Search Results for: office

Sedus updates its manufacturing processes with Chromium III

Sedus updates its manufacturing processes with Chromium III

by • Company news, Promotion

Whether a swivel chair or a desk, every third Sedus customer order is produced using a chrome finish. This is not only for aesthetic reasons, but also about quality – chrome surfaces are more scratch resistant and less sensitive than powder coated, polished aluminium or wood. The technique of using chrome is historic. Chromium III was discovered by chance in 1797 by Louis-Nicolas Vauquelin, but was only made industrially usable on a large scale in the 1920s by the addition of other chemical substances. However, the cost has always been high because the globally widespread process Chromium VI is cheaper and simpler. However, it is also extremely toxic and hazardous to health. Chromium VI compounds used during manufacturing, when handled incorrectly, could enter the body via the respiratory tract and can mutate and damage DNA. (more…)

Cold noses and warm design; a review of the Stockholm Furniture Fair

Cold noses and warm design; a review of the Stockholm Furniture Fair

by • Comment, Workplace design

The scene was set when, on the final approach to Stockholm, the Captain announced that the city was ‘enjoying’ heavy snow and a temperature of minus 15 degrees C. Can the fair organisers be persuaded to move future events to balmy June? Probably not. But of course, everything works perfectly despite the weather, and interiors everywhere are beautifully warm.

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Gendered label of maternity leave may contribute to parental earnings gap

Gendered label of maternity leave may contribute to parental earnings gap

by • Flexible working, Legal news, Workplace

Gendered title of maternity leave contributes to male & female pay gapIt’s been argued that one of the main drivers behind the gender pay gap and inequality in the workplace is when it comes to having children. Now new research from Money Guru has revealed that 70 percent of UK employers believe that women should declare their pregnancy during the recruitment process with one in seven (14 percent) of employers admitting to being reluctant to hire someone who may go on to have children. Studies show that 39 percent of young mothers have been illegally asked in job interviews about how being a mother would affect their ability to work.

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Landlords must respond in new ways to the changing world of work

Landlords must respond in new ways to the changing world of work

by • Comment, Technology, Workplace design

Hammocks, remote working, hot-desking. Contrary to common belief, these aren’t the only conversations landlords are having with designers on how to approach their workspaces for today’s tenants. Rising property values, the growth of flexible offices and political uncertainty have forced landlords to change the way they market their properties to respond to the demands of occupiers. And with no sign of London’s commercial office marketplace calming in the near future, the need for landlords to remain flexible and create channels of communication with their tenants, remains strong. (more…)

Amazon drops plans for HQ, judging others in the open plan, why people would rather electrocute themselves than sit and think and some other stuff

by • Features

Why is it so hard to design a decent office space? demands this article in Quartz. It’s a fair enough question but probably the wrong one. It’s perfectly possible to design a decent (or adequate) office with a pen, paper and bag of presuppositions and many people have done exactly that. The real question is why it is so hard to design a good or excellent office.

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Rise in number of employers that prioritise reduction of gender pay gap

Rise in number of employers that prioritise reduction of gender pay gap

by • Legal news, News, Workplace

Rise in number of employers prioritising closing the Gender Pay Gap

New research commissioned by the Government Equalities Office (GEO) has found that more companies are prioritising reducing their gender pay gap since the legislation was introduced in 2017. The research found that 69 percent of employers now view closing the gender pay gap as a high or medium priority, an increase of 8 percent on last year. With 10,000 companies reporting their pay gaps last year, the new research also showed that 67 percent of companies are having discussions at board-level to find ways of closing the gap. The GEO published the results as it announced two new pieces of guidance, providing step by step advice for employers which helps them to identify potential causes of the gender pay gap in their organisation and develop an effective action plan to tackle it.

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Lack of cohesion in many organisations on adoption of digital workplace

Lack of cohesion in many organisations on adoption of digital workplace

by • AI, Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Technology

The majority of organisations (58 percent) do not have a have a clearly defined strategy in place when it comes to adopting and integrating digital workspace technology which suggests that implementing and making use of such technology is still being carried out in something of a haphazard manner. The findings of the research are summarised in SoftwareONE’s Building a Lean, Mean, Digital Machine report, which also claims that, despite the fact that almost all organisations (99 percent) employ some form of digital workspace technology, respondents have encountered a host of challenges when it comes to using them. These include higher security risks (cited by 47 percent) and a lack of employee knowledge in how best to use the solutions (45 percent).  (more…)

UK workers demand better remote working options, claims Airbnb report

UK workers demand better remote working options, claims Airbnb report

by • Flexible working, News

UK employers need to provide more flexible and remote working options in order to attract the best talent, according to new research released by Airbnb for Work. Airbnb’s Future of Work report, the first of its kind from the platform, has revealed that the modern trend of remote and flexible working shows no sign of slowing down, and companies embracing this change stand to make the best hires. Workers in the UK are demanding more flexibility than ever, with 77 percent of respondents – and 84 percent of Millennials – agreeing that companies need to provide more remote options to attract talent.

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Staff are still largely sedentary and want benefits that will help improve wellbeing

Staff are still largely sedentary and want benefits that will help improve wellbeing

by • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Staff are still largely sedentary but want benefits that help improve wellbeingDespite the fact that a large number of employees continue to be relatively sedentary during their working day, there a growing demand for benefits that could help them achieve a healthier lifestyle, claims new research from Personal Group. More than 40 percent of employees surveyed want health insurance to be added to their workplace benefits programme; more than a third (34 percent) would like their employer to introduce discounted gym memberships, and more than one in four (28 percent) want to have access to rewards linked to physical activity. Almost a quarter (24 percent) want physical health-based incentives, such as interdepartmental step challenges or competitions added to their company-wide benefits programme. However, data shows that 70 percent of those surveyed who sit down to work only get up from their desk or workstation every hour at best, and 38 percent only move every two hours or more. Furthermore, a large proportion of employees eat at their desk or workstation on a regular basis (32 percent) and the majority choose to drive to work (60 percent) over walking (15 percent) or cycling (3.5 percent).

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London remains preferred destination for global corporate real estate investors

London remains preferred destination for global corporate real estate investors

by • News, Property

London is still the world’s top destination for investment in commercial real estate despite ongoing uncertainty about Brexit, well above both Manhattan and Paris, the next two biggest markets, new research claims. Around£16.2 billion was invested in central London’s commercial offices in 2018 compared with £14.3 billion in Manhattan, £12.1 billion in Paris and £8.4 billion in Hong Kong, according to the analysis report from international real estate firm Knight Frank.

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The wider debate about workplaces gives facilities managers a chance to crack the code

The wider debate about workplaces gives facilities managers a chance to crack the code

by • Comment, Facilities management

The most vocal debate that has followed the BIFM’s change of identity to the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management remains that focused on the issue of taxonomy. We are being asked to consider, as part of a sometimes bad mannered debate, whether facilities management is part of the workplace ecosystem or vice versa and which profession – typically designated as IT, HR and FM – is best placed to become the apex beast in this particular jungle.  (more…)

Insight weekly for 8 February 2019 is available to view online

Insight weekly for 8 February 2019 is available to view online

by • News, Newsletter

If you don’t already subscribe to our weekly newsletter (signup on the right and you’ll only ever get the newsletter, nothing else), you can still read it online here. This week: Rob Harris wonders whether one of the solutions to the most common forms of misinformation and misperception about the workplace might be to break with traditional wisdom and shoot the messengers; Jonathan Hindle calls for an end to the incessant bickering about open plan and enclosed offices as if it were a zero sum game and suggests we should focus more on finding the Goldilocks point offered by agile workspaces; our weekly round-up of the best stories online considers the permanent beta of the office, encouraging certain types of behaviour and the problem of belligerent job interviews; and Amy Laviers points out that, while robots might be able to impress us with their ability to do backflips, they still can’t pick up a paperclip or fold a piece of paper.

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