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:

Automation and data need radically new systems of governance according to scientists

Automation and data need radically new systems of governance according to scientists 0

by • AI, News, Technology

automationThe current framework for governing automation and the management and use of data cannot keep pace with technological advances, according to a new report by the Royal Society and the British Academy. The report calls for the establishment of a new, independent body to steward an overall framework that can safeguard public confidence and ensure that the potential benefits of data use such as improved public services, better healthcare and business innovation are fully realised. The two National Academies convened leading figures from the Sciences, Humanities and Social Sciences to undertake a detailed review of the current governance landscape for data usage and management. Data Management and Use: Governance in the 21st Century found that data usage, data collection and management are increasingly intertwined, and new ways of using data make it difficult to define which data is sensitive.  It found that, while the current governance architecture provides a lot of what is needed to deal with these challenges, there are clear gaps and too many silos, such that tensions between how individual and collective benefits and risks are negotiated are not always identified and addressed in a transparent and inclusive way.

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The mere presence of a smartphone causes people to suffer brain drain

The mere presence of a smartphone causes people to suffer brain drain 0

by • News, Technology, Wellbeing

You may think it’s enough to mute or put away your smartphone when trying to carry out some focused work, but a new academic study suggests that the mere presence of a smartphone reduces our ability to concentrate. The study of over 500 subjects was carried out by researchers at the University of Texas and published in the Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, found that the brain suffers from the unconscious potential to browse, play games and communicate. Even when hidden in drawer or bag, the existence of a smartphone reduces people’s ability to carry out even relatively simple cognitive tasks.

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Middle-aged office workers are now more sedentary than pensioners, finds study

Middle-aged office workers are now more sedentary than pensioners, finds study 0

by • News, Wellbeing, Workplace design

Most middle-aged office workers now spend as much time sitting down as older pensioners, according to a report. The research claims to have overturned previous studies that suggested that older adults are the most sedentary age group in the UK, when it appears to be middle aged office workers who move the least. The study highlights the potential health risks of excessive sitting at work. The study found that 45 to 54-year-old men spend on average 7.8 hours per weekday sitting down, compared with 7.4 hours for the over-75s. Sedentary work is the main reason for this inactivity. Researchers drew upon data from more than 14,000 people in Scotland, taken from the 2012-14 Scottish Health Survey. The findings from the University of Edinburgh’s Physical Activity for Health Research Centre are published in the Journal of Sports Sciences. Only the youngest group of men surveyed – 16 to 24-year-olds – are significantly less sedentary than the over 75s on weekdays.

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BIFM calls for views on the scope and future of facilities management profession

BIFM calls for views on the scope and future of facilities management profession 0

by • Facilities management, News

As part of its ongoing commitment to the FM profession and its members BIFM has commissioned research by independent consultants 3edges, to explore how well equipped the facilities management profession is to support the future world of work. As part of the study, a survey has been issued direct to BIFM members this week, covering aspects about individuals and their roles, the FM profession, workplace and BIFM. All BIFM members are invited and encouraged to participate. It is hoped that the findings will inform BIFM’s future direction as a professional body, enabling the Institute to refine its offering to both its members and the FM profession.

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Digital tech is fastest growing sector in Scotland, claims report

Digital tech is fastest growing sector in Scotland, claims report 0

by • News, Technology

The digital technology sector is forecast to grow twice as fast as the Scottish economy overall in the years to 2024, according to research published by Skills Development Scotland and the Digital Technologies Skills Group. This growth is ‘creating unprecedented demand for digital skills with employers across all sectors seeking to harness the benefits of technology to drive innovation and increase competitiveness’. The new publication, Scotland’s Digital Technologies, found that digital tech was the fastest growing sector of the economy accounting for five percent of Scotland’s total business base and employing two per cent of the national workforce.

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Many business owners are baffled by workplace law jargon

Many business owners are baffled by workplace law jargon 0

by • Legal news, News, Workplace

A survey of 250 business owners by Attest market research for HR and employment law advisors Peninsula found that 54 percent of business owners were baffled by workplace law jargon with many thinking the human resource management method – Bradford factor – stood for the best singer in Bradford instead of a means of measuring worker absenteeism. 44 percent thought TUPE meant total under taxation of parliament expenses not transfer of undertaking regulation, 30 percent thought EAT meant employment advice team not employment appeal tribunal. Meanwhile the Conservatives’ election slogan ‘strong and stable’ clearly left a huge mark on people’s thoughts as a number of business owners thought that ‘SSP’ stood for ‘strong and stable professionalism’ instead of the correct meaning of ‘statutory sick pay.’

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Firms still paying lip service to digital transformation, but change may be coming

Firms still paying lip service to digital transformation, but change may be coming 0

by • News, Technology, Workplace

Britain’s biggest businesses risk being disrupted by the pace of technological change because their senior leaders are paying lip service to the need for digital transformation, according to a study from tech startup AVADO. The study of senior managers responsible for the learning and development (L&D) of staff at Britain’s biggest firms with turnovers of over £100m found that the need for digital transformation is accepted, almost universally, among respondents. 86 percent say they have assessed the business risk of not taking action and 88 percent have taken steps to address this. Yet, despite 93 percent of L&D professionals saying a digital transformation strategy is in place, the report suggests critical top down buy-in is missing. Yet, a second report from recruiters Robert Half suggests that a growing number of firms in the key finance sector are now actively recruiting to improve their digital transformation strategy.

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Shared desks are less hygienic than dedicated workstations, claims study

Shared desks are less hygienic than dedicated workstations, claims study 0

by • News, Wellbeing, Workplace design

A study by Initial Washroom Hygiene claims that microbiological activity is 18 percent higher in ‘hot desking’ environment. The firm claims that these findings suggest that having germs from different people on the surface of shared desks, computer mice and other equipment, means these workstations are typically home to more bacteria. The swabbing study was conducted using one company of over 100 employees with a fixed-desk environment. The same company then moved to a hot-desking environment, and the study was repeated in the same manner four months later. Experts from used an ATP bioluminescence reader to measure the microbiological concentration of various items on 40 different workstations, to determine what levels of bacteria these surfaces were harbouring. On average, the readings in the hot-desking office were 18 percent higher than those in the fixed-desk office. The use of communal computer mice in the hot-desk scenario was a key contributor to the difference in hygiene levels. Shared mice in the hot-desking environment had a 41 percent higher microbiological reading compared to readings taken from the computer mice on the fixed-desks.

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The workplace experience will define how real estate enables business transformation

The workplace experience will define how real estate enables business transformation 0

by • Flexible working, News, Technology, Workplace design

JLL has today launched ‘Workplace powered by Human Experience’, a new global report series and accompanying tool, the ‘Human Experience model’, looking at how workplace experience can help businesses thrive in the new world of work. Findings of the report, which is part of JLL’s recently launched Future of Work research programme, are based on consultations with decision makers at 40 corporations around the world and the results of a separate, anonymous survey of more than 7,300 employees working for companies with more than 100 members of staff. The survey covered 12 countries and the respondents were aged between 18 and 65 years. Countries where employees were surveyed: Australia, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, South Africa, Spain, the UK and the US.

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The self employed have to rely on each other as government offers almost no support

The self employed have to rely on each other as government offers almost no support 0

by • Flexible working, News

The self employed are turning to one another for business and financial support, according to new analysis by the RSA think-tank. Commissioned by the Federation of Small Business (FSB) to examine how self-employed workers might manage the risks they face, the RSA report claims that growing numbers of workers are turning to collective sick-pay funds to manage ill health, cash pooling schemes to deal with late payments and micro-loan services to plug gaps in bank finance.  The RSA’s report, The Self Organising Self Employed concludes that, to date, both the state and the market have struggled to keep pace with the rising numbers of the self employed. Although successive governments have been vocal in their admiration of people who strike it out alone, holding up their attributes as ‘self-starters’ and ‘strivers’, this had led to a ‘non-interventionist, hands-off policy agenda, with the self employed broadly left to their own devices’.

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Lack of digital adoption is the greatest social challenge we face, claims new report

Lack of digital adoption is the greatest social challenge we face, claims new report 0

by • News, Public Sector, Technology

More than 50 percent of organisations claim existing processes are preventing digital adoption, claims a new report from Agilisys, a tech firm focussed on projects in the public sector.  The ‘State of the Digital Nation’ draws on findings from a survey of over 400 individuals from private and public sector organisations, who shared the progress they are making on their ‘digital transformation journeys’. The report, based on the key findings of a survey conducted by online publication Digital by Default News, considers the role of digital inclusion in the adoption of digital public services. The survey revealed that 40 percent of respondents had a clear digital vision and were already well on their way to realising the benefits. The majority (65 percent) of those surveyed considered digital one of their top organisational priorities.

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Commercial property giant acquires controlling stake in London based flexible office provider

Commercial property giant acquires controlling stake in London based flexible office provider 0

by • Company news, Flexible working, Property

While we should never read too much into a single piece of business, the news that one of the world’s largest property investors is buying a young and still growing British flexible office provider is surely a sign of things to come. As Blackstone, a private equity giant with £140 billion of real estate assets worldwide acquires a controlling stake in The Office Group for £500 million, we must view the deal in the context of a market in which the most dynamic players are WeWork and its contemporaries. The Office Group has grown from seven buildings to thirty-six since it was founded in 2003 and provides flexible office and coworking space to start-ups, freelancers, small businesses and increasingly, corporates such as Facebook, Dropbox and British Gas.

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