March 2, 2021
Search Results for: manufacturing
Progress for women in work could be back at 2017 levels by the end of this year as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to analysis conducted for 
February 19, 2021
A new mindset on climate change is emerging from the pandemic
Of all the opportunities for positive change driven by the pandemic, the most important may be the least talked about. And that’s in spite of the fact that both workers and organisations as well as governments and other bodies around the world are aware and in favour of it and its consequences are most far reaching, affecting us all. It is, of course, the chance to do something significant about climate change and the environment. More →
February 19, 2021
Employees are bearing up, but nerves are frayed
According to new data from Glint, despite the odds, employees were happier at work at the end of 2020 than they were at the end of 2019, but feelings of burnout remain worryingly high. Looking at aggregated data from 9 million employee-engagement survey responses from companies around the world, Glint’s latest analysis claims that employee happiness at work rose 5.4 percent in December 2020, compared to December 2019. More →
February 18, 2021
Four new companies join WorldGBC’s Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment
WorldGBC has announced four new companies as signatories to its Net Zero Carbon Buildings Commitment (the Commitment), signalling global industry leadership to decarbonise the built environment and combat climate change. The Commitment now has a total of 132 signatories, with 98 businesses & organisations, 28 cities and six states & regions. The businesses and organisations signed up to the Commitment now account for over 5 million (tCO2e) of portfolio emissions. More →
February 16, 2021
We must seize the chance to go full circle on sustainable office design
The circular economy is the ‘holy grail’. Few people would deny the ambition of keeping resources in use for as long as possible, extracting the maximum value from them, then recovering and regenerating products and materials at the end of each service life. Is this achievable within the furniture and furnishings sector? Many manufacturers and suppliers can justifiably boast impressive ‘green’ credentials, such as manufacturing techniques, the use of innovative and sustainable materials as well as recyclability of products. The production and supply of new furnishings doesn’t address, however, the short and longer term issues relating to sustainability. ‘Cradle to cradle’ is a great concept – but who is responsible? More →
February 10, 2021
Ten point green plan needs to be embraced by organisations
We’ve been talking to our clients a lot over the last eighteen months, informing and educating them about when upcoming green legislation might come into force and what that will mean for the construction industry. So, it’s with interest that we saw the UK government unveil its ten point green plan in mid-November that reflected our predictions to date. The hope is that this route to a green industrial revolution will have a game-changing impact, similar to the positive effect on people and places the original industrial revolution had some 260 years earlier. More →
January 28, 2021
Philanthrocapitalism: a century-old concept for the modern age
Philanthrocapitalism is a term that’s only 15 years old. A modern concept for the modern age. Or is it? In the late 1800s, George Cadbury bought a plot of land five miles south of Birmingham to relocate his factory and expand his chocolate empire. But greater levels of chocolate production weren’t his only concern; he also built an entire village to accommodate the new factory’s workforce. The plan was for this village – called Bournville, which now shares its name with the brand’s famous dark chocolate – to “alleviate the evils of modern, more cramped living conditions”. Port Sunlight, built on the Wirral Peninsula by the Lever Brothers, whose manufacturing company is now part of Unilever, offers up a similar story. More →
January 26, 2021
Tech and finance firms opt to keep offices closed
Expenses app, ExpenseOnDemand, has published new data which claims to highlight how businesses in different sectors are planning office returns in 2021. The majority of businesses across many sectors have stated offices will reopen this year at some point. More →
January 22, 2021
Low paid workers have borne the brunt of the pandemic
New analysis by the Institute for Employment Studies has found that low paid workers are more than twice as likely to have lost their jobs during the pandemic and are at far greater risk of being temporarily laid off or having their hours cut. The research, funded by Standard Life Foundation, concludes that in this current lockdown it is likely that around two thirds of low paid workers – or four million people – are either temporarily laid off or working fewer hours than normal. This would be double the rate of work disruption for staff who are not classified as low paid. More →
December 2, 2020
Workers demand green office technology from their employers
Almost half (46 percent) of workers expect their employers to provide them with green technology equipment, such as laptops, printers and other devices, according to new research from 
November 9, 2020
Working from home could energise some of our overlooked cities
For years, we have been promised a work-from-home revolution, and it seems that the pandemic has finally brought it to pass. In April this year, at the height of the first wave of coronavirus, 47 percent of people in the UK were working from home, the vast majority of them doing so because of the pandemic. In a sense this is overdue: the work-from-home potential for UK employees is 32 percent; in France, Germany and Italy between 24 percent and 28 percent. More →
February 26, 2021
The link between wellbeing and green design is driving material innovation
by Craig Stuart • Comment, Environment, Wellbeing, Workplace design