What was The Buzz in March?
Our monthly roundup of real estate industry news.
We take a look at a few of the stories that caught our attention in March. From downsizing to back to the office, social media bans to our newest new normal, a lot’s been happening.
10 cities offering the best work-life balance
Copenhagen has been named top of the class for work-life balance by this year’s Forbes Work-Life Balance Index, which reviewed 128 major cities across the globe. The study ranked the cities based on 10 different factors, with Denmark’s capital pipping Helsinki to the post. Denmark is renowned for its flexible working hours, a minimum of five weeks of annual leave, low unemployment (2.4%), and a 52-week parental leave split for both parents.
Top 10 cities for work-life balance
Meta lay-offs
In the second wave of mass redundancies from the tech giant, Meta has announced plans to cut 10,000 jobs. It’s not just Meta, other tech giants are grappling with how to balance cost-cutting measures with the need to remain competitive. According to layoffs.fyi, there have been more than 128,000 job cuts in the tech industry so far in 2023.
Meta lays off 10,000 more staff
No more TikTok on work phones
The UK Government has banned staff from using TikTok on their work phones over fears that sensitive data could be leaked to China. With the US trying to ban TikTok on all US phones could this be the start of the downward spiral of TikTok? TikTok has said they ‘remain committed to working with the Government to address any concerns’.
UK Government ban staff from using TikTok
More than a third of UK workers ‘would quit if told to return to the office full-time’
With almost half of company leaders in the UK and abroad saying they would prefer their employees to work more frequently from the office, LinkedIn data has reported that more than a third of UK workers would quit their job if their employer demanded a full-time return to office. Alongside this, research indicates the share of job postings for remote roles has shrunk over the past 10 months, declining to almost 11% of the UK total – a 30% fall compared with a year earlier.
Third of UK workers would quit if told to return to office full-time
CEOs are quietly backtracking on remote work
Across industries, major corporations including Disney, Twitter and Starbucks are requiring employees to spend more time at the office. Salesforce, is the latest leader to reverse their flexible working policy, after embracing remote work and criticising return-to-office mandates. New reports have circulated that Salesforce will require employees to up their in-office time.
Return to work requirements on the increase
The new normal
It might seem a lifetime ago, but March marked three years from the start of the pandemic and national lockdowns. Raconteur has taken a deep dive into what changed over this time, and what changes are likely to stay. One of the most significant disruptions was to work-life, with everyone told to ‘work from home if you can’.
Whilst the percentage of commuters has increased since the end of the third lockdown, levels of those working from home have fluctuated, with no consistent upward or downward trend. However, it does seem that hybrid working is here to stay. You can read more about work, lifestyle, spending, transport and leisure trends in the link.
