Columnists
September 5, 2023
From ego to eco – a universal approach to workplace transformation
by Eugenia Anastassiou • Comment, Environment, Everything Omni
You might quite rightly be thinking about the relevance of such a ‘hippy, dippy’ soundbite on the hard-hitting world of work and the workplace, especially in this climate of uncertainty with a myriad of challenges facing business, the workforce and commercial real estate globally. I first heard the phrase ‘going from ego to eco’ at […]
August 22, 2023
Advancing accessibility and reaping the rewards of disability inclusion
by Katy Talikowska • Comment, Facilities management, Workplace design
In business, companies have a responsibility to balance profit-driven strategies with wider social commitments. As well as being the right thing to do, a focus on the latter can invariably drive economic value. Companies that prioritise diversity, for instance, earn 2.5 times higher cash flow, while inclusive teams are 35 percent more productive. As a […]
August 18, 2023
The challenge for office acoustics is to make people feel at home
by Freddie Steele • Comment, Workplace design
A number of apparent truisms about work and workplaces entered mainstream consciousness in the wake of the pandemic, and the shift to more flexible and hybrid working cultures. One of them is that people are better off carrying out focussed, quiet work at home, and creative and collaborative work in the office. And that this […]
August 7, 2023
Rummaging through the workplace memory hole
by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Flexible working, Property, Technology, Wellbeing, Workplace design
…talking of Orwell, I recently whiled away an idle hour checking which of the more deranged pronouncements from the period of peak workplace hysteria in late 2020 have been memory holed. There was some weird, wild stuff, often coupled with a feverish response to anybody urging caution. At one point somebody (I know who but […]
August 1, 2023
How many fingers am I holding up?
by Mark Eltringham • Comment
Quoting George Orwell is the kind of thing that people who haven’t read Orwell do. The term Orwellian is used by people who have not only not read him, but have latched on to some laundered idea of the themes of his work. They are not only misrepresenting him, but misrepresenting a misrepresentation. If it […]
July 31, 2023
Digital nomads are starting to price out local communities around the world
by Dave Cook • Cities, Comment, Flexible working
For eight years I have studied digital nomadism, the millennial trend for working remotely from anywhere around the world. I am often asked if digital nomads are driving gentrification. Before COVID upended the way we work, I would usually tell journalists that the numbers were too small for a definitive answer. Most digital nomads were […]
July 27, 2023
What Aldous Huxley can teach us about acoustics and distractions at work
by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Technology, Workplace design
Over the last few years there has been something of a loud and widespread backlash to the idea that we need to have constant access to information and our colleagues to work effectively. The touchstone for this pushback is of course the open plan office which has become something of a scapegoat for the universal […]
July 25, 2023
Putting a new approach to office design in the frame
by Kyrylo Komarov • Comment, Workplace design
It is now a truism to suggest that the traditional ways we think about office design need to be rethought in response to the new and emerging challenges businesses now face. Most people accept this but are still trying to work out the implications for the way we design and manage the physical workplace. The […]
July 24, 2023
Should work help to define your identity? Perhaps, but first consider this…
by Dr Tracy Brower • Comment, Wellbeing
The last few years have put work at the forefront of our consideration as individuals and our discussions as a society. Globally, people are thinking consciously about their work, its meaning and its place in their lives. This focus will surely create the conditions for a great reinvention —a reset of how we work as […]
July 21, 2023
It is possible to balance the positives and negatives of stress at work
by Lisa Gunn • Comment, Wellbeing
Stress is an inevitable part of everyday life, and our bodies are hard-wired to respond to it. However, it’s clear stress takes a regular, negative toll on organisations across the country. Last year, 17 million days were lost due to stress, depression or anxiety, which accounted for 51 percent of all work-related ill health cases […]
September 5, 2023
Working from home won’t last forever… will it?
by Zain Ali • Comment, Flexible working, Technology
Have we all gone a little OTT on RTO? The so-called return to office and pushback on working from home seems to be the must-talk topic on workplace strategy right now; a heated debate ignited by Zoom’s recent call to reduce remote working days for its employees. Many have been surprised at how polarising this […]