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:

November 28, 2017

BPF submits real estate sector deal proposal to government

by Mark Eltringham • News, Property

The British Property Federation (BPF) has announced it has submitted a Sector Deal proposal to government on behalf of the real estate industry. The announcement follows yesterday’s publication of the government’s Industrial Strategy White Paper – and of the first three Sector Deals committing industry and government to achieving the Industrial Strategy’s ambition in partnership. The real estate Sector Deal proposal sets out how the real estate industry underpins the UK’s economic and social wellbeing, and how it will be essential to the delivery of other Sector Deals including construction. The proposal ‘seeks a partnership with government where both sides are working together to maximise the real estate industry’s contribution to the economy, and to creating infrastructure and great places to live, work and relax across the country’.

November 27, 2017

OECD publishes major new work on measuring the quality of the working environment

by Mark Eltringham • News, Workplace design

The OECD has published a major new report which it claims set out an internationally agreed set of guidelines to measure the quality of the working environment. The document covers a wide range of factors related to working conditions based on existing data and a survey of workers in 20 OECD countries. These characteristics of the working environment include risk factors, work intensity, discretion, autonomy and the opportunity for self-realisation. The guidelines have been produced as part of the OECD Better Life Initiative, which was launched in 2011 with the objective of measuring wellbeing. The report then goes on to set out guidelines for analysis based on sets of questions based on 17 workplace factors.

November 27, 2017

New intellectual property protection initiative launched for workplace and interior design

by Mark Eltringham • Furniture, Legal news, News, Workplace design

The Society of British and International Design (SBID) has launched the SBID Intellectual Property (IPP) initiative to mark the new campaign to prevent IP theft in the interior design industry. Developed in association with TM – Eye, with the aim of assisting the industry to obtain objective evidence of design ownership, the venture updates the archaic discourse on intellectual property in design and will raise awareness of what designers need to do to properly protect their work. The issue is one of stolen ideas after a commercial presentation, without consent or a fee, a problem that has plagued the interior design industry and left owners/creators feeling like they had no legal support to refer to. This could typically be the theft of ideas created in an interior designed space or product. This has not only been an ongoing problem for business investors in all creative sectors of design and manufacture, but also a problem for consumers who are put at risk, completely unaware when they purchase a look-alike product, to find a poorly manufactured copy without tested safety marques that could cause untold damage to property.

November 24, 2017

Seven workplace stories that have focused our minds this week

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

Innovation in real estate: it’s now or never

Is this the office that people really want?

We only have a ten percent chance of making AI safe

Good thinking might be your silver bullet

The once enlightened approach to staff wellbeing and engagement at Barclays

Drones will reshape how we build cities (registration)

Law firms average arrive and leave times

Image: Simon Heath

November 24, 2017

HSE launches new online workplace wellbeing community

by Mark Eltringham • News, Wellbeing

Today, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has launched an online community aimed at improving the health and wellbeing of people at work. The (appallingly named) Helping Great Britain Work Well initiative follows a call earlier this year from the HSE , trade unions and other organisations for businesses to focus on a broad range of health and safety and wellbeing issues. The HSE claims that the response from more than 100 employers was so positive, benefiting more than 300,000 workers, that they were inspired to create the new community to promote the advantages of cultural change. The launch of the new web community sets out to establish a social sharing network where companies and businesses can ‘make their commitments, share their journey of improvement and help each other and encourage others to follow in their footsteps’.

November 24, 2017

It’s just life now: Debra Ward in conversation with Mark Eltringham

by Mark Eltringham • Facilities management, Features, Podcasts, Property, Technology, Workplace design

There is currently a great deal of talk about the way people experience the workplace. It is a subject linked to the changing nature of work but also a growing awareness that the old demarcations of time and place are falling, and with them the demarcations between the workplace professions. This subject may be topical but it has been a long term preoccupation for today’s guest on the podcast Debra Ward. Earlier this year Debra joined JLL in the new role of Strategy & Growth Director and one of her first aims has been to focus on the firm’s approach to human experience. This is encapsulated in a major global report on the subject but it’s one that Debra has always championed in here previous roles with MITIE, Macro and Condeco. Debra is forthright, informed, bright and passionate. Everything you need in a podcast in fact.

November 23, 2017

The workplace sector responds to the 2017 UK Autumn Budget

by Mark Eltringham • Architecture, Environment, Features, Property, Technology

Yesterday, the Chancellor Philip Hammond announced the details of the UK government’s latest budget. While Brexit inevitably cast its shadow over the whole thing, there were a number of announcements relevant to the workplace, construction, tech and built environment sectors, many of which have been broadly welcomed by commentators, industry bodies and experts. Among the announcements in the budget were new plans for infrastructure and planning, skills and training, the environment, productivity, AI and regional development.

November 21, 2017

The missing LINC between the office and the future of work

by Mark Eltringham • Features, Flexible working, Technology, Workplace design

There is a theory that if you want to know how the economy is doing, you ask a taxi driver. The basis for this idea is that they are the first to know when money is getting tight, because people make more use of buses and tubes. In a similar way, one of the best ways of gauging workplace trends is to ask an office furniture company. They’ve always functioned in a fiercely competitive market, but are also the first to notice an economic downturn or a shift in the structure of their markets.

November 17, 2017

Managers with a high IQ might be too clever for their own good when it comes to leadership

by Mark Eltringham • News, Workplace

The perfectly obvious assumption that there is a direct correlation between high intelligence and fitness leadership has been called into question by researchers from the University of Lausanne. In a paper published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, the team of academics suggest that too much intelligence might actually harm the effectiveness of leaders, describing the correlation between IQ and perceived leadership ability as ‘curvilinear’. This means that, at a certain level of intelligence, people can become too clever for their own good – and the good of their colleagues and employer.

November 17, 2017

Seven stories about people, places and technology we’ve been reading this week

by Mark Eltringham • AI, Features, Technology, Workplace, Workplace design

How to navigate beyond sustainability buzzwords

The communist party offices around the world

Hawking’s fear that AI may replace humans altogether

Tech giants are transforming Sydney’s business district

How AI will transform the employee experience

Promotion improves men’s job satisfaction but not women’s

Why we value physical objects over digital

November 16, 2017

Research details how staff satisfaction affects company performance

by Mark Eltringham • News, Workplace

Companies with high levels of staff satisfaction perform better financially, according to new research from the University of East Anglia (UEA) published in the journal Economics Letters. The study examined the effect of staff satisfaction on corporate performance using employees’ online reviews of where they work. Writing in the journal Economic Letters, the researchers from Norwich Business School say that firms rated highly by their current employees in terms of satisfaction achieve greater financial performance compared to firms characterised by low levels of employee satisfaction. More →

November 16, 2017

Fear of change is putting British companies at risk, Microsoft report claims

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Technology

A fear of change among staff is putting British companies at risk, according to new research that looks at how businesses are preparing for a technology-led future. A significant number of workers from across the UK admitted to anxiety and concerns over job security when their firms introduced technology to help them in their roles. Just under half (49 percent) of the people surveyed by Microsoft, Goldsmiths, University of London and YouGov said they feared the change that comes with digital transformation. Sixty-one percent said they felt anxious when bosses brought in new technology, while 59 percent were worried about the impact the automation of tasks would have on their job.