March 5, 2020

The theme park of modern office design

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Furniture, Workplace design

Here’s an interesting exercise you may want to try. Off the top of your head and without thinking about it too much, write down the names of five iconic office furniture designs. The kind that your Aunt Sheila might recognise if she saw them but wouldn’t necessarily be able to name. When I did this recently while writing a piece about design trends, the products I came up with automatically were things like Frank Lloyd Wright’s desks for the Larkin building, Action Office, the 3107 chair (pictured), and Marcel Breuer’s Wassily Chair. (more…)

March 5, 2020

UK outpaced by other nations when it comes to women in work

by Jayne Smith • News, Working lives

Despite holding firm in 16th place, the UK is being outpaced by greater improvements in female employment prospects in other OECD countries, according to PWC’s latest Women in Work Index, which analyses female economic empowerment across 33 OECD countries. While the UK performs above the OECD average and is second only to Canada when compared to other G7 economies, its position has barely budged since 2000 when it stood in 17th position, despite improving its performance across all five indicators. (more…)

March 5, 2020

Increasing diversity is key to improving workplace productivity

by Jayne Smith • News, Working culture

The latest research from recruitment agency Robert Half UK, claims that the majority of businesses are pursuing workplace culture improvements during the first half of the year. Increasing diversity and inclusion is a top priority for over a quarter of business leaders, as companies seek to improve workplace culture in a competitive hiring market. (more…)

March 4, 2020

Workers would swap jobs to escape an unpleasant workspace

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News, Workplace design

Almost half of employees in the UK would be willing to leave their job because of an unappealing office, according to a new survey of almost 1,000 UK office workers. The research, carried out by Matthews & Goodman, claims that 44 percent of workers would ‘definitely’ look for a new job because of an unpleasant workspace. In addition, a further 45 percent said it ‘might’ encourage them to look around for a new job. (more…)

March 4, 2020

New smart building suite for a people centric workplace experience

by Freddie Steele • Company news

Siemens Smart Infrastructure has launched a smart building suite designed to create more efficient and flexible workplaces where people are at the core. The suite of IoT (Internet of Things) enabled devices, applications and services turn offices into a competitive advantage for companies. (more…)

March 3, 2020

Remote working has no effect on careers, research suggests. But…

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News

Working from home is known to be good for a strong work-life balance, advantageous for employee productivity, and is even touted as being beneficial for the environment. However, telecommuting has also carried a stigma that employees who work remotely have difficulties rising in their career. (more…)

March 3, 2020

Attitudes to risk of climate change are shifting dramatically

by Jayne Smith • Environment, News

Britons suggest climate change is one of the most important issues facing the country in the next 20 years, claims research led by Cardiff University. A wide-ranging survey examining social attitudes to the risks and impacts of climate change suggested the issue was now second only to Brexit for the British public. The survey, carried out by a team of researchers from Cardiff University and Climate Outreach, also highlighted rising public concern about storms, flooding and, in particular, heatwaves, and suggested strong support for policies to address these. (more…)

March 3, 2020

Accountants call for IR35 to be scrapped

by Jayne Smith • Business, News

Accountants are wary about the impact that the government’s IR35 off-payroll tax reforms will have on the UK’s contracting industry and would like to see them repealed altogether, a new survey claims. According to research by FreeAgent, an accounting software provider, 95 percent of UK accountants believe that the reforms will have a negative impact on the UK’s contracting industry when they are implemented in April this year and call for them to be scrapped.

• 84 percent call for private sector “off-payroll” reforms to be abolished
• 95 percent believe IR35 will negatively impact UK’s contracting industry (more…)

March 2, 2020

Workers are as important as external stakeholders

by Bianca West • Comment

At the recent World Economic Forum in Davos, workers around the globe could be forgiven for remaining sceptical at the news that the corporate world now regards them as stakeholders, and as important to their organisations as shareholders and customers. The traditional employee/employer relationship is slowly changing. Where the relationship was once exclusively hierarchical, it is now evolving into more of a partnership. Employees want to be more involved in processes and decisions. Subsequently, teams need to be more collaborative and communicative to drive innovation and creativity. To encourage optimum performance, leaders must learn to coach and encourage, rather than simply direct. (more…)

February 28, 2020

Exploring life at the new Siemens Campus in Zug

by Mark Eltringham • Features, Technology, Working culture, Workplace design

When it comes to creating an office to call home, all of the usual challenges are magnified by several degrees for a company like Siemens. It can’t afford to skimp on the building’s services, green credentials, integrated technology and all-round smartness then hold meaningful conversations on the same subjects with its clients. So, the new Siemens Campus in the Swiss town of Zug has to showcase the best the firm has to offer as well as delivering for the people who work there. (more…)

February 28, 2020

Average worker does nearly £7,000 worth of unpaid overtime a year

by Jackie Le Poidevin • News, Working culture

UK employers claimed £35 billion of free labour last year because of workers doing unpaid overtime, according to an analysis of official statistics published today by the TUC. More than 5 million people put in an average of 7.6 hours a week in unpaid overtime during 2019, it claims. On average, that equates to having £6,828 taken out of individual pay packets. (more…)

February 28, 2020

UK workers are greener at home than in the workplace

by Jackie Le Poidevin • Environment, News

Nearly half of UK workers admit to being greener at home than they are in the office, although more and more are realising the importance of green habits, research by Instant Offices has suggested. With the government committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2050, the workspace innovation company has been investigating what more employers can do to help to lead the way by instituting greener practices. (more…)