Columnists
June 21, 2023
Embrace the chaos: the office must find a new purpose, conference concludes
by Jo Sutherland • Comment, Flexible working, Property
What is the purpose of the office? That was the central question at this year’s British Council for Offices (BCO) conference which took place in Dublin. A big ask. Nonetheless, the speakers and delegates that arrived in Dublin were up for the task. In the opening address, BCO senior VP & conference chair Despina Katsikakis […]
June 19, 2023
Instilling company culture across geographic divides
by Sara Whitman and Isabel Conrad • Comment, Workplace
Company culture is one of the most fundamentally important facets of the modern workplace. In the last year, it has been identified as an important factor for 46 percent of job seekers, while 88 percent found it at least relatively important, and 15 percent of job seekers have declined a job because of the company’s […]
June 19, 2023
Throwing open the window to a new world of work
by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Flexible working, Technology
While at work in a Viennese Obstetric Clinic in the mid 1840s, a Hungarian physician named Ignaz Semmelweis noticed that mothers were far less likely to succumb to a potentially fatal infection called puerperal fever when the medical staff treating them washed their hands. When he started collecting data to confirm his insight, he found […]
June 13, 2023
A Newtonian perspective on productivity, reason and creativity 0
by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Technology, Workplace, Workplace design
On the doorstep of the British Library, you will find Edouardo Paolozzi’s imposing statue of Sir Isaac Newton. At first glance, this position seems to make perfect sense. Where better for a monument to the Enlightenment’s poster boy than raised on a plinth at the entrance to the world’s second largest library? And yet, there’s […]
June 9, 2023
Getting back to the idea of a better future
by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Technology
A recent edition of Jon Connell’s daily newsletter The Knowledge included this nugget: “Last month, I heard one of the world’s most successful fund managers admit that the charts and models he previously used “gave almost no clue” as to what to do with money now. (His one firm prediction, that the US dollar would […]
June 8, 2023
What are the main issues that stop people embracing change?
by Jennifer Bryan • Comment, JB, Workplace
June 5, 2023
The Internet and a pile of turtles that goes all the way down
by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Technology
In his 1998 book A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking relates the following anecdote: “A well-known scientist (some say it was Bertrand Russell) once gave a public lecture on astronomy. He described how the earth orbits around the sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the centre of a vast collection of […]
June 1, 2023
Resenteeism. Destructive, contagious and in your workplace right now
by Stephanie Fitzgerald • Comment, SF, Wellbeing, Workplace
You measure absenteeism. You are aware of presenteeism. But what are you doing about the new kid on the block – resenteeism? This occurs when employees stay in a job despite being fundamentally unhappy. They don’t want to be at work and when they are there, they actively resent it. Increasingly employees are fed up, […]
June 1, 2023
The circular economy is a great opportunity, but it doesn’t add up yet
by Joanna Knight • Comment, Environment, JK, Workplace design
The circular economy, carbon measurement, product material content, rental, ‘take back’, reuse and recycling – all actions for a more environmentally responsible workplace sector. But what are the priorities? Manufacturers and suppliers are arguably challenged by lack of clarity, requirements for significant investment, combined with cost pressures in a heavily subscribed market.
May 24, 2023
Hybrid working, work from anywhere and the evolution of the Third Place
by Chelsea Perino • Comment, Property, Workplace design
The restrictions brought about by COVID-19 altered where we work and thus also how, when and through which channels we do work related activities. These changes radically altered the way previously office-based workers thought about ‘work’ as an activity. This new era of hybrid working had a significant impact on traditional models of workplace provisioning. […]
May 16, 2023
Getting back to the future of work
June 22, 2023
Businesses need to take real action to create a more sustainable workplace
by Ashley Lawrence • Comment, Environment, Workplace design
For the last decade, if not longer, we’ve heard businesses saying they are focused on reducing their environmental impact. It’s been written in annual reports and immortalised in pledges shared with stakeholders, but the question still remains – what action is actually being taken, including in the creation of a sustainable workplace?