Search Results for: office design

Book review – Working Assumptions by Julia Hobsbawm

Book review – Working Assumptions by Julia Hobsbawm

This is almost certainly the most important book about work and workplaces to appear in the first half of this year. Working Assumptions by Julia Hobsbawm will be one of the two most important published this year, as we shall soon discover. It is also one packed with wisdom, knowledge and a central premise that is undoubtedly true. Namely that the events of the past four years have given us the opportunity to rethink how we work and so how we spend our days and our lives more generally. More →

Visit NeoCon, but Chicago has become a tale of two venues

Visit NeoCon, but Chicago has become a tale of two venues

NeoCon may not be the only show in town now, but both it and Design Days are must attend events in the office design calendarChicago is a city which never fails to amaze whether you are visiting for NeoCon or for any other reason. It’s the epitome of extroversion, with its magnificent architecture, larger than life people, almost constant, ear-splitting commotion and frantic comings and goings. Annual visits to the city invariably present a profusion of elegant new skyscrapers of different shapes, styles and colours, which seem to be trying to outdo each other. It’s as if Chicago is constantly trying to outperform all other cities, as well as its own past. More →

Make my day, punk. With Will Easton

Make my day, punk. With Will Easton

Will Easton joins me for a chat over a drink on the Workplace Cocktail Hour podcast. We discuss many things including: the scope of facilities and workplace management and why it offers so many career opportunities for people; punk approaches to work; what presence means and why it can be found in mosh pits as well as when touching grass; the emerging role of UX in designing offices; and why you should take the claims of iconic office designs with a pinch of salt. We even come up with an edgy but surprising playlist in the course of the conversation, which you can find below. More →

Bringing workplaces back to their prime requires a holistic approach

Bringing workplaces back to their prime requires a holistic approach

Enticing employees back to physical workplaces has proved challenging, but there are solutions writes Steve Elliott of BW Workplace Experts The pandemic radically changed the way we work and kick-started the proliferation of the hybrid model and widespread remote work. Now the picture has shifted once more, with headlines pointing to increasing return to the office policies introduced by organisations, with greater productivity and collaboration among their top reasons for doing so. Dubbed the year of the ‘Great Office Return’ by Virgin Media 02 Business Movers Index, 2023 saw four in ten companies mandating a return to the five-day office week and 92 percent enforcing some level of in-office requirement. However, enticing employees back to physical workplaces has proven challenging. According to CBRE, almost half of companies report their office attendance at 40 percent or under. More →

ORGATEC organisers turn their gaze to Middle East markets

ORGATEC organisers turn their gaze to Middle East markets

Koelnmesse, the organisers of ORGATEC, and dmg events have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on developing trade exhibitions across the Middle East. The firms say this strategic partnership will ‘combine and leverage their respective brands, creating a dynamic synergy that promises innovative and impactful events’. Both see the Middle East as a growing and increasingly important opportunity. More →

BCO London Awards winners focus on sustainability, wellbeing and user-friendliness

BCO London Awards winners focus on sustainability, wellbeing and user-friendliness

The British Council for Offices Awards for London have gone to seven office buildings across the city. Held at the Park Plaza hotel, the BCO’s annual London Awards Lunch recognised projects that demonstrate best practice in office design, fit-out, operation and sustainability, setting the standard for excellence across the sector. More →

A look back at The Stoddart Review: the once and future guide to workplace productivity?

A look back at The Stoddart Review: the once and future guide to workplace productivity?

A new edition of the Stoddart Review would offer a deep dive into the realities of working from home and what the measurement of ‘productivity’ means in the 2020sThe Stoddart Review, published in 2016, was one of the most significant reports of recent years to explore the role of the workplace for employee productivity in extensive detail and why the office environment was key for productivity purposes. There has been a huge shift in the world of work since then. What we once knew as the workplace has changed forever. More →

Don’t worry, be ‘appy. IN Magazine issue 20 is here for you

Don’t worry, be ‘appy. IN Magazine issue 20 is here for you

The new digital edition of IN Magazine is now available to read online.The new digital edition of IN Magazine is now available to read online. In this issue: reviews of both MIPIM and the Workspace Design Show; a reappraisal of scientific management; what the new generation of workplace apps tell us about how we work; a case study that prompts the question of why office designers don’t make more use of reused products; the road to hell is paved with bad information; Domino Risch on the workplace’s Kodak moment; why facilities managers are the goalkeepers of the workplace; the final word on self-awareness; and much more.  More →

British workers now entirely unproductive, claims report

British workers now entirely unproductive, claims report

The overwhelming majority of UK workers don’t do anything productive at all, according to a new report published today. The study of available research into the illnesses, injuries, distractions, wastes of time, procrastinations, productivity drains and paralyses that afflict British workers found that the annual cost to the British economy is around £1.8 trillion, equivalent to 98.9 percent of GDP.

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Joanna Knight

Joanna Knight has over 30 years’ experience in marketing, sales, PR and journalism in the office / workplace sector and is currently moderator for the Sustainability and Circular Economy Group at Women in Office Design and Council member at the Furniture Industry Research Association.

Why changing with the seasons is key to the all-weather workplace

Why changing with the seasons is key to the all-weather workplace

Building in flexibility within workplace strategy and office design is a way to ensure working environments remain a magnetic destinationLove it or hate it, weather chat is part of Britain’s day to day – yet in the world of work it’s not just casual small talk. In fact, the seasons have a real impact on how we feel and perform. The change in seasonal characteristics influences what employees need from where they work. Looking after employee wellbeing and putting individuals in the best position to be productive at work means different things throughout the year. Building in flexibility within workplace strategy and office design is a way to ensure working environments remain a magnetic destination that support people all year round…but what does this type of flexibility look like? More →

Whenever I hear the future of work, I reach for my pistol

Whenever I hear the future of work, I reach for my pistol

the future of workFor years it has been evident that there is no ‘future of work’. There is only a journey with no destination and no single way of not getting to it. That hasn’t stopped people talking about it all endlessly. And each time they have, I’ve reached for my pistol. More →