January 5, 2024

Employers can be advocates for workplace eye wellness: four winning strategies

Proper management of employee health and wellness is an important facet to consider when striving for success in the workplace. Properly supporting employee health helps them perform better, encourages productivity, prevents losses from absences, enhances job satisfaction, and improves overall morale. Employers can promote employee wellness in different ways, but one area you should consider prioritising is eye care in the workplace. More →

January 4, 2024

European furniture giant Flokk announces acquisition of US based Stylex

by Freddie Steele • Company news, Furniture

Stylex, a design-driven American commercial furnishings manufacturer is the latest acquisition by Flokk, the European office seating and furniture manufacturer. The purchase – expected to close on January 31, 2024 – comes at a pivotal moment, solidifying Flokk’s presence in the U.S. market and making Stylex part of Flokk’s global portfolio of brands. More →

January 4, 2024

Overwhelming majority of businesses say waste management is important to minimise climate change

by Neil Franklin • Environment, Facilities management, News

A new poll from waste management company Biffa suggests that over four-fifths (85 percent) of UK businesses believe that recycling and waste management are essential in minimising the effects of climate change. Moreover, almost 9 in 10 (88 percent) see waste management as central to being a sustainable business. The survey of over 1000 UK business decision-makers, conducted by YouGov, explored attitudes towards sustainability and the circular economy. The results showcase the clear importance placed on waste management in the battle to combat climate change. More →

January 3, 2024

One wish for 2024. A more sophisticated approach to the workplace and hybrid working

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Flexible working, Workplace design

We know, and have for a long time, that the workplace is in a state of near constant flux. The meteor strike of lockdown was an accelerant, not a deviation. It also laid bare -yet again – the faulty assumption that there is some sort of general evolution towards an idealised version of the office or conversely the universal adoption of remote or hybrid working, whatever it is. That is why we see so many people routinely willing to suspend their critical facilities to make extravagant and even absurd predictions about the office of the future or even the death of the office.

January 2, 2024

We are not blank slates and we don’t adapt to change in predictable ways

by Mark Eltringham • Features, Flexible working, Wellbeing

An idea that has never really gone away, but which seems to be enjoying a new lease of life is the tabula rasa. The conception of people as a blank slate is something that has crept back into mainstream political and social thought for a variety of reasons. Arguably, it is also behind many of the most misleading notions about work and workplace design, perhaps most importantly that a change to some single element or characteristic of a working environment will lead to a specific outcome in the behaviour of people. More →

December 20, 2023

Time is up for fluorescent lighting, so what happens after the tube strike?

by Helen Parton • Environment, Features, Lighting, Workplace design

As we rapidly advance through the latter half of 2023, the office landscape is undergoing a significant shift, with the imminent fluorescent lamp ban. Just like the Rolodex, the fax machine and smoking in the office, fluorescent lighting is becoming a thing of the past in the workplace. Both the UK and the EU are taking bold steps by phasing out all forms of fluorescent lamps with some types, such as T5 and T8 fluorescent tubes, banned from sale as early as September 2023. If they haven’t done so already, business owners will need to explore alternative lighting solutions to stay compliant with new regulations, set to take full effect by February 2024. More →

December 19, 2023

Flexible working is delivering the gift of seasonal productivity

by Frank Weishaupt • Comment, Flexible working, Technology

Employees have made it clear that they are keen for flexible working arrangements to stay. In fact, according to the Owl Labs 2023 State of Hybrid Work report, 40 percent of employees would decline a job if they were required to be in the office five days a week. With the festive season in full swing, employees will look to utilise the benefits of flexible working as they return home to their families. More →

December 18, 2023

A bit of alien thinking on coffee and some other BS

by Mark Eltringham • Facilities management, Features, Technology, Wellbeing, Workplace design

I’ve sometimes highlighted how our perceptions of the workplace are subject to an apex fallacy. The daily consumption of narratives about campuses, tech palaces and ‘cool’ design can obscure the fact that most people don’t experience this stuff in their daily lives. They work in adequate or possibly nice offices. Some in shabby offices or horrible offices. Many travel into work at the same time each day and sit with roughly the same people and do roughly the same things. They may work from home more frequently now, but they have a routine there too. Most will work in a mundane or nice home that mirrors the mundane office that awaits at the other end of the commute. More →

December 16, 2023

Hybrid working: the importance of having the right strategy

by Andrew Mawson • Comment, Flexible working

Hybrid working changes everything it seems. To make it work successfully we need changes in the way people need to be managed, trained and inducted. It changes the needs for communication and social connectivity, goal setting and connection to vision. It requires greater clarity on what is acceptable and what isn’t. Employees must take on new grown-up obligations and organisations are required to ‘trust’ and employees to be ‘trustworthy’. More →

December 13, 2023

Big firms don’t really want you to contact them

by Neil Franklin • Business, News

Some of Britain’s most famous and successful companies make it hard for customers to get in touch, according to a new study of FTSE 250 companies, by Moneypenny, with 89 percent of the companies having no phone contact number on their website home page. While some of the FTSE 250 companies did feature a phone number elsewhere on their website, 33 percent of them make it extremely difficult to find a contact number on their website and have no phone number on their respective home pages. It took the Moneypenny researchers six or seven clicks to find one elsewhere on their websites. More →

December 12, 2023

Government brings forward plans to relocate 22,000 jobs away from London

by Neil Franklin • News, Property, Public Sector

The UK Government is bringing forward its target to relocate 22,000 civil service roles out of London. It comes as new figures today show that 16,061 roles have already been moved out of London, exceeding the commitment to relocate 15,000 roles by 2025 as part of the Places for Growth programme. Under the newly announced plans, Aberdeen, Darlington and Greater Manchester are to host second headquarters for major departments. Darlington is already the Treasury’s second headquarters.

December 12, 2023

Workplace and property firms must wake up to the new era of networked businesses

by Rob Harris • Features, Flexible working, Property, Workplace design

While millions of words have been dedicated to the expected changes in post-Covid workstyles – how will people work, where will they work, how will they be supported – very little has been said about their employers: companies and corporations. Yet the anticipated changes to work and the workplace raise questions about the role of the company. Is it one just half of a transaction between employer and employee? Or is it something more? Indeed, what is the role of the company in the modern economy? Is the nature of the company likely to change? The answers could have a greater impact on workstyles than the pandemic. More →