January 18, 2022

How to provide a great place to work for remote workers

by Richard Guy • Company news, Flexible working

Remote working swiftly evolved from a stopgap lockdown solution into a globally successful workstyle – and it’s set to stay. According to research quoted by CityAM, “84 per cent of UK businesses plan on having a hybrid, flexible or remote workforce following the pandemic”. Some companies, like Deloitte, have placed all bets on remote in closing their offices and basing employees from home, enjoying a vast reduction in operational costs. This flexibility has offered immediate benefits for remote workers, ranging from lifestyle and financial to positive influences on wellbeing. Workers in particular social groups have experienced life-changing situations, securing work in previously inaccessible geographic locations. (more…)

January 12, 2022

Are we witnessing the demise of the knowledge worker?

by Anthony Brown • Comment, Flexible working, Technology, Workplace

While the debate about working from home versus working in the office continues, should the real conversation focus on the implications for a typical knowledge worker? ‘Knowledge work’ is a term that dates back over sixty years. It’s said to be first coined by Peter Drucker in his 1958 book The Landmarks of Tomorrow. The business guru went on to talk about knowledge workers in a later book, The Effective Executive, in 1966. He defined them as ‘high-level workers who apply theoretical and analytical knowledge acquired through formal training, to develop products and services’. (more…)

December 20, 2021

Startups fuelling growth in demand for flexible offices

by Neil Franklin • Cities, News, Property

According to data from The Instant Group 584,097 companies have been registered in the UK since the start of 2021 – this equates to 1,781 per day. The most companies registered in 2021 so far have been in London, Birmingham, and Manchester. The growth in start-ups has fuelled an increase in demand for flexible offices across the UK’s cities, with large proportional increases outside London. Requirements for coworking and serviced offices has grown significantly in cities such as Bristol (41 percent), Manchester (28 percent), and Reading (27 percent) over the past year. (more…)

December 16, 2021

Pandemic highlights the need for smarter, more adaptable offices and cities

by Cedrik Neike • Features, Technology

The coronavirus pandemic is a new experience for every one of us. It has changed life as we know it – at work, at home and for public interactions. As some countries start to ease restrictions on public life, how can we go back to ‘normal’ while still maintaining social distancing and feeling safe? How do we manage crowded public spaces like shopping malls, cinemas and restaurants? How do we optimize safety in our offices and factories? More importantly, how do we avoid shutting down entire cities and countries when the next pandemic hits? (more…)

December 15, 2021

Company culture, linked to share price, funding success and growth

by Jayne Smith • Business, News, Working culture

A new research report from Culture Amp, claims that company workforces’ overall confidence as well as employees’ belief in their leaders are the biggest differentiators when it comes to achieving sustained stock price increases between July 2020 and June 2021. (more…)

December 6, 2021

We must wake up to the realities of workplace sustainability

by Oliver Cripps • Comment, Environment, Workplace design

Sustainability has been steadily moving up the business agenda over the past few years, with COP26 placing more emphasis on the need for organisations to demonstrate that their operations are sustainable and lessening their overall impact on the planet. Many businesses may feel daunted by the challenges ahead, and there are certainly big steps that need to be taken in order to reduce corporate carbon footprints and move to more sustainable models. (more…)

November 30, 2021

The hybrid impact: IT is putting businesses at risk

by Jayne Smith • Business, News, Technology

New research from IONOS Cloud, has highlighted the biggest security risks businesses are facing when it comes to hybrid working, and views and attitudes on how to ensure organisations stay safe and secure. (more…)

November 26, 2021

Untrained managers more likely to change jobs in 2022

by Jayne Smith • Business, News, Working culture

Employers looking to retain talent during the so-called ‘Great Resignation’ may benefit from investing in more management training for their staff, according to Digits. New research suggests that managers who haven’t received any management training are 36 percent more likely to leave their current jobs in the next year, than managers who receive regular management training (38 percent compared to 28 percent). (more…)

November 23, 2021

Wondering what to do about that office of yours? Hold the line.

by Louis Wustemann • Features, Flexible working, Property, Workplace design

At the end of April, New York magazine’s cover feature was headed ‘Remember the Office?’ The article reminisced about a world of cubicles and water-coolers, coffee points and staff parties. Its tone was elegiac, implying that it wasn’t just the enforced distance of 13 months of COVID-19 restrictions that lent enchantment to communal workspace, but the possibility that offices had gone for good.? (more…)

November 23, 2021

Facilities Managers provide the key to unlock the future of work

by Neil Franklin • Facilities management, News

Ricoh UK has published a report called Leading Change at Work: The role of FM in driving the digital workplace (registration), which claims to offer ‘the definitive discussion on the future of work in the UK’. The report follows on from last year’s Conscious Workplace research which set out the behaviours, mindsets and influences shaping the new world of work in a post-pandemic world. After hosting a roundtable with five Facilities Managers from various businesses, Ricoh has gathered insight into the ongoing challenges being faced by organisations. (more…)

November 23, 2021

An emerging crisis of trust at work fuelled by remote work

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News, Working lives

Qatalog has published a survey of 2,000 knowledge workers which uncovers a crisis of trust within the modern workplace, fuelled by a chronic lack of visibility within companies. The study claims that remote work is feeding a chronic visibility problem within the modern workplace. When working remotely, two-thirds (66 percent) of respondents reported that they lack visibility of what colleagues are working on and how it fits into the bigger picture. (more…)

November 17, 2021

‘A New Space Race’ to transform infrastructure

by Jayne Smith • Environment, News, Technology

A new research report released by Siemens Smart Infrastructure, titled ‘A New Space Race,’ has highlighted the increasingly urgent need to transform global infrastructure to focus on adaptability, resiliency and decarbonisation. Data from the report claims infrastructure leaders worldwide recognise the need for digitalisation to tackle challenges in energy systems and the built environment. (more…)