Search Results for: agile

London transport shuts down ….. agile workers unaffected …..

by • Cities, Comment, Flexible working, Wellbeing

agile workers tube strikeLondon’s Financial Times reported this morning, “The worst London Underground strike in more than a decade saw millions of Londoners struggle to get to work”. It is chaos, here in the UK capital – the top global city in PwC’s Cities of Opportunity ranking. It is a sorry state of affairs, as in a scene reminiscent of 1970s union-crippled Britain, the “workers” representatives couldn’t agree with “the management”. “Workers” and “management”…we thought we had overcome that particular divide in business and society, didn’t we? But, some people have a vested interest in keeping it very much alive. In the large, industrialized, unionized industries such as transport, it lives on. Only last year, UNITE union leader Len McCluskey addressed his supporters in Liverpool as “sisters and brothers” like some mid-20th century socialist (which, of course, he is).

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Beyond agile working + Is the environment a non-issue? + Neocon review

Beyond agile working + Is the environment a non-issue? + Neocon review

by • Flexible working, Newsletter, Workplace, Workplace design

Insight_twitter_logo_2In this week’s issue; Paul Goodchild reviews Chicago-based office design event Neocon; Andrew Mawson describes a major new research project on knowledge workers and Dan Callegari argues the business case for green building design is changing. Mark Eltringham finds we are often best able to understand the way people function by using symbols of mechanisation; asks whether the environment could now be something of a non-issue for building managers and suggests employers like open plan offices because they allow them to keep an eye on what people are doing. We reveal that working while on holiday is fast becoming the norm for many workers and that new evidence is published on the positive influence of good ergonomics on performance. Subscribe for free quarterly issues of Work&Place and via the subscription form in the right hand sidebar for weekly news, follow us on Twitter and join our LinkedIn Group to discuss these and other stories.

Beyond agile working: the six factors of knowledge worker productivity

Beyond agile working: the six factors of knowledge worker productivity

by • Comment, Facilities management, Flexible working, Workplace, Workplace design

flexible workingWhilst the world has focussed heavily on the asset productivity of offices over the last 30 years, reducing the cost of offices per head, often using agile working as a tool for achieving this, it’s becoming clear that the mobility afforded by the latest technology products can be used to aid Knowledge Worker productivity. Knowledge work plays an increasingly large part in the economic fortunes of developing countries. Indeed the vast majority of people working in AWA’s client organisations are Knowledge Workers. Over the last 30 years we’ve seen a gradual shift from manufacturing to service and now to knowledge based industries. Knowledge Workers are broadly speaking ‘people who think for a living’. Whilst the concept of ‘productivity’ in manufacturing and service industries is well understood it is barely understood at all for knowledge based sectors.

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Long distance commuting, agile working and dinosaur extinction in the UAE

Long distance commuting, agile working and dinosaur extinction in the UAE

by • Cities, Comment, Flexible working, Property

Make DubaiIn Dubai, there are no suburban dinosaurs; those large-scale, single purpose office buildings that ignore the agile realities of modern working life. In the western world, these giants evolved on business parks, driven by the perceived benefits of having office workers agglomerated in order to achieve efficiency of communication and dissemination. The business practices and technologies that underpinned these buildings have evolved and improved and many are in the process of being re-purposed. Things happen on a grander scale in the Middle East where the mantra is “if the land-use doesn’t fit the land, make more land.” Here, the patterns of work and place have evolved differently from the west, and at a much faster pace with creeping tides of development spreading rapidly out from the small centres of traditional trade and commerce to vast tracts of new development.

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London firms focus on wellbeing and agile working to attract staff

London firms focus on wellbeing and agile working to attract staff

by • Flexible working, News, Property, Wellbeing, Workplace design

agile workingAn additional 5.1m sq. ft. of office space will be required by 2019 to accommodate the growth of professional services firms in London, claims new research from CBRE. According to the studio, firms will also adopt more pragmatic workplace strategies that focus on agile working and wellbeing to meet their objectives. Nearly all (92 percent) of the respondents to CBRE’s Professional London survey claim they use the workplace to enhance employee satisfaction and 83 percent of firms use it to control costs. Firms are also placing more emphasis on wellbeing and more agile and intensive ways of using space, according to CBRE. Other factors such as technology and the design of the workplace are also increasingly important. The research suggests that staff are increasingly attracted by on-site amenities, connectivity and location and other ‘lifestyle offerings’.

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Firms downsizing property dramatically as agile working takes hold, claims new report

by • Facilities management, Flexible working, Property, Workplace design

agile workingThe sharp reduction in the amount of office space used by corporate occupiers as they adopt more agile working practices has been confirmed in a new study from facilities management services provider MITIE. The survey, as reported in the British Institute of Facilities Management (BIFM) magazine FM World, found that between the years of 2008 and 2014 firms reduced their floorspace by an average of 45 percent. The results of the report, based on interviews with property directors, mirror those of the Occupier Density Survey published last year by the British Council for Offices (BCO) which also found a marked (if smaller) reduction. The authors of the MITIE report conclude, similarly, that the economic downturn has been the main catalyst for the reduction in property used by occupiers and that the main way firms have accommodated the fall is with the uptake of flexible working practices.

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Private sector recruitment to increase, despite fragile economy

by • Knowledge, News, Workplace

Private sector employment

Employers from the private sector intend to hire new staff in the coming months, despite UK businesses not anticipating economic growth in the next two quarters. According to the latest Business Trends report by accountants and business advisers BDO LLP UK businesses’ hiring intentions over the next two quarters, reached 96.0 in March, the highest since August 2011. Peter Hemington, Partner, BDO LLP, commented: “It is encouraging to see improvement in UK businesses’ hiring intentions, particularly in light of the imminent public sector payroll cuts which will add pressure to the unemployment rate.” More →

Traditional models of facilities management are no longer fit for purpose, report claims

Traditional models of facilities management are no longer fit for purpose, report claims

by • Facilities management, News

facilities managmentWorkplaces need to be maintained and managed in a more agile and responsive way if they are to serve the needs of hybrid working and the so-called return to the office, according to new research from Colliers. Colliers Global Occupier Services’ new report Adaptive Facilities Management – a new vision in agility reveals traditional facilities management (FM) models, where services are delivered at fixed frequencies and costs, are no longer fit for purpose, due to occupancy levels at many workplaces remaining in flux. More →

Kusch+Co airport products enhance relaxation and business for millions of travellers

Kusch+Co airport products enhance relaxation and business for millions of travellers

by • Company news

With furniture found in over 260 international airports worldwide, Kusch+Co is a trusted name in airport seating and lounge solutions.Creating comfortable and stress-free environments for travellers has never been more crucial. Ensuring traveller relaxation is paramount. Kusch+Co is at the forefront of this effort, offering a range of products designed to enhance the airport experience and provide much-needed comfort for travellers. As a leader in furnishing travel environments, Kusch+Co has been instrumental in achieving this goal. Their furniture can be found in over 260 international airports worldwide, making Kusch+Co a trusted name in airport seating and lounge solutions. More →

How do you encourage people to spend more time in the office? Here are seven things to consider

How do you encourage people to spend more time in the office? Here are seven things to consider

by • Features, Flexible working, Property, Workplace design

 

In a world in which people have more choice about how and where to work, how do you encourage people to spend more time in the office without issuing controversial mandates?

In a world in which people have more choice about how and where to work, how do you encourage people to spend more time in the office without issuing controversial mandates? Some of the UK’s most high-profile workplace, design, property and facilities management experts met recently at the London showroom of MillerKnoll to discuss the answers to this, one of the most vexed questions of recent years. How do you create workplaces that meet the needs of people who have more choices than ever of how, when and where to work? And its corollary: if you want people to spend more time in the office with each other, how do you entice them to do so without making it an obligation? More →

Accelerating the rise of the adaptable office

Accelerating the rise of the adaptable office

by • Company news, Workplace design

The growth of the adaptable office is one of the most obvious responses to the growing appetite for flexible working and agile property strategiesThe introduction of the Flexible Working Act is another sign that the concept of the ‘workplace’ has undergone a significant transformation. These shifts in work patterns, office usage and approach are all having dramatic knock-on impacts when it comes to the future of the physical infrastructure of the nation’s office environments, and the investor communities behind them. The growth of the adaptable office is one of the most obvious responses to the growing appetite for flexible working and agile property strategies. More →

British Council for Offices Chief Executive Richard Kauntze to step down in summer 2025

British Council for Offices Chief Executive Richard Kauntze to step down in summer 2025

by • News

After soon-to-be 25 years of serving as Chief Executive for the British Council for Offices, Richard Kauntze will be stepping down in summer 2025. His successor will be appointed by the BCO Presidential Team in due course. More →

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