Columnists
February 16, 2018
Pearls of elemental wisdom about workplace design and management
by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Facilities management, Workplace design
The greatest conundrum in the endless debate about whether the workplace affects people’s wellbeing and productivity is that it’s still going on at all. We’ve known for decades that people are affected in profound and meaningful ways by their surroundings and the culture in which they work. We know which factors are most important and […]
February 12, 2018
Luther, Marx, Engels and a nailed-on manifesto for workplace change
by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Facilities management, Workplace design
In October 1517 Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to a church door in Wittenberg, thereby setting in motion the process that we know now as the Reformation. At least since that time, it has been apparent that a revolutionary manifesto needs to be laid at somebody’s door – or nailed to it – at […]
February 5, 2018
Developing a cultured nose for what makes workplace design great
by Steve Brewer • Comment, Workplace design
Workplace people are at risk of obsessing about productivity. The idea of what is or is not effective and even the notion of wellbeing, has almost been done to death. We overthink stuff. As Neil Usher might say, there are a few bandwagons people are leaping on a little too eagerly. So, let’s keep it […]
February 2, 2018
Every company should champion design and creativity at board level
by Colin Watson • Comment, Products, Workplace design
All business and life are about selling. Well that’s what Mark Price (Lord Price) the previous Managing Director of Waitrose and former Minister with the Department for International Trade said in a recent book, Workplace Fables: 147 True Life Stories. I like Mark Price and his writings but certainly don’t agree with his view about […]
January 30, 2018
Harnessing serendipity in the workplace is about more than facilitating the unexpected
by Ilkka Kakko • Comment, Technology, Workplace design
What if your company had a great and more frequent ability to discover more valuable things than those for which it were usually looking? How would you then begin to describe your company’s overall level of awareness and sagacity? Does it make your company ’feel lucky’? Inspiring questions and understanding serendipity might give some answers […]
January 11, 2018
Culture shift needed to drive a better gender balance in property and construction
by Niki Fuchs • Comment, Property
Despite compelling evidence of the bottom line benefits of gender diversity, too many sectors remain stubbornly male dominated. This is certainly the case with the property and construction industry where women still represent only 15 percent of the workforce. The growth of prop-tech, entrepreneurialism amongst women and a growing emphasis on service, demonstrated by the […]
January 9, 2018
The year we discover the elemental workplace
by Neil Usher • Comment, Facilities management, Technology, Workplace, Workplace design
January 2, 2018
We need to stop talking about self-employment as a monocultural phenomenon
by Andrea Broughton • Comment, Flexible working
Self-employment has grown considerably in the UK over the past 15 years, now totalling around 4.8 million workers, or 15 per cent of the workforce. There is a debate about the extent to which this growth in self-employment is a positive development: some believe that it is a positive feature of an entrepreneurial and flexible […]
December 22, 2017
Five employment law milestones from the past year we need to remember in 2018
by Lucy Gordon • Comment, Workplace
The past twelve months have been an eventful period for employment law; from the uncertainty surrounding Brexit and the rights of EU Nationals working in the UK, to the mounting attention on employee data protection as the GDPR edges ever closer. Issues of Employment Tribunal fees, holiday pay and the gig economy have similarly captivated […]
December 21, 2017
Commercial property is undergoing tech disruption, but not as some believe
by Polly Plunket-Checkemian • Comment, Facilities management, Property, Technology
According to a recent report, executives in the commercial property sector have significant reservations about emerging disruptive technologies such as Big Data and predictive analytics, augmented and virtual reality, Blockchain and driverless vehicles, but see huge potential for process automation. Disruption is a strong word. It conjures up apocalyptic images and radical interventions leaving unrecognisable […]
December 19, 2017
We need to have an honest conversation about presenteeism
by Steve Brewer • Comment, Flexible working, Workplace design
We have talked before about the risks of over thinking problems. It is not just something that consultants, designers and the workplace intelligentsia are guilty of – everyone does it. It is why we do not switch off when we are ill and still insist on going to work. We over think the consequences of […]
February 28, 2018
The very idea of good work in a gig economy remains a distant ideal
by Tonia Novitz, Alan Bogg et al • Comment, Flexible working
Don Lane’s employment contract for his work as a courier described him as an “independent contractor”. This meant he was neither an “employee” nor a “worker”, so not entitled to legal rights such as protection against dismissal, paid holidays, or statutory sick pay. The 53-year-old also suffered from diabetes, and had previously been fined £150 […]