August 19, 2019
As we live longer lives, it’s inevitable that more of us want to work for longer. It makes good business sense too: with fewer younger people starting work to replace those set to retire in future years, coupled with uncertainty over Brexit and labour shortages, employers can’t afford to lose older workers.
August 16, 2019
In recent years, we have seen a growing civil rights movement focused on change in the workplace and in terms of office design, revolving around differences in brain function. Advocates for neurodiversity say that it’s just as critical to business success as gender or racial diversity in the labour force. More →
August 16, 2019
It’s been a year since the launch of the Mayor of London’s smart city roadmap, designed to transform the capital into the smartest city in the world. But twelve months later, is the city any smarter? The Mayor of London’s smart city roadmap is proposing to transform the capital into the smartest city in the world, and as part of the initiative, Sadiq Khan appointed his first Chief Digital Officer to help steer the plan to focus on knowledge and technical advancements that will make life easier for London’s citizens. More →
August 15, 2019
The Agile Manifesto, published in 2001, signalled a shift in approach to workplace design as well as technology. Though the document was conceived as a guide to speeding up software development, its contents have gone on to inform how organisations think and operate in ways that extend far beyond IT. “Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.” That’s the fifth of 12 ‘principles’ in the manifesto. More →
August 14, 2019
Lewis Carroll’s second best known work The Hunting of the Snark is a long nonsense poem that describes the pursuit by a group of adventurers of an elusive creature called a Snark. This turns out to be a much more dangerous Boojum when it is finally seen, causing one of the crew members to vanish. The poem may or may not be an allegory for the pursuit of happiness but it could easily be about our pursuit of anything elusive, imaginary or ephemeral.
August 9, 2019
There is or was a running joke within IBM that their buildings don’t have windows, they have outside awareness ports. It’s an idea that not only reflects the culture of long hours spent staring at computer screens – something you don’t have to work for Big Blue to be aware of – but also one that acknowledges our need to be aware of the wider world when we are at work. Our gut instinct tells us that we are better off either outdoors or looking at it. More →
August 7, 2019
The problem with the modish idea of fake news is that we’re not very good at spotting it. As with our driving, each of us possesses an unwarranted faith in our own abilities coupled with dismay at those of other people, unaware of just how much our own biases and fixed opinions distort the way we perceive information. It’s one of those things we need to be on the lookout for, especially if we are pronouncing on complex issues.
August 6, 2019
British people increasingly work in temporary positions and on short term engagements: part of a fundamental global shift in the way we work. The domestic gig economy has seen the number of workers more than double in number since 2016, according to a recent report from the TUC and the University of Hertfordshire (conducted with Ipsos MORI). Based on interviews with 2,235 individuals, the report’s key finding is that gig economy platforms, such as Uber, Deliveroo and Upwork, are now staffed by 4.7 million workers – or one in 10 working-age adults, up from one in 20 three years ago. It also found that 15 per cent of survey respondents had undertaken gig economy work at some point – equivalent to almost 7.5 million people if extrapolated across the entire economy. More →
August 2, 2019
It’s summertime — even here in San Francisco. I look around and I see my neighbors putting down their devices and heading into the great outdoors. And, that should not be just a seasonal joy; it’s actually very good for your brain any time of the year. We weren’t meant to spend as much time inside – in a controlled environment – as we do. The brain thrives when it encounters new things and challenges. As just one example, studies have shown that walking on an uneven surface – such as cobblestones – and making the constant requisite physical adjustments is better for your brain than the monotony of paved surfaces. More →
July 29, 2019
Although people have been talking about flexible working in one way or another for decades – the economist John Maynard Keynes declared in 1930 that technological advances would lead to a 15-hour working week – we may now be at the tipping point where work takes on an entirely different character. More →
July 26, 2019
The general picture of self-employment, the gig economy work and mental wellbeing is not a pretty one. Around the world, Uber drivers face wage and security worries. Deliveroo workers have too much competition. Airbnb owners face legal problems in Paris and other cities. But while these headlines suggest a dark cloud over the heads of gig economy workers, recent data I’ve looked at unexpectedly shows that they are about 33 percent more likely to self-report positive mental health traits.
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August 21, 2019
The office is increasingly able to recognise you, but will you recognise it?
by John Comacchio • Comment, Technology, Workplace design
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