Secret manoeuvres: return to office
Office Return Christine Armstrong Office Return Christine Armstrong

Secret manoeuvres: return to office

You know bosses are desperate to get people back when an accountant from 22 Bishopsgate calls to tell you that they are hosting puppy play dates to tempt you into the office. Only it doesn’t work because the puppies are so booked up that the waiting lists are endless (note: anyone who can blag me in to film a vlog smooching cutie pups will be due a fine lunch).

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No, they’re not coming back for the heating.
Office Return Christine Armstrong Office Return Christine Armstrong

No, they’re not coming back for the heating.

Triumphant Daily Mail and Telegraph headlines have been boasting that the cost of heating, if you work from home, will increase your monthly bills by as much as £150-£190. They predict this will kill the ‘work from home dream’—you can picture the crocodile tears.

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Data scoop: what CEOs are thinking right now
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Data scoop: what CEOs are thinking right now

KPMG has released its annual CEO Outlook from 1,325 global CEOs across 11 markets. 

While Armstrong & Partners has trawled through the minds of 100 knowledge leaders and workers in the UK over the last few weeks, both before and since the major “fiscal events” began. 

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The 6 models of work: choose very carefully!
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The 6 models of work: choose very carefully!

The team is eyebrow-deep in research interviews about what is going on in the world of work now: inflation, hardship funds, big office decisions, title escalation, budget cuts. There is so much for us to get into this autumn.

But let’s start with a picture of where things are now and the six working options.

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Hotelification—the future of the office?
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Hotelification—the future of the office?

This week I spoke with Craig Murray, Strategy Design Director @TSK—he’s been designing offices for life after Covid. And they’re amazing! I’ve spoken in some, including SAGA’s Folkestone HQ, complete with sweeping coastal views and an onsite nursery.

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7 travel tips I learnt the hard way
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7 travel tips I learnt the hard way

Rocking five stages in five cities over the last week has brought back memories…like those of former colleagues who’d happily abandon someone at the airport if they were too slow to get through passport control (😬 shit, now I wonder—was it me that did this?)

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Rees-Mogg and lies leaders tell themselves
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Rees-Mogg and lies leaders tell themselves

The British government minister responsible for efficiency, is busy bullying civil servants back into offices—with his snotty memos and barrage of data-less articles about ‘slackers’ working from home, he’s as convincing as ever…

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Office-life restarts: but there’s no finishing line
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Office-life restarts: but there’s no finishing line

We’re back! Hope you had a great summer and found some sunshine somewhere.

I’m excited about this next leap into hybrid work: I hope—believe?—we are embarking on an adventure to find out what makes us more productive, builds better working relationships, and helps us manage the balance between home and work more successfully.

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Can a £26 burger predict who returns to the office?
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Can a £26 burger predict who returns to the office?

On Sunday night, a friend took me to the NoMad hotel in Covent Garden for the most perfect burger and Negroni. The place was the very definition of the draw of cities: a dramatic magistrates’ court, a luscious red velvet and leather library (with genuine books), and an oval marble bar that Jay Gatsby should’ve been draped against, cigarette in hand.

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Don’t waste limbo: there’s much to be done!
Engaging @ Work, Leadership ChristineM Armstrong Engaging @ Work, Leadership ChristineM Armstrong

Don’t waste limbo: there’s much to be done!

The government has delayed the end of restrictions: 28 days later indeed.

For me this extra time drifting between the end of lockdown and reopening feels flat. Like the time between A-levels and results when you’re waiting for life to start. Interspersed only by dramatic announcements from the likes of Morgan Stanley chief, James Gorman, threatening to “change his tone” if people don’t return to five days a week in September.

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