Search Results for: future of work

Workspace Design Show goes from strength to strength this year with visitor numbers up by 76 percent

Workspace Design Show goes from strength to strength this year with visitor numbers up by 76 percent

The Workspace Design Show returned to the Business Design Centre from 27- 28 February 2023, with exhibitors and visitors alike hailing it as a must-attend addition to the trade show calendarThe Workspace Design Show returned to the Business Design Centre from 27- 28 February 2023, with exhibitors and visitors alike hailing it as a must-attend addition to the trade show calendar and a place where the workplace community can come together to be inspired and network. The overarching theme for this year’s show was Destination Workplace: Places Where People Want To Be, exploring how to create environments where employees have a desirable experience at their workplaces. More →

Most hybrid workers worldwide don’t think they’ll return to old ways of work

Most hybrid workers worldwide don’t think they’ll return to old ways of work

A poll of 3,000 office workers by Insights Learning & Development claims that 70 percent of hybrid workers in the UK want to maintain the arrangement permanently.A poll of 3,000 office workers by Insights Learning & Development claims that 70 percent of hybrid workers in the UK want to maintain the arrangement permanently. According to the report, UK employees are generally happy with their hybrid working arrangements – more so than employees in the US, Canada and France. Overall workers in the Netherlands are most satisfied with their hybrid working arrangements. More →

“Flexible working has been introduced very inflexibly”: IN conversation with Jeremy Myerson

“Flexible working has been introduced very inflexibly”: IN conversation with Jeremy Myerson

Jeremy Myerson in conversation about his new book, an inflexible form of flexible working and a great relearningOne of the latest people to invent activity-based working is a sociologist, who combined it with the similarly familiar hub and spoke office model on her substack as a solution to the Great Office Problem and as a way of implementing flexible working. She’s not the first and is a less surprising pioneer of a decades old model than some other people who should really know better. That includes an architectural practice who came up with the idea earlier this year and whose name escapes me. More →

One in four people will work from abroad this year, and many won’t tell their employer

One in four people will work from abroad this year, and many won’t tell their employer

One in four (23 percent) UK office workers plan to take advantage of remote working to log on from abroad in 2023, with a third (32 percent) doing so against company rules, according to new research by the risk management and insurance broker, Gallagher. The survey of more than 2,000 UK office workers claims that the dramatic increase in hybrid working post pandemic now extends to a “work from anywhere” culture. But employees choosing to locate themselves overseas brings risk implications for their employer, as well as themselves. More →

The rise of the pods shows how the workplace pendulum swings

The rise of the pods shows how the workplace pendulum swings

Workplace designers removed the walls. And the furniture industry is selling them back to us; now portable and demountable.Long before the office died (I read its obituary in several publications) there were hotly contested debates about open plan offices. That is of course before those debates were eclipsed by more current workplace rantings (ask the editor). Skimming through the open-plan office timeline, Herman Miller launched action office, L-shaped desks with screens became shared benches, and decades later tech brands rolled out efficient open-plan workspaces around the globe, with Facebook creating the biggest open-plan office of all time with 2,800 employees. Gulp. Open plan officer workers and workplace professionals moaned about acoustics, stress, and more recently, germs in large open workspaces. More →

Firms get that people want flexible working, but are still slow to act

Firms get that people want flexible working, but are still slow to act

Workers are increasingly demanding autonomy and flexible working options, but employers remain slow to respond, with only a small percentage increasing the number of flexible or remote rolesWorkers are increasingly demanding autonomy and flexible working options, but employers remain slow to respond, with only a small percentage increasing the number of flexible or remote roles, according to a new poll.  Based on a survey of 4,500 people including 500 small and medium-sized business owners, Sonovate’s report, ‘The Future World of Work’ [registration] claims that although 70 percent of businesses acknowledge that the most skilled people will only work under conditions that favour them, they had done little to enable employees to work more flexibly and reduce outgoings. More →

What to expect at next week’s Workspace Design Show

What to expect at next week’s Workspace Design Show

With only a few days until The Workspace Design Show returns to London’s Business Design Centre, on 27-28 February 2023, here is a taste of what to expec With only a few days until The Workspace Design Show returns to London’s Business Design Centre, on 27-28 February 2023, here is a taste of what to expect. The show brings together striking features, a thought-provoking programme of talks featuring a whole host of speakers, from developers to architects and their blue-chip clients, along with accomplished exhibitors showcasing the latest workplace interiors innovations. All of this incredible content aligns perfectly with the show’s theme, Destination Workplace: Places Where People Want To Be. More →

Flexible working drives productivity and stronger company culture

Flexible working drives productivity and stronger company culture

flexible working plays a key role in fostering organisational culture and has a significant positive impact on productivityFuture Forum, a consortium launched by Slack with founding partners Boston Consulting GroupMillerKnoll, and MLT has published the latest findings from its global Pulse survey, which suggest that flexible working plays a key role in fostering organisational culture and has a significant positive impact on productivity. According to the poll, flexible workers were 57 percent more likely to say that their company culture has improved over the past two years compared with those required to be on-site five days a week—and they cited flexible working policies as the primary reason their culture is changing for the better. More →

Workspace Design Show returns (and so do we)

Workspace Design Show returns (and so do we)

A few of you may already know this story. It was some 15 months ago and three old friends met up for the first time in quite a while (well, we had been through lockdowns etc). Having caught up with each other’s news, the subject turned to industry journals, what the three friends felt the market was missing and the possibility of collaborating in the not too distant future. That conversation occurred at the inaugural Workspace Design Show – which the three amigos were all hugely impressed by. The result of that conversation (and a few more chats and meets, of course) is Works. So, here we are, all those months later, pulling together a preview of the 2023 edition of WDS, which – we’re delighted to say – we’re very much a part of. And we don’t just partner with any one, you know. More →

Flexible working has been an ‘unexpected gift’ for employers

Flexible working has been an ‘unexpected gift’ for employers

A survey from CBRE claims that the imposition of more hybrid and flexible working has been an 'unexpected gift' for both employers and employeesA survey from CBRE claims that the imposition of more hybrid and flexible working has been an ‘unexpected gift’ for both employers and employees. The poll of 20,000 employees worldwide suggests that flexibility plays an important role for both employee and employer decision making. Other benefits include increased productivity and more innovative thinking. Flexibility about where and when work takes place was particularly important to workers. Around 40 percent of workers both globally and in the UK, noted flexibility as the primary factor in assessing job opportunities, with a company’s commitment to work-life balance another crucial factor. More →

Working mums feel forced to limit careers due to inflexible working practices

Working mums feel forced to limit careers due to inflexible working practices

A new report claims that many working mums have felt forced to limit their careers as a result of their employer’s inflexible and outdated working policies and cultures.A new report claims that many working mums have felt forced to limit their careers as a result of their employer’s inflexible and outdated working policies and cultures. The Shift from Worker to Working Parent sponsored by WOMBA (Work, Me and the Baby) and carried out by Hult International Business School (Ashridge) interviewed working mums and dads who had recently taken extended parental leave about the experiences they faced as they transitioned to parenthood in an organisational context. More →

New study will explore the impact of economic turmoil on workplace experience

New study will explore the impact of economic turmoil on workplace experience

eople's workplace experience in the wake of recent economic upheavals is to be investigated as part of a major new survey led by Cardiff UniversityPeople’s workplace experience in the wake of recent economic upheavals is to be investigated as part of a major new survey led by Cardiff University and funded mainly by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). The Skills and Employment Survey 2023 (SES2023), which also involves researchers at UCL, the Universities of Oxford and Surrey and the National Centre for Social Research, will help academics assess the impact of an extraordinary period of turbulence for workers which includes the economic downturn, Cost-of-Living Crisis, Covid-19 and Brexit. More →