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Are leather-style trousers appropriate workwear? I ask because the other week I was at an event delivering a keynote and chatting to the client before I went on stage. I was wearing a pair of leather-style leggings. As I was chatting, the head of HR interrupted to ask a question and looked me up and down in that trying-not-to-be-obvious but blatantly...

After years of working away from the office, many of us may prefer to continue working from home in our yoga pants with our dog or cat by our side. Hybrid working is now the norm, but there’s a strong desire among business decision-makers (BDMs) to get people back into the office. Data from the Microsoft Work Trend Index research shows...

Getting up early to work on a paper before the dreaded Teams back-to-back calls start and working late once they finish is a common groan I hear. I do it myself. ‘If I could just find some time to do my actual work’ is something I often hear and empathise with. However, I work for myself, so my workload is something...

2023 was not just another year in the corporate world; it was a theatrical production branding workplace behaviour. There was the overt "lazy girl” job trend - a cheeky nod to roles offering a ‘supposed’ better work-life balance, a stark contrast to the hustle culture of yesteryears. It's a trend that celebrates the notion of doing a job you love and...

Christmas is a minefield. The list of pitfalls includes optimistic expectations of extended leave, complaints about the quality of the food at the Christmas do and Ian from accounts and his proclivity to photoshop his genitals onto the firm’s Xmas card. But by far, the most incendiary work bomb in the festive problem arsenal must be the end-of-year bonus. If you're...

Are we creating unhelpful links to phrases like ‘workplace stress’ and ‘anxiety’ and, in doing so, amplifying normal levels of human experiences to the point where people start to associate them with mental illness? How do we know when worry and anxiety are serious enough to stop us from working? Research suggests it’s younger people in particular who are most likely...

Mix yourself a Negroni, put your feet up, grab a copy of Closer magazine. It’s Monday morning and there’s absolutely nothing to do because the robots have taken over.  Who says? That waxy-faced billionaire soothsayer Elon Musk, that’s who, so it must be true. Elon revealed his dystopian prediction that artificial intelligence will eventually make paid work redundant during a Q&A...

Gallup research states that having a “best friend at work” is closely associated with positive factors such as greater employee engagement, higher retention and better safety records, now call me cynical but surely that’s straight from the University of No Sh&t, Sherlock aka common sensicles. Friends are good for you. They are why Ross, Rachel, Joey, Phoebe and Chandler remained in...

Working and learning patterns have changed since the pandemic, but you don’t need us to tell you that. Working patterns were turned on their heads, and those changes are now permanent. Since then, organisations have had to evolve and adapt their L&D functions accordingly. We spoke to senior learning and development (L&D) leaders in various organisations and asked for their opinions...