BBC.com has announced the launch Worklife, a digital home for coverage of the dramatic ways the personal and professional lives of today’s global workforce are rapidly changing. It will also be the first BBC feature site to be created in a progressive web app (PWA) format, featuring mobile-first design elements, faster loading times, offline reading capability, improved ad layout and more. The launch of Worklife is sponsored by Merrill.
By 2020, a majority of the global workforce will be millennials or younger. Worklife will focus on these ambitious and intellectually curious young professionals, living at a time of historic political, economic, and environmental changes, as well as technological and social progress. Worklife will help these ambitious professionals understand their new world, and help them get the tools they need to thrive.
“To be successful today, often we’re juggling increasing pressure from all sides,” said Worklife editor Kieran Nash.“We want to tell these stories from all over the world, but look at the solutions, as well as the problems.”
Launch content will include the Worklife 101, a special section featuring the 101 people, ideas and things redefining our working lives. It will also explore certain trends and themes in depth – among them, deep dives into the phenomenon of burnout, unconscious bias, the influencer economy and an exploration of how family life is changing.
On August 5, Worklife will be launching the Generation Project, a three-month series examining the complicated ways generations are interacting in the workforce and beyond. Each month will examine a different topic, including the leadership role Millennials, are taking in the global workforce; how changing housing trends shape our attitudes toward money, family and society; and how the planet’s aging population will impact society.
Worklife will also have special region-specific series and themes, starting by lifting the lid on Scandinavian work-life balance before exploring other regions later this year and into next year. Upcoming pieces tackle issues like pay transparency and the working people obsessed with retiring early.
The majority of the BBC features sections’ readers are on mobile. As such, it is crucial for Worklife to launch with the functionality and design aesthetic that progressive web apps (PWAs) allow. Progressive web apps blend the functionalities of traditional web pages and native apps while providing increased speed and performance, all without requiring users to download an app. Readers get the benefits of faster loading times, offline reading capability, larger space for better clarity, and updated visual vocabulary. PWAs also offer advertisers greater ad viewability and flexible organization, allowing for quick and seamless creation of sponsor able mini-verticals. The BBC plans to move all of its features sites to PWA format in the near future.
“PWAs will be rolling out across all BBC features sites, and look to increase brands’ impact through improved ad capability and increased viewability,” said BBC News SVP of Sales, Tim Wastney. “PWAs respond quickly to user interactions, which helps create a fluid and responsive web experience. Studies have found 53% of users will abandon a site if it takes more than three seconds to load. Additionally, audiences respond to ads in trusted environments like the BBC’s, and the PWA’s faster speed and cleaner design will allow for even greater interaction and engagement with our ad partners.”
Worklife is an evolution of BBC.com’s former workplace vertical, BBC Capital, which grew its audience 15% year-on-year (2018 vs 2017). Today, more people around the world are turning to the BBC than ever before, reaching a new high of 426m a week – an increase of 50m (13%) over the year, according to the BBC’s Global Audience Measure. The US is now BBC News’third largest market overall with an average weekly audience of 38million, a year-on-year increase of 5million.
