Columnists
May 19, 2020
People working from home have the same legal protections as they do in offices
by Chris Salmon • Comment, Legal news, Wellbeing
Even as the COVID-19 lockdown eases, it is predicted that many people will continue to work remotely for the foreseeable future. Government advice remains that those who can work from home should do so. This throws up a key question for employers both in the current circumstances and going forward. Namely, what are employers’ ongoing […]
May 19, 2020
Getting beyond the hype of technological innovation and productivity
by Prof Henry Chesbrough • Comment, Technology
Not long ago, innovation was a largely internal affair. The journey from the laboratory to the marketplace took place largely within the four walls of the firm. Think of Bell Labs, IBM Research, or Xerox PARC. Each of them created important technological breakthroughs. And each breakthrough was commercialized through the company’s own businesses.
May 18, 2020
Neurodiversity measures do not hold up in the present culture
by Nadya Powell • Comment, Wellbeing
Until recently, the phrase ‘What’s neurodiversity?’ was a question I was frequently asked, often accompanied by a bit of a nervous stare. Fortunately, this is now changing, and thanks to continued research, community activism and representation in the media, people leaders now understand that neurodiversity means a unique talent to be tapped – not something […]
May 15, 2020
What the humble avocado can teach us about why we will always work in offices
by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Facilities management, Flexible working, Technology, Workplace
From the archive. Originally published in 2013. People have been talking about the death of the office for at least a quarter of a century. Leaving aside the often misleading conflation of flexible working with homeworking that is often involved, the underlying premise of such talk has been the same for all of that time. […]
May 12, 2020
From the archive: The future of work will be defined by a harmony of people and technology
by Peter Harte • Comment, Technology
Originally published November 26, 2019. As modern-day employees and consumers, technology has become so commonplace that it now impacts almost every aspect of our lives – both personally and professionally. We can now communicate with whomever we want, wherever we want with the simple click of a button or tap of a smartphone. We can […]
May 11, 2020
Reshaping ourselves to fit in a new era for work
by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Technology, Workplace
The ethical, practical and philosophical implications of how we live alongside new forms of technology is something we will have to address very soon. It is a point well made in this conversation between Kate Darling of MIT and the neuroscientist Sam Harris. But we’ve had parts of this conversation before. For example, while most […]
May 9, 2020
The language barrier to wellbeing in the workplace
by James Geekie • Comment, Wellbeing, Workplace design
In a recent piece for the Architects Journal, incoming BCO President Paul Patenall extolled the virtues of a Danish idea called Arbejdsglaede, (almost) literally the joy of work. There is no equivalent word in English, of course, but it also taps into our assumption that we can learn a thing or two from our Scandinavian […]
May 5, 2020
From the archive: We shouldn’t rely on narrow ideas to define flexible working
by Luke Munro • Comment, Flexible working, Technology, Wellbeing
This piece was originally published five years ago. While we now read it with different eyes, what is interesting is how the ideas have stood up. Some better than others perhaps but a welcome reminder that the conversations we are now having about life after lockdown began some time ago. One of the particular and often […]
May 4, 2020
An opportunity to take business relationships with charities to a new level
by Michael Hilton • Comment
COVID-19 can be a catalyst for transforming how businesses and charities collaborate, with significant benefits for both. Companies and charities working together is nothing new. For many years Corporate Social Responsibility has had a place on the business agenda, as a means of doing some good while boosting companies’ reputations in the process.
April 30, 2020
We need to talk more about how we get to work in the first place
by Andrew Brown • Comment
More and more politicians and business leaders are keen to see the UK ease lockdown and begin a move towards returning to work. Is it’s too early to plan the exit from lockdown? Maybe. But either way, the general chatter about what a post COVID19 will look has predictably fanned the debate about how workplace […]
May 22, 2020
Doing the homework on home-work
by Tim Oldman • Comment, Flexible working
COVID-19 will change the world in innumerable ways. It is already affecting how we think about disease transmission, consumption, labour, travel, and even space and distance. And it will change how we think about work. Almost immediately, however, designers, architects and everyone else with a stake in the future of workplace have spotted an opportunity […]