It’s the Autonomy, Stupid! 6 reasons to avoid heavy-handed RTO mandates
Amazon has been much in the news for its sudden requirement to get everybody “back to the office” for five days per week. Actually, they are an outlier. Most organisations…
Amazon has been much in the news for its sudden requirement to get everybody “back to the office” for five days per week. Actually, they are an outlier. Most organisations…
In April 2024, Andy Lake spoke with Ian Ellison and Chris Moriarty of the renowned Workplace Geeks podcast, with further commentary from Dan Wakelin. Now in its third series, the…
We all need to be able to switch off from work and have the control we seek between work and the rest of life. So a “right to disconnect” might…
For his recently published book, Beyond Hybrid Working, Andy Lake has dived into the research on the impacts of flexible working – in particular ‘remote working’ – on productivity and…
Here is our (occasionaly opinionated!) glossary of terms commonly used in the worlds of Smart and Flexible Working, including in some cases an explanation of preferred uses and the reasons…
By Andy Lake Since 2020, we have seen an acceleration of trends that span more than 30 years. These include the rise of flexible working, new office design and new…
It's time to take a strategic approach to flexible and hybrid working - and make them smarter! That's the message of the new edition of the Smart Working Handbook launched…
Or, “What about the workers?” In all the debate about remote/hybrid working, the future of offices and the future of work, it’s often forgotten that the majority of the world’s…
We're reviving our digest of news about Flexible Working, Smart Working and all things connected. And we add in a little opinion here and there too. If you have news…
It's been my privilege to have seen, over the course of nearly 30 years, flexible working move from a dubious workplace eccentricity to mainstream acceptance. And, indeed, to have contributed…
Is hybrid working a revolution in the way we work, or a case of old office-based place and presence-based ways of working reasserting themselves in a slightly different guise? A…
Remote work is more productive. Remote work is less productive. Remote workers are more engaged. Remote workers are less engaged. They are more stressed. They are less stressed. Homeworking is…
I’m delighted to say the manuscript of my new book, Beyond Hybrid Working, is now in the hands of the publisher (Routledge), wites Andy Lake. It started out as a…
The Flexibility predictions for 2023 and beyond One of my maxims in writing about the future of work is, “The future is always plural and multispeed”. And that plurality includes…
There are certain words and phrases that consistently crop up in commentary on work and workplace that at best oversimplify, and at worst distort our understanding of changes to the…
Across the world organisations have been adopting various forms of ‘Hybrid Working’ – trying to combine employee aspirations for more choice over how they work with the more traditional structures…
Review of ‘How the Future Works’ by Brian Elliott, Sheela Subramanian & Helen Kupp While many organisations are debating the “return to the office”, hybrid working and how many days…
Do people need be in the same building to be creative? This article, originally from 2014, still resonates today as people work through the "return to the office" and hype…
The 4-day week is not a single animal, and some versions of it are smarter and more flexible than others. Here we explore the concept, its different versions, and look…
We are living in a time of both uncertainty and innovation, both for the nature of work and the future of the workplace. Some commentators are saying the future is…
Book Review: Beyond the Workplace Zoo, by Nigel Oseland Flexibility verdict: Highly recommended! Amidst all the current debate about home versus office, a vital factor – and one too often…
We’re hearing a lot these days about “the New Normal” to refer to future ways of working. The funny thing is, it sounds an awful lot like the old normal…
Is your organisation wrestling with how to implement “hybrid working” as they approach an end to the lockdown? If so, it’s worth noting that most of the issues are not…
This is the follow-up article to 10 Things I Hate About Change, from January 2013. Most of the advice still applies, we feel. [Archive article] 10 things to help people…
Rolling out Smart Working involves extensive changes to ways of working, culture, property and technology. And some people are instinctively hostile to change. This is the first of two articles…
There's a continuing debate around the connection between remote working and working longer hours - the danger of being "always on" once you have the tools to do so. This…
This article from 2012 is in the Flexibility tradition of not just pinpointing an issue, but setting out practical responses to it. Being isolated and disconnected have been constant themes…
This article, from 2014, argues that legislators (not least in the UK) need to get on board with smarter working. The nature of the work ought to make it a…
Andy Lake interviewed by Marcus Bowen for the Work & Place Podcast, about his article on The Emerging Social Infrastructure of Work and Why the Workplace Industry Needs to Think…
It’s good to share knowledge and experience about Smart Working, isn’t it? That’s what the Smart Work Network is all about. It’s a free-to-join network for people in organisations with…
This is the third of three linked articles examining the implications of the emerging world of work and the need to harness potential benefits from reducing the separation of work…
The evidence is overwhelming, and it pretty much all points in one direction. The post-pandemic future will see a substantial reduction in office space as people become accustomed to working…
‘Smart Working’ describes that combination of flexible working practices, digital technologies and ‘activity-based’ workplaces that support more choice and mobility. Organisations already on the Smart Working journey and embracing ‘flexibility…
This is the second in a series of 3 posts on the rethinking the place of work in society, and how many of the assumptions and practices of how society…
What kind of houses should we build when home is also the workplace? Over the past few years there has been a constant stream of articles and reports about how…
It's useful for planning, but don't let it get in the way of more dynamic flexibility I’m sometimes brought into help with Smart/Agile working projects that are running into trouble…
(Probably) the world's most influential guide to Smart Working Our Smart Working Handbook has been enormously influential in helping to shape the way that organisations work. Business, public sector and…
The quest for more natural and humane workplaces raises some fundamental questions about the what and where of work There was sharp growth in interest in recent years in the…
Comment from the author of PAS 3000, Andy Lake of Flexibility.co.uk (Article from January 2016) Note: All central government departments and agencies in the UK are now mandated to implement…