About Mark Eltringham

Mark is the publisher of Workplace Insight, IN magazine, Works magazine and is the European Director of Work&Place journal. He has worked in the office design and management sector for over thirty years as a journalist, marketing professional, editor and consultant.

Posts by Mark Eltringham:

August 12, 2018

Gig economy workers are overworked, underpaid and constantly monitored

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

A study of the wellbeing of workers in the so-called gig economy from academics at Oxford University claims that they are stressed, isolated, micro-managed by algorithms and face constant downward pressure on their incomes. The focus of the research was on workers contracted by digital platforms and subject to selection by algorithms. The study, Good Gig, Bad Big: Autonomy and Algorithmic Control in the Global Gig Economy, looked at the impact on the personal wellbeing of computer programmers, translators, researchers and people in similar roles contracted through online freelance platforms.

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August 6, 2018

Levels of digital dependency hit new heights

by Mark Eltringham • News, Technology, Wellbeing

Most people in the UK are dependent on their digital devices, and need a constant connection to the internet, following a decade of digital dependency and transformation claims a report from regulatory body Ofcom. The findings are from Ofcom’s Communications Market Report, which it claims is the most comprehensive study of how communications services in the UK are changing. Around 17 percent of people owned a smartphone a decade ago. That has now reached 78 percent and 95 percent among 16-24 year-olds. The smartphone is now the device people say they would miss the most, dominating many people’s lives in both positive and negative ways.

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August 6, 2018

Government launches challenge to shape future transportation strategies

by Mark Eltringham • Cities, Flexible working, News, Technology

The UK government has begun work on its Future of Mobility Grand Challenge. First announced in May, the government believes the initiative has the potential to make the UK a world leader in strategies for moving people and goods. The announcement includes two calls for evidence, the first focused on improving first mile/last mile transportation connections, with a focus on electric vehicles and microtransit. The second addresses the more general issue of new technology and trends for urban transport. The government also claims the move will address changes in working cultures including lower levels of commuting and flexible working.

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July 31, 2018

How Charles Eames came to have mixed feelings for his most famous chair

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Furniture, Workplace design

As any honest smartphone user would attest, the things we own sometimes end up owning us. Equally, the things we create can end up owning us. The most famous item designed by Charles Eames is a moulded plywood, leather upholstered lounge chair and matching ottoman that are timelessly iconic, have spawned thousands of rip-off versions, invariably feature in any anthology of classic Twentieth Century design and are now part of a permanent exhibit at the New York Museum of Modern Art. Yet Eames himself never intended it to go into production in the first place and didn’t even view it as his best product. In an interview in Time magazine he revealed that it was originally designed as a gift for a friend. ‘I made it as a present for Billy Wilder,’ he said. ‘Billy had made a picture in East Germany and found a Marcel Breuer chair and brought it back to me and this was a return present.’

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July 25, 2018

New study claims to confirm the benefits of sit-stand workstations

by Mark Eltringham • News

A new study suggests that height adjustable or sit-stand workstations may be beneficial in reducing sedentary behaviour and supporting health outside the workplace. The study’s results have been published in the International Journal of Workplace Health Management. Funded by the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) Foundation’s Transform grant, interim study results were announced on the ASID website last year. The final study, “Stand Up to Work: Assessing the Health Impacts of Adjustable Workstations,” found that sit-stand workstations are linked to increased productivity, better mental concentration, and improved overall health in employees who used sit-stand desks over a 12-month period. Most employees reported that the sit-stand desks had a positive impact on their health outside the workplace.

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July 23, 2018

WeWork launches new brokering service aimed at small and medium sized businesses

by Mark Eltringham • News, Property, Workplace design

WeWork’s announcement of a meat ban last week has attracted a great deal of attention in the media but a quiet announcement put out on the firm’s website on Friday will have more profound implications for the facilities management, workplace and commercial property worlds. In September the firm will launch WeWork Space Services which is targeted at small and medium sized businesses including those that are not current members. It claims that the service will be a ‘holistic, one-stop’ that will meet the real estate needs of its target audience, including finding them the most appropriate office space and resources as well as free membership of WeWork spaces around the world.

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July 23, 2018

New report on the future of work argues we are at an inflection point on the journey

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Technology, Workplace design

Whatever you make of the Brexit vote, the idea put forward by Jacob Rees-Mogg in a Channel 4 interview that it will take 50 years before we can judge its benefits is extraordinary. No doubt, people will be making those judgements in half a century, but long term predictions of this kind are invariably foolish. Especially when you consider that nobody seems to know what is happening with Brexit at all on a day by day basis. Predictions about the long term future of work can be equally foolhardy. This is a reason why it’s best to make them about the short term, while you still have a reasonable chance of looking prescient. A lesson for the authors of this piece of nonsense published in Fast Company last week.

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July 20, 2018

A round-up of seven of the best workplace stories from around the web

by Mark Eltringham • Features, Technology, Workplace design

A sizeable majority of us are in jobs that don’t fit our occupational interests

Does workplace design really matter?

The most productive meetings have fewer than eight people

Stories from experts about the impact of digital life

Workplace interventions for reducing sitting at work

The AI revolution will be led by toasters, not droids

If you’re going open-plan for costs, you’re doing it wrong

July 17, 2018

Artificial intelligence will create more jobs than it displaces, claims new study

by Mark Eltringham • News, Technology

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and related technologies are projected to create as many jobs as they displace in the UK over the next 20 years, according to new analysis by PwC. In absolute terms, around 7 million existing jobs could be displaced, but around 7.2 million could be created, giving the UK a small net jobs boost of around 0.2 million. While the overall net effect of AI on UK jobs may be broadly neutral, this varies significantly across industry sectors. The most positive effect of AI is seen in the health and social work sector, where PwC estimates that employment could increase by nearly 1 million, equivalent to around 20 percent of existing jobs in the sector. On the other hand, PwC estimates the number of jobs in the manufacturing sector could be reduced by around 25 percent, representing a net loss of nearly 700,000 jobs.

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July 17, 2018

Video: Arthur C Clarke predicts remote and flexible working in 1964

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

Some people foresaw the virtualisation of work, flexible working and the erosion of the workplace over 50 years ago. Scientist and author Arthur C Clarke appeared on the BBC’s Horizon programme in 1964 to apply his foresight and clipped vowels to the question of what future technological advances would mean for the way we work and the makeup of the world’s cities in the 21st Century. He is absolutely correct in his vision in some ways and way off in others, even allowing for his talk of ‘transistors’ rather than microchips.

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July 16, 2018

New government estates strategy will see thousands of jobs relocate away from London

by Mark Eltringham • News, Property, Public Sector

The UK Government has announced it latest plans to save around £3.6bn over the next two decades by dramatically scaling back its property estate and relocating thousands of staff as part of its new 12 year estates strategy. The Cabinet Office has outlined the plans to move thousands of public sector jobs, including senior roles, out of London by 2030, reducing Whitehall buildings from around 65 to 20 over the same period. Around 20 so-called Government hubs will be set up in the regions by the end of this parliament in 2022. In total, the strategy commits to reducing the number of government-owned office buildings from 800 to under 200, with an estimated saving of £3.6bn over 20 years.

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July 9, 2018

Hong Kong Central remains most expensive office market in the World, according To CBRE

by Mark Eltringham • News, Property

Hong Kong Central remains the most expensive office market in the world, according to CBRE’s annual Global Prime Office Occupancy Costs report. Hong Kong Central’s overall prime occupancy costs of US$307 per sq. ft. per year topped the “most expensive” list, followed by London West End (US$235 per sq. ft.), Beijing Finance Street (US$201 per sq. ft.), Hong Kong Kowloon (US$190 per sq. ft.) and Beijing Central Business District (US$189 per sq. ft.).