Search Results for: mental

October 16, 2018

Law firms are finally embracing the agile workplace

by Simon Pole • Comment, Workplace design

Strong office space take-up is predicted for this year after activity from law firms was down in 2017 against 10-year averages and compared to other sectors. Many legal companies are anticipating how their approach to workspace might have to change. This includes trialling new ways of working and years of overreliance on private offices. The legal sector is compared to many other services’ professions “closed” – and therefore ripe for change. There is an abundance of technology start-ups looking to introduce disruptive tech that will render many legal roles obsolete. The sector is also haemorrhaging senior talent as experienced professionals leave and the sector has failed thus far to adapt to modern working conventions including the agile workplace. Despite working in the digital age of wireless tech and cloud computing, 64 percent of lawyers found it difficult to work remotely because their technology wasn’t suitable (according to research from Lexis Nexis).

October 16, 2018

BIFM announces winners of its annual awards

by Mark Eltringham • Facilities management, News

Now in their 18th and final year before the Institute changes its name, the BIFM Awards set out to ‘celebrate the profession’s finest, honouring those whose outstanding work has driven innovation and achieved exceptional results in the organisations where they work, benchmarking excellence and inspiring others’. Thirteen winners were announced from 46 finalists at a ceremony held last night in London. The occasion also celebrated the work of a further nine finalists whose initiatives were highly commended by the judges.

October 15, 2018

BSRIA publishes list of new and upcoming legislation and guidance for buildings

by Mark Eltringham • Architecture, Facilities management, News, Property

The Building Services Research and Information Association (BSRIA) has published a list of the most up to date legislation and guidance that affects the design, construction and management of buildings. While a couple are relevant primarily for domestic buildings, the emphasis is very much on commercial property and will be of interest to a range of professionals. BSRIA members also have access to a legislation service on building and building services legislation and relevant guidance. More →

October 15, 2018

Lack of flexible working means people miss major life events

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

A new survey claims that 67 percent of employees have missed major life events due to a lack of flexible working within their organisation. The survey conducted by Liberty Mind, was commissioned to explore the impacts on employees who do not have the opportunity of flexible working. From those surveyed it was found that 40 percent had missed hospital or health-related appointments due to a lack of flexible working, while 15 percent had missed moving house, 10 percent had missed a child’s school activity and 8 percent had missed a family funeral.

October 12, 2018

Friday finds: the best workplace stories for this afternoon and the weekend

by Mark Eltringham • Features

Is the office cubicle actually designed to crush your soul?

“Permanent casuals” and other oxymorons

Post-Brexit immigration: reconciling public perceptions with economic evidence

Viewing a new world of work through old lenses

So you want to work in HR?

Is coworking dead?

Stress and mental health at work: half a decade in policy and practice

People at work

October 12, 2018

European research network sets out to discover exactly how the Internet is bad for us

by Neil Franklin • News, Technology, Wellbeing

A pan-European network to tackle problematic internet usage officially launches today with the publication of its manifesto, setting out the important questions that need to be addressed by the research community. As the internet has become an integral part of modern life and its use has grown, so too has its problematic use become a growing concern across all age groups. It has provided a new environment in which a wide range of problematic behaviours may emerge, such as those relating to gaming, gambling, buying, pornography viewing, social networking, ‘cyber-bullying’ and ‘cyberchondria’, which can have mental and physical health consequences.

October 11, 2018

Bloomberg HQ declared the best new building in the UK as well as best office

by Mark Eltringham • Architecture, News, Workplace design

The humble office doesn’t always feature prominently in RIBA’s annual Stirling Prize list but last night, Bloomberg’s European headquarters was named the UK’s best new building. The 2018 RIBA Stirling Prize judges were unanimous in their decision to award Bloomberg the 2018 RIBA Stirling Prize describing it as a “once-in-a-generation project”. RIBA President, Ben Derbyshire says it is a “monumental achievement”. It’s the second award bestowed on the project in the last week. The BCO has already declared the building the UK’s best workplace. More →

October 10, 2018

The Genesis of ideation and the places we go to have our best ideas ⁰

by Giuseppe Boscherini • Facilities management, Features, Technology, Work&Place, Workplace design

Because collaboration, creativity and innovation are increasingly perceived as key objectives and differentiators of performance, the genesis and mechanisms behind ideation and creativity are an an integral part of both business and personal development. As a consequence, there is growing interest in the way the physical attributes of work settings may influence or even trigger creative behaviour. The cliché of the shower as one of these favourite places comes to mind and yet experience does show that the idea of seeking a setting, a “zone” if you will, for a specific purpose is intuitively right. This needn’t be a retreat or cocoon, as is often assumed, but can also be a crowded, busy, noisy place, which might explain why so often the most animated work conversations move out of the office shop into the coffee shop. Equally, highlight events or special meetings tend to be held in a “venue’, often dressed for the occasion.

October 8, 2018

Refurbished industrial buildings provide perfect modern workplaces

by Mark Eltringham • Architecture, News, Property, Workplace design

Refurbished industrial sheds provide the perfect space for the creation of modern workplaces, according to a study by Hawkins\Brown and JLL. In what the authors claim is the first comparative study of its kind, Industrial Rehab: A new space of opportunity takes a look at the global trend for companies in the knowledge economy to seek out large-span buildings because they support creative working, are able to accommodate rapid growth and deliver high quality, good value accommodation.

October 5, 2018

Developing a resilient mindset to cope with stress

by Portia Hickey • Comment, Wellbeing

Earlier this year, The New York times reported on a company in New Zealand that reduced its employee’s work time to four days a week whilst paying them for five. The idea came to the CEO after he read research that showed that employees generally only spend three hours a day on actual productive work. The change was highly successful, employees were as productive over the four days as they were over the five but the wellbeing of employees improved dramatically.

October 4, 2018

A new deal for dads at work is essential in the quest for gender balance

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News

New research published by consulting firm Talking Talent claims to identify how it is essential for employers to improve support for working fathers in order to achieve equality for working mothers. Organisations need to go further than setting policy to achieve this – they need working practices that make it easier for employees to share parental responsibilities between mum and dad, according to the report (registration required). Successfully sharing their role as parents is essential for women to continue the progression of their careers and is key to closing the gender pay gap, according to the study of 7,000 people. But it will only succeed if organisations ensure working dads don’t face exactly the same negative experiences which have stopped working mums progressing in the past. The research claims that over half (52 percent) of working parents, including 26 percent men and 30 percent women, think that their career has slowed down compared to their childless colleagues.

October 2, 2018

How to measure the impact of biophilia on individual performance

by Julia Ayuso Sanchez • Features, Wellbeing, Workplace design

The improvement in well-being and performance in the workplace are economic and social critical factors since the loss of productivity for companies means a cost of up to US$ 550,000 million per year. Numerous studies affirm that biophilic design, defined as a response to the inherent need of human beings to be in contact with nature, in the workplace improves productivity and user well-being. As Lord Kelvin said, if you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it, so the challenge that arises is how to objectify and quantify rigorously the features that improve productivity and wellbeing in spaces designed with biophilia in mind. From this, it is necessary to go a step further and objectify the design criteria serving as an operator for performance and wellbeing in design practice.