June 24, 2021
The commute as we knew it may be gone for good, claims new research conducted by DASH Rides. DASH and Sapio Research surveyed over 2,000 city-dwelling, full-time workers, who used to work primarily in the office and now work primarily at home and discovered that three quarters of those returning to the office will be actively avoiding public transport or seeking new ways to travel. More →
June 18, 2021
The latest RICS UK Facilities Management Survey results suggest a greater demand for services across all sectors, apart from retail, with FM employment opportunities therefore increasing. Furthermore, for the first time since the COVID-19 crisis swept the world last year, profit margins in the sector are expected to rise. More →
June 11, 2021
Taunton’s UK Hydrographic Office Headquarters was named ‘Best of the Best’ at the British Council for Offices’ (BCO) National Awards, and also took home the ‘Corporate Workplace’ award. The office was joined by six other award winners recognised as leading examples of excellence in the office space. This ‘roll of honour’ includes two buildings in London: The Brunel Building on Canalside Walk, and 160 Old Street, a refurbished office space in the “Silicon Roundabout” district. More →
June 11, 2021
New research by Gartner Inc, which surveyed more than 20,000 employees between January 2020 and March 2021, claims that COVID-19 has negatively impacted the health of 55 percent of the global workforce. More →
June 7, 2021
The so-called ‘bullshit jobs theory’ – which argues that a large and rapidly increasing number of workers are undertaking jobs that they themselves recognise as being useless and of no social value – contains several major flaws, argue researchers from the universities of Cambridge and Birmingham. Even so, writing in Work, Employment and Society, the academics applaud its proponent, American anthropologist David Graeber, who died in September 2020, for highlighting the link between a sense of purpose in one’s job and psychological wellbeing.
June 1, 2021
HR leaders, heads of real estate and IT decision-makers have not always spent huge amounts of time working together – their roles and responsibilities have often been siloed. But in the new world of work, that’s all changing. These three groups of senior leaders are being asked to collaborate on one of the biggest challenges corporate occupiers, as they try to figure out when and how to return to office-based working and shape the future of work. Failure to collaborate will increase the probability of workplaces having low occupancy rates, low employee engagement and decreased productivity. More →
June 1, 2021
BT has today announced plans to develop a brand new, multi-million pound contact centre in Dundee which will become the new home to around 1,000 employees. The new office will be at West Marketgait in the heart of the city centre, close to the waterfront and part of a £1bn regeneration area. When the building is complete, expected in late 2023, the contact centre will be one of around 30 of BT’s new future-fit offices in the UK, developed as part of its ‘Better Workplace Programme’ – the largest workplace improvement and consolidation scheme of its type ever undertaken in the UK. More →
May 24, 2021
Jooxter has announced the expansion of its operations into the UK and Ireland. Jooxter is a leading provider of smart workplace solutions designed to help businesses manage their digital workplace strategy by optimising building occupancy, managing workspaces and enabling collaboration. Founded in France in 2014 by CEO Fabien Girerd, Jooxter offers web and mobile applications combined with QR codes and IoT networks to provide real-time visualisation of a building’s occupancy and analytics. This gives companies a smart way of managing and optimising the use of the office space they have. More →
May 20, 2021
Organisations and businesses have a lot to contend with as they begin to reopen their offices. From social distancing, working from home policies, office layouts, hand gel stations and more. But there also remains one key issue when it comes to welcoming employees back to the office. And that’s how they will get to work in the first place. That’s because the daily commute is going to look a lot different than it did pre-COVID. Firstly, while many employers and workers see the benefit of meeting in person, the hybrid world we now live in will see workers commuting to the office far less frequently. And, if they do travel to the office, there is an element of hesitancy about how they will get there; a recent study revealed 60 percent that ‘post pandemic’ commuting say hybrid working has reduced stress from not having to commute daily. More →
May 20, 2021
The focus on creating a more sustainable workplace is increasing. Many designers, specifiers, manufacturers, suppliers and, of course, users are pledging their allegiance to the cause. Some are driven by a genuine recognition of the climate crisis whilst others are appreciating that commercially, it’s an essential direction. ‘Zero to landfill’ has been given ‘green bragging rights’ for some time. In reality, due to the significantly lower cost of incineration versus recycling, most material isn’t reclaimed, it is burnt. Whilst ‘energy from waste’ might alleviate some guilt, it is still contributing to pollution. More →
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June 22, 2021
The office sector needs to face up to its landfill issue
by Joanna Knight • Comment, Environment, JK, Workplace design