Search Results for: office

What do we need offices for anyway? The Greeks had a word for it

What do we need offices for anyway? The Greeks had a word for it

offices - what is going onThe Greek word anagnorisis describes the sense of having just caught up with a truth that was always waiting for you. It’s a common literary and artistic device found in the plots of everything from Oedipus Rex to Macbeth, Star Wars and Fight Club, but it’s also a word that conveys a useful, complex idea that does not have an adequate English version. The mot juste, if you like. And it’s a useful idea when it comes to framing the current conversation we are having about offices and work more generally. More →

The hybrid working office: ushering in a new era for the workspace

The hybrid working office: ushering in a new era for the workspace

The increased adoption of hybrid working has led to a significant change in the way that people view a workplaceLife after COVID has led to a significant change in the way that people view a workplace. Working from home on a regular basis has become typical, not ad hoc or as required. Commuting five days a week to attend an office is no longer the norm and on the whole is no longer demanded – rather, we have seen organisations adopt hybrid working. This has meant the rationale for a physical office workspace has come under considerable scrutiny. Some organisations have gone as far as being completely remote and have released all office real estate. More →

Where are the iconic office furniture products of yesterday?

Where are the iconic office furniture products of yesterday?

A new image of Bauhaus students from 1927 raises interesting questions about the design of office furnitureLate last year, this image went viral on social media. It is of a group of Bauhaus design students from around 1927. They are called Martha Erps, Katt Both and Ruth Hellos. The full image (reproduced below) shows them with legendary office furniture designer Marcel Breuer, who Erps would later marry. The story of the photograph can be found here. On social media, though, the standard response from people of a certain vintage – my vintage admittedly – is to suggest that they were last seen supporting Echo and the Bunnymen at the Barrowland Glasgow in 1984.  More →

Offices not geared up for hybrid working, poll claims

Offices not geared up for hybrid working, poll claims

Despite a huge increase in the number of businesses adopting a hybrid working model, a new poll from Crown Workspace claims that almost half (46 percent) of hybrid workers believe their office or workspace does not suit a hybrid working model and is in need of modernisation.Despite a huge increase in the number of businesses adopting a hybrid working model, a new poll from Crown Workspace claims that almost half (46 percent) of hybrid workers believe their office or workspace does not suit a hybrid working model and is in need of modernisation. More →

Memories of the Office Age 

Memories of the Office Age 

memories of the office ageNo author uses the built environment like J G Ballard. In his 1975 novel High-Rise, the eponymous structure is both a way of isolating the group of people who live and compete inside it and a metaphor for their personal isolation and inner struggles. Over the course of three months, the building’s services begin to fail. The 2,000 people within, detached from external realities in the 40-storey building, confronted with their true selves and those of their neighbours, descend into selfishness and – ultimately – savagery.  More →

Employee turnover will skyrocket if firms monitor office attendance, says former EY leader 

Employee turnover will skyrocket if firms monitor office attendance, says former EY leader 

The so-called Big Four consultancy firms risk increasing their employee turnover and drastically lowering their retention if they continue monitoring office attendanceThe so-called Big Four consultancy firms risk increasing their employee turnover and drastically lowering their retention if they continue monitoring office attendance, says former EY leader and CEO of AM Bank, Dr. Nahla Khaddage Bou-Diab. The intervention follows news that professional services giant Ernst & Young is monitoring UK staff office attendance. More →

MuteBox brings Scandinavian modular office furniture to the UK

MuteBox brings Scandinavian modular office furniture to the UK

MuteBox, a Danish design company providing affordable but high-quality, modular furniture including meeting rooms and phone booths for open office spaces, today announces its expansion into the UK and Ireland. MuteBox designs, manufactures, and sells sustainable, flexible and modular solutions, with a focus on affordability, high-end design and employee satisfaction. MuteBox One, the company’s flagship offering, starts at £4,495. More →

Sustainable offices attract higher service charges

Sustainable offices attract higher service charges

The most efficient and sustainable offices attract higher than average service charges, a new report claimsOffice buildings with the highest efficiency and sustainability ratings tend to have higher than average service charges, a report from accountancy and business advisory firm BDO claims. The firm’s latest benchmarking report suggests that offices with an ‘outstanding’ or ‘excellent’ Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology (BREEAM) certification had total service charge costs that were 26 percent higher than the other offices it surveyed. Meanwhile, total service charge costs were 6 percent higher for sustainable offices with an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of A or B compared to all other offices. More →

The Kafka trap of return to office arguments

The Kafka trap of return to office arguments

This month I witnessed somebody misapplying the work of Kafka in an attempt to make a middlebrow point about the so-called return to officeRecently, I bemoaned how Orwell is often invoked in support of an argument by people who haven’t read him. They are usually drawing on some laundered misperception of his work, and especially Nineteen Eighty-Four. Well, just a few days ago, I witnessed somebody misapplying the work of Kafka in a similar attempt to make a middlebrow point about the so-called return to office. More →

Underutilised office space? I just can’t be bothered with it

Underutilised office space? I just can’t be bothered with it

A while ago, Antony Slumbers asked me why I thought firms had never done anything much about the underutilisation of their offices. This was in the first throes of lockdown-driven remote work hysteria, prompted by one of those headlines about how offices being half empty was some signifier of hatred for them.

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Return to office mandates linked to higher business travel costs

Return to office mandates linked to higher business travel costs

a key finding in new research by Uber for Business  which claims to reveal a resurgent demand for business travelThe majority of UK travel managers (89 percent) say travel is a growing business priority in 2024, anticipating increased budgets driven by return-to-office policies, inflation and ESG requirements. This is a key finding in new research by Uber for Business  which claims to reveal a resurgent demand for business travel. The research, drawing insights from over 250 corporate travel managers across the UK, sets out to explore the top business travel trends and challenges to watch in 2024. In this landscape of shifting dynamics, where emphasis on ESG requirements is intensifying, there is an increasing need for innovative travel management solutions, the firm says. More →

Forty percent of firms expect people to work from the office five days a week

Forty percent of firms expect people to work from the office five days a week

Virgin Media O2 Business’ first full-year Movers Index claims that 2023 was the year of the ‘Great Office Return’Virgin Media O2 Business’ first full-year Movers Index claims that 2023 was the year of the ‘Great Office Return’, with 40 percent of companies returning to a five-day office working week, despite more than half (55 percent) of workers experiencing public transport delays of an hour or more on their commute. The Movers Index claims that businesses and consumers alike are doubling down on getting the most value for every pound spent amid the cost-of-living crisis. More →