The challenge for office acoustics is to make people feel at home

The challenge for office acoustics is to make people feel at home

The need for quiet work remains wherever we work, and so our approach to office acoustics should shift in particular waysA number of apparent truisms about work and workplaces entered mainstream consciousness in the wake of the pandemic, and the shift to more flexible and hybrid working cultures. One of them is that people are better off carrying out focussed, quiet work at home, and creative and collaborative work in the office. And that this might suggest our approach to office acoustics would shift in particular ways. More →

What the office of the future will really look like is the office of today

What the office of the future will really look like is the office of today

If you set aside the Jetson-y outside views, the office of the future is very like the office of the presentIt’s a banality to point out that futurism is nowism plus either a robot butler or blasted landscape. So, I was taken with a press release we had last week from Studio Alliance which shows an AI’s depiction of the office of the future at various points over the next quarter of a century. What is most striking to me, if you set aside the Jetson-y outside views, is how much like the office of the present each is. More →

Rummaging through the workplace memory hole

Rummaging through the workplace memory hole

I recently whiled away an idle hour checking which of the more deranged pronouncements from the period of peak workplace hysteria in late 2020 have been memory holedtalking of Orwell, I recently whiled away an idle hour checking which of the more deranged pronouncements from the period of peak workplace hysteria in late 2020 have been memory holed. There was some weird, wild stuff, often coupled with a feverish response to anybody urging caution. At one point somebody (I know who but won’t say) suggested I should be banned from LinkedIn for pushing back on the idea that any firm that didn’t go fully remote would be out of business within five years. More →

How many fingers am I holding up?

How many fingers am I holding up?

Quoting George Orwell is the kind of thing that people who haven’t read Orwell do. The term Orwellian is used by people who have not only not read him, but have latched on to some laundered idea of the themes of his work. They are not only misrepresenting him, but misrepresenting a misrepresentation. If it were true that the dead could spin in their graves, Orwell would solve the world’s energy crisis. He could power the Northern Hemisphere by reacting to the liberties taken with Nineteen Eighty-Four alone. Anyway. I have read him so you and he will have to forgive me for what I’m about to say. More →

Digital nomads are starting to price out local communities around the world

Digital nomads are starting to price out local communities around the world

Remote working: how a surge in digital nomads is pricing out local communities around the world. For eight years I have studied digital nomadism, the millennial trend for working remotely from anywhere around the world. I am often asked if digital nomads are driving gentrification. Before COVID upended the way we work, I would usually tell journalists that the numbers were too small for a definitive answer. Most digital nomads were travelling and working illegally on tourist visas. It was a niche phenomenon. Three years into the pandemic, however, I am no longer sure. More →

What Aldous Huxley can teach us about acoustics and distractions at work

What Aldous Huxley can teach us about acoustics and distractions at work

Aldous Huxley who had some thoughts on acoustics and unwanted noiseOver the last few years there has been something of a loud and widespread backlash to the idea that we need to have constant access to information and our colleagues to work effectively. The touchstone for this pushback is of course the open plan office which has become something of a scapegoat for the universal problem of interruption and distraction and a renewed interest in the complexities of acoustics in office design. It is also one of the main reasons people prefer to work anywhere other than offices some or all of the time. More →

Putting a new approach to office design in the frame

Putting a new approach to office design in the frame

The traditional ways we think about office design need to be rethought in response to the new and emerging challenges businesses now faceIt is now a truism to suggest that the traditional ways we think about office design need to be rethought in response to the new and emerging challenges businesses now face. Most people accept this but are still trying to work out the implications for the way we design and manage the physical workplace. The office needs to tell a new story. And one way to structure this narrative this is to borrow ideas from the movie screenwriting process. More →

Should work help to define your identity? Perhaps, but first consider this…

Should work help to define your identity? Perhaps, but first consider this…

Dr Tracy Brower considers how work ideally forms just a part of our identity The last few years have put work at the forefront of our consideration as individuals and our discussions as a society. Globally, people are thinking consciously about their work, its meaning and its place in their lives. This focus will surely create the conditions for a great reinvention —a reset of how we work as well as where, when and for whom. Identity is an important part of the dialogue: Should work be central to someone’s identity? Is it healthy for work to occupy our focus? And how much is too much? More →

 It is possible to balance the positives and negatives of stress at work

 It is possible to balance the positives and negatives of stress at work

It’s important to know the difference between helpful and unhelpful stress and what this means for employers looking to improve workforce wellbeingStress is an inevitable part of everyday life, and our bodies are hard-wired to respond to it. However, it’s clear stress takes a regular, negative toll on organisations across the country. Last year, 17 million days were lost due to stress, depression or anxiety, which accounted for 51 percent of all work-related ill health cases and 55 percent of all working days lost due to ill health. Poor mental health costs employers between £1,205 and £1,560 per employee, per year. Some of the main causes of stress in the workplace include mounting workload pressures, increased responsibilities, and a perceived lack of support from senior management. More →

Are you ready for the latest family friendly employment laws?

Are you ready for the latest family friendly employment laws?

Three new ground-breaking employment laws will transform the employee benefit landscapeIt’s increasingly important for employers to have family-friendly employee benefits and policies to support recruitment and retention. These need to recognise the diverse needs and responsibilities of employees today and enable them to effectively balance their work and family life. Now to support employees and give them more protection in law three new ground-breaking employment laws will transform the employee benefit landscape. More →

We need better evidence to help protect people at work

We need better evidence to help protect people at work

Understanding what works to protect people at work needs better use of evidenceWe make decisions at work every day and for those in complex roles or in fast-changing situations, it can feel like a continuous process. In business, of course, the choices we make can have a significant impact on the bottom line and, more importantly, our people, the environment and the communities we’re operating in. With so much riding on what we choose to do, our decision-making processes must be designed to maximise our chances of successful outcomes. This is especially so when our decisions involve how to protect people at work so can be literally a matter of life or death. More →

To boost productivity in the UK, we need to think big and different

To boost productivity in the UK, we need to think big and different

olicymakers, businesses, and society must recognise the importance of productivity and collaborate to implement the necessary reforms and initiatives to unlock the country's full economic potentialThe decline in UK productivity since the Great Recession of 2008/2009 has been a matter of concern for business leaders, policymakers, and economists alike. Despite hopes that the pandemic would act as a catalyst for transformation and boost productivity, recent figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that the UK still lags behind several other G7 economies. More →