February 27, 2019

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Workplace ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Facilities management, Technology, Workplace, Workplace design

We know, and have for a long time, that the workplace is in a state of near constant flux and so we often fall into the trap of assuming that there is some sort of evolution towards an idealised version of it. That is why we see so many people routinely willing to suspend their critical facilities to make extravagant and even absurd predictions about the office of the future or even the death of the office. This is perniciously faulty thinking. However we can frame a number of workplace related ideas in terms of evolutionary theory, so long as we accept one of the central precepts about evolution. Namely that there is no end game, just types progressing and sometimes dying out along the distinct branches of a complex ecosystem. As a nerdy sort of guy of a certain age, I’ve tended to frame my thoughts on all of this with reference to an idea from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by the great Douglas Adams.

February 26, 2019

Survey suggests that all age groups are similarly motivated at work

by Sara Bean • Comment, News, Workplace

When comparing the results of 18 – 29-year-olds with other age brackets, we often find that researchers are bending over backwards to find some kind of pattern. Now a new survey a new study from Automatic Data Processing (ADP) finds unsurprisingly, that there is actually little difference between the age groups regarding those who go to work because they like their company and feel that they’re on the same mission. Of those aged 30 – 49 years old, 9 percent choose this option as did 11 percent of 50 – 64-year-olds.

February 21, 2019

How do we reach consensus about what constitutes good design? ⁰

by Paul Goodchild • Comment, Furniture, Technology, Workplace design

In shows and the media, we are often invited to pass judgement on products and ideas that have been created by other people. The reviews that follow often cement some form of accepted view, even if we often outsource the decision making to people who are better placed to decide, or at least better enabled to express an opinion. Such judgements would not function at all in this regard unless there was some underlying consensus about what constitutes good and bad design at the same time that we all believed we know what good taste is and we all know a good piece of design when we see it. In so far as the consensus is universally accepted, we are all right. But how much do we really understand about the things that surround us and their design? And how meaningful is the consensus? In JG Ballard’s novel High Rise, recently made into a film, he writes of the disdain Anthony Royal, the architect of the eponymous tower has for the tastes of its residents.

February 21, 2019

Why the gender pay gap is an enduring challenge for many organisations

by Heejung Chung • Comment, Workplace

In April of 2018, large companies with over 250 employees were obliged to report their gender pay gap for the first time. Headlines that week were dominated by some of the surprise and shock of the extent to which women were paid less in majority of the companies reported, while for many women it just confirmed our hidden beliefs. There was a slight optimism, however, that there can only be progress. However, many companies who are reporting their new pay gap for this year show that rather than progress, many have increased their gaps. Why is this the case?

February 20, 2019

It is time for organisations to embrace the digital workplace

by Christian Brøndum • Automation, Comment, Facilities management, Flexible working, Technology, Workplace

With the rise of both cloud-based technology and the worldwide gig economy, the last ten years of the 21^st century have seen some near-revolutionary changes in workplace practice. Entrepreneurs everywhere have been more than happy to make use of these developments, taking advantage of the new business models these changes have brought. For example, IDG found that 73 percent of the organizations that they surveyed have at least one application already in the cloud, and according to ONS, since 2010 there has been a 25 percent increase in the number of non-employer businesses in the private sector, a change attributed to the growing popularity of the gig economy. However, despite all the advances in workplace culture, thousands of workers in the UK are being left behind in outdated modes of work.

February 19, 2019

Cold noses and warm design; a review of the Stockholm Furniture Fair

by John Sacks • Comment, Workplace design

The scene was set when, on the final approach to Stockholm, the Captain announced that the city was ‘enjoying’ heavy snow and a temperature of minus 15 degrees C. Can the fair organisers be persuaded to move future events to balmy June? Probably not. But of course, everything works perfectly despite the weather, and interiors everywhere are beautifully warm.

February 18, 2019

Employers need to become active listeners to improve mental health at work

by Brendan Street • Comment, Wellbeing

Time to Talk Day takes place every February and encourages people to open-up about their emotional wellbeing, but in a workplace setting this can be challenging. Despite 80 percent of employers believing employees would feel comfortable talking about their mental health, only 5 percent of employees would do so. Clearly there’s a disconnect between talkers and listeners which needs to be addressed if we’re to improve mental health at work. More →

February 17, 2019

Landlords must respond in new ways to the changing world of work

by Ben Gillam • Comment, Technology, Workplace design

Hammocks, remote working, hot-desking. Contrary to common belief, these aren’t the only conversations landlords are having with designers on how to approach their workspaces for today’s tenants. Rising property values, the growth of flexible offices and political uncertainty have forced landlords to change the way they market their properties to respond to the demands of occupiers. And with no sign of London’s commercial office marketplace calming in the near future, the need for landlords to remain flexible and create channels of communication with their tenants, remains strong. More →

February 14, 2019

Digital transformation requires more than just new technology

by Arnab Banerjee • Comment, Technology

Digital transformation has been a priority for businesses for many years, primarily to benefit from the opportunities presented by a mix of digital technologies and their impact across all aspects of society. Customer-facing functions such as sales, marketing and procurement, in their quest for new revenue sources and information-powered ecosystems of value, have led the way on digital transformation, while HR has historically taken a back seat. But in order for the entire organisation undergoing transformation to work together holistically, HR needs to take the lead and embed a digital DNA within the organisation.

February 11, 2019

The wider debate about workplaces gives facilities managers a chance to crack the code

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Facilities management

The most vocal debate that has followed the BIFM’s change of identity to the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management remains that focused on the issue of taxonomy. We are being asked to consider, as part of a sometimes bad mannered debate, whether facilities management is part of the workplace ecosystem or vice versa and which profession – typically designated as IT, HR and FM – is best placed to become the apex beast in this particular jungle. More →

February 8, 2019

Finding the Goldilocks Point for collaborative workplace design

by Jonathan Hindle • Comment, Technology, Workplace design

One of the great paradoxes of modern life is the ever increasing likelihood of breakdowns in communication in a world in which we have more ways to talk to each other than ever before. This can play out in especially toxic ways in the wider world, but its effects in the workplace can also be problematic. Most importantly, what we often assume to be true about communication and collaboration may not be borne out by the facts and this in turn has implications for workplace design.

February 7, 2019

Maybe the time has come to shoot the workplace messenger

by Rob Harris • Comment, Flexible working, Wellbeing, Workplace design

I spent some time with Frank Duffy recently, releasing a stream of memories of working with him, first as an employee at DEGW during the 1980s, and then as a client while directing developer Stanhope’s research programme during the 1990s. Along with his long-term business partner, John Worthington, and thinkers including Franklin Becker, Gerald Davis, Michael Joroff and Jack Tanis, to name a few, Frank helped sketch out the grand scheme of what we now call ‘workplace’. Much of the work of their successors has involved filling in the matrix of detail within the grand scheme. But further reflection has caused me to ask whether, in filling in the finer details, we have recently somehow lost our way. Are we, the ‘workplace profession’, instead of standing on giants’ shoulders, now just pandering to fads and fancies? Or, even more radical, might it be that ‘workplace’ is now done, and that we’ve run out of meaningful things to say? More →