Search Results for: sit stand

January 13, 2016

Growth in freelance economy, as people seek better work-life balance ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Technology, Workplace

Nearly one in four employees freelance in some capacity, a recent study of office workers in the US claims. Overall, twelve percent of US employees work as freelancers as their primary source of income, and the same percentage freelance in addition to their primary job. The Staples Advantage Workplace Index reveals that employees freelance for a variety of reasons, including the flexibility to make their own hours (37 percent), make more money (39 percent), and achieve a work-life balance (32 percent). Businesses also benefit from this arrangement by getting access to highly skilled workers needed for special projects. Freelance workers need temporary access to IT services and equipment, designated work spaces, open communication with co-workers, and the right supplies to help deliver projects. As a result, finds the report, smart, collaborative technology is becoming more ‘mainstream’, in helping establish efficient team structures and collaboration models.

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January 12, 2016

A cynic’s field guide to workplace terminology, part three ⁰

by Simon Heath • Comment, Facilities management, Technology, Workplace, Workplace design

A New Year and a new chance for some people to heap more fresh corporate bullshit onto the already steaming pile. No matter how often writers like the ever excellent Lucy Kellaway mock and deride the propensity of people in organisations to apply cliches and nonsense in lieu of thought and imagination, we have to face an annual fresh tide of drivel and lazy thinking. So predictable is this yearly onslaught, that it appears to now be a subject for trendspotters, as a recent feature in The Telegraph highlighted. Of course, this is just general corporate speak and does not even begin to scratch the surface of what we have to endure in the more parochial world of workplace design and management. Which is why I have produced the latest update to my continually expanding lexicon of regrettable workplace terminology. You can read parts one and two here and here.

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January 8, 2016

Modern office design principles favour extroverts, study claims ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Knowledge, News, Workplace, Workplace design

This week’s British Psychological Society Occupational Psychology Division annual conference in Nottingham has proved to be a fruitful hunting ground for insights into the nature of modern work and workplaces. The week culminates today with the presentation of a new study from business psychologists OPP which claims that personality has a big impact on the type of office environment people prefer to work in. Modern features such as shared space and open-plan floors appeal mainly to extroverted workers and made introverts uncomfortable. Over 300 people (71 per cent female and average age 47 years) completed an online survey about their current workplace. The participants had previously completed a personality test to ascertain their personality type. The results showed that many features of the modern office were more likely to be preferred by extroverts than by introverts.

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January 6, 2016

Two new studies that highlight the complexities of gender at work ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Knowledge, News, Workplace

The increasingly complex nature of the career and workplace choices made by men and women and the specific challenges they face is the subject of two pieces of research presented at this week’s British Psychological Society’s Division of Occupational Psychology annual conference in Nottingham. The authors of the admittedly small scale studies conclude respectively that men in what are generally considered typically female-dominated occupations tend to value the social aspects of their career more than financial rewards and that ambitious professional women would benefit from a better understanding of how to build, maintain and use their social capital to succeed in their attempts at reaching the top of their professions. Both topics have been raised before but it’s interesting to see yet more research which challenges the often overly simplistic assumptions that seem to go hand in hand with gender issues at work.

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January 5, 2016

A round-up of stories you may have missed on your way back to work ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Facilities management, News, Workplace design

Still catching up after the holidays? So are we. Here are seven recent stories we loved belatedly and think you will too. 1. GM is set to stake its claim as part of the nascent network of self driving cars. 2. Yet another round-up of 2016 trends, this time focussed on HR. 3. A new initiative attempts to cement the UK’s position at the frontier of the smart city movement. 4. A film about the world’s ongoing love hate relationship with the office cubicle. Mostly hate. 5. A reminder to architects that they need to think about the design of sound, too. 6. A look back at the year in which sit-stand desks finally made their mark (just don’t mention the countries that have loved them for years in the non English speaking parts of Northern Europe). 7. Goldman Sachs produce an interesting chart about the fall in space per worker, but provoke a possibly faulty conclusion from the author. Just because people are given less space, doesn’t mean the office is dying. Main image courtesy of Herman Miller.

December 17, 2015

Redevelopment confirmed for one of Leeds’ most prominent office buildings ⁰

by Sara Bean • Company news, News, Property

Network Rail has agreed a 150-year lease to enable redevelopment of one of Leeds’ largest and most prominent office buildings which sits above Leeds train station. The extension of the ground lease at Bruntwood’s City House in Leeds will facilitate the redevelopment of the 12-storey office building. Bruntwood obtained planning permission earlier this year to undertake an extensive refurbishment of the vacant 121,000 sq ft office building which will feature a roof garden, business lounge and meeting space. Co-working and small suites will be introduced to cater for smaller start-up businesses whilst wings of up to 4,900 sq ft and full floors of 9,630 sq ft will be available for established companies seeking more space. As owners of the freehold Network Rail has worked closely with Bruntwood over the last 12 months to bring forward plans to redevelop the property – with the revenue generated from the lease being reinvested back into the railway.

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December 15, 2015

Seven essential workplace design trends to keep an eye on during 2016 ⁰

by Dan Callegari • Comment, Facilities management, Workplace design

What has become increasingly apparent over recent years is that the office isn’t just a place to work, but also a driver of competitive advantage. We’ve always known this to a greater or lesser extent, but the dynamic and ever shifting nature of the modern world is presenting organisations with new and evolving challenges that they must address with all of the tools at their disposal. At the heart of this complexity is the physical workspace. Its design touches on every aspect of the changing workplace and the objectives organisations set for themselves and their employees. Although it has lots its primacy as the main place of work, you could also argue that the focus on the office’s key strengths makes it more important than ever within the context of overall working cultures. So, with that in mind, here are ten of the most important current trends in workplace design and management we foresee for 2016.

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December 13, 2015

Best Places to Work + Make the most of each day + Strategic role of offices ⁰

by Sara Bean • Environment, Facilities management, Flexible working, Furniture, Newsletter, Wellbeing

In this week’s newsletter; Mark Eltringham on the prescience of philosopher Seneca on a time and a place to work; and a report by Sara Bean finds the boardroom increasingly views office space as a strategic asset. Glassdoor announces the best places to work for 2016; researchers reveal the phenomenon of ‘inattentional deafness’; a new Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction is announced; and Gartner says we’ll be using three technical devices by 2018. Over 100 councils to join an office-sharing scheme; Gen Z will blur the boundaries between home and work, and too much focus on standing in the sit-stand debate. Download the new issue of Work&Place and access an Insight Briefing, produced in partnership with Connection, which looks at agile working in the public sector. Visit our new events page, follow us on Twitter and join our LinkedIn Group to discuss these and other stories.

December 11, 2015

Concentrating on visual tasks can lead to temporary deafness ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Knowledge, News, Wellbeing, Workplace design

A new study published in the Journal of Neuroscience has found that when people concentrate more on visual tasks, they can go deaf momentarily. Based on brain scans from 13 volunteers, the researchers from UCL, the Wellcome Trust and Newcastle University concluded that the senses of hearing and vision share a limited neural resource. So, when people are focussed on a demanding visual task, the brain’s response to sound can be significantly reduced. Examination of people’s ability to detect sounds during the visual demanding task also showed a higher rate of failures to detect sounds, even though the sounds were clearly audible and people did detect them when the visual task was easy. Lead researcher Dr Maria Chait said the phenomenon of ‘inattentional deafness’, where we fail to notice sounds when concentrating on other things, confirms earlier research.

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December 10, 2015

Boardroom now more likely to view offices as strategic asset, claims report ⁰

by Neil Franklin • Facilities management, News, Property

A new research paper claims to reveal changes in the way that UK companies now perceive and evaluate their commercial property portfolios – both as a physical workplace and as a strategic asset that can help them to meet corporate goals. The report, entitled Redefining Commercial Property Performance – The alignment of property and workplace with corporate objectives was written by Insight’s own Sara Bean and was commissioned by managed office solutions provider Portal. As part of the research, interviews were conducted with property professionals, workplace consultants and occupiers including RICS, Leesman UK, TD Wealth International, TSK Group, Cushman & Wakefield and Sheffield Hallam University. The findings of the paper claim to reveal the growing importance of measuring the performance and return from commercial office space and the necessity to more closely align property with corporate goals.

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December 9, 2015

Glassdoor announces lists of the best places to work for 2016 ⁰

by Neil Franklin • Case studies, News, Workplace, Workplace design

Job site Glassdoor has announced the winners of its annual Employees’ Choice Awards, honouring the best places to work across Europe and North America. The Awards are based on the input of employees who provide anonymous feedback by completing a company review about their job, work environment and employer. This year, Glassdoor has expanded the awards programme to include six categories, highlighting the Best Places to Work across the UK, France, Germany, US and Canada. This is the second time Glassdoor has identified the best places to work in the UK and the first time in both France and Germany. Winners are ranked based on their overall rating achieved during the past year based on a five point scale. According to Glassdoor, the top five UK Best Places to Work in 2016 are, in order: Expedia (average 4.4 rating), Hays Plc (4.4 rating), AKQA (4.2 rating), GE (4.2 rating), Schuh (4.1 rating).

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December 9, 2015

Offices and smart cities will drive uptake of the Internet of Things, claims report ⁰

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

A new report from analysts Gartner claims that the roll out of the Internet of Things will be driven by innovation in commercial property and smart cities. The study, Internet of Things — Endpoints and Associated Services, Worldwide, 2015 claims that 1.6 billion connected things will be used by smart cities in 2016, an increase of 39 percent from 2015 (see Table 1). The authors of the report claim that smart commercial buildings, particularly those subject to Building Information Modelling technology will pioneer applications until 2017, after which consumers will become the dominant force as devices migrate to a new generation of smart homes. Commercial real estate benefits greatly from IoT implementation. IoT creates a unified view of facilities management as well as advanced service operations through the collection of data and insights from a multitude of sensors.