February 1, 2024

Underutilised office space? I just can’t be bothered with it

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Flexible working, Workplace design

A while ago, Antony Slumbers asked me why I thought firms had never done anything much about the underutilisation of their offices. This was in the first throes of lockdown-driven remote work hysteria, prompted by one of those headlines about how offices being half empty was some signifier of hatred for them.

January 31, 2024

The three biggest disruptors of our time

by Jennifer Bryan • AI, Business, Comment, Environment, JB, Technology

When we look at the context for change, we many times just look internally at what we think needs to change for whatever reason and then set about making that happen. Rarely do we think about what is going on for the people within the organisation and just how ready they and the organisation itself are for the actual change and the disruptors that underly it. Are there the right people, systems, processes, etc in place to support the change or are there a number of elements that will hinder it? Not to mention the fact there will be a number of external elements that could and will also either help or hinder the change one way or another. More →

January 30, 2024

Workplace design and the corrective force of rediscovery

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Workplace design

It has become something of a preoccupation of mine to consider why so many of the conversations we hold about workplace design are largely about the rediscovery of old ideas. It may be because there are constants about how people interact with their surroundings and each other and the truisms underlying those interactions. Although these are often reframed by the amount of data we now have to support them, some things never change. More →

January 29, 2024

Lab rats – how the UK life sciences sector is struggling to find space to work

by Chris Barlow • Features, Premium Content, Property

In November 2023, plans to turn part of a golf course next to a motorway into a £340 million science park were refused by South Oxfordshire District Council. Although now classified as greenbelt, the location was the site of a landfill as recently as the 1990s and is just a stone’s throw from both the A40 trunk road and M40 motorway. The developers are expected to appeal. Whatever the details of this story, it is an example of how challenging it can be to meet demand for lab and life sciences space in the so-called Golden Triangle of London, Oxford and Cambridge in the South of England. This lack of supply is acting as a brake on the UK Government’s dream of making the country a “science superpower”. More →

January 24, 2024

The final word on workplace wellbeing

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Wellbeing

The final word? Of course not. Nearly six years ago, we published an article that described how the quest for productivity had been supplanted almost entirely by a new emphasis on workplace wellbeing. It was the final nail in the coffin of scientific management and its central notion of the office as a factory, subject to rigid times and places of work and manufacturing’s culture of process, efficiency and productivity. The office a splice of factory and panopticon. More →

January 22, 2024

London’s office market is reshaping the city and the way people experience the workplace

by Sam Mardon • Comment, Property

London’s office market continues to adapt to evolving workforce demands. The normalisation of hybrid and flexible working since the pandemic remains the biggest cultural shift that the office sector has witnessed in decades. In addition to the rise in demand for quality-as-a-must in 2023, collaboration, culture, and connectivity will lead the charge for office space trends in the year ahead. More →

January 18, 2024

Office trends may come and go, but some values (such as good ergonomics) are eternal

by Luke Munro • Company news

In 2024, Wellworking celebrates 25 years of being in business, a milestone I’m proud of in such a competitive market. A lot has changed over that time, and I’m excited by just how much working habits will transform over the next few decades too. When I first established the company in 1999, it was called Home Working Solutions as I felt there were increasing numbers of people working from home that needed appropriate furniture to do that. It was important to me that they had access to quality ergonomic products as I felt that people working from home had very few options on offer at the time. More →

January 17, 2024

Many employers don’t think GenZ are well prepared for the workplace

by Jayne Smith • News

A new poll from WorkL claims that half of employers believe that Generation Z is not entering the workplace well-equipped with the skills and knowledge needed for their roles. The annual WorkL Global Workforce Report 2024 suggests that mentoring initiatives are being implemented by employers to support Gen Z, with four in ten employers taking the step. Having been significantly impacted by the global pandemic and the shift in traditional working practices, WorkL has seen a falling engagement score for the youngest demographic over the last 12 months; decreasing from 71 percent in 2021 down to just 67 percent in 2023, a concerning four percentage point decrease and the lowest score out of all age groups. More →

January 16, 2024

Employers must act to offer more choices to people

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Workplace

Henley Business School’s World of Work Institute has published a new report on what it calls The Omniployment Era The report claims to identify which what a post-Covid, post-Great Resignation workforce looks like. The study identifies six distinct worker ‘segments’* in the UK workforce and quantifies what attracts and retains them in jobs, and provides advice to businesses on how to build a strong workforce. More →

January 2, 2024

We are not blank slates and we don’t adapt to change in predictable ways

by Mark Eltringham • Features, Flexible working, Wellbeing

An idea that has never really gone away, but which seems to be enjoying a new lease of life is the tabula rasa. The conception of people as a blank slate is something that has crept back into mainstream political and social thought for a variety of reasons. Arguably, it is also behind many of the most misleading notions about work and workplace design, perhaps most importantly that a change to some single element or characteristic of a working environment will lead to a specific outcome in the behaviour of people. More →

December 12, 2023

Workplace and property firms must wake up to the new era of networked businesses

by Rob Harris • Features, Flexible working, Property, Workplace design

While millions of words have been dedicated to the expected changes in post-Covid workstyles – how will people work, where will they work, how will they be supported – very little has been said about their employers: companies and corporations. Yet the anticipated changes to work and the workplace raise questions about the role of the company. Is it one just half of a transaction between employer and employee? Or is it something more? Indeed, what is the role of the company in the modern economy? Is the nature of the company likely to change? The answers could have a greater impact on workstyles than the pandemic. More →

December 8, 2023

Inclusive office design is essential if we want offices to be worth the commute

by Guzman de Yarza Blache • Comment, Workplace design

Corporate culture has fundamentally changed since the pandemic and with it, so has the way employees interact with the office. This has put leaders under pressure to create experiences for employees that complement, and in some ways even compete with, the comforts of home. Organisations now understand the immense potential for sustainable, inclusive office design, and people-centric real estate strategies to drive positive change and fuel growth. More →