As lockdown eases, both business and employees are changing their thoughts about the best place to work - for businesses to achieve a cut in costs and favourable flexible agreements. For employees, it gives a vital away from home space.

As the government’s furlough scheme comes to an end, many businesses are looking at their staff returning to work in the forthcoming months. This is at a time when anxiety remains high about a second wave of infection and we're seeing reports of rising infection rates across the country and globe.

So I was listening to a podcast this morning - I listened to loads of podcasts so that's not unusual - but there was something about this podcast and the messaging within the podcast that rang a moderate alarm bell. The conversation was one of those that I estimate actually holds a lot of people back.

We’ve all seen it, that moment on a gameshow where the contestant is essentially asked ‘double or nothing’. They’re nervous or excited (although, this is often the same thing), and they’re wondering, 'I can either take the £3’500 I’ve earned or gamble and go home with the jackpot.'

Blenheim Chalcot, the UK-based digital venture builder, and Imperial College London welcomed its first business members to Scale Space on Imperial’s White City campus this week. This new 200,000ft2 facility, will be home to scale ups and innovative businesses across the technology, digital and life-sciences sectors.

If you have purchased a new computer within the last few years, you likely lack something - ports. You know, places to plug in your stuff. With streamlining and consolidation, many modern computers (including the entire MacBook family) have shifted to utilising only USB-C and Thunderbolt 3. Because of this, a dock or hub is essential when you Work From Home.

Global small business platform, Xero has announced it will host a free to watch content series called Xero On Air in September, designed to connect, inspire and share information with its accountant and bookkeeper partners and small business customers around the world.

Lockdown rules in the UK are easing up and Brits are slowly starting to go back to work in their offices. So what can employers do to ensure their office space is a safe working environment and keep their employees comfortable and safe during this time?

At a time when the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown has caused large-scale disruption to businesses worldwide, remote working has been a shining example of how to ensure ‘business as usual’, particularly in areas such as customer service. If Gartner predictions are correct that over 40% of all employees will continue remote working post-COVID, businesses must redefine remote working by ensuring customer service staff - contact centre agents and supervisors - are equipped with fit-for-purpose technology to ensure they deliver a truly first-class service to the customer. Anne-Meine Gramsma, Chief Commercial Officer at ContactCenter4ALL, explains.

New analysis from Xero, the global small business platform, and AlphaBeta (part of Accenture), have revealed trends relating to the recovery of the UK’s small business economy following the impact of COVID-19, showing tentative improvements in revenue and payment times.

Fifty percent of people currently employed are planning on looking for a new job after COVID-19, according to new research released from Hooray Health & Protection. Nearly a quarter (24%) of employees questioned said they were somewhat likely to seek a new job, 13% said they were very likely and twelve percent were pretty positive when they said they were extremely likely to look for a new job post COVID-19.  

Forty nine percent of employers are planning to stagger return to work based on employees’ own health risks related to COVID-19, whilst 46% will be staggering employees return depending on how critical their role is to the business. The next most popular strategy is the creation of smaller work groups (40%), followed by changing work hours (34%), a voluntary return scheme (33%), and splitting shifts (28%).

While car MOTs were scrapped during lockdown, taking the same approach with a business could be a mistake that leads to catastrophic consequences. Just as leaving unchecked, unroadworthy vehicles on the road is potentially dangerous, by not taking control of a business and leaving success to chance is a gamble at the best of times, but right now that approach could be the beginning of the end.

Over the course of the last three months, the private sector has undergone a seismic shift with an anticipated 531,000 businesses in the US set to go under in 2020 and a fifth of all small businesses in the UK to fail during the COVID-19 period.

Some founders come up with their business ideas alone, whilst others do so with friends or associates. Some founders wish to stay as sole founders, whilst others prefer to work with co-founders to share the tasks, decision making, and risks, as well as adding often complementary skills or knowledge to their own.

Commercial real estate, HR and technology professionals are focused on finding innovative ways to meet the challenges of a post-COVID workplace through safe and effective back to work strategies. John Williams, Head of Marketing at Instant Offices, considers what this means for businesses heading back into the office.

Growing fears of a no-deal Brexit will prompt an increasing number of British and international investors to move their financial assets overseas out of the UK, believes the CEO of a large independent financial advisory and fintech organisations.

Starting a company and being a founder is stressful - especially in the current COVID-19 environment. Last year, 19% of all European founders said starting a company had a negative impact on their wellbeing, and a global pandemic will not bring that number down. However, mental health issues are not widely discussed in the startup ecosystem and beyond.

‘Homepreneurs’ are emerging across Britain during lockdown, as time at home and changing employment conditions have encouraged many to consider new opportunities and think creatively about the future.

A new survey by global consultancy, Brandpie has uncovered that the number one challenge CEOs expect to face over the next five years is finding the right talent. Furthermore, Brandpie reports that 98% of CEOs surveyed agree that the new generation of talent have different expectations from previous generations - with emotional considerations such as alignment of a company's culture and values trumping benefits like flexible working, training, and access to technology for the majority of millennials.