Columnists
June 10, 2019
Coworking disrupts office design 0
by Paul Goodchild • Comment, Coworking, Facilities management, Flexible working, Workplace design
In his book How Buildings Learn, the author Stewart Brand outlines the process whereby buildings evolve over time to meet the changing needs of their occupants. He describes each building as consisting of six layers, each of which functions on a different timescale. These range from the site itself which has a life cycle measured […]
June 7, 2019
On target for a toxic workplace culture
by Nick Pye • Comment, Workplace
Setting clear and bold targets has become part of leadership 101. We take it for granted that the first action for anyone taking over the helm of a business or team is to state or re-state targets. The rise of “management by objectives” in the 1970s drove the initial focus on target-setting and, in line […]
June 5, 2019
Workplaces around the UK are something to treasure
by Richard Kauntze • Comment, Property, Workplace design
The world is changing. Often without sense, often at startling speed. I need not mention the ‘B word’. However, there is a risk that this volatility leads to us being too negative. Today, too many people are speaking with too much pessimism. Don’t believe me? Try logging onto Twitter. In these challenging times, we need […]
June 3, 2019
Come for the rent, stay for the experience of coworking
by Aki Stamatis • Comment, Coworking, Workplace design
When attending last year’s CoreNet Global Summit in Boston, there was a poll of the real estate executives gathered to discuss the key trends affecting the world of commercial property. During the event we were asked about our attitudes to coworking by the event organisers and Cushman & Wakefield. What emerged was a portrait of […]
May 31, 2019
The far reaching impact of empathy in the workplace
by Beverley Nicholas • Comment, Workplace
The average career length is 50 years, and according to Gallup’s State of The Global Workplace report, during this time only 1 in 10 people are actively engaged. This illustrates that within the current landscape there is a need for companies to actively pursue strategies to better engage their employees. Embedding empathy in working culture […]
May 27, 2019
The workplace revolution is already here
by Tony Antoniou • Comment, Workplace design
We should all count ourselves privileged to witness first-hand the most dramatic changes in working practices in over two hundred years. This workplace revolution has been brought about mainly by technology which has allowed freedom of movement through Wi-Fi and cloud technology. This freedom has been embraced by the smart companies, allowing their people to […]
May 23, 2019
From storage to stowage: what neuroscience teaches us about work
by Helen Owen • Comment, Workplace design
Insight into the way things work can often come from the strangest and most difficult places. For Jill Bolte Tayor, a neuroscientist well versed in the theory of how the brain works, her particular insight into the practical functioning of the brain came as a result of a stroke she suffered in 1996. What she […]
May 20, 2019
Adversity and chaos can help to foster creativity 0
by Paul Goodchild • Comment, Workplace design
We may live in a knowledge economy in a world, where the most highly-prized people as far as employers are concerned are knowledge workers, but the thing that sets us apart from the machines is not knowledge at all, but creativity. Acquiring managing and sharing knowledge is essential, but it’s what we do with it […]
May 16, 2019
Working from home and the future of work. How quaint 0
by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Flexible working, Property, Technology
In 1962, a professor of communication studies called Everett Rogers came up with the principle we call diffusion of innovation. It’s a familiar enough notion, widely taught and works by plotting the adoption of new ideas and products over time as a bell curve, before categorising groups of people along its length as innovators, early […]
May 10, 2019
A balanced approach to stress has its benefits
by Brendan Street • Comment, Wellbeing
Stress is an unavoidable part of everyday life and our bodies are hard-wired to respond to it. It’s often wrongly labelled as a sign of being unable to cope, but in reality, manageable stress can give us the boost to perform better at work. When we view the demands placed upon us as close to/exceeding […]
June 11, 2019
What is workplace technology really for, anyway?
by Pete Trainor • Comment, Technology
It’s a hot day on the Savannah, and our hero Jon picks up the tool that he uses to hunt and cut his food, and marches across the plain to complete the next big task of the day—survival. Even though Jon lived 2.5 million years before basic writing was developed, the tools he’s invented are […]