Search Results for: people management

Ping pong, perks, pizza and beanbags won’t get you a better workplace culture

Ping pong, perks, pizza and beanbags won’t get you a better workplace culture

by • Comment, Flexible working, Wellbeing, Workplace, Workplace design

Organisations have become increasingly inward-looking, preoccupied more with symbolic purpose statements and curated internal experiences of workplace culture than delivering real value to the business or its customersBusiness has taken a wrong turn. Since the 2008 financial crisis, best practice has led companies to believe that the route to driving greater productivity and performance is to establish a workplace culture that prioritises purpose, meaning, and how people feel. As a result, organisations have become increasingly inward-looking, preoccupied more with symbolic purpose statements and curated internal experiences than delivering real value to the business or its customers. However, in today’s challenging economic climate, and with UK productivity at an all-time low, this navel-gazing approach is not only proving ineffective, but is also actively holding companies back. What began as a well-meaning shift towards cultivating happier employees has become a harmful distraction from genuine employee engagement and performance. (more…)

Regional BCO Awards show how London’s best offices are redefining the way we work

Regional BCO Awards show how London’s best offices are redefining the way we work

by • News, Property, Workplace design

The awards recognise excellence in the design, fit-out, operation and environmental responsibility of London's best offices.In a city where tradition meets the cutting edge, London’s office spaces are undergoing a quiet revolution. At the British Council for Offices (BCO) Regional Awards, held today at the London Hilton on Park Lane, seven projects were celebrated—not just for their architectural merit, but for what they reveal about the evolving needs of workers, employers, and communities alike. This year’s winners, chosen from across the capital, signal what the BCO claim is a new era of workplace thinking—where sustainability, community engagement, and human experience carry as much weight as style and status. The awards recognise excellence in the design, fit-out, operation and environmental responsibility of London’s best offices. The 2025 cohort offers more than inspiration; it sets a bold new benchmark for the offices of tomorrow. (more…)

Negative feelings about work continue to grow, especially for managers

Negative feelings about work continue to grow, especially for managers

by • AI, Flexible working, News, Technology, Wellbeing

People are becoming increasingly disengaged from work at a time when technological change is demanding more from them than everThe State of the Global Workplace: 2025 Report from Gallup frames a stark warning to business leaders and policymakers: people around the world are becoming increasingly disengaged from work at a time when technological change is demanding more from them than ever before. As artificial intelligence (AI) accelerates across industries, transforming everything from operations to communication, the human foundations of the workplace—employee engagement and wellbeing—are showing signs of deep strain. (more…)

Come fly with me. The new digital issue of IN magazine is here for you

Come fly with me. The new digital issue of IN magazine is here for you

by • IN Magazine, News, Premium Content

The digital edition of IN magazine 23 is now out and available for you here.The digital edition of IN magazine 23 is now out and available for you here. In this issue: why we act up at airports and what designers can do about it; the datacentre market is struggling to keep up with AI’s rapacious demand for resources; a review of the Workspace Design Show which keeps getting better; what a new generation of buildings can tell us about how to balance ethical goals with organisational strategy; the headquarters of Italy’s largest co-op; the difficulties of keeping up with developments in AI and why we need to keep trying; and a book that sets out the research based business case for the office. Plus loads of great commentary and our regular round up of product and business news and events. (more…)

When it comes to business change, persistence eats resistance for lunch

When it comes to business change, persistence eats resistance for lunch

by • Business, Comment, JB

People’s favourite word in change is RESISTANCE.  We seem to not be able to talk about it enough.  The problem is that many times, the thought of resistance stops us from doing something because we are either afraid of it or just don’t want to deal with it and this causes big problems for us as leaders in our businesses. Whenever there is change, there will be resistance, that is a given.  Why – because it is human and natural to resist any change, whether that be positive or negative.  If I or someone else said to you “You have the winning lottery ticket!” your first reaction would be to dis-believe, which is a form of resistance. (more…)

The constant craving to put numbers on working relationships

The constant craving to put numbers on working relationships

by • Features, Workplace design

The answer to the great question of life, the universe and everything is not 42, as you may have been led to believe. It’s 1/137 (or near enough). This is the greatest of the two dozen or so universal constants. According to current thinking, without the physical and quantum relationships it describes, the universe as we know it could not exist. (more…)

Businesses are cautiously optimistic despite economic and technological uncertainty

Businesses are cautiously optimistic despite economic and technological uncertainty

by • Business, News

Nearly three-in-five businesses optimistic about global economic outlook as they plan headcount increases and continued AI rolloutAlmost 60 percent of CEOs around the world expect global economic growth to increase over the next 12 months, according to PwC’s 28th Annual Global CEO Survey, launched during today’s World Economic Forum Annual Meeting. The report, which surveyed 4,701 CEOs across 109 countries and territories, also finds that 42 percent of businesses expect to increase headcount by 5 percent or more in the next 12 months – more than double the proportion who expect headcount decreases (17 percent), and up from 39 percent last year. The percentage is highest (48 percent) among smaller companies (less than US$100 million) and those in the technology (61 percent), real estate (61 percent), private equity (52 percent) and pharma and life sciences (51 percent) sectors. (more…)

Forget all the talk of Blue Monday; work is still (largely) good for us

Forget all the talk of Blue Monday; work is still (largely) good for us

by • Comment, Facilities management, Wellbeing, Workplace

blue mondaySo here it is. Blue Monday. Today. Officially the most depressing day of the year. We say ‘officially’, but like the idea of ‘Body Odour’ its common usage hides the fact that it was originally created as part of a PR campaign, in this case one for Sky’s travel channel in 2005. The whole idea of Blue Monday is couched in a pseudo-mathematical equation which includes factors like the weather, levels of debt, time since Christmas, low levels of motivation and, apparently, an unspecified variable known simply as ‘D’. (more…)

We still display status in office design, but in new and subtle ways

We still display status in office design, but in new and subtle ways

by • Comment, Workplace design

There was a time, not so long ago, that one of the most important factors to consider when designing an office was the corporate hierarchy. The office was once the  embodiment of the corporate structure. In Joanna Eley and Alexi Marmot’s 1995 book Understanding Offices, quite a lot of space is dedicated to the idea of the ‘space pyramid’, which means simply that the higher up the organisation you were, the more space you were allocated and the better your furniture and surroundings. Even then, the idea of office design as a signifier of dominance was starting to wear thin, as the authors acknowledge. Ostentatious displays of status were already seen as somewhat gauche, but they were to be fatally undermined by the technological advances to come.

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Here’s how to support neurodivergent employees at work

Here’s how to support neurodivergent employees at work

by • Comment, Wellbeing, Workplace

Neurodivergent employees can offer many benefits to businesses. Employers should focus on retaining this talentBusinesses have much to gain from neurodivergent employees. According to a recent Deloitte report “teams with neurodivergent professionals in some roles can be 30 percent more productive than those without them”. Benefits of neurodivergent individuals to the workplace – according to the CIPD, range from “problem-solving, to creative insights and visual spatial thinking.” (more…)

If you want to get ahead in your career, get in to the office, report argues

If you want to get ahead in your career, get in to the office, report argues

by • Flexible working, News, Workplace

Businesses are increasingly likely to prioritise workers willing to come into the office for pay rises and promotions, according to new researchBusinesses are increasingly likely to prioritise workers willing to come into the office for pay rises and promotions, according to a new poll from Reed Group. A year ago Reed.co.uk, which deals with over 30 million job applications a year, predicted that employers would increasingly mandate days in the office and would prioritise what it called the ‘in-person premium’. (more…)

A divine spark of inspiration for office occupiers and designers

A divine spark of inspiration for office occupiers and designers

by • Briefing, Premium Content, Workplace design

Organisations are having to rethink the form and function of their offices in ways unprecedented in their relatively short history. And perhaps the biggest challenge is to create places to work that reflect the organisation’s culture and the needs of the people who work there (some of the time). One possible framework for aligning an office design model with the culture of the organisation is presented in a supplement published for IN Magazine called Gods of Work. Published in partnership with Modus, it draws on management and organisational theory and established models of office design to suggest solutions to some of the challenges facing organisations as they rethink the way they work. The office of the future for most organisations will be smaller, but much better and we hope this becomes an invaluable guide for those setting out on that path.

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