April 5, 2024

A just in time lesson about office design

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Workplace design

The nascent years of new ways of working in the late 80s and early 90s coincided with a widely held but soon to be discarded belief that the Japanese had cracked management practices. So it was perhaps inevitable that the principles of a process called just in time manufacturing – most famously applied in the factories of Toyota – should migrate to new forms of office design and the rapidly developing practice of flexible working.

April 4, 2024

When it comes to the carbon conundrum, real change will come from collaboration

by Roger Olsen • Comment, Environment, Facilities management, Property, Wellbeing

Last week we launched our first white paper: Carbon Conundrum to Carbon Control and we were so delighted to be joined by a panel of experts across development, , engineering, design and consultancy. Through their discussion and with excellent engagement from our audience of developers, designers, contractors, agents, engineers and end users, there were a number of very pertinent industry topics raised. The mood was upbeat and collaborative, but the emphasis was certainly on action and innovation, with a commitment to collective responsibility, education and being bolder. More →

April 2, 2024

All you need to know about the changes in employment law from 6 April 2024

by Jonathan Lord • Comment, Legal news, Workplace

There are a number of employment law changes coming into effect on 6 April 2024 that will impact SMEs the most. These modifications to employment law will profoundly influence the daily functions of businesses, especially during a period when SMEs face substantial economic challenges. It is essential for managers to revise their policies, engage with employees, and adapt their procedures in alignment with the updated regulations prior to their implementation. This proactive stance is vital to maintain compliance and mitigate potential claims. More →

March 27, 2024

A lightbulb moment about mental health and managing change

by Jennifer Bryan • Comment, Wellbeing

According to the British Medical Association, the rates of mental illness have been steadily increasing in adults and at an even higher rate for children and young people over the past five years here in the UK. Resilience is often discussed as that aspect of mental health and coping, which is paramount to the ability to spring back during adverse circumstances. More →

March 26, 2024

Menopause gift bags and monitoring toilet breaks: why are employers getting menopause support so wrong?

by Natasha Letchford • Comment, Wellbeing, Workplace

A recent story involving Avanti West Coast, who provided a gift bag to staff experiencing menopause, is the latest in a series of misjudgements of menopause support by employers. The bag contained items such as a fan “for the hot sweats”, a jelly baby “in case you feel like biting someone’s head off” and a paper clip “to help you keep it all together”. The ASLEF Union suggested that rather than “insulting gimmicks” Avanti should focus their efforts on developing workplace policies and procedures that “value and support perimenopausal and menopausal women”. So what should employers be doing to provide adequate support and why are so many getting it wrong? More →

March 25, 2024

How to create a truly inclusive office design

by Alesya Karnaukhova • Comment, Workplace design

According to the Ministry of Social Policy in Ukraine, approximately 1/4 of the population belongs to groups with limited mobility, and unfortunately, this number is increasing due to the war. While the world has long been actively implementing the principles of inclusive design, it is particularly relevant in Ukraine now. Inclusive office design encompasses creating an environment that provides an attractive and inspiring experience for everyone. It’s about creating a space where all people, without exception, feel comfortable. Inclusion also contributes to expanding the market, improving reputation, and strengthening the company or brand’s authority through a focus on human-centric design. More →

March 25, 2024

When you empower your colleagues, you’re delivering excellence for them and your clients

by Jennifer Davidson • Business, Comment, Wellbeing

The level of engagement within a company’s workforce significantly impacts clients satisfaction and its bottom line. Recent research by Gallup shows that teams with high levels of engagement enjoy a 10 percent uplift in client loyalty and a 23 percent increase in profitability compared to low-engagement teams. Empowering colleagues with learning and development programmes can dramatically improve their engagement with a business. Supporting them in this way is crucial if you want them to deliver excellence. When people are encouraged to own their careers, they care more about the outcomes of their work, which translates into exceptional productivity and happy clients. More →

March 21, 2024

AI is already transforming the legal sector, but challenges remain

by Sarah Murphy • AI, Comment, Technology

As AI technologies continue to gain traction, just about every sector you can think of is going to face huge changes in the coming years – and that’s especially the case in the legal industry. From the rise of large language models (LLMs) to the integration of AI into existing software, this cutting-edge technology is already uprooting the way we work now, and it’s making us think deeply about what work will look like in the future. More →

March 20, 2024

Reviving flexible workspaces – a guide to saving failing operations

by Calum Russell • Comment, Property

The landscape of flexible working has witnessed unprecedented growth, spurred by the evolving needs of businesses in the aftermath of the pandemic. Despite the economic turbulence of 2023, the flexible office market has remained strong in the UK, achieving a record overall occupancy of 83 percent in the same year. As the demand for adaptable and collaborative working environments continues to rise, landlords and operators of flexible workspaces need to ensure that what they offer is meeting customer demands. Given the number of notable operator closures, many landlords are beginning to find themselves at the forefront of decisions about managing and revitalising failing operations. More →

March 14, 2024

Our false memory of work in 2019 is stopping us from having better conversations

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Workplace

We have taken the editorial decision to ignore the tedious, endless toing and froing between so-called return to office mandates and remote work. As much as we can, anyway. It doesn’t appear to be going anywhere and it is driven by two noisily motivated factions who seem unable or unwilling to shift their position by the smallest amount. It is a very 21st Century conversation. More →

March 14, 2024

When the chairs took over the world and what it all meant

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Facilities management, Furniture, Workplace, Workplace design

Of all the things we buy, with the exception of our clothes, furniture is the most intimate, the one item we spend most time in contact with. According to JG Ballard who dedicated himself to understanding our relationship with the world around us, ‘Furniture constitutes an external constellation of our skin areas and body postures’. Whether he would have recognised it as such, Ballard was a pioneer of the principle we now refer to as psychogeography, defined by one of its founders, Guy Debord, as ‘the study of the precise effects of setting, consciously managed or not, acting directly on the mood and behaviour of the individual’. More →

March 9, 2024

Industry: the art of working from anywhere

by Eugenia Anastassiou • Comment, Everything Omni, Flexible working

Walking into Bristol-based artist Gail Reid’s studio, I literally stopped in my tracks! There it was a painting of everything I had been researching and writing about with workplace strategist Chris Kane for our book “Where Is My Office?” both pre-and post-pandemic. Gail, was a Semi-Finalist in this year’s Sky Art’s Portrait Artist Of The Year – alas she didn’t make the final – although she impressed everyone with her talent and charisma. She also impressed me in managing to convey via the very traditional medium of an oil painting, a quintessential 21st century phenomenon – working from anywhere. More →