Search Results for: meeting

Government issues formal warning to council over four-day working week

Government issues formal warning to council over four-day working week

A formal notice has been issued to South Cambridgeshire District Council over its four-day working week trialA formal notice has been issued to South Cambridgeshire District Council over its four-day working week trial, because the UK government says it wants ‘to ensure taxpayers’ money is well spent’. A Best Value Notice, issued by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, formally sets out government concerns around the council and whether the trial offers value for money, including the removal of up to a fifth of the authority’s capacity. It requests evidence on the trial to consider whether the council is meeting its Best Value Duty, including on: staffing; costs; service delivery; resident feedback; overall performance since the start of the trial; should a four-day working week continue. More →

Norwegian office furniture giant Flokk expands London showroom space

Norwegian office furniture giant Flokk expands London showroom space

As part of their ongoing commitment to doubling their UK revenue, Norwegian office furniture giant Flokk have further strengthened their presence in Clerkenwell, London with the expansion of their showroomAs part of their ongoing commitment to doubling their UK revenue, Norwegian office furniture giant Flokk have further strengthened their presence in Clerkenwell, London with the expansion of their showroom. Previously the sole home of Flokk brand Connection, 31 Great Sutton Street has been expanded with the addition of a new floor to support the integration of all Flokk brands: HÅG, Profim, RH, OFFECCT and Giroflex. The reimagined space, which now spans across three floors, totalling 6,000sqft, has been curated as an experiential design centre for colleagues and guests to provide a unique space to showcase a series of work settings with products across the whole Flokk portfolio ‘House of Brands.’ More →

Nothing propinks like propinquity, but tech is still vital for trust when hybrid working

Nothing propinks like propinquity, but tech is still vital for trust when hybrid working

Nothing beats in-person meetings, but tech is vital for hybrid working trust and equality. That is the main conclusion of a new report from Jabra’s LSE Behavioural Lab. According to the study, people are 56 percent more engaged in face to face meetings. In instances where hybrid meetings are required, meeting room participants saw an 84 percent increase in engagement from remote participants when using a professional meeting-room headset and video camera. The study is based on observations of 88 people of 15 different nationalities in a range of work settings. More →

Third of firms have adopted AI to replace or augment employees’ roles this year

Third of firms have adopted AI to replace or augment employees’ roles this year

According to Owl Labs’ annual State of Hybrid Work Report, 32 percent of employees believe that AI will help them do their jobs more efficiently, while a further 22 percent think AI will create new jobs allowing their teams to grow. However, uncertainty around AI regulation and safety is causing ‘AI anxiety’ to grow, with nearly 1 in 5 UK workers (17 percent) concerned that AI will steal their jobs. A further 19 percent are worried that AI has the potential to create new ethical issues in the workplace. More →

Five reasons why (Framery) office pods help to solve the great workplace debate

Five reasons why (Framery) office pods help to solve the great workplace debate

Here are five reasons why the world’s top companies, including the likes of Tesla, Microsoft, LinkedIn and Puma, are using office pods – and why they will be coming to an office near you.  It’s a fact – pods are taking over the office. In 2010, Framery introduced the first pod to the market and now there are over 200 suppliers globally. Framery, the market leader in this space, was a major pioneer of their development and subsequently has supplied 70 percent of Forbes 100 companies with office pods. More →

Books, smiles and house plants make the best impression on Zoom calls. But maybe not that particular book

Books, smiles and house plants make the best impression on Zoom calls. But maybe not that particular book

the best way to create a good first impression on Zoom calls or in any virtual meeting, is a visual background of house plants and books, especially when they are realA new study by psychologists at Durham University claims that the best way to create a good first impression on Zoom calls or in any virtual meeting, is a visual background of house plants and books, especially when they are real. In the recent paper published in the Journal PLOS ONE, Associate Professor Paddy Ross and colleagues from  Department of Psychology, investigated what really matters when it comes to making the best and worst first impressions in a virtual meeting environment. More →

Projects from Portugal, Belgium and France winners of the 2023 ULI Europe Awards for Excellence   

Projects from Portugal, Belgium and France winners of the 2023 ULI Europe Awards for Excellence   

Three built environment projects that have, respectively, restored an historic market building in Porto, delivered 182 individual school projects in Flanders, and created a hybrid, mixed use flagship development in Paris, have been announced as winners in the 2023 Urban Land Institute (ULI) Europe Awards for ExcellenceThree built environment projects that have, respectively, restored an historic market building in Porto, delivered 182 individual school projects in Flanders, and created a hybrid, mixed use flagship development in Paris, have been announced as winners in the 2023 Urban Land Institute (ULI) Europe Awards for Excellence. The awards set out to recognise outstanding built environment projects in the private, public, and non-profit sectors, celebrating excellence in land use practice across the entire development process, from planning and construction to economics, management, sustainability and resiliency, community impact, and architecture and design. More →

Humanscale launches global partnership with Kvadrat

Humanscale launches global partnership with Kvadrat

Humanscale the leading designer and manufacturer of high-performance ergonomic products introduces its global partnership through the offering of nine Kvadrat textilesHumanscale the leading designer and manufacturer of high-performance ergonomic products introduces its global partnership through the offering of nine Kvadrat textiles– the renowned textile designer and manufacturer. The collaboration begins with Humanscale’s award winning Freedom family seating solutions, available now with the partnership then expanding further across Humanscale’s planet positive seating solutions, including Smart Ocean, Liberty Ocean and the Trea Chair launching in November, and further to Summa, Smart Conference and Path available early 2024. More →

The office needs to take on the characteristics of the city. Despina Katsikakis IN conversation

The office needs to take on the characteristics of the city. Despina Katsikakis IN conversation

Despina Katsikakis, the new President of the BCO has been shaping the way we think about offices for four decades

One of the unintended consequences of the era of online meetings is a chance to gain an insight into people’s actual lives. So it is that as Despina Katsikakis and I are talking, she spots my whippet Luna wandering into shot in the background and lets out an exclamation. She too has a whippet by her feet. And as a result, this abnormal, formal situation becomes a lot more normal and relaxed.   More →

How digital platforms are revolutionising the outplacement experience

How digital platforms are revolutionising the outplacement experience

For the first time since the 2008/2009 financial crisis, redundancy rates have risen, and this trend looks set to continue throughout 2024. Just over 42 percent of employers (HR Director) are planning to make redundancies in a year that has already seen a string of high-profile companies announce job cuts. Businesses are reorganising, considering ideas such as outplacement, and the market landscape is changing in more ways than one. With a new wave of Gen Zs raising the bar for issues that matter to them, employers are now facing expectations that are different to that of Boomers. More →

Organisations routinely undervalue and overlook talent of older workers

Organisations routinely undervalue and overlook talent of older workers

New data from Generation, an employment non-profit, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), claims that employers need to radically rethink how they approach midcareer and older workers.New data from Generation, an employment non-profit, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), claims that employers need to radically rethink how they approach midcareer and older workers. The Midcareer Opportunity: Meeting the challenges of an ageing workforce report outlines insights from OECD data and from an eight-country survey of thousands of employers, job seekers, and employees in Europe and the US. The research in Europe was funded by Google.org, and in the United States by Clayton, Dubilier & Rice. More →

Bosses need to get their priorities right, say office workers

Bosses need to get their priorities right, say office workers

A new poll carried out in the US and UK claims that almost all office workers (93 percent) believe business leaders’ priorities need to shift in the current economic climate. the traditional role of leadership – as the future priority. The proportion is 98 percent of those aged 18-24. The study, Work Remastered, surveyed more than 1,000 office-based workers across the UK and the US and was carried out by consultants United Culture. More →