November 18, 2020
Search Results for: covid
November 17, 2020
Vitra to move London showroom from Clerkenwell to King`s Cross
by Neil Franklin • Company news, Workplace design
After 20 years in their Clerkenwell showroom, global design brand Vitra is set to move into a new space in Rolling Stock Yard, Kings Cross, which will open in January 2021. The temporary Kings Cross space will host a working installation looking at new office solutions for more flexible working. Vitra will open a new permanent UK flagship showroom in the Summer of 2021 and will announce the location in the coming months. The move comes as Vitra’s lease on its current Clerkenwell space draws to an end. More →
November 17, 2020
Chris Kane discusses his new book on workplace transformation
by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, Podcasts, Premium Content, Property, Workplace design
The physician can bury his mistakes,—but the architect can only advise his client to plant vines. Frank Lloyd Wright’s eternal epigram is not just true for buildings. It also applies to the authors of books, especially those on the subjects most affected by this year’s pandemic. Speakers and blog writers can quietly inter the things they get wrong, while the book sits unchangeable on a shelf. Maybe behind a houseplant.
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November 17, 2020
Top priority for HR leaders in 2021: building critical skills
by Jayne Smith • Business, News, Working culture
Gartner, Inc.’s 2021 HR Priorities Survey of more than 750 HR leaders claims that 68 percent of respondents cited building critical skills and competencies as their number one priority in 2021. The survey, conducted from June through August 2020, claims the other top HR priorities for 2021 are: organisational design and change management (46 percent), current and future leadership bench (44 percent), the future of work (32 percent) and employee experience (28 percent). More →
November 17, 2020
Unused office space could cost London businesses almost £13 billion
by Jayne Smith • Business, Facilities management, News, Property
Unused office space after coronavirus could cost London-based businesses almost £13 billion according to a new report by Space Three Two, a new office timeshare marketplace born out of lockdown. According to a survey of London office workers, employees want to spend an average of 2.7 days back in the office once all Covid-19 restrictions have been lifted. 1 in 10 workers said didn’t want to go back to the office at all. More →
November 16, 2020
Millions will struggle to access the Government’s new Lifetime Skills Guarantee
by Jayne Smith • Business, News, Working lives
New analysis published by the Work Foundation and Totaljobs claims that millions of low paid workers will struggle to access the Government’s new Lifetime Skills Guarantee (LSG) when it is launched next year amidst a growing jobs challenge. More →
November 16, 2020
How to manage workplace capacity in 2020
by Freddie Steele • Company news
The pandemic has totally shattered workplace norms, so it’s going to take a while before we see organizations returning to work at full capacity. When it does happen, it will require extensive planning and constantly evolving styles of people management. In addition to the logistics of phasing people back into the office and staggering shifts, you’ll need to work with your team to address their anxieties and make sure they feel comfortable in their environment. More →
November 11, 2020
UK office design should look to Europe for inspiration
by Ollie Plastow • Comment, Workplace design
The word ‘office’, based on the Latin term officium, wasn’t originally used to describing a building, or a space: instead it was used primarily as a term for a position: a role that was occupied by a person. So it seems only right with this etymology to take inspiration from Europe. And when considering office design, use that inspiration to build workspaces that reflect the needs of the people working within them. More →
November 10, 2020
What Carl Sagan could teach us about knowledge and information
by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Flexible working
Unbelievably for those of us who saw him as a personal hero, yesterday marked the 24th anniversary of the death of Carl Sagan. At the time of his death in 1996, the Internet was very much in its infancy but Sagan could see what was coming, including how we need to filter what is valuable from the deluge of information we now bob around in. Sagan put it like this: “all of the books in the world contain no more information than is broadcast as video in a single large American city in a single year. Not all bits have equal value.” More →
November 10, 2020
Workers lukewarm on both permanent remote work and the 9 to 5
by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News, Working culture, Working lives
The vast majority of UK office workers neither want to continue working remotely after Covid-19 restrictions lift nor make a full return to the 9 to 5. This is despite the fact that many admit that remote work has reduced their productivity. Those are the main claims of new research released by Locatee. Carried out by YouGov, the research claims to provide insight into UK office workers’ attitudes towards productivity, job security, and the prospect of further Covid-19 restrictions. More →
November 9, 2020
Working from home could energise some of our overlooked cities
by Michel Serafinelli • Cities, Comment, Flexible working
For years, we have been promised a work-from-home revolution, and it seems that the pandemic has finally brought it to pass. In April this year, at the height of the first wave of coronavirus, 47 percent of people in the UK were working from home, the vast majority of them doing so because of the pandemic. In a sense this is overdue: the work-from-home potential for UK employees is 32 percent; in France, Germany and Italy between 24 percent and 28 percent. More →
November 11, 2020
Burnout, stress and disconnection are now our most urgent workplace mental health issues
by Catherine Flynn • Comment, Flexible working, Wellbeing