Columnists
November 19, 2018
A cheap day return to Farringdon, please
by Neil Usher • Comment, Facilities management
Timing is everything. Re-launching a professional body while the country’s politics unceremoniously implode could not have been foreseen, but the vacuous space was full of the registered and invited, many with a trail of string going back a few decades or more. What a lovely gathering of old friends it was. On Monday 12th The BIFM […]
November 18, 2018
What The Midwich Cuckoos can teach us about Millennials
by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Workplace
John Wyndham’s 1957 novel The Midwich Cuckoos is the story of a fictional English village in which, following an unexplained event that causes everybody within Midwich to fall unconscious, all of the women in the village fall pregnant and 61 children are subsequently born all at the same time. The children bear absolutely no physical […]
November 15, 2018
Are you ready for the world of agile working we will experience in the 2020s?
by John Eary and Paul Allsopp • Comment, Facilities management, Workplace design
Some organisations believe they have ‘done’ Agile Working. They have increased the ratio of people to desks and achieved a saving in accommodation costs. They have provided flexible working arrangements across the organisation and have enabled their people to work at home for part of their working week. Staff surveys show employees are pleased with […]
November 13, 2018
Fostering creativity within organisations through space and culture
by Serena Borghero • Comment, Workplace design
In organisations around the world, hierarchical structures are breaking down, replaced by deeply interconnected, constantly shifting networks, linked by innovative technology. Meanwhile, huge leaps forward in artificial intelligence promise to fundamentally change the nature of work, either by enhancing or replacing human-beings. Research by McKinsey suggests that half of today’s work activities could be automated […]
November 8, 2018
Your relationship with your boss may be playing a role in your stress levels
by Martin Turner and Matthew Slater • Comment, Wellbeing
Everybody knows how horrible it is to be stressed out at work. Sadly, across the world, employees are being subjected to increasing work demands and, as a result, work stress is on the rise. As we try to understand the root of the problem, we often end up blaming our boss. But is that really fair? […]
November 7, 2018
Will technology prove a threat or a godsend in the new workplace?
by Matt Weston • Comment, Technology, Workplace
In the past decade, the business landscape has fundamentally shifted with the emergence of companies like Uber and Netflix, in addition to the rapid growth of large technology companies such as Apple and Amazon. Underlying this shift is the constant evolution and implementation of technology into the workplace. In a recent report, the World Economic […]
November 5, 2018
An intersectional approach to trends in workplace design at Orgatec 2018
by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Workplace design
There are perhaps three characteristics that ensure the European office furniture and workplace design fair Orgatec continues to attract so many exhibitors and visitors to Cologne. Firstly, it takes place every two years, so offers a snapshot of a sector, framing the most important workplace developments in a particular time and place. For those of […]
November 2, 2018
Happiness at work: Lessons from home
by Dr Tracy Brower • Comment, Facilities management, Wellbeing, Workplace, Workplace design
October 31, 2018
What is in a name for the UK facilities management sector?
by Jo Sutherland • Comment, Facilities management
Westminster. Home to fiery debate, unwavering scrutiny, calls for change, and cries of “Order! Order!”. Once again, RICS’s HQ, on Parliament Square, was jam-packed with a passionate and feisty crowd, panellists and audience alike, all set on pushing the industry conversation forward. While some were keen to maintain order during FMJ’s most recent RICS-IFMA debate […]
October 30, 2018
A doctor writes: keeping employees well and positive as the days get shorter
by Preethi Daniel • Comment, Wellbeing
Winter is coming. The clocks in the UK have just changed, and the long, dark nights are starting. There are still only a few weekends to Christmas, and some employees may be thinking, “How am I supposed to get through the winter? How am I going to stay productive and positive?”. Is it possible that […]
October 26, 2018
We need to move on from the stigma of mental health to finding solutions
by Gary Helm • Comment, Wellbeing
Just as in physical health, everybody has a level of mental health. And while companies have begun to offer corporate gym membership discounts, bowls of fruit around the office, monthly massage and investment in huge amounts of ergonomically supportive furniture to try to assist their colleagues in maintaining a good level of physical health, few […]
November 23, 2018
Communities are the key factor to rapid growth of coworking
by Petr Boruta • Comment, Coworking, Property, Workplace design
London, New York, Los Angeles. These are top three cities in number of coworking centres globally. But as coworking map is evolving rapidly, you might as well read about Warsaw and Prague as new hotbeds for shared offices soon. And the surprising reason behind that is not flexibility, but the power of communities.