Search Results for: business

The state of the workplace right now? Everywhere and nowhere, baby

The state of the workplace right now? Everywhere and nowhere, baby 0

by • Comment, Facilities management, Features, Premium Content, Property, Workplace design

Work&PlaceMy trade is to ask questions about the workplace then make sense of the answers. That has been a particular challenge with the question, ‘what are offices today?’ What seems clear is that the various actors in the workplace ecosystem look at offices through very different eyes. Urban planning and development professionals still view offices as a distinct category of real estate and most real estate professionals view offices in terms of the delivery of floor space. Some things have changed,however. For some time, the hybrid economy of serviced offices has turned the product into a service. But, in many cases this has simply made the leasing of space simpler and more flexible.

(more…)

Government announces protections for pregnant mums and new parents returning to work

Government announces protections for pregnant mums and new parents returning to work

by • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Pregnant women and new parents returning to work after having children are to be further protected from unfairly losing their jobs under new proposals set out by the UK government.  The consultation, launching today (25 January 2019) and running to 5 April, proposes that the legal protection against redundancy for pregnant women and new mothers on maternity leave is extended so that it continues for up to 6 months after they return to work. It will also seek views on affording the same protection to parents returning from adoption leave or shared parental leave.

(more…)

Cambridge continues to attract science and technology firms

Cambridge continues to attract science and technology firms

by • News, Property

A new report claims that Cambridgeshire continues to attract science and technology companies despite the current Brexit uncertainty. The analysis (registration required) from Bidwells of the Cambridge office and laboratory market claims that 0.6 million sq ft of new space will be complete during the first half of 2019. This is the highest level of new supply in over a decade. This perhaps sounds alarm bells given the apparent slowdown in demand for labs and offices combined to 1.154 million sq ft at the end of 2018. (more…)

Work’s not working; to be productive we need to get creative

Work’s not working; to be productive we need to get creative

by • Comment, Workplace design

Productivity in the UK workforce is dropping; output per hour fell 0.4 per cent in the last quarter of 2018 compared with the previous and grew just 0.2 per cent on the third quarter of 2017, according to the Office for National Statistics. Yet the UK workforce log the longest hours in Europe, working 42.3 hours per week on average. Clearly something isn’t lining up. So we must surely ask the question, what is going wrong and what can we do to improve the situation?

(more…)

Landsec becomes latest major property firm to offer coworking space

Landsec becomes latest major property firm to offer coworking space

by • Company news, Coworking, Property

Landsec has launched its new flexible office brand, Myo, which it claims will provide customised office space for businesses looking for flexibility to enable future growth from April of this year. Coworking in other words. The move is the latest example of a major commercial property firm entering the market for flexible offices and coworking space in the wake of its recent boom. Myo will operate as a standalone brand, offers flexible leases ranging from 12 months to three years for businesses that need space for between 15 and 80 people.

(more…)

Robot delivery dogs, digital pollution, why tech firms like ping pong and some other stuff

Robot delivery dogs, digital pollution, why tech firms like ping pong and some other stuff

by • Features, Technology, Wellbeing

Today is officially* Blue Monday and instead of offering up an endless series of clickbait pieces telling you how to cope and make the day better for your colleagues, we’re turning our attention to more interesting things. Such as this recent piece arguing that our obsession with ‘millennials’ can cloud our perspective on more important issues about people, their characteristics, advantages and inequalities. It argues that birth dates are rather less important to people’s life chances than their background, individual abilities and structural issues in the economy and society. Who – as they say – knew?

(more…)

Major new research projects will explore impact of management on productivity

Major new research projects will explore impact of management on productivity

by • News, Wellbeing

A major new project led by the University of East Anglia (UEA) will examine how health and wellbeing practices can improve employee productivity. Working with research institute RAND Europe, based in Cambridge, it will look to identify which combinations of workplace health and wellbeing practices reliably improve worker health, wellbeing, engagement and performance – and deliver the best return on investment. (more…)

The changing shape of the insurance workplace

The changing shape of the insurance workplace

by • News, Workplace design

HOK’s WorkPlace group has released The New Insurance Workplace (registration required), a report which sets out to examine the forces reshaping the insurance industry and how workplace design can position these companies for success. The report’s concludes that insurance firms take pride in their conservative approach to risk management and traditional business models. They also have high-performance cultures that demand strong results. Yet changing regulations, emerging technologies and increasingly obsolete work processes have left many legacy players with underutilised, outdated office and retail space that hinders their ability to meet the fast-changing expectations of customers.

(more…)

Nowy Styl acquisition of Kusch+Co latest sign of changing office furniture sector

Nowy Styl acquisition of Kusch+Co latest sign of changing office furniture sector

by • Company news, Furniture, Workplace design

The Nowy Styl Group, a European manufacturer of office furniture has acquired the German family company Kusch+Co, a manufacturer and distributor of commercial furniture. It is the latest sign of change and possible consolidation in the global office furniture sector which has seen Steelcase acquire Orangebox as firms seek to expand their offering and market penetration. The trend is also evident elsewhere in the supply chain as shown by ByBailey’s merger with Insidesource and the creation of The United Workplace by Fourfront Group and partners around the world.

(more…)

Nomura and Adidas named among healthiest workplaces in Britain

Nomura and Adidas named among healthiest workplaces in Britain

by • Company news, Wellbeing

Nomura International Plc, Adidas UK and Wellness International Ltd have been named, by Vitality’s Britain’s Healthiest Workplace study, as the healthiest workplaces in Britain. The bank, sports apparel company and leading health and wellbeing provider were awarded first place in the large, medium and small-sized company divisions, respectively, at the awards that took place at BAFTA in London. This is the sixth year in a row that Adidas UK have earned first place in their category, the fourth time Nomura have picked up the award, and the first time Wellness International Ltd has entered since the survey began in 2012.

(more…)

Employers must take better action to avoid sick building syndrome

Employers must take better action to avoid sick building syndrome

by • Company news, Facilities management, Workplace design

Sick building syndrome is a collective term to describe when occupants of a specific building suffer from a related illness. Problems can either be localised to a specific room or more widespread throughout a building. The symptoms can manifest as headaches, blocked or runny noses, skin irritations, sore eyes or tiredness and difficulties with concentration. A number of building-related factors are linked to the condition with ageing offices and factories acting as magnets for sick building syndrome. Studies have shown that headaches and respiratory problems among office workers were directly related to the use of air conditioning and inadequate ventilation. Room temperature, light and noise, humidity, carbon dioxide, chemical contaminants (volatile organic compounds – VOCs), air quality and naturally occurring poisons can all inflame symptoms for sufferers requiring more precise control over environmental factors in the workplace. Making sure buildings are healthy for their occupants is a challenge. (more…)

Regional office occupier markets enjoyed record breaking level of take-up in 2018

Regional office occupier markets enjoyed record breaking level of take-up in 2018

by • Cities, Facilities management, News, Property

Regional office occupier markets enjoyed record breaking take-up in 2018: Credit Like ArchitectsThere was a record-breaking rate of take-up within the regional office occupier markets outside of London and the South East in 2018, with few signs of Brexit-related uncertainty, according to an analysis by CBRE. Across the ten regional cities monitored by CBRE, provisional analysis shows that overall take-up reached nearly 7.3m sq ft. This level was 16 percent above the five-year average and 6 percent higher than 2017, the previous record-breaking year. The majority of regional office demand has again been driven by the business and professional services sectors.  2018 saw record take-up from flexible office operators across the UK, representing the leading portion of business services take-up. This was the year the co-working revolution surged into regional cities. Birmingham, Bristol and Glasgow were all stand out expansion locations. With more demand from flexible workspace operators – both from established and new entrants, further expansion is anticipated in 2019 albeit at a further pace as markets become more saturated.

(more…)

«< 236 237 238 239 240 >»