01732 759725 magazine BULLETIN 05 overseen by Dr Brendon Stubbs from King’s College London, found that when office workers added just 15 minutes of movement into their working day, their mental state improved by 22.5%, with participants’ State of Mind scores increasing from 62/100 to 76/100. The experiment showed that taking a daily Desk Break for just one week lowered stress levels by 14.7%, boosted productivity by 33.2% and improved focus by 28.6%. Participants reported feeling 33.3% more relaxed and 28.6% more calm and resilient. One interesting finding from AJ Products’ survey conducted in August is that remote workers are the group most likely to experience neck, shoulder or back pain, despite being more likely than hybrid or office workers to take hourly breaks. One fifth (21%) of remote workers reported feeling pain daily, compared to 18% of office-based workers and 13% of hybrid workers. As this suggests there is no correlation between taking regular breaks and experiencing musculoskeletal pain, SJ Products says breaks should be observed for the sake of the worker’s longerterm mental health rather than for the alleviation of pain. www.ajproducts.co.uk asics.com/deskbreak … Empty those drawers! Ryman is calling on Brits to recycle 280 million broken pens squirrelled away in homes and offices, pointing out that on average pens are discarded after just six months and that only one in five pens in UK households actually works. It has calculated that if you laid all the broken pens end-to-end they would stretch 22,000 miles from London to Sydney, Australia and back again. The High Street stationery and office supplies retailer is inviting pen owners to drop off redundant pens at any of its stores for recycling. Since 2019, it has recycled over 3.5 million pens in partnership with the Writing Instruments Free Recycling Programme sponsored by BIC and managed by TerraCycle. https://www.ryman.co.uk/ environment. Talking business NESCAFÉ by Nestlé Professional is continuing its partnership with business guru Deborah Meaden with the launch of a three-episode business mini-series, Let’s Partner Up for Good, in which she offers advice and support to seven small business owners facing challenges relating to growth, sustainability and wellbeing. Each episode can be viewed on YouTube or via this link: https://www.nestleprofessional. co.uk/nescafe/discussions- with-deborah. Benefits of flexibility trump fear of missing out on promotion With more and more employers calling for a full-time return to the office, new research from United Culture, a specialist in culture, employee engagement and behavioural change, highlights some of the disadvantages of working remotely. Its Work Remastered 2024 study of 1,000 office workers across the UK and US reveals that one in four office workers who works flexibly believes they have missed out on a job promotion or opportunity. This concern is felt most strongly by millennials and older Gen-Z workers, many of whom are now in management positions and looking to develop into senior leadership roles, with 37% of those aged 25-34 and 42% of those aged 35-44 feeling they have been passed over. Despite these fears, work-life balance is the factor employees value most in a workplace (chosen by 43%), followed by flexibility (27%). The latter covers both when they work, such as compressed hours and early/late finishes (wanted by 39%) and where they work (33%). More than half of workers surveyed by United Culture currently work flexibly (60%) and say they would leave or consider leaving their company if their employer limited the amount of flexibility they offer (57%). One quarter (25%) indicated their company has already changed or reduced their options to work flexibly, rising to 44% among those aged 18-24. Mavis Boniface, Global Operations Director at United Culture, said: “Working patterns have transformed post-pandemic. However, it seems many employers are yet to grasp the extent to which the new ‘norms’ have become embedded in the public consciousness, or they are trying to drag their people back to the office regardless. “Flexibility is clearly important to all types of employees, but especially to younger employees who are the future leaders. If those who work flexibly are missing out on opportunities and promotions, it means they will leave and go somewhere else – and no organisation can afford to lose talent.” She added: “People who work flexibly must be treated the same and given the same development opportunities as those who show up to the office. If leaders reward presenteeism over productivity, their businesses are in colossal trouble.” www.unitedcultureco.com Deborah Meaden (l) with Katya Simmons, Managing Director of NESCAFÉ by Nestlé Professional continued...
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