Search Results for: technology

December 15, 2014

Wearable tech will change the workplace in unexpected ways

The idea that we are all about to be supplanted by a new generation of artificially intelligent robot overlords has been in the news a great deal recently, partly as a result of Stephen Hawking’s recent pessimistic intervention on the subject. Whatever the truth of this apocalyptic musing, a more imminent generation of tech products means we are already testing the law of unintended consequences with regard to the stuff we create to help us. As technology firms clamber over each other in their attempts to be the first to open up the lucrative frontiers of wearable tech, a range of understandable concerns have been raised about some of the more obvious potential problems of security and privacy. But if we have learned one thing about our relationship with technology over many years, it is that whatever we expect from it will usually be wrong, sometimes spectacularly so.

December 12, 2014

Can the workplace environment change an organisation’s culture?

by Adam Burtt-Jones • Comment, Workplace design

It is rare that organisations are totally satisfied with their current culture. They will often see what can be improved and at the same time recognise that these improvements will inevitably stem from a change in behaviour or the attitude of their employees. What is important to remember is that a change in the design of the physical environment will not, by itself, change the culture of an organisation. But workplace design can reflect the desired culture of the organisation, and help to promote certain behaviours and attitudes. It can also help to reinforce the unique attributes of your organisation in a powerful, subliminal way. Culture results from the values and behaviours of employees and is best understood by the relationships internally between individuals, teams and departments. Culture can also be seen through relationships externally with customers, suppliers and stakeholders

December 11, 2014

Tech firms’ grip on best place to work lists may be starting to slip

by Mark Eltringham • News, Workplace, Workplace design

Technology firms now routinely dominate lists of the best place to work, but there are signs at least that their dominance may be waning slightly. According to a new survey of the best places to work in the US and UK compiled by jobs website Glassdoor, Google tops a list of the 50 best places to work in the US. The survey is restricted to firms with 1,000 or more employees who have received at least 50 reviews based on a 1 to 5 scale over the last 12 months. This methodology inevitably presents a skewed picture. Nevertheless, there may be something to conclude from Apple only making 22^nd place, Facebook’s fall from 5^th to 13^th, LinkedIn’s slip from 3^rd to 23^rd and Twitter’s fall from 2^nd to nowhere. Meanwhile in the UK, John Lewis’s longstanding focus on employees saw it grab one of the top five spots alongside the likes of Microsoft and Google.

December 10, 2014

Barclays converts underutilised offices into free co-working spaces

by Mark Eltringham • News, Property, Workplace design

Social enterprises, business start-ups and community groups will be offered free co-working space by Barclays as part of an initiative called Hatch, developed in partnership with charity 3Space. The programme aims to transform underutilised Barclays’ properties into office space for social entrepreneurs, early stage local businesses and community groups, charities and other qualifying organisations. The first Hatch project has opened its doors in Oxford (above), with a further three set to open in 2015. 3Space claim that Hatch will provide for a unique combination of creative, social and community needs, helping more people get their business ideas off the ground, experiment and share ideas as well as access advice on business and technology. The spaces should also provide a central hub for communities, hosting local events and meetings.

December 10, 2014

We should bring the soft landings idea back to Earth with a bump

by Andrew Brown • Comment, Facilities management, Property

Soft landings, hit the ground running, smooth handover, transition phase: whatever words you choose to describe the process the principle is the same. Managers and occupiers of a building – any building, want it to function properly. But why is this apparently so hard for anybody to achieve? Soft landings feels more like tainted love right now. So, think back a few steps and imagine you’re buying a brand new, shiny new-build house. It doesn’t come with an instruction manual, but it is a house – what’s not to know about it. But even new homes have issues. Maybe cracking in plaster, gaps around architraves, doors not closing smoothly and heating systems that is noisy and untested. In the trade it’s called snagging. You call the builder up, you make a list he comes round your new house and checks the list and then argues about the repairs.

December 9, 2014

New Scotland Yard sold to Emirati investors for £370 million

by Mark Eltringham • News, Property, Public Sector

Illustration: @SimonHeath1

The buyer of the Metropolitan Police’s Scotland Yard headquarters building has been confirmed as Abu Dhabi Financial Group (ADFG). The sale of the home of the Met as part of a huge shake-up of the police’s estate was first announced last year and last month news emerged that a buyer had been found, although details of the sale were withheld. The sale of the site to the Emirati investment group for £370 million is reported to be some £120 million more than the original asking price set by London Mayor Boris Johnson. The current building has been home to the Met since 1967 but the Mayor’s office felt the sale and freeing up of resources could benefit the force’s frontline operations. The sale is part of a wider shake-up of the police estate in London which has already seen the sale of 32 buildings, raising £125 million. The restructuring programme is expected to complete in 2016 and is estimated to save around £60 million each year in running costs.

December 9, 2014

Webinar explores gaps between facilities management and procurement

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Events, Facilities management

A webinar exploring the gap between the facilities management and procurement sectors concluded with a straw poll of thirty delegates which found that there was a half and half split between those who feel that the relationship between the two disciplines is only ‘average’ while 43 per cent consider it close and that they worked together collaboratively when required. The webinar hosted last week by supplier information management firm Trade Interchange, saw senior speakers from the facilities management and procurement sectors discuss the reason for this disconnect. “There has been historic friction and frustration,” stated Jeremy Waud, chairman of service provider Incentive FM. “The two sides have often had conflicting corporate objectives which has meant they behaved very differently.”

December 8, 2014

Flexible working could boost economy by £90 billion, claims report

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, Knowledge, News

The widespread adoption of flexible working in the UK could boost the economy by as much as £90 billion each year according to a new report from mobile tech firm Citrix and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr). The study of 1,272 British knowledge workers claims that their ‘best case scenario’ calculation is based on saving UK workers £7.1 billion in commuting costs and over half a billion hours spent travelling. This would add around £11.5 biliion annually to the economy. The report also suggests that an even greater boost to GDP could come from the introduction of a large number of currently unemployed and underemployed individuals such as the retired, disabled and stay-at-home parents. By tapping this pool of talent the report claims that the economy would benefit by up to £78.5 billion annually, equivalent to nearly 5 percent of GDP.

December 4, 2014

Most people will continue to work in traditional offices for foreseeable future

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Technology, Workplace design

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The office remains the favoured location for work worldwide but there remains an ongoing mismatch between perceptions of the productivity and performance of flexible working employees and the reality, says a major new report from Dell and Intel. According to the Global Evolving Workplace Report based on a survey of nearly 5,000 employees worldwide, the idea that remote workers are less productive is particularly apparent in developed countries. In the UK, people are two times more likely to believe that colleagues who work from home are less rather than more productive. In Germany, 75 percent of respondents saw the ability to work from home as a special privilege. Meanwhile, of those employees surveyed in developing countries, over one-third (34 percent) see home workers as more productive, compared to 32 percent who believe they get less done.

December 4, 2014

Why doesn’t the HR dept have more of a role in workplace design?

by Steve Brewer • Comment, Facilities management, Workplace, Workplace design

To design a great workplace you need to have an intimate understanding of the culture of the organisation. Culture is a result of the values of the organisation; the way people live those values and the relationships that they hold internally and externally with their marketplace and customers. The look and feel of the organisation needs to reflect the culture, just as a brand of a company reflects the product or service they provide. A good HR department will be able to distil the company culture and FM can bring it to life. We can all name examples of superb HR departments that actively engage with FM on workplace design. However, they are more the exception than the rule. If workplace design is really going to contribute to an increase in business performance then HR and FM need to work together to engage and integrate both the hard (FM) and soft (HR) services of the organisation.

December 3, 2014

It’s no surprise a third of homeworkers choose to work in their pyjamas

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

When I worked for a large publishing house in the 90s, occasionally one of us would ask to work from home. My then editor always had an enlightened policy towards the home-working concept, telling people that she didn’t care if they worked in their pyjamas as long as they met their deadline. In the digital era, home working is a lot more accepted, and according to a new survey, working in your pyjamas is still in vogue, though the 10 per cent of people who admit to working naked must have huge heating bills. The study by Altodigital reflects the usual trade-off associated with flexible working, with 40 per cent of homeworkers claiming their productivity more than doubles, but motivation has a limited scope; peaking at just four hours a day, before it trails off. I’d argue that exactly the same thing happens in the office. Just because people are perceived to be ‘at work’ it’s assumed they are working. More →

December 3, 2014

HR managers appreciate importance of IT, but don’t work with IT people

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Technology, Workplace

Research sponsored by Sungard Availability Services claims that while almost two thirds (63 percent) of the UK’s senior HR managers believe a closer alignment with their organisation’s Chief Information Officer will be vital in realising their department’s ideas, only 12 per cent currently work very closely with the IT crowd. The findings of the report show that 97 percent of HR professionals believe the CIO is very capable in supporting business growth through technology including enabling mobile and flexible working (58 percent), creating new ways to communicate with employees (64 percent) and driving efficiencies (66 percent) Nevertheless, the HR department profess to be big supporters of technology within the enterprise – with over two thirds (68 percent) stating that if the CIO was not sitting on the board within their organisation, then they should be.