With almost 11 weeks of lockdown in the UK, we have only just got to grips with our new working conditions. Now, with lockdown restrictions slowly beginning to ease, offices are planning for reopening. A new ‘blended’ model of working will become the norm, with some employees always working from home, in the office or a combination of both. 

Death. A big topic, and generally as much a part of the everyday news cycle as politics or celebrities. From natural disasters to major atrocities, the subject never really goes away. That being said, it feels quite different at the moment. With death tolls now a media centrepiece, it’s playing a much bigger part in public conversation. At Farewill, where our 90-strong team of designers, engineers and psychologists are working to bring the death industry into the 21st century, we’ve noticed a real change in the way people are discussing and dealing with it.

 

….you never know what you’re going to get. Although Forest Gump didn’t technically say that, there is some truth in it: no two leaders are ever the same. Think about the people you’ve been led by in the past -  maybe they were a crunchy-coated, brittle leader, they might have been soft and gooey, or chances are you’ve probably had a few nutty ones as well. You never know what you’re going to get.

With the IMF warning that the ‘Great Lockdown’ global recession will be the worst since the Great Depression, organisations are being forced to reset and reinvent faster than ever before. The race is on for entrepreneurs and business owners to craft new plans, develop new products and deliver new solutions in order to survive.

When (or indeed if) office-based employees make a return to work, now that lockdown restrictions are slowly beginning to ease, they are likely to find a very different world to the one they left behind. Startups, by their very nature, are inherently innovative, adaptable, flexible, and more willing than most to embrace change.

A new survey from HJS Solicitors has found that more than two thirds of employees want to carry on working from home. As the Government continues to lift lockdown restrictions a poll of nearly 2,000 workers shows 68% would like to continue with life in a 'remote' office. 

For many businesses, scaling up and sustaining growth often seems unachievable, even when the brand has a profitable product or service. Investor and advisor, Sharon Brown, principal of Amplify Equity Inc. has recently adopted a laser focus for helping businesses step-up to the next level by leveraging investor expertise, industry experience, networks, and connections to help them grow faster.

So far, the first half of 2020 has felt like six years, not six months. Every new month seems to bring with it global challenges and the threat of coronavirus still looms. The knock-on effect of COVID-19 has been significant, with the FTSE100 losing nearly a quarter of its value in late March - the biggest drop in history.

Driving disruption, embracing change and new ideas and generally just jostling for place at the bleeding edge of innovation has always been part and parcel for any company in the tech industry, particularly at the startup stage. But how do tech companies ensure they’re always one step ahead, and how do they create agility and disruptive thinking at the strategic leadership level?

In the world of work, the effects of social measures that governments are being forced to take have proven to be incredibly challenging for businesses and employees. However, for many business leaders around the world, they are now starting to turn their attention to the potential long-term implications of the pandemic on the next era of work.

The role of the traditional office has been profoundly undermined by the recent pandemic - and with companies like Twitter granting employees indefinite leave to work remotely, coworking should be set to boom.  

The coronavirus pandemic has shaken up the way we work – and the seismic shifts it has brought about could be long-lasting. According to a Gartner survey, 74% of CFOs intend to shift some of their employees to remote work permanently.

The business landscape has transformed like never before in just a matter of months. I've seen first-hand how the current climate has impacted global enterprises. As business leaders, we need to instil trust within our teams while also having a clear strategy on how to navigate these challenging times.

Apparently Obi-Wan Kenobi doesn’t actually say the famous line himself until Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones which we all know is the weakest of the series, however plenty of star characters encourage Luke to 'use the Force' throughout his journey to Jedi.

The coronavirus pandemic is having a significant and painful impact on work, livelihoods and the economy. Recent reports suggest around 600,000 jobs have been in lost during lockdown in the UK alone, while over 40 million people have become unemployed in the US.

The world is changing and what we witnessed in the last months all over the world is the creation of a stronger sense of community: people supporting each other and companies getting together to fight the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The old world is over, as its rules. The new world is going to be different, with new rules.

Within the context of the economic crisis caused by COVID-19, Trump has accused China of being the cause of the virus. If this were true, Beijing would have eliminated 91% of UK exports to China over the past ten years in one fell swoop.

The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed the way the world works, and with some UK workers beginning to return to the office, some anticipating a phased return in the coming weeks and others working at home for the foreseeable future, it can be difficult to connect the workforce together.

We live in changing times. Rapidly changing times. Times always change and move forward but what has been remarkable recently has been the fact that the speed of change continues to increase year on year. It is no surprise, therefore, that many founders, both first time entrepreneurs and serial entrepreneurs, often ask themselves, and me, ‘where do I go from here?’

Before the dreaded c-word hit the UK, and the rest of the world, most businesses were just planning for a busy Q2. With everything turned upside down and a full lockdown, it’s forced many SMEs and startup businesses to completely pivot and significantly adapt strategies.