meyers’ 2020 book “The Accidental Change Agent.” It’s not a long book; I just dip in and out of books, particularly ones with bite-sized chapters. In chapter 21, Erik talks about staying focused and more productive at work, and…

When looking for a job, the old adage of “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know” could not be truer. — I quit my old job back in January. It wasn’t working out for me for a number of reasons, so I left without a role to go to. It was a bold move, if a little scary, but it was the right decision. I had every intention of keeping myself…

Struggling to get articles, blog posts or announcements written quickly? Work in media or a press office for a few years — or follow these simple steps. — My first 11 years in Corporateland were spent working for a media company. You learn how to deal with short deadlines very quickly. Every day is a deadline. You make the deadline or you fail. It’s as simple as that. At one subsequent company, I was told that the only…

Surely with all this ‘engagement’ activity, the entire corporate world should be ‘engaged’, right? It seems not. — Unengaged or disengaged? Multiple recent surveys have told us that engagement in Corporateland is still poor. According to Gallup, engagement in the U.K. remains “stable but low,” having risen from 12% in 2009 to 21% in 2021. Calm down. In the U.S., it’s a similar story: in 2021, it was reported that engagement…

Asking managers to cascade messages is fraught with problems, so what can be done to support the flow of information across the company? — tl;dr: Cascade communications are flawed — they’re inefficient (take ages to flow down) and sketchy at best (managers often don’t cascade messages — for a host of reasons). Why they don’t work? They often happen in isolation, i.e. they’re the only channel used for passing messages to people at lower…

It seems to be the trick these days. — An old colleague opened my eyes to this one after I banged on about Tim Ferriss’s 4-hour Work Week revelation. “Yeh, he basically made a MINT from selling his book about being able to work within a 4-hour week… before he actually did it himself… and then he made so…

Is the push for more flexibility at work, hybrid working arrangements and the 4-day week a result of companies not treating people well enough? — Companies shouldn’t be remotely surprised at the groundswell in demand for greater flexibility in terms of working arrangements. Working from home was a perk before the pandemic. It’s now a given for many employees and a prerequisite for jobhunters. The recent 4-day week trial in the U.K. has again stoked…

Why would they? — While researching for articles about hybrid work, flexible work patterns, 4-day week and other work-related topics, I’ve stumbled upon a number of interesting themes. One of them is this divide between companies requesting (some insisting or demanding) that their employees come back to the office for X days a week…

While out of work and looking for a job, it’s important you look after yourself — here are my tips from recent experience. — When I left my job in the middle of January, I wanted to take some time off before jumping back in again. It was the first time I’d ever left a role without having something to go to. And it scared the life out of me. Thankfully, my wife and…