Columnists

Why the organisations seeing real returns from agentic AI are empowering employees, not cutting jobs

by • AI, Comment

The launch of the UK Government’s AI Skills Compact reflects an important shift in how policymakers and businesses are thinking about artificial intelligence. Rather than viewing AI simply as a route to greater efficiency or reduced headcount, leaders are starting to recognise that long-term competitiveness will depend just as much on equipping people with the […]

Is resilience a personality trait or a flaw in workplace design?

by • Comment, Wellbeing, Workplace design

Resilience must be one of the most misunderstood issues affecting businesses right now. It’s used whenever people are struggling, and almost always aimed at the individual – be tougher, manage your stress, build a bit more grit. During countless conversations with leaders and teams over the last few years it has been seen that those […]

Productivity gains from workplace AI mean little if they erase professional judgment

by • AI, Architecture, Comment, Workplace design

The strongest case for workplace AI rarely begins with a dramatic breakthrough. It begins with ordinary time savings: a report drafted faster, a plan assembled in minutes or a first pass produced without the usual blank-page delay. Those gains matter. Yet speed can become a dangerous proxy for value when leaders stop asking what happened […]

Work Beyond Walls is an event that promises to shift the way we talk about offices

by • Comment, Facilities management, Workplace design

Our sector produces an enormous amount of content about change, and almost all of it is published after the outcome is known. Case studies of offices appear once the move-in has gone well. Award entries are written once the risks have been mitigated. What gets shared among us is, overwhelmingly, a library of polished endings. […]

Resilience: the expanding global mandate for facility management

by • Comment, Facilities management

Throughout this decade, global challenges have shined a spotlight on the facility management (FM) industry and its professionals like never before. From pandemics to climate events and geopolitical instability, these challenges have tested organizations in unprecedented ways. While many debated the meaning of  terms like “the new normal,” facility managers demonstrated competence, strategic planning and […]

Are we designing workplaces around evidence or assumption?

by • Comment, Facilities management, Property, Workplace design

A sudden, intense summer heatwave does more than test a building’s cooling systems; it exposes just how difficult workplace management has become across Europe. During these spikes, employees rethink their commute, meeting rooms fill and empty at different times, quieter corners suddenly become more attractive places to work, and facilities teams work hard to keep […]

Most organisations are investing in AI. Far fewer are preparing leaders for it

by • AI, Comment

The gap between AI adoption and leadership readiness is becoming one of the defining challenges facing organisations today. According to Gallup’s latest State of the Global Workforce report, only one in five employees believe their manager actively supports their team’s use of artificial intelligence, while just one in four say their organisation has communicated a […]

AI can automate work, but it can’t automate trust

by • AI, Comment, Technology

Businesses are moving quickly to bring artificial intelligence into the workplace, exploring how it can support everything from recruitment and workforce planning to performance management and employee services. Employee confidence in this technology, however, is struggling to keep up. Research suggests only 46 percent of people say they trust AI systems, while almost a third […]

What frictionless work is removing from the working day

by • Comment, Flexible working, Wellbeing, Workplace design

If you look around most offices at midday on a Tuesday, you will likely see a variation of the same scene: employees sitting at their desks with headphones in and responding to Slack messages while eating lunch. The physical environment of the workplace may still be thoughtfully designed, with ergonomic furniture, curated lighting and acoustic […]

Tales from the built environment: some reflections on the conference circuit 

by • Comment, Facilities management, Property, Workplace design

The stories we tell ourselves can be powerful. They shape how we see reality, whether they’re true or not. The trouble is that the ones which endure are rarely the most helpful. Here’s a familiar story: every industry is privately convinced that its image problem is uniquely severe. This leads to a lot of navel-gazing […]

Navel gazing may not be the answer to the challenges facing workplace professions

by • Comment, Facilities management, Workplace, Workplace design

First published in 2016 and republished because the same conversation is happening yet again at the IWFM conference right now: An adherence to strongly held beliefs can make people think and behave in peculiar ways and get them tangled up in peripheral issues that take on a great deal of significance. Early religious artists, for […]

Is being back in the office making you desk bound?

by • Comment, Wellbeing, Workplace design

Most UK offices were not designed with movement in mind. They were designed to fit as many people as possible into a given space, keep overheads manageable and ensure everyone had somewhere to plug in a laptop. According to the British Medical Bulletin, UK office workers spend up to three quarters of their day sitting. […]

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