Whatever you’re writing about this month, there may well be relevant research and reports on your topics being shared via the Press Release Wire.

Here are some of the numbers shared over the last month to fit your Valentine’s Day, Pandemic Puppy, digital security, workplace wellbeing and sustainability features for February…

Relationships

These statistics are kind of a downer for those who believe in true love… or heartening for those who believe in healthy endings – Divorce Online is predicting a surge of divorce cases for 2022. With no fault divorce rules coming in April 2022, the 15% reduction in divorce petitions filed during July – September 2021 might turn out to have been a blip. Read more on this here, and have a happy Valentine’s Day if you can.

Life stuff

Give some thought to the Pandemic Puppies out there – a study conducted on behalf of Direct Line Pet Insurance has highlighted the pressure rescue centres are under following a drop in donations and adoptions. One in four (27%) centres are struggling to find room for abandoned dogs and 77% say they’ve seen an increase in Pandemic Pups being abandoned, with dogs becoming harder to rehome due to separation anxiety and behavioural issues caused by lockdown. Find out more here.  

With Repair Shop presenter Jay Blades sharing his journey of learning to read as an adult to raise awareness, research being shared by Read Easy UK shows that a quarter of all children in England leave primary school unable to read to expected levels. Almost seven million adults have poor literacy skills – best of luck to Jay and everyone taking the journey with him. Get more stats on adult literacy.  

Digital security 

One in three young people are concerned about the control of technology, according to a new YouGov poll. Nothing quite as scary as Skynet or the Matrix, though – 41% of the 16- to 25-year-olds worry about the monopoly tech giants have over data, while almost half (49%) are anxious about digital privacy. Those polled know there’s no escape from the benefits of being connected, however – over half (56%) believe the right digital skills are essential. If you aren’t already paranoid about your own data, read more on this here.

Are you a little wary of chat bots, too? 61% of consumers across the UK and US don’t completely trust them, according to a survey commissioned by PCI Pal. 81% of those surveyed in the UK, and 40% of those in the US, feel that the increased use of tech for customer service issues increases security risk. 59% prefer some form of person-to-person contact if they have an enquiry about a product – sorry, chat bots. Read more here.

Sustainability

The sustainability conversation is certainly a lot quieter since the round-off of COP26 last year, and many UK businesses perhaps could have listened more closely – research from Veolia has found that only 30% of UK businesses have a Net Zero Strategy in place. 42% are feeling overwhelmed by the steps they’ll need to take to reach carbon neutrality, while 61% of the larger companies surveyed acknowledged the potential negative impact to their reputation if they don’t take action. Read more here.

Work

Technology enterprise companies are seeing a real future for hybrid working, according to research from Aryaka. Of respondents to its Sixth Annual 2022 State of the WAN Report, a quarter had already closed 25-50% of their office sites. 51% have plans for a move away from their legacy data centres and 75% say at least a quarter of their employees will stick with remote working post-pandemic. Grab more stats on hybrid working here.

With remote working has come a further blurring of work and home life for many, but what kind of impact will this have on employee health? According to research from ESCP Business School, it might not actually be that bad. As found in the study of professionals working in the Spanish division of an international consultancy firm, motivation makes a difference. External pressures – not good for wellbeing. Inner desire to make progress – much better for your health. Take a break sometimes, though, we’d say – read more here.

We provide these as a jumping-off point for your own research and you should perform your own checks on any of these stories – a few tips in this post. If you’d like to source experts, further information or case studies for any of these topics or something else you’re working on, head to the (free) Journalist Enquiry Service to save hours of research and expand your network of sources.