January 19, 2024
A hazy shade of Winter: Nigel Oseland sounds off on the Workplace Cocktail Hour
It’s bitterly cold outside but over a glass of hazy IPA, Nigel Oseland and Mark Eltringham warm to a conversation about fish guts, the sounds that make us cringe, what comfort means to different people and what it would really take to get them to spend more time in the office. And it’s not free fruit, corporate sanctioned togetherness or quirky office features. Nigel also explains why firms might be getting it wrong when it comes to managing which people use which spaces in agile environments. We also discuss how people overestimate their own productivity and underestimate that of their colleagues and what that means for the way we organise. (more…)
Monica Parker joins Mark Eltringham to share an Old Fashioned while discussing how to find wonder in the everyday, the limits of workplace design, our renewed obsession with productivity, how to achieve flow states in a world of distractions and what it means to be truly happy. There’s not much workplace news around right now as people are still finding their feet after Christmas, so we also explore some lessons we might take from the Post Office scandal about how organisations go wrong and the role of human nature in creating toxic cultures. 
Named for its distinctive kinked leg bracket, KI’s new product, ‘KI-nk’, is the perfect addition to your office space. It’s available as part of a table system or as a bench and desk collection. The KI-nk Table System is available in a range of sizes and 3 different shapes – circular, square, and rectangular – so it’s easier to choose the right style for the area you want to fit out, whether that’s a meeting room, a breakout space, executive office, reception, or a café area. Worktops can be specified with either a square or chamfered edge. 
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. 
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 16, 2024
Technology is stealing your time in ways you may not realise
by Ruth Ogden, Joanna Witowska and Vanda Cernohorská • Comment, Technology, Wellbeing