June 24, 2016

Procrastination + Transparent office design + That Brexit thing ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Flexible working, Legal news, Newsletter, Technology, Wellbeing, Workplace, Workplace design

In this week’s Newsletter; Sathesh Alagappan outlines the impact on UK employment law following the Brexit vote; Mark Eltringham looks at taking transparent office design to new extremes; and why, according to Dr Piers Steel, this is the golden age of procrastination. Over a third of jobs in the tech and creative sector found within the Capital; a lack of trust precludes employees from donning wearables in the workplace; and new liability rules for the automated workforce of sophisticated ‘smart’ robots. News that 15 percent of organisations in the UK don’t place any focus on the mental health and wellbeing of employees; small firms more likely to adopt virtual working and both UK and US staff routinely work beyond their contracted hours. You can download our Insight Briefing, produced in partnership with Connection, on the boundless office; visit our new events page, follow us on Twitter and join our LinkedIn Group to discuss these and other stories.

June 24, 2016

Property and workplace experts have their say on the Brexit outcome ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Architecture, Comment, Facilities management, Property, Workplace, Workplace design

Well, the results are in and the UK’s electorate has voted by a narrow margin for the country to leave the EU. There are likely to be other developments but whatever you make of the UK’s decision to vote to leave the EU – and I think it’s fair to say most independent people think it’s inexplicable – there’s no doubt that it will have a profound impact on the UK’s economy, relationship with the world, culture, working conditions and markets. What it will mean in practice won’t be apparent for months or years, of course, but that hasn’t stopped experts who work in the property, workplace, design, legal, HR and architecture sectors having their say on its potential implications. We’ll look at these specific issues in more detail going forward but for now, here’s a round-up of those we have so far, which we’ll keep updated throughout the day as the dust settles on what will prove to be a momentous decision for the UK, Europe and rest of the world.

June 20, 2016

What happens when you take transparent office design to extremes ⁰

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

A rigid and unswerving adherence to a principle is rarely a good thing in the long run. This is perhaps doubly so when it comes to office design because the end result is often something that overlooks what offices are really for; namely giving human beings a place to go to be with one another. So, when you take a design dogma to extremes that ignore the human being that should be your core concern, you end up getting something like the office with no chairs, because ‘sitting is the new smoking’. Or you get the office made completely of glass because ‘transparency generates trust’. While it’s true that the Dutch firm MRVDV responsible for the refit of the building in Hong Kong has included some genuinely successful features, not least in the use of natural light and the environmental performance of the building, the interior itself is clearly the end product of meetings in which nobody felt comfortable telling everybody to knock it off.

June 17, 2016

Younger and older workers share many of the same attitudes to the workplace ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Technology, Workplace design

The behaviour and attitudes of young people in the workplace are very similar to those of older generations. We keep repeating this point but it’s always worth reminding ourselves given the prevailing narratives that obscure this truth. Indeed, so powerful is the narrative that even when a piece of research or a survey contradicts it, there is often an attempt to ignore the report’s own finding’s in favour of something that fits the meme. This happens more often than you think which is why it’s always worth going beyond the headlines to look at what lies beneath. This week, two reports have appeared which highlight just how much a younger generation of workers shares the same attitudes and challenges as other generations. According to the reports, this is true for issues such as presenteeism and the need for the company of colleagues and so suggest we don’t need to treat different age groups quite so differently as is often claimed.

June 17, 2016

Homeworking loses appeal as workers prefer flexible office environment ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Flexible working, Furniture, News, Workplace design

Most workers now look for flexibility in where and how they work finds a new survey from the British Council for Offices. But this doesn’t mean homeworking; as less than a third (28 percent) of workers now say they would prefer to work from home, a figure that has dropped from 45 percent in 2013, when the research from the BCO and Savills was last conducted. Over three-quarters of respondents (77 percent) said that they currently work in a traditional office, with the majority (60 percent) choosing to work from a dedicated workstation compared to only four percent that are asked to share desks with colleagues. This desire for a dedicated desk has increased over the past three years, rising from a figure of 41 percent in 2013; but despite demand for a dedicated desk, most workplaces (70 percent) now also include a communal environment to work from, providing a space for more dynamic working.

June 15, 2016

New workplace technology will automatically adapt offices to needs of staff ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Case studies, Facilities management, News, Technology, Workplace design

A new generation of workplace technology that allows the working environment to adapt to the needs of individuals will attract people to work in offices and contribute to their productivity, wellbeing and happiness. That is the key finding of a new report from US office furniture giant Haworth. According to the white paper Enabling the Organic Workspace: Emerging Technologies that Focus on People, Not Just Space a new generation of sensors will measure how offices are used and allow them to adapt on a day to day basis by changing temperature and lighting levels and responding to employees’ needs and influencing their behaviour in other ways. The white paper suggests this will be a development of existing technologies in the way it adapts the immediate working environment to the specific needs of an individual or group. This might even entail using biometrics to assess their psychological and emotional needs, according to the report.

June 14, 2016

What does Stephen Hawking have to do with office productivity? ⁰

by Darren Bilsborough • Comment, Facilities management, Workplace, Workplace design

Whether you are in the business of running a company or even running a country, the words efficiency and productivity are not only frequently used in policy and strategic rhetoric, they also appear to be largely interchangeable. This is frequently problematic. There is no denying the importance of both, but understanding their differences is vital to achieving real success when focusing on financial outcomes. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines efficiency and productivity in the following ways: Efficiency – the ability to do something or produce something without wasting materials, time, or energy. Productivity – the rate at which goods are produced or work is completed. Essentially, increasing efficiency means doing more with less, whereas increasing productivity means producing more with the same, for a business this typically means with the same amount of staff, space, time or materials.

June 7, 2016

Office best place for productivity, subject to wellness, tech and design ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace, Workplace design

An increasing number of employees may be opting for telecommuting and on-demand workspaces, but 66 percent of American employees consider the office as the most productive place to get work done. Thirty-six percent say it’s the most inspiring place to work as well, more than any other location. But as workers spend more time in the office, the onus falls on employers to keep their employees healthy, productive and inspired. According to The Staples Business Advantage Workplace Index, 70 percent of US office workers and managers report working more than 40 hours a week, many of whom say they’re working longer hours simply to catch up on work they couldn’t tackle during an eight hour day. And that workload is taking a toll, with 64 percent of respondents saying their workplace has contributed to stress, nearly half feeling so overworked they’re motivated to look for another job and 13 percent having taken a workplace stress-related leave of absence.

June 1, 2016

Lifts are a waste of both time and energy, claims report ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace design

As we’ve suggested before, lifts tell us an awful lot about how we work. Now, according to a new study from building consultancy SVM Associates and wellness firm Stepjockey it appears that they are a waste of both time and energy. According to the research carried out by SVM director John Newbold, employees typically waste fifteen minutes a day waiting around for them in lobbies and the lifts themselves consume more energy than firms suppose. The problem of wasted time is exacerbated by the growing adoption of flexible, collaborative working models which mean people move around offices more. According to the study the solution if you want to save time and get some exercise is to take the stairs, especially for trips of fewer than seven storeys. Lifts also typically consume up to 8 percent of the energy in office buildings, using over a third (35 percent) more power than claimed by their manufacturers according to the findings of Smarter Buildings: Real-world energy use of lifts/elevators in contemporary office buildings.

June 1, 2016

Coworking continuing to drive workplace change around the world ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Knowledge, News, Property, Workplace design

Coworking continues to be one of the main drivers of workplace change globally and is now becoming mainstream, according to new research from serviced office provider The Instant Group. According to the firm’s Flexible Workspace Review – US 2016 report, coworking grew more than 10 percent across the US over the last year and ‘combination centres’ which offer both executive suites and coworking spaces expanded by 12.9 percent as existing operators sought to take advantage of the growing demand for collaborative and agile workspace. The study claims that the occupation of flexible workspace by corporations has significantly expanded the US flexible office market over the past year, largely driven by the rise of the contingent workforce and changing workplace demands of Millennials. The total market grew by 4.3 percent and now includes 3,596 centres, the largest markets of its kind in the world with the UK following at 3,290 centres.

May 31, 2016

Large scale study finds link between mental health and workaholism ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, Knowledge, News, Wellbeing, Workplace, Workplace design

A new large scale study from Norwegian researchers finds that workaholism is closely associated with a range of mental diseases and psychiatric disorders. Although the link has been the subject of speculation and study, the authors claim that the new research is one of the few large scale, academic studies into the subject and so comes up with unequivocal results. The study of 16,426 Norwegian subjects in The Relationships between Workaholism and Symptoms of Psychiatric Disorders found that workaholism is significantly related to psychiatric conditions such as adult ADHD, OCD, clinical anxiety and depression. The web-based survey assessed the mental health and workaholic characteristics of subjects and used statistical analysis to establish a correlation. It concludes that while disorders can be put in part down to demographic and other factors, the ‘correlations between workaholism and all psychiatric disorder symptoms were positive and significant’.

May 30, 2016

Why the greatest places to work are also safe by design ⁰

by Justin O'Sullivan • Comment, Facilities management, Wellbeing, Workplace design

An effective workplace is one that helps employees to feel relaxed, motivated, and safe. From my point of view, the latter is especially true. I believe that health and safety becomes a lot easier when it is built into the fabric of the building itself. The Google workplace has been praised for its great design, and it’s easy to see why. Alongside the eccentric features and the myriad of differently styled rooms is a serious commitment to the wellbeing of its employees. The design of the Google canteen (above) means that sugary snacks are stored in translucent containers at the back, but healthier options such as fruits and nuts are stored in transparent containers at the front. The idea is to encourage employees’ to be healthy using workplace design. This is just one example a company that has built safety and health into the fabric of their building rather than absent-mindedly forcing it upon the workplace as an afterthought.