Search Results for: Gen Z

April 22, 2015

UK’s health and social systems failing to improve workforce wellbeing ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • News, Public Sector, Wellbeing, Workplace

A new report published this week by The Work Foundation, Healthy, Working Economies sets out the challenges facing the next UK government to improve the health and wellbeing of the country’s workforce. The report calls on the government to review how it is using local organisations, such as Health and Wellbeing Boards and Local Enterprise Partnerships to encourage improvements in workforce wellbeing and health. The Work Foundation recommends that a standardised set of measures be included in the Joint Strategic Needs Assessments performed by Health and Wellbeing Boards, including measures of employment outcomes for individuals with health issues. The report also suggests that employer leadership is needed to drive the step-change needed to improve the health of the workforce.

April 17, 2015

A preview of Clerkenwell Design Week 2015 ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Events, Flooring, Furniture, Lighting, News, Workplace design

The organisers of Clerkenwell Design Week have announced the latest up to date details of its events and showrooms programme. Taking place between 19 and 21 May, this is the sixth year the event has taken place in London’s creative centre. Over 80 showrooms will take part this year, hosting a range of activities, discussions, showcases, product launches and talks. Confirmed keynote participants include designers such as David Adjaye (top), Michael Young and Patrizia Moroso. New participants this year include heritage brand Carl Hansen & Søn and modernist storage specialists USM. Office furniture firms Wilkhahn and Connection Seating will both open new showrooms on Great Sutton Street, while flooring manufacturer Milliken is significantly expanding its Berry Street premises.

April 17, 2015

Want to rile the electorate? Buy some office furniture. ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Furniture, News, Public Sector, Workplace design

It’s fair to say that most people can go about their day to day lives without worrying too much about the price of office furniture. That is until they need to work themselves into a state of excitement about the amount of taxpayers’ money being spent on desks and chairs. We’ve already highlighted how the hackles of the electorate are raised easily by the sight of refurbished offices although we are at a loss to explain why, especially when you consider it in comparison to the spectacular foul-ups associated with IT procurement and the fact they probably don’t sit around on tea crates at home. This visceral reaction is an international phenomenon. While the good people of Sheffield can whip themselves up about a £73 task chair, across the pond a political storm has formed around the £4 million expenditure of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on office furniture.

April 16, 2015

Employers want next government to take more action on staff wellbeing ⁰

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, Legal news, News, Workplace

With the General Election less than a month away, more help to support staff wellbeing is one of the most popular incentives on employers’ wish lists. According to research from Group Risk Development (GRiD), employers believe wellbeing initiatives benefit the business bottom line by improving staff morale and absence rates. Almost one in five (19%) want the next government to take more action to promote staff wellbeing, with managing stress (38%), promoting a healthy work/life balance (64%) and introducing more flexible working initiatives (47%) some of their more important focuses. The research found that many employers have already made a start, as there has been an increase in health and wellness promotions and line managers better trained to spot signs of stress and mental health conditions.

April 15, 2015

Office location key factor for staff engagement, with home working preferred ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Flexible working, News

It might be disheartening to learn that despite an employers best efforts to design an engaging and inspiring workplace, for many employees it’s where the offices are located that matters most. In a recent UK poll by ClickSoftware over half (57%), said office location was the most important reason why they’d stay in their job ahead of both pay (52%) and job security (33%). However, the most preferred place to work is at home, with 60 percent of people identifying this location to be ‘very comfortable’. The survey also looked at the factors that affected job performance, and found one in five people (20%) believe their productivity at work has been negatively affected by the location of their job. This increases further in the capital with over a quarter of Londoners (26%) feeling that their productivity would suffer by working in a ‘horrible location’. More →

April 15, 2015

Flexible workforce ignoring data risks of BYOD and mobiles ⁰

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Technology

The use of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) practices by an increasingly flexible workforce is posing huge risks to the data security of employers. Six out of ten employees routinely share their work and personal devices with others, nearly a fifth of employees don’t have passwords on devices, and 22 percent admit they don’t have security measures in place. The “Securing #GenMobile: Is Your Business Running the Risk” security threat study, questioned over 11,500 workers across 23 countries and found that attitudes have moved towards more sharing of devices and an indifferent view to security in the workplace. This high risk attitude to data security, which is more prevalent amongst younger workers is being overlooked by employers with over a third saying they have no mobile security policy in place.

April 12, 2015

A preview of this year’s Milan International Furniture Fair ⁰

by Justin Miller • Comment, Events, Furniture, Workplace design

One of the least remarked upon consequences of the digital revolution of the past two decades has been its impact on the world of exhibitions. Not so long ago, these were one of the few ways people had of finding out about new products, firms, services and technologies. Now we can find as much as we would like about all of that kind of thing at any time, and so the exhibition has had to adopt a new role. In many ways, the changing role of shows has followed the same trajectory as that of offices. Far from becoming irrelevant or extinct, as some people predicted, they have instead developed a new prominence as platforms for new ideas, the sharing of information, meeting new people and reacquainting ourselves with old friends in the analogue world.

April 12, 2015

Green Sky Thinking to focus on designing in sustainability for London ⁰

by Sara Bean • Environment, Facilities management, Wellbeing, Workplace design

Green infrastructure, social sustainability and intelligent design are the main themes for this year’s Green Sky Thinking event, which takes place between 20-24 April. The event includes a range of informal session and on-site talks that highlight what the organisers claim is best practice on how to ‘design in’ sustainability. The purpose of the programme, led by Open-City, is to enable those working within the built environment to see real life sustainable solutions, talking face to face with those responsible for designing, delivering and managing successful schemes. Its ultimate aim is to help them gain a holistic and cross-disciplinary understanding of how sustainable development is being practically applied across London, while understanding the current technologies, policy and thinking and how these translate into practice.

April 10, 2015

Central London occupiers prepared to pay more for upper floors and terrace ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Property

There is a growing trend for London occupiers prepared to pay more for upper floors, particularly with access to a terrace, as according to the latest research by Cushman & Wakefield (C&W), unprecedented rental rates are being paid for tower floors and roof gardens. Central London office leasing activity overall, was 2.4 million sq ft for the first quarter of 2015, which equals the same period in 2014, which marked the highest first quarter volumes since 2007. Momentum in the City of London office market has also continued, with a total of 1.8 million sq ft let, up 34 percent for the same time last year. The West End recorded a relatively quiet quarter, with leasing volumes down to just over 600,000 sq ft – the lowest level since mid-2013. However, this is against a backdrop of falling vacancy rates, leading to the increasing migration of commercial occupiers out of the West End.

April 9, 2015

Video: Perry Timms lays down some thoughts on the future of work ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Flexible working, Workplace

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Regular readers will know we’re not too fond of the F Word at Insight. This isn’t because we think there is nothing to talk about when it comes to the future (what else did you think we meant?) of work and workplaces. We just believe that the word is now routinely misapplied to justify an endless effluvia of simplistic nonsense, absurd generalisations, undisguised commercialism and wishful thinking. Not to mention the eternally tedious idea that the ‘office of the future’ can be defined in very specific ways based on a few supposedly cool but actually infantile features borrowed from primary schools. Fortunately, all this misdirection makes the informed, wise and sober reflections of Perry Timms all the more powerful when he spoke recently at TedX in Bucharest to outline the challenges and opportunities of the future of work.

April 8, 2015

One in three employees have experienced conflict at work, reports CIPD

by Sara Bean • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

As many as one in ten employees are leaving their organisation as a result of workplace conflict, research from the CIPD has revealed. One in three UK employees (38%) have experienced some form of interpersonal conflict at work in the last year – this includes one in four (29%) who have had isolated disputes or clashes and a further one in four (28%) who report ongoing difficult relationships. However, there appears to be a clear power differential at play, with employees being most likely to perceive a lack of respect, bullying or harassment from their boss or other superiors and as many as 1 in 4 said that their line manager actively creates conflict. Employees reported conflicts as being most often with line managers or other superiors (36%) rather than with direct reports (10%). This results in individuals feeling stressed and can lead to a drop in commitment or motivation.

April 8, 2015

Sino might: a review of the CIFF office design show in Guangzhou

by John Sacks • Comment, Furniture, Products, Workplace design

Guangzhou, about two hours by train from Hong Kong, is China’s third city. It is a sprawling metropolis. Apart from a cluster of skyscrapers and the busy, broad sweep of the Pearl River which carves the city into districts, it has few redeeming features. Unlike the previous years’ office design shows hosted in Guangzhou, the heavy rain stayed away and the weather was hot and humid. It would probably have been sunny, were it not for the pall of smog which constantly shrouds the city. The 35th China International Furniture Fair is too large to be held at one time in the 430,000 sq. m. China Import & Export Fair complex, so it’s split into two, five day phases, held six days apart. Billed as the ‘Fabulous Furniture Fair’, Phase 1 concentrated on residential furniture. Phase 2 was for CIFF Office and for Interzum – the furniture materials and machinery show.