August 11, 2023
Majority of firms lack the data to make ‘return to office’ decisions
A new survey from Envoy, which polled over 1,100 company executives and workplace managers across five leading industries, explores how these two groups of leaders use data to make smarter, more informed decisions about their workplaces. It suggests that the world’s leading companies are struggling to confidently report what’s happening in their workplaces. The problem is the lack of accurate, easy-to-use data. 52 percent of executives admit not being able to make a critical workplace decision because they lacked the necessary data to assess operational and real estate needs. Furthermore, 80 percent of the same executives confess that they would have approached the so-called return-to-office differently, if they had access to accurate data. More →
July 27, 2023
What Aldous Huxley can teach us about acoustics and distractions at work
by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Technology, Workplace design
Over the last few years there has been something of a loud and widespread backlash to the idea that we need to have constant access to information and our colleagues to work effectively. The touchstone for this pushback is of course the open plan office which has become something of a scapegoat for the universal problem of interruption and distraction and a renewed interest in the complexities of acoustics in office design. It is also one of the main reasons people prefer to work anywhere other than offices some or all of the time. More →