February 6, 2016
Robot’s rise + Shrinking public sector estate + Office of the future (not) 0
In this week’s Insight newsletter; Gary Chandler envisages how automation will transform society and workplaces; Paul Goodchild explains why office life still attracts people; Mark Eltringham bemoans the narrow focus shown in predictions of the future office and Sara Bean says the HR discipline needs to evolve to support the changing workplace. A new report reveals 88 percent of British workers are regularly stressed at work; employees are increasingly keen to find jobs that offer them flexible working; and men are penalised for opting for a better work/life balance. Government plans to cut the size of its estate by 75 percent by 2023 and an expanding TMT sector increases demand in central London. Download the latest issue of Work&Place and access an Insight Briefing produced in partnership with Connection, which looks at agile working in the public sector. Visit our new events page, follow us on Twitter and join our LinkedIn Group to discuss these and other stories.
February 5, 2016
What the commercial property market tells us about trends in office design 0
by Paul Goodchild • Comment, Property, Workplace design
It’s become commonplace in recent years for certain people to foresee the death of the office. The problem with this argument is that, in spite of its drawbacks, office life maintains an attraction for both employers and employees and there will always be an upper limit on how long people want to spend away from other people. Things are changing but the death of the office is a myth. As we’ve known for at least a quarter of a century, there is no absolute need for us to go to work at all. Theoretically we could just do away with offices completely if we wanted to. But as we have seen, the fact we have evolved technology to the point where we could forget about bricks and mortar, doesn’t necessarily mean we will. Not only are there practical reasons for offices to continue to exist, there are emotive ones too. If you want evidence of this, look no further than the records currently being set by the UK’s commercial property markets.
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