Columnists

A new mindset on climate change is emerging from the pandemic

by • Comment, Environment

Of all the opportunities for positive change driven by the pandemic, the most important may be the least talked about. And that’s in spite of the fact that both workers and organisations as well as governments and other bodies around the world are aware and in favour of it and its consequences are most far […]

We must seize the chance to go full circle on sustainable office design

by • Comment, Environment, JK

The circular economy is the ‘holy grail’. Few people would deny the ambition of keeping resources in use for as long as possible, extracting the maximum value from them, then recovering and regenerating products and materials at the end of each service life. Is this achievable within the furniture and furnishings sector? Many manufacturers and […]

The future workplace will only thrive with social and customer experience at its heart

by • Comment, Workplace design

One important concept the pandemic has taught us is that irrespective of where we work and whatever form the future workplace takes, our brand must remain strong. With much of our workforce now working from home, how do we bridge the gap between corporate and home life? As head offices re-form into social hangout hubs, […]

Ten point green plan needs to be embraced by organisations

by • Comment, Environment

We’ve been talking to our clients a lot over the last eighteen months, informing and educating them about when upcoming green legislation might come into force and what that will mean for the construction industry. So, it’s with interest that we saw the UK government unveil its ten point green plan in mid-November that reflected […]

Getting the measure of better working cultures

by • Comment, Flexible working, Technology, Wellbeing, Workplace design

For now, just forget the cyborg monkeys and spinach sending emails, the real short term tech action is all about how to gauge what workers are thinking or doing, and what to do about it – especially if whatever they are thinking and doing is not what the org wants for them or, more importantly, […]

Workplace things we have missed, and those we hope to regain

by • Comment, Technology, Wellbeing, Workplace design

Let’s be honest, work life pre 2020 had its flaws, whilst the longing for variety of scenery, change of pace and even a train journey (somewhere…ANYWHERE) would be welcomed by many of us right now, many of us had become a bit ‘hamster wheel’ in our approach. Commuting was stressful, expensive and time hungry; our […]

When business leaders open up about mental health, we all benefit

by • Comment, Wellbeing

The Covid-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented effect on the way in which we work and has brought in to focus the challenges around mental health and wellbeing.  The recognition that we are in the midst of the biggest mental health crisis since the Second World War brings the challenge in to stark focus. Time […]

What we all get wrong about motivation and the hierarchy of needs

by • Comment, Wellbeing

When it comes to understanding motivation, the stepping off point for most people is Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. The theory is now nearly 80 years old and its endurance is some kind of testimony to its insight. Yet a recent paper published in the Journal of Humanistic Psychology, authored by William Compton of Middle […]

COVID-19 is having an unequal impact on the mental health of workers

by • Comment, Wellbeing

When the COVID-19 crisis hit the UK in March 2020, many commented that the virus didn’t discriminate and that its impact would be felt equally by everyone. However, as highlighted in Nuffield Health’s recent whitepaper, the mental health impact of the virus – rising from financial worries, anxiety around health and the direct impact of […]

Working from home spells trouble for the careers of younger workers

by • Comment, Flexible working

Lockdown meant that the choice to work from home was made for us. However, for many the decision to continue to do so post-lockdown will be a personal choice. The question we should all ask ourselves is, whether when we are outside of any lockdown restrictions, is working from home really a workplace revolution or […]

Burnt out remote workers need more help than they are getting

by • Comment, Flexible working, Wellbeing

There’s no question that many people now, feeling the weight of lockdown 3 and with no clear view on the timing of any sort of ‘return to normal’, are finding it tough to stay motivated. Many are burnt out. We can gain some insight into what is going on for many individuals by way of […]

There is always a brighter side to uncertainty in business

by • Business, Comment

The uncertainty and fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic have wreaked havoc on the mental health of nearly all of us. In a recent conversation with an HR leader, she shared with me that every single person on her leadership programme reported suffering disrupted sleep due to their anxiety around business uncertainty. The irony is the […]

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