January 27, 2021

The lessons learned under the pandemic that will apply after it all ends

by Anna King • Features, Flexible working, Wellbeing, Workplace design

Recently lighting control firm Prolojik assembled an expert panel to talk about learning and working during the time of the Covid-19 pandemic. The roundtable (online of course) involved participants from various fields related to the built environment including those involved in developing, designing and tech reflected on their own experiences over the last several months. While industry issues raised during the session included what productivity really means and how to measure it, what infrastructure needs to be in place to enable people to return to their place of work or education and why a joined-up approach to wellness is an indisputably necessary strand of building management. More →

January 26, 2021

Creating great workplace cultures

by Toby Benzecry • Features, Technology, Workplace design

Workplace design is – or should be – inextricably linked to both an organisation’s identity and its culture. The issue of workplace culture, and why it might succeed or fail, has become a matter of a great deal of study as the basis for work has moved on from the scientific management theories of the early to mid-20th Century. This aped the hierarchies, structures and forms of factories. It once prevailed but even now its vestiges remain, often in spite of the decades of research and a changing world of work that show us better ways of getting things done. More →

December 10, 2020

Office taxonomy and an increasingly diverse workplace ecosystem

by Mark Eltringham • Features, Workplace design

From the archive. First published in October 2015. It is perhaps the most common misconception of evolutionary theory that all animals are somehow evolving towards some end point – meaning us. This notion is perhaps best summed up when a sceptic asks: “If we have evolved from monkeys, why are there still monkeys?” The lesser of the two problems with this is its solipsistic assumption that humans are the pinnacles of life and that, if evolution were true, all species would eventually evolve into people. More →

November 27, 2020

IN Magazine issue 4 continues to explore the changing world of work and workplaces

by Mark Eltringham • Features, IN Magazine, News, Premium Content

The new issue of IN Magazine is now online. This issue includes interviews with Chris Kane and Thomas Heatherwick; as well as pieces on: the new EDGE building in Berlin; the changing attitudes of CRE professionals to the office; the anthropology of workplace design; the interplay of networks and hierarchies; the need to create better cycling facilities; what the city and the office can learn from each other; a tribute to Enzo Mari and much more. Back issues can be found here.

November 24, 2020

Work really has become much harder during the pandemic

by Eva Selenko • Features, Flexible working, Wellbeing

The pandemic has seriously altered how we work. According to statistics published by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in September 2020, US$35 trillion (£26 trillion) has been lost globally in labour income. There has also been an estimated loss of 17 percent of working hours worldwide since 2019, with young people and women being hit hardest. And many of those still in jobs are working under very different conditions. More →

September 26, 2020

The world of work explored in all its glory in Issue 3 of IN Magazine

by Mark Eltringham • Case studies, Cities, Features, Flexible working, Premium Content, Technology, Wellbeing, Workplace design

Some things will never change. IN Magazine continues to offer the best content you can find on the changing world of work. The digital edition of Issue 3 is now available and print copies will be posted out later in the week. More →

September 17, 2020

No jab, no job? Can employers demand that workers take COVID-19 tests?

by Emily Hocken and Lloyd Davey • Features, Flexible working

As workers’ begin to populate office floors once more, employers must navigate a number of potential risks to ensure they are ‘COVID-19 secure’. As a result, the subject of ‘employee testing’ has made headlines, with the decision over whether employers can, or should, test their employees becoming an area of contention. More →

September 4, 2020

Employers facing surge of workplace health problems

by Neil Franklin • Features, Wellbeing

Doctors are becoming increasingly concerned about a cascade of work-related health problems during the fallout from COVID-19, with some predicting dire consequences for employers and the economy. Whilst many have become used to working at home or have returned to work with social distancing in place, many employers are not aware that the responsibility for managing health issues amongst their employee’s rests firmly on their shoulders. More →

September 3, 2020

No, flexible working won`t mean the death of the office and the city

by Jane Parry • Features, Flexible working

When coronavirus lockdowns were introduced, the shift to flexible working and remote work was sudden and sweeping. Now the British government is hoping the return to the office will be just as swift – to help the economy “get back to normal”. But pushing everyone back to the office full time fails to recognise the many benefits that working from home has brought. It also fails to capitalise on this moment of change. More →

August 26, 2020

There is more to lighting a space than meets the eye

by Carolina Florian • Environment, Features, Wellbeing, Workplace design

The best lighting design is the one you don’t notice. Coco Chanel once said: “dress shabbily and they remember the dress; dress impeccably and they remember the woman.” It’s the same with lighting. If you notice the light sources, and you can feel annoyed by them, then the design just doesn’t work. Essentially, there’s more to lighting than first meets the eye. More →

August 20, 2020

Job clusters and urban sprawl will become evident post lockdown

by James Lennox • Cities, Features, Flexible working

For most of us the experience of working from home this year has, on balance, been positive – enough that it may well become the norm after the COVID-19 crisis ends. But modelling by Victoria University’s Centre of Policy Studies shows there will be costs alongside the personal benefits, with more urban sprawl, job clusters with a flight to the biggest cities and greater economic disparities between regions. More →

July 30, 2020

The golden age of procrastination and the tyranny of time keeping ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Features, Wellbeing, Workplace

Many of us start each day with a long to-do list, a new set of goals and a commitment not to repeat the same mistakes we have in the past. It’s likely that we will have promised ourselves to stop putting things off. On our hit list of the foibles we most want to dispose of, procrastination will be somewhere near the top. The problem is that because procrastination is linked to psychological factors such as an innate preference to do something we deem pleasurable to something we don’t, modern life encourages us to do it. More →