July 20, 2018
A sizeable majority of us are in jobs that don’t fit our occupational interests
Does workplace design really matter?
The most productive meetings have fewer than eight people
Stories from experts about the impact of digital life
Workplace interventions for reducing sitting at work
The AI revolution will be led by toasters, not droids
If you’re going open-plan for costs, you’re doing it wrong
July 17, 2018
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and related technologies are projected to create as many jobs as they displace in the UK over the next 20 years, according to new analysis by PwC. In absolute terms, around 7 million existing jobs could be displaced, but around 7.2 million could be created, giving the UK a small net jobs boost of around 0.2 million. While the overall net effect of AI on UK jobs may be broadly neutral, this varies significantly across industry sectors. The most positive effect of AI is seen in the health and social work sector, where PwC estimates that employment could increase by nearly 1 million, equivalent to around 20 percent of existing jobs in the sector. On the other hand, PwC estimates the number of jobs in the manufacturing sector could be reduced by around 25 percent, representing a net loss of nearly 700,000 jobs.
July 17, 2018
London, Singapore and Seoul make up the top three smart cities worldwide, according to new research from the Eden Strategy Institute. The 2018-19 study, in partnership with ONG&ONG Experience Design (OXD), involved 140 smart cities ranked across 10 measures; clarity of vision, leadership, budget, provision of financial incentives, support programmes, talent readiness, a people-centric approach, development of an innovation ecosystem, implementation of ‘smart’ policies and, finally, a track record of previous initiatives and projects. New York and Helsinki rounded off the top five cities, with Montreal, Boston, Melbourne, Barcelona and Shanghai finishing in the top 10.
July 16, 2018
A bunch of coworking startups saying the same things about how different they are
Mass incompetency in business: the way we promote people is dead wrong
Want to discover (or re-discover) your sense of purpose at work?
Is stress at work always a bad thing?
Augmented space planning: Using procedural generation to automate desk layouts
A Stanford researcher says we shouldn’t start working full time until age 40
July 13, 2018
Connectivity is more than just broadband speeds and 4G coverage. New research from property consultancy Cluttons claims to reveal the impact it has on everything from the properties we choose to live in, to the places where we can work and our overall happiness both at home and in the office. The research suggests that London is lagging behind other national and global hubs when it comes to good connectivity in both residential and commercial property, failing our needs both as residents and businesses.
July 13, 2018
New research suggests that whilst young women are increasingly aware of the availability of careers in technology, half hold a belief that they are ‘unexciting’ and more than two-thirds think that roles in tech are predominately linked to gaming and IT consultancy; according to research commissioned by Yoox Net-a-Porter (YNAP) as part of their work to support digital education.
July 5, 2018
The open plan office versus closed debate rages on, and rather than running out of steam in the face of all of the evidence and reasoned argument put forward one one side or the other by many industry thought-leaders, it seems to have nine lives. Those grand and ground-breaking new offices occupied by the world’s tech giants seem to be particularly popular examples of why highly open and transparent workplaces do, or don’t work, especially those headline-grabbing offices created around the world by Google. This public debate has led to some very interesting and insightful discussions in various forums (to which I have contributed), inspiring me to synthesise the key themes into four reasons why a Google office is not necessarily the right type of office for your organisation. Many thanks in particular are due to David Rostie and Kay Sargent for their valuable online contributions to the debates which inspired this article.
July 5, 2018
In 2017, a content creator called Oobah Butler decided that he wanted to do something with the experience he’d gained writing fake positive restaurant reviews on TripAdvisor. What if, he wondered, he set up an entirely fictitious restaurant based in the shed in his garden and then started to manipulate TripAdvisor ratings? What happened surpassed his wildest expectations. In just six months, The Shed at Dulwich became the top-rated restaurant in London, even though nobody had ever actually eaten there, based solely on fake reviews, fake pictures and the word of mouth created by a complete inability for anybody to book a table.
July 5, 2018
The majority of employees are disappointed with their company’s lack of investment in technology, and despite the fact three quarters (76 percent) want to request flexible working – almost half still don’t have the option of working more flexibly, a new report from a technology company claims. According to the survey by technology company Ingram Micro Cloud UK, in collaboration with technology company Microsoft, despite the fact that Millennials and Centennials are often thought to be the driving force behind changing workplace practices – and are often derided in popular discourse for having unreasonable and unrealistic expectations – the calls for change are coming from all segments of the workforce. However, 85 percent of Millennials admit to procuring their own workplace technologies such as instant messaging, Skype, file hosting and sharing tools (all available from Ingram Micro Cloud) that aren’t supported or provided by their employer, which raises major security issues, acco.
July 4, 2018
In this podcast I talk to Mark Eltringham about British music, which leads to a discussion about bands from the early days of new wave in Liverpool, including Echo & The Bunnymen. The evolution of music serves as a metaphor which leads to a conversation about the history of the workplace where Mark shares his perspective on some of the founding thought leaders in our modern sector. I ask him about today’s places of work and Mark references a recent report from Chris Hood of AWA, Kate Lister of Global Workplace Analytics and Haworth while also sharing some research provided by Leesman Index. We talk about the blurring of the lines and need for collaboration across departments inside organizations, the relationship between facilities management and workplace as a whole, while also discussing the controversy in the UK about the future of the FM sector.
July 3, 2018
The UK lags behind other nations in the shift to remote and flexible working, putting more emphasis on effective meetings to coordinate scattered teams, a new report, ‘The Modern Workplace 2018: People, Places & Technology’ by software company Condeco has found. The research claims that across the world workers are in the midst of a shift to flexible and remote working – spending more time working from home, on the move or from multiple locations. However, the UK is significantly behind in embracing these trends, which could negatively affect worker satisfaction as well as holding back firms who are competing for the best international staff.
July 17, 2018
Video: Arthur C Clarke predicts remote and flexible working in 1964
by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Technology, Workplace, Workplace design
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