Search Results for: Working from home

Don’t let the sofas fool you; work can still be red in tooth and claw

by • Comment, Flexible working, Furniture

Herbert James Draper: Ulysses and the sirens

Herbert James Draper: Ulysses and the sirens

We keep filling our workplaces with sofas, coffee shops and other lifestyle touches while our homes are being slowly eroded by the trappings of work. First it was the fax machine. Then the mobile phone. Then working from home. The places available for us to work is seemingly more diverse than ever. But does this acknowledged trend towards domesticity make the workplace a kinder, gentler place? Maybe on the surface but beware to those who dare succumb to the siren song of these things. Using them could mean the end of your career.A recent conversation I had with an executive highlighted the problems inherent in the mixed messages this “softening” of the work environment brings.

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Report: How will the future affect us or can we effect the future?

by • Furniture, Knowledge, News

 How will the future affect us or can we effect the future

Workplace furniture specialist Kinnarps has published its Trend Report 2013, which is the culmination of detailed research across European markets and thought leaders, conducted in partnership with Stockholm based futurologists Kairos Future. The study distilled a broad overview of emerging and established trends, across Kinnarps’ European markets, to focus on eight key themes that will influence the workplace of the future. According to the report, big changes are already apparent in our society, but these will come to have an altogether greater impact on the way we evaluate our working environment. (more…)

Resistance to workplace change marks the passing of the old order

by • Comment, Facilities management, Technology

ChangeWhen Vodafone announced in March that the UK’s businesses could save up to £34 billion with the more widespread application of flexible working models, the research to support the claim had two very familiar components. The first was a crystal clear business case, the second an admission that the message was still not quite getting through to those at the top. In fact, Vodafone claimed, around two-thirds of business leaders continue to insist their business can’t afford to reduce the number of workstations they use despite all evidence to the contrary. A third haven’t even considered the idea of reducing the number of workstations they use as a way of cutting costs.

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Half of workers feel pressured to come to work when ill

by • Knowledge, News, Workplace

 

Staff ill health

You’ve nearly made it through the week and feel like rewarding yourself with a duvet day? Think again, the more realistic picture is you’ve a horrible virus but have staggered into work regardless, rather than risk the wrath of a disbelieving boss. New research this week found that nearly half of all workers feel pressurised to come into work by their line manager when they are ill. “Under Pressure” from Adecco Retail also found that far from “shirking from  home”, a third of the 1,000 people interviewed (31 per cent) feel expected to carry on working from home even when sick.

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Communal workspace model making inroads in US offices

by • Facilities management, Knowledge, News, Technology, Workplace design

Costar

There is a growing trend in the United States to downsize office space, particularly amongst larger public firms, as they increasingly adopt policies for sharing non-dedicated offices and implement technology to support their employees’ ability to work anywhere and anytime. In a webinar presented to subscribers of commercial real estate intelligence group CoStar, Norm G. Miller, PhD, a professor at the University of San Diego, Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate examined what would happen if office tenants used 20 per cent less of the US’ current office space, which has a total valuation of $1.25 trillion.

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Employers vastly underestimate savings of freeing up desks

Employers vastly underestimate savings of freeing up desks

by • Facilities management, Furniture, News, Workplace

Green economy

The latest salvo in the flexible working debate is a study which reveals that despite potential savings of around £34bn by freeing up desk space and working more flexibly, the majority of UK business leaders grossly underestimate what it is possible to save with two out of three (65 per cent) insisting they can’t lose any desks. According to a Vodafone UK survey one in five of those  surveyed thought that their employees remained rooted to the old principle that all employees should have their own desk space (21 per cent) and flexible working ultimately leads to employees taking advantage of the system (23 per cent).

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Designing for productivity means creating space for us to be alone

by • Facilities management, Furniture, Knowledge, Workplace design

WilkhahnOn the face of it, the case for working in open plan offices is clear cut. Not only are they  more conducive to collaborative work and less bound by ideas of that great no-no that we used to call ‘status’, the economic case is seemingly open and shut. Open plan workstations not only take up around half the space of cellular offices, the fit-out costs are typically 25 per cent lower. And yet there are clear signs of a backlash, at least to the idea of them fostering collaborative work.

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Workplace as a third space: why good coffee and good WiFi still matter

Workplace as a third space: why good coffee and good WiFi still matter

by • Company news, Flexible working, Workplace

What do people want from their workplace? Good coffee and reliable WiFi are far more important than yoo might thinkThe office is no longer just a default location. Hybrid work has made it one option among many. At home, people have their own desk, their own music, their own kitchen. If the workplace is going to tempt them out, it needs something more than a chair and a meeting room. Fast WiFi and genuinely good coffee can change more about people’s experiences than you might expect. People might not talk about them much, but they notice when they are missing. Both influence how the day flows. When the internet is quick and the coffee is worth getting up for, the office starts to feel different. It becomes somewhere you do not just have to be, but somewhere you don’t mind spending time. (more…)

Memories of the Office Age 

Memories of the Office Age 

by • Cities, Features, Working lives

memories of the office ageOriginally published in November 2021. No author uses the built environment like J G Ballard. In his 1975 novel High-Rise, the eponymous structure is both a way of isolating the group of people who live and compete inside it and a metaphor for their personal isolation and inner struggles. Over the course of three months, the building’s services begin to fail. The 2,000 people within, detached from external realities in the 40-storey building, confronted with their true selves and those of their neighbours, descend into selfishness and – ultimately – savagery.  (more…)

How AI is already changing the world of work

How AI is already changing the world of work

by • AI, Comment, Workplace

AI is already changing the world of work, but not everybody is reacting to it in the same way, writes Laura AndersonAI is rapidly transforming the world of work. That much is clear. Understanding how different generations are adapting to this shift is therefore crucial for any organisation looking to the future.  Our recent study focusing on the generational differences in attitudes towards some of today’s biggest topics sheds some light on what might be driving these trends. Perhaps the most important finding was that nearly two-thirds of Gen Z feel concerned about AI’s impact on their future (only Baby Boomers reported more concern) – even though over half are still using AI day to day. (more…)

Does your employee benefits package have a marketing problem?

Does your employee benefits package have a marketing problem?

by • Company news, Wellbeing

Despite many businesses investing heavily in employee benefits, many of these perks fail to deliver their full potential. Here's what to do about itDespite many businesses investing heavily in employee benefits, many of these perks fail to deliver their full potential. According to the 2025 Drewberry Employee Benefits and Workplace Satisfaction Survey, just 12 percent of UK employees report being truly satisfied with their benefits package. This gap in satisfaction isn’t always about the benefits themselves, but is often a failure of communication. This latest research shows that while benefits may be in place, just 36 percent of employees fully understand what’s on offer. Even fewer regularly engage with these benefits. (more…)

The Kafka trap of return to office arguments

The Kafka trap of return to office arguments

by • Comment, Flexible working

This month I witnessed somebody misapplying the work of Kafka in an attempt to make a middlebrow point about the so-called return to officeRecently, I bemoaned how Orwell is often invoked in support of an argument by people who haven’t read him. They are usually drawing on some laundered misperception of his work, and especially Nineteen Eighty-Four. Well, just a few days ago, I witnessed somebody misapplying the work of Kafka in a similar attempt to make a middlebrow point about the so-called return to office. (more…)

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