We should welcome the Government’s evidence based approach to wellbeing

by • Comment, Flexible working, Workplace, Workplace design

Microscope_Nosepiece (1)The UK Government is very big on evidence based design these days and it is applying this approach in a number of new areas of policy, including wellbeing. Invariably the outcomes of its research and analysis are first refracted through a political prism on their way to becoming legislation, but the approach is very welcome and we should greet it without cynicism. At the end of October of this year The Cabinet Office announced the launch of The What Works Centre for Wellbeing including a dedicated website. The centre has the support of 17 founding partners including Public Health England, the Economic and Social Research Council, the Office for National Statistics, a number of other central government departments, the Local Government Association and the BIG Lottery Fund which means it enjoys wide ranging buy-in from the people best able to shape policy making and is chaired by Lord Gus O’Donnell.

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Fold7 drops in to its new Mary Poppins inspired Farringdon offices

by • Case studies, Company news, News, Workplace design

Fold7 has moved into new offices in Farringdon to house the expanding agency business and talent. The agency, which counts Go Compare, Gumtree, Ted Baker, Nike and Orange as its clients, has unveiled its news offices designed by Paul Crofts Studio with a Mary Poppins-inspired installation of people floating away on umbrellas and two ‘dry’ jacuzzis. On the upper level, the agency has dedicated an entire floor to an informal working area, more akin to a restaurant and bar. A wall of curiosities screens the meeting room wall, with each individual item representing a story from our history and our experiences. A mid floor raised platform with two ‘dry Jacuzzis’ provides additional break out spaces. The ‘formal’ boardroom at the Farringdon offices is fitted with a collection of cuckoo clocks to serve as a reminder that ‘it’s not the time that matters, but what you do with it that counts’ according to Fold 7 founder Ryan Newey.

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DeVere Group completes fit-out of new office in Etihad Towers, Abu Dhabi

by • Company news, News, Workplace design

de Vere fit-outThe Interiors Group have completed a shell and core fit-out at the new offices of financial consultancy PIC deVere Group on a floor at Tower 3 of Etihad Towers, Abu Dhabi. The new office was designed to have a similar look, feel and functionality to the firm’s Dubai office and to anticipate the firm’s expansion. The brief included the provision of as many large team rooms as possible, so that each room could accommodate approximately thirty members of staff. The fit-out also incorporates a separate training room as well as print and breakout areas. Corporate colours were incorporated in this area with furniture and fittings largely in white and deVere blue introduced as the chosen finish for the Interface ‘Swing’ carpet and accent paint on elements of the interior architecture including columns and the glass and stone feature wall behind the reception desk.

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New report offers occasionally surprising vision of the future of work

by • Flexible working, News, Technology, Workplace design

Future of WorkA new report into the future of work from Cisco claims –unsurprisingly – that employers are shifting their workplace policies to accommodate new demands from employees for more flexible working styles, regardless of their demographic cluster. The 2014 Cisco Connected World Technology Report also also claims that the majority of both Generation X and Y professionals already believe that smartphones and wearable devices will be the workforce’s most important communication devices by 2020 – while the laptop will maintain its place as the workplace device of choice. These devices and their attendant software and apps will drive the uptake of flexible working although sixty percent of respondents to the survey still prefer to take notes using a pen and paper. Two of the most intriguing findings of the report are that while just over half of Gen Y professionals think they are more efficient than older workers (roughly in line with the perceptions of older workers themselves) this is way out of step with the impression HR professionals, and the majority of people still believe that the future of work still lies in the office, at least some of the time.

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Group of UK’s major employers urges widespread uptake of flexible working

by • Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Technology, Workplace design

flexible workingSome of the UK’s largest companies are jointly spearheading the call for the greater uptake of flexible working. On Monday, the 22 companies that make up the Agile Future Forum highlighted the role that factors such as new technology, changing demographics and globalisation are having on the business case for the adoption of agile working practices. Firms such as John Lewis, ITV, Ford, Tesco, Lloyds, BT and B&Q are championing the cause of agile working as a way of running a business that is competitive, productive, attractive to employees and able to compete on the world stage. The AFF, set up by former Lloyds chairman Sir Win Bischoff, used the event to publish its latest research to highlight the ways in which it believes the UK is one of the best-placed countries to foster flexible working in spite of a range of recalcitrant and restrictive working practices. The event cited a recent CBI survey which found that while 97 per cent of UK businesses agree that agility is key to growth, many still offer a limited range of flexible working practices.

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The leap in workplace ill health is down to mobile devices and flexible working

by • Comment, Flexible working, Legal news, Technology, Workplace design

flexible workingAccording to latest HSE statistics, the UK has seen a huge jump in the number of cases of workplace musculoskeletal disorders over the last two years. The data makes for depressing reading and includes a 20 percent hike in the number of cases to more than half a million, 8.3 million lost working days and a sharp increase in the proportion of work-related illness associated with the condition. Of the 535,000 new illnesses reported in the UK in 2013/14, over a third were musculoskeletal disorders; 184,000 cases. All of which begs the question what exactly is going on to cause this leap. Anecdotally we are aware of a number of factors that might indicate the smoking gun. The first is that clients are talking to us more and more about upper limb disorders rather than those related to the lower back. Pains and illnesses in the lower back are commonly (but not always) associated with poor posture while working at a desktop PC, injuries and aches to the wrists, arms, neck and shoulders are more commonly seen in people with handheld devices especially smartphones and tablets.

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The new issue of Insight is now available to view in your browser

by • Architecture, Facilities management, Newsletter, Technology, Workplace, Workplace design

2.Insight_twitter_logo smThe new issue of our weekly newsletter is now available to view online. This week, Simon Heath asks whether we are really so ready to swap the rat race for a life of indolent uselessness (and possibly edible obsolescence); we report on the failure of a large number of major EU institutions to act on their own green building initiatives; Helen Strother visits the new offices of AutoTrader in Manchester as the company switches to a solely digital platform; Cathy Hayward reports from Workplace Week; Sara Bean finds that the turmoil in the UK commercial property is ongoing, especially in London; and we report on the ongoing and unresolved tensions created by the practice of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) and ubiquity of open plan offices.  If you don’t already receive a copy, please sign up using the simple subscription form in the right hand sidebar and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and join our LinkedIn Group to discuss these and other stories.

Case Study: AutoTrader motors into its new Manchester digital playground

by • Case studies, Facilities management, Technology, Workplace design

_MG_0491smEven in the context of a rapidly declining print market, the decision to end AutoTrader’s 37-year history as a printed magazine was not an easy one to take. At its height, Auto Trader had a circulation of 368,000, but in June 2013 the final printed copy rolled off the presses and the business began its new incarnation as a purely digital platform. Of course, this transformation was a long time in the making and had actually begun ten years earlier.  By the time the print room lights went out, all of Auto Trader’s revenues had not only migrated online, but experienced significant growth too. It is Auto Trader’s growth during this process of transformation that is considered so unique in the publishing world and is proof that the business’ aspiration to be at the forefront of the digital marketplace is not just a wide-eyed intention. The website boasts 11.5million unique users, carrying out more than 140 million searches across mobile, table and desktop devices and the business is set to launch an extensive TV advertising campaign on boxing day.

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Workplace Week focuses on the office and individual productivity in all its forms

by • Events, Facilities management, Flexible working, Workplace, Workplace design

1KP_4971The holy grail of improving people’s productivity was the focus of this year’s Workplace Week, which took place last week from 3-7th November and raised more than £12,500 for Children in Need. The annual event organised by AWA and designed as a celebration of workplace innovation, included visits to 11 workplaces showcasing the latest techniques to get people performing at their very best, a day-long convention and a series of Fringe events. Andrew Mawson, who heads up AWA, opened the convention by setting the discussion in context. “We have maximised asset productivity by getting more people into buildings, and therefore working a building harder. But we need to focus on human productivity. If each organisation could make each person just 5 per cent more productive, that would have a major impact both on that organisation and the wider economy. In the knowledge economy we need to get the very best performance out of each and every brain on the payroll and to create the conditions that consciously support that.

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Interruptions and a lack of engagement cost UK firms £15 bn each year

by • News, Wellbeing, Workplace design

engagementUK businesses are suffering massive losses in company performance due to ‘disengaged’ employees who complain of working conditions that result in constant distraction and disruption and a lack of privacy, according to a new report published by office furniture maker Steelcase. Research by the Centre for Mental Health claims that presenteeism (at work physically but unproductive mentally) costs UK businesses £15bn per year and that includes the cost of disengaged employees. A new IPSOS survey commissioned by Steelcase, claims to highlights this and related issues. The survey of 10,500 employees working in open plan offices across 14 different countries and found that only 11 percent of workers are engaged and inspired at work, 63 percent lack engagement and are unmotivated and 37 percent describe their workplace as ‘stressful’. More →

Current issue of Work&Place explores intersecting worlds of people, place and tech

by • Architecture, Cities, Facilities management, Technology, Work&Place, Workplace design

wandpcoverAs we prepare the upcoming issue of Work&Place (don’t forget to subscribe on our homepage), a reminder that the September issue of Work&Place is available to download or view as a PDF or now in an online edition. Amongst this issue’s highlights are: Ian Ellison’s retrospective of last Summer’s Workplace Strategy Summit; Jim Ware offers up a case study of workplace transformation at NEF from the perspective of the  firm’s CEO; Agustin Chavez and Laurie Aznavoorian consider how the workplace can help firms to manage knowledge; David Karpook meanwhile characterises the role of the facilities manager as akin to that of a stage manager; Wim Pullen explores the multi-generational workplace using empirical evidence; Erik Jaspers looks at how workers are colonising the world’s cities; Pawel Lenart and Dominika Kowalska report on how one specific country – Poland – has seen a transformation in the way it creates and uses workplaces over the past twenty years; and, on related themes Nancy Sanquist explains how IFMA is driving the agenda on urban FM and Charles Marks looks at how the UK’s regions are looking to capitalise on the Smart Cities movement.

The new issue of the Insight weekly newsletter is now available to view online

by • Facilities management, Newsletter, Property, Workplace design

Lounge Chair & Ottoman Hocker AlgueThe new issue of our weekly newsletter is now available to view online. With an unmistakable focus on workplace design, this issue sponsored by Fresh Workspace, sees Tony Ash of Vitra UK question why the Government isn’t doing more to curb the furniture copycats who brazenly steal other people’s intellectual property; Alison Kitchingman of Milliken looks at how architects and designers have used organic design to reflect the way people actually move around a building; Justin Miller of Wellworking considers a startling 20 percent leap in the number of people reporting musculoskeletal disorders in the UK; Anna King looks back on Orgatec and its key themes; Sara Bean reports on the rapidly declining availability of Grade A commercial property across the UK; and Mark Eltringham considers the science behind what makes offices so motivating for people. If you don’t already receive a copy, please sign up using the simple subscription form in the right hand sidebar and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and join our LinkedIn Group to discuss these and other stories.

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