Search Results for: information

September 4, 2013

Facilities managers should harness information to show the value of what they do

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Facilities management

Of the various myths that plague the facilities management profession, the most pernicious may well be that the role of facilities managers is largely to carry out what the early feminists called shit-work – the kind of job that only becomes visible when it is done badly or isn’t done at all. Conversely, when it is done well, nobody seems to notice or even care that much. The proto-feminists of the 50s and 60s applied the term to housework, but the term is equally apposite for the work of many facilities managers who may only come to the attention of their organisation when the air-conditioning stops working, the toilet floods or there is a problem with the car park.

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March 20, 2013

Building Information Modelling is unstoppable finds survey

by Sara Bean • Architecture, Facilities management, News, Property, Public Sector, Workplace design

Nearly three quarters (71 per cent) of building design and construction experts agree that BIM (Building Information Modelling) represents “the future of project information” and 39 per cent confirmed that they are already using it. But the annual industry-wide BIM survey, undertaken by NBS, reveals a lack of clarity around the subject which could prove an obstacle to its more rapid adoption. 74 per cent of those polled agreed that the industry is “not clear enough on what BIM is yet” and only around one-third claim to be “very” or “quite” confident in their BIM knowledge and skills.

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March 9, 2013

Information Commissioner warns on poor BYOD practice

by Mark Eltringham • Legal news, News, Technology

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has published new guidance on the practice of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) following the findings of a YouGov poll which reported that while nearly half of UK workers use their own phones, tablets and other devices for work, under a third of have been offered any form of formal guidance by employers. The ICO warns that without a policy or guidance in place, staff run the risk of theft of their personal information and other data. In addition, employers need to be reminded that the Data Protection Act is also relevant for personal technology used in a work context.

October 12, 2026

What AI activity counts leave out

by Morissa Schwartz • AI, Comment

Two employees can use AI all day and be doing very different things. One dictates an email, checks the transcription and sends the words they intended to write. Another asks a system to choose a response to a customer complaint and accepts its recommendation. An activity report might call both employees frequent users. It tells us little about who did the thinking, who made the decision or what would happen if the output were wrong. (more…)

October 12, 2026

AI isn’t replacing meetings, it’s changing their purpose

by Brad Hintze • AI, Comment, Technology, Workplace design

Throughout the years in the workplace technology industry, I’ve heard one common question among organization leaders: How can we have fewer meetings and how can we make the ones we do have more effective? When AI came along, many thought that it would be the solvent to this long-standing challenge. But it turns out, as individuals utilize AI to help them automate routine work, the need to collaborate with team members on the outputs has become more prominent. Rather than focusing on reducing the number of meetings, organizations should ask themselves: Are we designing the workplace with intentionality for meetings that are actually worth having? (more…)

October 9, 2026

Cognitive access is a workplace design issue

by Nat Hawley • Comment, Workplace design

Workplace inclusion is still too often organised around a private conversation between an individual and HR. Someone encounters a barrier, decides whether it is safe to disclose a condition, explains what is happening and waits for an adjustment. That process matters, but it should not carry the whole weight of inclusion. Many barriers described as personal needs are predictable features of work: continuous noise, back-to-back calls, unclear priorities, scattered instructions and unwritten rules. When these conditions are treated as fixed, individuals must negotiate around a design problem.

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September 24, 2026

How people move may offer clues to their mental health

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing

The way people move may provide clues about their mental health and associated patterns of behaviour and symptoms, according to new research that could ultimately have implications for how psychological wellbeing is understood and assessed. Researchers from Northwestern University in Illinois and other institutions examined the relationship between a range of movement characteristics and psychological symptoms, including anxiety, depression, mania, dissociation, substance use and psychosis. (more…)

September 22, 2026

Health insurance renewal: why you should review before you renew

by Charlie Cousins • Company news

The renewal notice for your business health insurance arrives. The premium is up, as it usually is. You approve it, the policy rolls over, and you move on to the next thing on the list. For most businesses, that is the entire renewal process. And in most cases, it is leaving money on the table. The business health insurance market is not static. Insurers reprice their books every year. New products come to market. Competitors adjust their terms to win business. The gap between what a business is paying on an auto-renewed policy and what it could be paying on a properly reviewed one is often significant, and it widens every year the review does not happen. This guide covers what a proper renewal review involves, what to look at, what questions to ask your broker or insurer, and why it is worth treating renewal as an active decision rather than an annual formality. (more…)

September 21, 2026

Optimizing business travel for peak performance

by Freddie Steele • Company news

Business travel can often feel like a juggling act, trying to balance getting work done with all the moving parts of a trip. All that time spent traveling, waiting around in terminals, and hustling between appointments can really feel like it’s eating into your efficiency. But here’s the good news: with a smart approach, you can actually turn these moments from wasted time into valuable chances for focused work and getting ahead. By making every stage of your journey count, from the initial planning to wrapping things up when you get back, you can make sure your time away from the office actually boosts your productivity instead of dragging it down. It’s not about working harder; it’s about working smarter, so every hour on the road helps you hit your professional goals. (more…)

September 16, 2026

The office furniture price on the page has always been an opening bid

by Chris Taylor Guest • Comment, Workplace design

Ask anyone who has worked in office furniture what the list price is for and they will pause before answering, because the honest answer is embarrassing. The list price is the number the trade agrees not to charge. It exists so there is something to discount from. The mechanism is simple. A manufacturer publishes a recommended price. A dealer buys at a trade price a long way below it. The dealer then sells to the end customer at whatever point between the two the conversation lands. Where it lands depends on the customer: how large they are, how many desks they sound as though they might need one day, whether they have a competing quote in their hand, whether they mention a framework, and, more than anything, whether they know the game is on. The buyer who asks for a discount gets one. The buyer who does not ask pays the number on the page. (more…)

September 8, 2026

The best easy-to-use HR software for small businesses in 2026

by Freddie Steele • Company news

Running a small business means your time is always in demand, so every tool you invest in needs to make life easier. Human resources can quickly become one of the biggest administrative challenges as your team grows, with hiring, onboarding, leave requests, employee records, compliance, performance reviews and document management all competing for your attention. Typically, a well-designed HR platform brings those tasks together in one place, helping you spend less time on administration and more time supporting your people and growing your business. The strongest platforms in 2026 combine simple navigation with practical automation, giving you professional HR tools without the steep learning curve that often comes with enterprise software. (more…)

September 7, 2026

The first issue of Sustainability Works is available for you now

by Joanna Knight • Environment, News, Premium Content, Sustainability Works, Workplace design

The first issue of Sustainability Works, the new publication dedicated to sustainable design for the built environment, has been launched by the team behind Works magazine in partnership with the Sustainable Design Collective (SDC). Edited by Joanna Knight, Sustainability Works has been created to inform, challenge and inspire the workplace and design community at a time when sustainability is moving beyond individual products and initiatives to reshape the way buildings and interiors are designed, specified, delivered and managed. (more…)