Search Results for: office design

September 6, 2016

Two thirds of US gig economy workers would choose not to repeat the experience ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

While the number of independent workers in the US gig economy is expected to grow to 54 million people by 2020 and some 40 percent of workers have already experienced it according to MBO Partners: State of Independence in America 2016, a new online poll by Deloitte of nearly 4,000 workers found that 67 percent of those who have worked as an independent contractor would choose not to do so again in future. Additionally, more than 60 percent of employed workers said that their stability would suffer if they moved to independent contract work, and 42 percent worry about sacrificing good compensation and benefits. Four-in-ten respondents (41 percent) recognise that independent contracting offers more flexibility to work where, when, and how they want to as compared to full-time employment. However, respondents cite inconsistent cash flow and lack of employer-paid benefits as drawbacks that discourage them from pursuing independent work.

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September 5, 2016

We’re only just beginning to understand the issue of indoor air quality ⁰

by Paul McLaughlin • Cities, Comment, Facilities management, Wellbeing

Our aim at BESA is to raise awareness about indoor air quality and encourage more people to be mindful of the best solutions for particular buildings and building types to ultimately promote a healthy workplace environment. The BESA revealed the results of a recent YouGov survey (released on 17 August 2016), which looked into views of office workers and their attitudes toward indoor air pollution in office environments across the UK. The aim of the study was to illustrate attitudes, behaviours and perceptions in order to understand how office workers feel, think and act. Our survey, combined with our ongoing research and collaborations, shows us that opening a window isn’t always the most effective solution to accessing ‘fresh air’ in offices. BESA wholeheartedly agree with Mark Eltringham’s comment that clean, fresh air, is the best way to ventilate a workplace environment. Our survey was commissioned to highlight that in the urban, office environment, this is not always possible.

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September 4, 2016

Bisley release details of The Workification of Home event ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Company news, Events, Flexible working

On 14th September, Bisley is hosting a panel discussion at its showroom led by Professor Jeremy Myerson of the Royal Academy of Art. The event is called The Workification of Home – the future trend for the flexible workforce? Jeremy will be joined by a panel of experts to debate the blurring boundaries between our domestic and professional lives, the rise of the freelance economy, tech start ups, mobile technology and the trend for co-working, The panel will debate how these factors have penetrated the culture, design and expectation of where, when and how we want to work and how workers can manage and maintain a successful work/life blend, by creating effective and conducive spaces in the home. Joining Jeremy are: Kirstin Furber – People Director at BBC Worldwide; Sebastian Conran- Leading product and furniture designer; David Barrett – Buyer of Living, Dining and Home office at John Lewis; Amelia Coward – Founder and Creative Director at Bombus.com. The event takes place at 6pm on the 14th September at the Bisley Showroom, Great Portland Street, London.

August 17, 2016

Intelligent lighting can enhance workplace wellbeing and productivity ⁰

by Andy Gallacher • Comment, Environment, Facilities management, Lighting, Wellbeing, Workplace design

The main driver of the growing interest in wellbeing in recent years has undoubtedly been absenteeism. But workers don’t have to be ‘absent’ from the workplace to hamper productivity. Presenteeism, where employees are present but not productive can also influence the long-term success of an organisation. The interaction between the worker and their work environment has a huge influence on an individual’s wellbeing and overall productivity, with employees’ performance more likely to be enhanced when they are immersed in a comfortable and stimulating environment. This can include all the usual stipulations, such as a well-designed workstation, a comfortable office temperature and carefully considered and appropriate lighting. In fact, improved lighting is an essential element in the overall mix, not only because of the cost savings that their energy efficiency brings but also in the way lighting contributes to workplace wellbeing and people’s performance.

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August 16, 2016

How to save a sinking ship: lessons from Marissa Mayer’s experience at Yahoo ⁰

by Andrea Hak • Case studies, Features, Flexible working, Technology, Work&Place

When former Google employee Marissa Mayer joined Yahoo as its CEO in 2012, she inherited the company’s vast problems. Though it was once seen as one of the first tech behemoths, Yahoo’s inability to come up with ground breaking products like Google and others, put it in a slow, steady decline. Mayer was immediately tasked with trying to reinvigorate the stagnating company. Her focus was to find a way to identify and retain talent, while phasing out ineffective employees. However, Yahoo’s new management policies have brought about much debate and criticism from HR experts. A controversial book by journalist Nicholas Carlson titled “Marissa Mayer and the Fight to Save Yahoo!” paints a highly critical view of Mayer’s first years as CEO. In response others have defended her, arguing that she has done the best she can with the resources available, but has become a scapegoat for poor management, like so many other women in powerful positions.

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August 2, 2016

Seven workplace stories we like and think you should read this week ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Architecture, Comment, News, Property, Workplace, Workplace design

1 The next big thing in office design is not what you think but is certainly a sign of the times, according to a story in Inc; it is bullet proof office screens. 2 An exhibition in London offers up spectral images of abandoned buildings from the Soviet era. 3 We’ve been saying for a while that Millennials don’t exist as a separate species, but perhaps not as powerfully as Adam Conover does in this talk delivered, ironically, at a conference focused on marketing to Millennials 4 Maybe the UK Government has finally discovered that an awful lot of people live outside London as it announces the creation of three large civil service ‘hubs’ in Liverpool, Leeds and Manchester. 5 Philip Tidd of Gensler powerfully offers up an inconvenient truth for the UK workplace. 6 More evidence that the Brexit vote was largely a general protest vote rather than a specifically anti-EU vote from the What Works Centre for Wellbeing. 7 A letter to the FT from construction industry leaders urges the UK to maintain its role as a leader in tackling climate change.

July 13, 2016

Gensler publishes latest US and UK Workplace Surveys for 2016 ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Architecture, Facilities management, Features, Flexible working, Workplace design

Gensler has announced the results of its Workplace Survey 2016 for both the UK and the US. Key claims of the UK report based on a study of 1,210 respondents include that the UK workforce seems to be divided into ‘haves and have-nots’, with mid and lower-tier workers confined to poor quality environments, 67 per cent of the workforce feel drained due to their office environment at the end of each day and that ‘innovators’ spend just 3.5 days of the working week in the office, highlighting the need for greater flexibility. Meanwhile, the key finding of the US study of 4,000 respondents is that a statistical link between the quality and functional make-up of the workplace and the level of innovation employees ascribe to their organisation, and found that a workplace that prioritises both individual and group work creates ‘an ecosystem of innovation’ across organisations and is a crucial predictor of how innovative an employee sees their company to be.

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July 11, 2016

Gallery: World Architecture Festival Awards shortlist announced ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Architecture, News, Workplace design

The shortlist for the 2016 World Architecture Festival Awards has been published and features 343 projects from 58 countries and across 32 categories. The Festival takes place in Berlin this November, where the winners will be announced. Judges include include last year’s winner Ole Scheeren, David Chipperfield, Manuelle Gautrand, and Kai-Uwe Bergmann. The shortlisted candidates in the office category include the world’s first 3Dprinted office in Dubai and Dietrich | Untertrifaller’s Omicron Campus which incorporates luminous quiet-working pods. Notable UK entries include Make Architects’ Hiscox Building in York and the Collado Collins designed scheme for the redevelopment of a landmark building at 184 Shepherds Bush Road. The design maintains the architecture of the original building, formerly a motor service depot and car showroom owned by Citroen and adds three new floors for office use.

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July 11, 2016

London planning to hide Walkie Talkie with…more tall buildings? ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Architecture, Cities, News, Property

It was Frank Lloyd Wright who said ‘a doctor can bury his mistakes but an architect can only advise his clients to plant vines’. His words will be ringing in the ears of London planners who have decided they need to do something about the blight of Rafael Viñoly’s reviled Walkie Talkie building at 20 Fenchurch Street, according to an article in the Architect’s Journal. The building was last year’s Carbuncle Cup winner and has been held responsible for creating wind tunnels in the streets at its base and even frying people, shops and cars around it with reflected solar rays. Remarkably, the solution offered by planners appears to be to surround it with other tall buildings to hide it (while also creating new office space). Gwyn Richards, head of design for London, told the AJ: ‘One issue that has been brought to our attention is whether it would be preferable to have the Walkie Talkie effectively moved into the cluster so that it is less assertive. We are hearing from stakeholders saying that it would benefit the cluster to bring it into a tightly knitted group.’

July 5, 2016

LBGT inclusion in the workplace relies on FM and HR best practice ⁰

by Peter Holmes • Comment, Facilities management, Wellbeing, Workplace, Workplace design

Much has been written about the business case for diversity and inclusion with one overarching theme; people perform better when they can be themselves. This is especially true for lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans employees. Have you ever hesitated before talking about your partner to a colleague at work? Anticipated how they will react when they find out the person’s gender? Have you ever thought twice about going to the toilet in the office? Spent more time worrying about which facilities you’ll use than the looming deadline you have coming up? These are just a few examples of the thoughts that can consume the mental power of an LGBT person when you create a working environment which isn’t inclusive. According to last year’s Open For Business report, LGBT diversity and inclusion in the workplace impacts two key areas of productivity – business and individual performance, which rely on a focus on sound management and an inclusive workplace design.

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July 2, 2016

Beyond monoculture + Future shock + Confusion over productivity ⁰

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Flexible working, Insight Briefings, Newsletter, Technology, Wellbeing, Workplace, Workplace design

In this week’s Newsletter; Mark Eltringham pays tribute to futurologist Alvin Toffler who died this week and is famed for introducing the concept ‘Future shock’; and Charles Marks looks at the ways our noisy world was foretold by some of the 20^th centuries’ greatest minds. A study finds that people find meetings more useful than is widely reported; many office workers struggle to understand the meaning of productivity; and spending on workplace technology doubled over the past five years. Older workers – not millennials – are most positive about working freelance; more US over 65s are working now than at any time; and agile workers report the highest levels of productivity. You can download our new Briefing, produced in partnership with Boss Design which examines the link between culture and workplace strategy and design; visit our new events page, follow us on Twitter and join our LinkedIn Group to discuss these and other stories.

June 24, 2016

Property and workplace experts have their say on the Brexit outcome ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Architecture, Comment, Facilities management, Property, Workplace, Workplace design

Well, the results are in and the UK’s electorate has voted by a narrow margin for the country to leave the EU. There are likely to be other developments but whatever you make of the UK’s decision to vote to leave the EU – and I think it’s fair to say most independent people think it’s inexplicable – there’s no doubt that it will have a profound impact on the UK’s economy, relationship with the world, culture, working conditions and markets. What it will mean in practice won’t be apparent for months or years, of course, but that hasn’t stopped experts who work in the property, workplace, design, legal, HR and architecture sectors having their say on its potential implications. We’ll look at these specific issues in more detail going forward but for now, here’s a round-up of those we have so far, which we’ll keep updated throughout the day as the dust settles on what will prove to be a momentous decision for the UK, Europe and rest of the world.