November 2, 2018

A little local difficulty, treating people as pets, designing for serendipity and some other stuff you might like

The big news to be on the lookout for this month is the BIFM’s impending name change to the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management. Now the interesting thing about this development is what it might tell us about the changing world of work and the distinction between the physical office and the places we actually work, including in digital space. So that’s what everybody’s focussed on right?

November 2, 2018

Happiness at work: Lessons from home

by Dr Tracy Brower • Comment, Facilities management, Wellbeing, Workplace, Workplace design

Thanks to technology and mobility, our work has come home with us. So it’s only fair that home should come to work, right? It would seem logical that if people sit in front of a TV on the sofa at home while they work remotely, employees would be thrilled to have a similar set up within their office. However, in the workplaces where we’ve seen companies install couches and big screen TVs, those work spaces are almost never used by employees. Those companies missed the bigger picture. Home is as much an emotional experience as a physical one.

November 1, 2018

CBRE launches its offering for the flexible office sector

by Mark Eltringham • Company news, Property

CBRE, one of the world’s largest commercial property firms has launched a flexible office service that will compete with groups such as WeWork and IWG, who own the Regus brand, for corporate tenants. The company has appointed a former Zipcar executive, Andrew Kupiec, to head Hana, a new wholly owned subsidiary that will operate flexible offices aimed mainly at larger corporate clients. Unlike its competitors Hana will not lease office spaces from landlords; instead, it will partner with them through joint ventures.

November 1, 2018

South American firm to join global workplace design and fit-out network

by Neil Franklin • Company news, Workplace design

South American workplace designer and fit out specialist Contract Workplaces has become the latest organisation to join The United Workplace (TUW). With over 20-years’ experience working across ten countries from Mexico in central America right down to Southern Ocean, Contract Workplaces dramatically increases the reach of the TUW as a global business network of workplace design and fit-out firms. Beginning with its founding partners Fourfront Group in the UK and Amicus in Australia, TUW now has members in the Middle East, USA and South America.

October 31, 2018

Lack of skills investment means businesses miss out on benefits of automation

by Neil Franklin • AI, News, Workplace

A new report from the Capgemini Research Institute claims that, in the majority of companies (58 percent), automation is not yet meeting executives’ desired goals of increased productivity. The study, Upskilling your workforce for the age of the machine: Why a workforce upskilling strategy is key to unleashing automation’s productivity potential reveals that while automation does increase productivity to an extent, the key to reaching its full potential is by appropriate upskilling of the workforce.

October 31, 2018

Top global industries leading the way in remote work

by Neil Franklin • Features, Flexible working, Property

More business owners are swapping rigid 9-5 schedules and traditional office environments in favour of flexible space and remote work as an option for saving costs, retaining employees and encouraging a healthy work-life balance. With this in mind, Instant Offices has investigated what industries are leading the way for remote working and how to overcome the typical challenges of managing a remote team.

October 31, 2018

Business leaders agree that organisations must be digitised to compete

by Sara Bean • AI, Facilities management, News, Technology, Workplace

Over two thirds (67 percent) of business leaders agree their company must become significantly digitalised by 2020 to remain competitive, and they are looking for HR leaders to lead the transformation. This is according to Gartner, Inc whose latest research suggests that CEOs are sharing their focus on digitalisation with their investors; with mentions of “digital” on earnings calls increasing by 20 percent year-over-year since 2010. CEOs are seeking ways to keep costs down while achieving gains in efficiency and productivity, and the HR function is expected to lead digital transformation efforts across their organisations. More →

October 30, 2018

The workplace world responds to the UK Autumn Budget

by Mark Eltringham • News, Property, Workplace

Yesterday, the Chancellor Philip Hammond announced the details of the UK government’s latest budget. While Brexit and austerity inevitably cast their shadows over the whole thing, there were a number of announcements relevant to the workplace, construction, tech and built environment sectors, some of which have been broadly welcomed by commentators, industry bodies and experts. Some are decidedly less popular. Among the announcements in the budget were new plans for infrastructure and property, skills and training, tax regimes for the self-employed, productivity, business rates and mental health.

October 29, 2018

Majority of maternity returners say they lack support when they go back to work

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

Lack of support for maternity returners among UK businesses has been uncovered in a new survey of professional, mainly management-level women. More than four fifths of pregnant women begin their maternity leave unhappy and lacking in confidence about work – and over a third feel so isolated when they return that they want to hand their notice in. MMB, a working parents’ website, surveyed more than 1,000 mothers, 72 percent of whom were in jobs at management level or above.

October 23, 2018

Cultural attitudes define the race for 5G connectivity as Germany and Holland inch ahead

by Mark Eltringham • News, Technology

New research commissioned by international law firm Osborne Clarke claims that businesses in Germany and the Netherlands could be leading the global race to embrace next-generation 5G connectivity. The Next Generation Connectivity research of executives and managers from 11 countries, conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit, also claims that approaches and attitudes to adopting connectivity vary country to country. This, Osborne Clarke says, could hinder future opportunities.

October 19, 2018

Smart spaces and the other top technology trends for 2019

by Mark Eltringham • News, Technology, Workplace design

Technology researcher Gartner has highlighted the top strategic technology trends it believes organisations should be aware of in 2019. Gartner defines a strategic technology trend as one with ‘substantial disruptive potential that is beginning to break out of an emerging state into broader impact and use, or which are rapidly growing trends with a high degree of volatility reaching tipping points over the next five years’. One of the interesting points to note is the inclusion of the physical workplace yet again, as we highlighted in our recent feature on the trends shaping office design.

October 19, 2018

Business leaders routinely work through lunch to tackle productivity gap

by Sara Bean • News, Workplace

Although the majority of business leaders rate their business as efficient, nearly a third of respondents to a recent survey waste up to 65 working days per year on administrative tasks, with over half wasting the equivalent of a working month. Priority Software’s Business Process Efficiency Index 2018 suggests business leaders are struggling to take charge of company productivity; and while senior decision-makers expressed the desire to spend more time planning for the future of their businesses, they said too much time is currently occupied by administrative tasks.