Search Results for: environment

Aping our robot overlords, Instagrammable buildings and some other stuff

Aping our robot overlords, Instagrammable buildings and some other stuff

What happens to people when their skills become obsolete? If you’re not asking yourself this question already, you probably should. A new study from researchers at MIT and Wharton is the basis for this piece in Quartz at Work which considers the implications for what looks like a small technological change and its consequences for a large number of people who had to reset what they offered employers. (more…)

Escaping the hell of hot desking

Escaping the hell of hot desking

The hell of hot deskingHot-desking is a scourge on modern work. That’s the only conclusion you will draw by reading ‘The hidden hell of hot-desking is much worse than you think’ (published in the FT on 28 July 2019) and dozens more like it that continue to appear in national media and top business titles. The piece contends that organisations are using the guise of agile working to excuse their cost-saving prerogative. In reality it is a penny-pinching ploy that “strips people of their own desk and casts them out to the noisy, chaotic wasteland of shared work spots,” or so we’re told. (more…)

Avoiding burnout and losing the workplace blues

Avoiding burnout and losing the workplace blues

No burnout at Steelcase LINC Center MunichStressed at work? Feeling blue at this time of year? Take a breath. You are not alone. While the World Health Organisation (WHO) is just now recognising burnout, a result of stress, as an “occupational phenomenon,” the conversation around wellbeing at work is not new. If we learn anything from this newest designation, it’s that wellbeing cannot be ignored because the need to focus on it continues to intensify.

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The role of gamification in workplace creativity

The role of gamification in workplace creativity

<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122852/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-advanced" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important" />Coming up with a good creative idea is hard. We do not fully understand how this process works, but there are certain techniques that have proved successful in fostering creativity, such as mind-mapping, brainstorming or creating conditions for free experimentation. Many big companies (such as design agencies) embrace these practices in the way they work. (more…)

Workplace experience to be main theme of CoreNet Global

Workplace experience to be main theme of CoreNet Global

Corenet Global to explore human workplace experience Optimising the human workplace experience to achieve greater productivity and creativity will be explored in depth at the CoreNet Global Summit in Amsterdam this September. Over a dozen diverse sessions will examine multidisciplinary approaches to achieving gains in health, productivity and creativity alongside both academic and commercial research showing measurable benefits. (more…)

Wellbeing depends on workplace basics more than trivial features

Wellbeing depends on workplace basics more than trivial features

Workplace design and wellbeingA new report supports the idea that when it comes to the workplace and the effect it has on personal wellbeing and productivity, employees want the basics first. According to the Workplace Wellness Study published by Future Workplace, a New York-based research firm, and office technology provider View, the most highly prized features of an office are good air quality, access to natural light, and an ability to personalise immediate workspace. (more…)

Workplace design must address a neurodiverse workforce

Workplace design must address a neurodiverse workforce

Neurodiversity in workplace designHOK’s WorkPlace practice has issued its latest report, Designing a Neurodiverse Workplace (registration), exploring how organisations can apply workplace design to create physical environments that support the full range of neurodiversity in  employees. HOK’s report includes interviews with experts as well as suggestions for design strategies, operational changes and individual adjustments that can support neurodiverse and neurotypical staff alike. (more…)

Three quarters of people want to work for a firm with a good reputation

Three quarters of people want to work for a firm with a good reputation

Ethical behaviourOver three quarters of people (76 percent) want to work for firms with a good reputation, according to the latest business reputation survey “Everyone’s Business” by the CBI, in collaboration with Porter Novelli and Opinium. Encouragingly, the reputation of business has improved since the last wave of the tracker in September 2018. Last year a series of events and scandals in the business community had a chilling effect on business reputation, but 2019 has seen this ‘reputational chill’ start to thaw, with a 4-point rise in those thinking business reputation is good (60 percent). (more…)

Back to workplace basics, the joy and pain of work, squeezing people in and some other stuff

Back to workplace basics, the joy and pain of work, squeezing people in and some other stuff

A coworking workplace in Chengdu by WeWorkLet’s get the inevitable WeWork story out of the way first. A supposed news item in Crain’s New York Business has claimed that WeWork is ‘squeezing’ people into half the space recommended in the BCO’s Specification Guide; “roughly the size of two standard doors laying side by side”. You can see the editorial cogs at work here, combining a story about WeWork with one about how people are crammed into the workplace like cattle these days.

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Summertime childcare juggling needs to be consigned to history

Summertime childcare juggling needs to be consigned to history

flexible working for dadsFor working parents, summertime is often a logistical nightmare. Six weeks of careful planning are needed to sort out childcare and ensure that both parents spend some quality time with their offspring. According to research from family activity app Hoop, over a quarter of parents of 5-16 year olds dread the summer holidays and here are some of the main reasons why. (more…)

The office is increasingly able to recognise you, but will you recognise it?

The office is increasingly able to recognise you, but will you recognise it?

The office is changing in new waysOur lives at work are about to change—again. Just as the addition of PC’s and Wi-Fi re-drew the office blueprint, emerging technologies like robots, virtual agents, artificial intelligence (AI), and the Internet of Things (IoT) promise to radically revise the form and the function of work and the workplace. In the near future, your office will know who you are (if it doesn’t yet) and will be ready to greet you with your preferred lighting and the array of digital tools you need to do your job.

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Businesses should focus on the greater good of people and society

Businesses should focus on the greater good of people and society

Modern corporations should work in the best interests of society and people rather than focusing primarily on making money for shareholders as they may have in the past, according to an influential group of chief executives. The body Business Roundtable, which represents the heads of some of America’s largest companies, including Apple, Amazon and Exxon Mobil, has issued a statement of its updated corporate governance principles. (more…)