February 18, 2021

The return to buildings will now focus attention on ventilation

by Hywel Davies • Facilities management, Features, Wellbeing, Workplace design

The UK COVID-19 vaccination programme is well underway. Once the over 50s, younger people with health conditions, NHS and care workers have received the vaccine, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been clear that current lockdown restrictions could be lifted in stages with schools and business a top priority. The situation is under review, but there is an expectation that business premises could reopen as early as Easter, when a large proportion of the working age population may not have been vaccinated. That means the focus in workplaces and other multi-occupant spaces, especially those open to the public, must remain on limiting transmission to prevent the spread of coronavirus to un-vaccinated people, and especially on factors such as ventilation. (more…)

February 10, 2021

New Inverurie Community Campus features vast selection of KI seating

by Freddie Steele • Company news

Opening its doors in late 2020, The Inverurie Community Campus in Aberdeenshire is a new £55m facility. One of the largest school constructions in Scotland, its 360 rooms accommodate 1,600 pupils and provides amenities such as a youth café, a community centre, and a swimming pool for students and the wider community. (more…)

February 5, 2021

Workplace things we have missed, and those we hope to regain

by Emma Morley • Comment, Technology, Wellbeing, Workplace design

Let’s be honest, work life pre 2020 had its flaws, whilst the longing for variety of scenery, change of pace and even a train journey (somewhere…ANYWHERE) would be welcomed by many of us right now, many of us had become a bit ‘hamster wheel’ in our approach. Commuting was stressful, expensive and time hungry; our natural and individual rhythms squeezed into a set 9-5 schedule and workplace design had become a bit ‘quantity over quality’ – desks have been reducing in size year upon year in order that capacity could be increased. We had reached a point at which everything was ripe for change but there was largely a resistance to both flexible working requests and embracing much of the technological advancements that were already at our fingertips. (more…)

February 3, 2021

Be by Bisley reinvented for 2021

by Freddie Steele • Company news, Workplace design

Be by Bisley was at the forefront of the agile working revolution when it first entered the market in 2012. Now, with nearly a decade’s worth of success behind it, Be has been rapidly reinvigorated for the post-Covid workspace’s demands, allowing distancing with creativity and design, while also considering safety with a heightened appreciation of wellbeing. (more…)

February 1, 2021

Burnt out remote workers need more help than they are getting

by Karen Plum • Comment, Flexible working, Wellbeing

There’s no question that many people now, feeling the weight of lockdown 3 and with no clear view on the timing of any sort of ‘return to normal’, are finding it tough to stay motivated. Many are burnt out. We can gain some insight into what is going on for many individuals by way of neuroscience, specifically how the brain works and how it copes with changing situations. (more…)

January 29, 2021

People crave a return to “normality”, and some even miss commuting

by Jayne Smith • News, Wellbeing, Working lives

While workers in the UK have been working from home, if they can, for almost a year, a third say they miss commuting, claims research from recruiter Randstad UK. The HR services company asked workers, having worked remotely for almost a year due to the pandemic, how they viewed commuting and physical meetings in retrospect. (more…)

January 28, 2021

Right to disconnect should be enshrined in law, says EU Parliament

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News

The EU Parliament has announced that it would like to protect what it calls employees’ fundamental rights to disconnect from work which includes restricting the way employers might contact staff outside their contracted working hours. Although the right to disconnect is not defined by EU law, the Parliament has called upon the Commission to come up with a law allowing employees to disconnect from work during non-work hours without consequences and setting minimum standards for remote work. (more…)

January 26, 2021

Tech and finance firms opt to keep offices closed

by Jayne Smith • Business, News, Working culture

Expenses app, ExpenseOnDemand, has published new data which claims to highlight how businesses in different sectors are planning office returns in 2021. The majority of businesses across many sectors have stated offices will reopen this year at some point. (more…)

January 19, 2021

Improving air quality is key to making people feel safer

by Jayne Smith • Environment, News, Wellbeing

Improving air quality in the fight against COVID-19 could give businesses the edge over their competitors and attract more customers, according to a top UK university scientist. Writing in a new report for facilities services provider phs Group, Cambridge University Professor Paul Linden highlights the growing evidence for the airborne transmission of coronavirus and that tackling indoor air quality must be at the forefront of creating COVID-safe environments. (more…)

January 15, 2021

Pandemic has improved employee engagement levels say employers

by Jayne Smith • News, Wellbeing

Employee engagement levels may have actually improved during the COVID-19 pandemic, claims a recent survey undertaken by intermediary Howden Employee Benefits & Wellbeing. (more…)

January 13, 2021

Office design will respond to the events of the past year as it always has – by getting better

by Oliver Ronald • Comment, Workplace design

You may have heard that history repeats itself, but that’s not really true. It doesn’t repeat. It rhymes. And nowhere is this more true than when it comes to office design. It’s worth bearing this in mind when we consider the effects of the events of 2020. Not only the pandemic and lockdown, but also the longer term economic, social and individual consequences. The details of this may be unprecedented, as many people have suggested, but the dynamics of it are not. We have not been here before, but we’ve been somewhere very like it. (more…)

December 18, 2020

Working from home stresses have had the greatest impact on women

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

A review of research in organisational and workplace psychology conducted by an international team of academics claims that working from home has been more disruptive for women than men. The review paper, entitled COVID-19 and the Workplace: Implications, Issues, and Insights for Future Research and Action and originally published in American Psychologist, features urgent insight from UCL School of Management Professor, Sunny Lee into the sex- and gender-related implications of changes in work practices that have taken place over the course of 2020. (more…)