July 6, 2020

For the love of procrastination

Many of us start each day with a long to-do list, a new set of goals and a commitment not to repeat the same mistakes we have in the past. It’s likely that we will have promised ourselves to stop putting things off. On our hit list of the foibles we most want to dispose of, procrastination will be somewhere near the top. The problem is that because procrastination is linked to psychological factors such as an innate preference to do something we deem pleasurable to something we don’t, modern life encourages us to do it. (more…)

July 2, 2020

Leaders need to develop a high care quotient for the new challenges they face

by Chris Parke • Comment, Wellbeing, Working lives

Everything has taken a hit in 2020. Nothing has gone unscathed or unchanged – and the same goes for leadership. From boardrooms to living rooms, meeting rooms to spare rooms, leadership has moved away from face-to-face interactions to digital communications. Meanwhile, forward-thinking initiatives, spurred on by continuing diversity imbalances and widening gender pay gaps, have been put on hold. Following government guidance, only half of businesses published their 2018-19 gender pay gap report – which could reportedly push gender equality back a whole generation. We are risking losing sight of what’s important to us – and unless we’re intentional about how we make systemic, much-needed organisational changes, they’re not going to happen if we only focus on more ‘critical’ things, or keeping the lights on. (more…)

June 30, 2020

Younger workers careers suffer in lockdown, but are hopeful of better future

by Neil Franklin • News, Workplace

In the face of unprecedented health and economic disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, ‘millennials’ and ‘Gen Zs’ express resolve and a vision to build a better future, a new Deloitte survey claims. The 2020 Deloitte Global Millennial Survey, now in its ninth year, suggests that both generations remain resilient in the face of adversity and are determined to drive positive change in their communities and around the world. (more…)

June 30, 2020

A chance to build a cleaner future as economy rebuilds

by Neil Franklin • Environment, News

The European Union is strengthening its efforts to make its energy systems cleaner and more resilient, reinforcing its global leadership in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new energy policy review by the International Energy Agency.

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June 29, 2020

Winners announced for 2020 KI Award from Royal College of Art and Imperial College

by Freddie Steele • Company news

The winners of the annual KI Award, now in its fifth year, were announced in the lead up to the upcoming digital graduation show. The awards and cash prizes are given to final year students selected from the RCA’s ‘Design Products’ and the RCA/Imperial College London’s ‘Innovation Design Engineering’ double masters course. The winning projects showed an outstanding approach to functionality, durability, sustainability and enhancement to user experience for our future working or learning experiences. A summary of each award winner is included below. (more…)

June 17, 2020

Time to apply the lessons we learned during lockdown

by Louise Bancroft • Features, Flexible working, Wellbeing

So far, 2020 has not gone to plan. For businesses, and the people they employ, the next few months may be just as bumpy, as each country, state and city takes its own approach to a phased return to work after lockdown. Today, in Houston, offices are limited to 25 percent capacity, in London, the underground is capped at 13-15 percent capacity, while in New Zealand and other countries hospitality and retail are returning with heightened hygiene measures and social distancing in place. (more…)

June 17, 2020

Research predicts decline in business travel post-lockdown

by George Eltringham • Flexible working, News

Environmental concerns and the changing work landscape could lead to a noticeable drop in both domestic and international business travel, as nearly half of UK workers (48 percent) are concerned about its negative environmental impact, according to new research from O2. (more…)

June 9, 2020

A thank you for the bitter knowledge offered by the lockdown

by Adam Burtt-Jones • Comment, Flexible working, Workplace design

With all challenges come opportunities. Covid-19 will most likely be the single largest challenge and disrupter of a generation. It has the potential to create the greatest significant shift in working behaviours and standards of the past hundred years. Workspace consultants, enlightened clients, designers, researchers and commentators have been hammering the agile / home/ remote working drum for the past twenty years or more, waiting patiently for this kind of opportunity. (more…)

June 4, 2020

Surface Design Awards announce judging panel for 2021

by Freddie Steele • Company news

Steve Webb of Webb Yates Engineers and Basha-Franklin’s Creative Director, Nicola Osborn have been appointed as Co-Chairs of the highly respected Surface Design Awards for 2021. Webb and Osborn are joined by a multi-disciplinary team of fellow judges selected from the architecture and design communities. The Co-Chairs invite their own team of design industry colleagues to join them on the judging panel. Steve Webb has invited Sarah Castle from IF_DO; Joseph Henry of GLA’s Regeneration Team and Architecture Initiative’s Lee Mainwaring. (more…)

June 2, 2020

Embracing emotion and empathy to drive us beyond this crisis

by Riccarda Zezza • Comment, Workplace

We’re currently living and working through some of the most intense, challenging conditions many of us will have had to endure – and we all will empathise that it can be particularly difficult to manage your working life. A recent study in Harvard Business Review found that tiredness, fear and panic all reduce our ability to think clearly, to be able to manage our relationships effectively, to focus on the right priorities, and to be able to make intelligent and informed decisions. (more…)

May 26, 2020

The experience of working from home is not the same for everyone

by Anna Hern • Comment, Flexible working, Wellbeing

So we’ve demonstrated that we can work from home. But is it a permanent solution? We hear senior managers counting the numbers and working out just how much money will be saved if organisations no longer need their office space. It’s a seductive argument. So before we all settle down in our spare bedrooms with a sigh of relief, let’s just have a think about what that model would mean in the long term. (more…)

May 21, 2020

Firms need to embed lessons from pandemic in a new work culture

by Neil Franklin • News, Technology, Wellbeing

Organisations should build on the lessons they have learned about themselves and their employees during the pandemic and embed them into their work culture. That is the main claim of the tenth annual Global Human Capital Trends report from Deloitte. (more…)