Search Results for: future of work

April 15, 2026

How to spot a good investment from a mile away

Investing can feel overwhelming, especially when every opportunity claims to be the next big thing. You see bold promises, confident pitches, and glowing testimonials that sound almost too perfect. The truth is that strong investments often reveal themselves through simple, consistent signals that anyone can learn.

You do not need insider knowledge or complex formulas to spot quality opportunities early. What you need is a clear mindset and the ability to recognize patterns that repeat over time.

Let’s learn a few ways you can identify a good investment from a distance.

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April 13, 2026

Memories of the Office Age

by Mark Eltringham • Cities, Features, Working lives

Originally 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…)

April 7, 2026

RIBA CEO to deliver opening address at the Sustainable Design Forum 2026

by Neil Franklin • Environment, News, Workplace design

The Sustainable Design Collective (SDC) has announced that Dr Valerie Vaughan-Dick MBE, Chief Executive Officer of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), will deliver the opening address at the Sustainable Design Forum 2026. Dr Vaughan-Dick, appointed CEO in January 2023, brings extensive experience in leadership, regeneration and organisational transformation. She is the first woman to hold the role, and among the first from a more diverse leadership background, reflecting a broader shift towards greater inclusivity within the profession. (more…)

March 30, 2026

Applying a bit of know-how to the issue of sustainable office design

by Joanna Knight • Comment, Environment, Workplace design

Sustainable office design is a constantly evolving, complex, and, at times, contested subject. It has shifted from a narrow focus to a broader, holistic framework embracing environmental, social, and economic issues – and now further to include governance. Collaboration is critically important – combining knowledge can ensure that environmental goals align with social metrics leading to more comprehensive, high-performance, and adaptable, human-centric spaces. Now in its fourth year, the Sustainable Design Forum returns on 23 April at Crypt on the Green in Clerkenwell, London. Hosted by the SDC – the Sustainable Design Collective, the day is not a trade show or conference. It is specifically focussed on collaboration and knowledge sharing to provide an opportunity for all members of the workplace and hospitality design community to build connections and understanding. (more…)

March 26, 2026

Zoning Inzio’s new office with intelligent flooring choices

by Freddie Steele • Environment, News, Workplace design

When Inizio, the healthcare services provider, relocated to its 18,000 sq. ft premises in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, it needed a workspace that would reflect its growth ambitions while promoting employee wellbeing. Offering a full range of services, from strategy to medical communications, Inizio helps healthcare brands connect with customers and patients through tailored solutions. To extend that same commitment to its employees, the company has now created a workspace that not only supports its people’s working patterns but protects the planet too. (more…)

March 9, 2026

Rebuilding belonging: how offices can overcome loneliness

by Louise Ioannou • Comment, Flexible working, Wellbeing

In the coming weeks it will be six years since the UK entered lockdown and working life changed overnight. While much has stabilised, the impact of the pandemic still shapes how people experience work, particularly when it comes to connection and belonging. Loneliness is widely recognised as a growing societal issue and government data shows that around a quarter of adults in Great Britain report feeling lonely at least some of the time, rising significantly among younger age groups. Hybrid working has not created this challenge but it has highlighted that for many people the workplace was a consistent source of social interaction. (more…)

March 9, 2026

Most people managers would prefer not to manage people

by Neil Franklin • News, Workplace

More than two-thirds of managers would rather not be managers at all, according to a YouGov survey commissioned by SafetyCulture. According to the poll, 69 percent of team leaders in frontline sectors across the UK and Ireland would prefer not to manage people if there was no impact to their salary or benefits. Younger generations are the least willing to be managers. Nearly three-quarters of Generation Z and Millennial managers (73 percent) say they’d rather be individual workers compared to 65 percent of people aged 50 or older. (more…)

February 23, 2026

The ROI of predictive property management with IoT sensors

by David Rowan • Company news, Facilities management, Property

It’s all well and good eulogising about the technological benefits of incorporating the burgeoning Internet of Things (IoT) within property management but do the numbers stack up? What is the likely return on investment (ROI) of shifting from the existing reactive model to something distinctly more proactive and predictive? A recent six-month project at a retirement complex in the Scottish Borders might just shed some light on the viability, or otherwise, of the IoT revolution that’s well underway. (more…)

February 18, 2026

Lack of innovation continues to hamper small business and startups

by Neil Franklin • Business, News

Small business innovation in the UK has fallen for the fourth consecutive year despite record levels of entrepreneurial ambition, according to the latest State of Small Business Britain report from the Enterprise Research Centre. The annual study draws together findings from a range of business surveys and shows that 36 percent of working age adults are now starting, running or planning to launch a business. This is the highest level recorded since the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor began tracking activity in 1999. Early stage entrepreneurial activity has doubled since the early 2000s and has stabilised at around 12 percent. (more…)

February 17, 2026

The squeezed middle: supporting frontline managers in 2026

by Laura Thomson-Staveley • Business, Comment

I’ve spent hundreds of hours listening to thousands of people across organisations, and I’ve discovered something troubling: everyone is waiting for someone else to give them direction. It’s an organisational standoff. Senior leadership wants proactive teams. Frontline staff are desperate for clarity. And in the squeezed middle? Nothing but limbo. If we’re looking to grow, recover or sustain our organisations, the answer lies in frontline management skills. Your manager makes the biggest impact on how you feel about work and how secure you feel about your future. If you have to work for money, and most of us do, this relationship has enormous consequences for your wellbeing. (more…)

February 10, 2026

AI adoption exposes generational divide in management, research finds

by Neil Franklin • AI, News

KEDGE Business School has published new research suggesting that artificial intelligence is already reshaping management practice, but that a strong generational divide is emerging in how leaders use the technology. The findings come from an OpinionWay survey carried out in October 2025 among managers, and point to younger leaders adopting AI at a significantly faster pace than their older counterparts. While AI tools such as ChatGPT are now widely used across the profession, the study suggests that managers under 40 are far more likely to integrate AI into day-to-day leadership decisions, while older managers remain more cautious and selective. (more…)

January 29, 2026

AI isn’t turning robots into humans, it’s turning humans into robots.

by Stephanie Fitzgerald • AI, Comment, Wellbeing

In all the conversations, debates and shouting matches about AI that continue to dominate the internet, there is much talk about the insidious danger of anthropomorphising AI. There is something chilling about the deliberate stumbles, inflections and hesitations that are put into AI communications, to try and convince people that they are talking to a sentient being. Explanations of AI deliberately use language such as ‘the model understands’ to make us believe that AI is developing a human level of learning, as that is more appealing than saying ‘the algorithm predictions are expanding’ (and neatly glosses over the increasing error rates and hallucinations). However, in amongst all the noise, I’m paying less attention to how AI is seemingly becoming more human, and more attention to how we are using AI to become robot-like. (more…)