Search Results for: office

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.

A worthwhile workplace trends list, permanent beta, nudge nudge, think think and some other stuff

A worthwhile workplace trends list, permanent beta, nudge nudge, think think and some other stuff

by • Features, Flexible working, Wellbeing, Workplace design

If there’s just one thing that makes my heart sink more precipitously than the word ‘trends’, it’s when it’s preceded by the words Top and Ten. So it’s nice to have been surprised by this list of workplace trends that displays the wherewithal and insight to call on those people in the sector who might have something informed and interesting to say about where it all might be headed this year. Don’t be put off by the headline, even if you’re as jaded as I am.

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Post digital era offers the chance to create personalised experiences at work

Post digital era offers the chance to create personalised experiences at work

by • AI, News, Technology

The enterprise is entering a new “post-digital” era, where success will be based on an organisation’s ability to master a set of new technologies that can deliver personalised realities and experiences for customers, employees and business partners, according to the Accenture Technology Vision 2019 annual report that sets out to predict the key technology trends that will redefine businesses over the next three years. (more…)

Finding the Goldilocks Point for collaborative workplace design

Finding the Goldilocks Point for collaborative workplace design

by • Comment, Technology, Workplace design

two people working togetherOne of the great paradoxes of modern life is the ever increasing likelihood of breakdowns in communication in a world in which we have more ways to talk to each other than ever before. This can play out in especially toxic ways in the wider world, but its effects in the workplace can also be problematic. Most importantly, what we often assume to be true about communication and collaboration may not be borne out by the facts and this in turn has implications for workplace design.

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Maybe the time has come to shoot the workplace messenger

Maybe the time has come to shoot the workplace messenger

by • Comment, Flexible working, Wellbeing, Workplace design

I spent some time with Frank Duffy recently, releasing a stream of memories of working with him, first as an employee at DEGW during the 1980s, and then as a client while directing developer Stanhope’s research programme during the 1990s. Along with his long-term business partner, John Worthington, and thinkers including Franklin Becker, Gerald Davis, Michael Joroff and Jack Tanis, to name a few, Frank helped sketch out the grand scheme of what we now call ‘workplace’. Much of the work of their successors has involved filling in the matrix of detail within the grand scheme. But further reflection has caused me to ask whether, in filling in the finer details, we have recently somehow lost our way. Are we, the ‘workplace profession’, instead of standing on giants’ shoulders, now just pandering to fads and fancies? Or, even more radical, might it be that ‘workplace’ is now done, and that we’ve run out of meaningful things to say? (more…)

Sleeping on the job: the cultures of sleep and napping from around the world

Sleeping on the job: the cultures of sleep and napping from around the world

by • News, Wellbeing

There’s a pretty well proven link between lack of sleep and negative emotion, but is catching 40 winks whilst at work a proven solution? Research from the National Sleep Foundation (NSF) suggests that lack of sleep can have a negative impact on emotion. Could naps of 20-30 minutes make for a more productive workforce, and have a positive impact on mood, concentration and attention? Following the findings that loss of sleep could be costing the UK £40bn a year, is it time to make a change to our sleeping habits? To find out, Brother has produced a study of the eight sleeping customs from around the world, and explored how they could have a positive impact on people and businesses.

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Employees think Internet of Things will be most important workplace technology trend

Employees think Internet of Things will be most important workplace technology trend

by • Flexible working, News, Technology

A team from Savills’ flexible office platform Workthere has predicted the top five tech trends we’re likely to see arriving into offices across the UK in 2019. Supporting the research, Workthere also completed a survey of 2,000 office workers to find out their views on the future of workplace technology as defined by the original study. The poll suggests that employees think that the Internet of Things will have the biggest impact on their day to day working lives followed by voice activated technologies and wireless charging.

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Employee use of apps at work puts their organisation at risk of cyber-attack

Employee use of apps at work puts their organisation at risk of cyber-attack

by • Facilities management, News, Technology, Workplace

Employee use of apps at work leaves their organisation at risk of cyber-attackWorkers continued use of unapproved apps in the office, including Instagram, Facebook Messenger and Snapchat, to communicate with colleagues as well as friends and family is putting their organisations at risk of cyber-attack, new research suggests. Four in ten employees (41 percent) admit to using Instagram for more than two hours each day, despite the app being banned in almost half of UK organisations. The majority of employees are well aware that certain apps are not approved for workplace use, but this hasn’t stopped them breaking the rules.

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A robot can do amazing things, but could it hold down a desk job?

by • AI, Features, Technology

A colleague of mine, a roboticist, recently proclaimed that if one could teleoperate the robot he developed in his lab, it could hold down a desk job. It’s a common sentiment among roboticists that existing mechanical hardware is sufficient to replace humans in many of the tasks by which we earn a living. Rather than the hardware, the last, golden step to having human-like machine counterparts is in the development of appropriate algorithms. But this is wrong. There is in fact little evidence that robots have the mechanical features necessary to hold down a desk job, regardless of the algorithms.

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Issue 1 of IN Magazine is now available to read online

Issue 1 of IN Magazine is now available to read online

by • Online Magazines

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A morning adrenaline rush improves workplace productivity

A morning adrenaline rush improves workplace productivity

by • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

A new academic study has found the benefits of taking part in adrenaline boosting activities before work. Researchers from the University of Essex School of Sport, Rehabilitation and Exercise Science, tested workers from the International Quarter London (IQL), the gateway to Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and discovered that taking a 40 second ride down the world’s tallest and longest tunnel slide at the ArcelorMittal Orbit improved levels of happiness, productivity, creativity, energy and focus in workers. The impacts of exercise on wellbeing have been well-documented; however, this is the first time that research has shown that similar affects can be achieved from a quick adrenaline boosting activity.

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