April 28, 2022

We need to seize the chance to make our buildings far more intelligent

by William Poole-Wilson • Comment, Environment, Property, Workplace design

Even before the pandemic, statistics were making the case for workplaces to be made up of more intelligent buildings. This includes the fact that offices generally operate at around 55-60 percent utilisation, and as we return to the office are currently at 45 percent utilisation. From presenteeism to absenteeism and many other factors in between, workplaces have seldom been utilised by entire workforces at the same time. However, the prevailing approach has been for firms to drive an office setup with one-to-one desking – a seat for every employee, even though five in 10 would not be in at any one time. More →

April 27, 2022

A third of workers think their jobs are at risk from automation

by Jayne Smith • News, Technology

A new poll claims that one in three (37 percent) employees consider their current job to be at risk from automation and digital transformation. HR software provider CIPHR has compiled a list of the occupations that are the most and least likely to be replaced by technology or machines, based on the results of a survey of more than 1,000 UK workers: www.ciphr.com/jobs-at-risk-from-automation. Survey respondents were asked to rate the likelihood that their own occupation could become automated in the future, due to advances in smart technologies, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, and robotics. More →

April 27, 2022

Codelocks facilitates future of flexible working

by Freddie Steele • Company news, Workplace design, Works Magazine

With organisations adopting a hybrid working model and moving towards flexible working also comes a need for flexible office solutions. International office and workplace solutions provider Kinnarps, approached Codelocks as it was looking to furnish a UK county council with an access control solution suitable for its hybrid working needs. Codelocks designs and distributes a wide portfolio of innovative, standalone keyless door locks and access products for a range of growing markets.

The UK county council has adopted a hybrid working model to best suit the needs and lifestyles of its employees. The council has multiple working hubs across the country, allowing its teams to choose the office space that is convenient and accessible to them on their chosen office days. However, despite not being tied to a specific location, the need for employees to store possessions in the workplace remains.

The council sought a storage solution that:

can be used on temporary basis
is easy to manage
is within its constrained budget
accessed by different people on different days, for varying time periods

Perfect partnership

Due to its longstanding relationship with Codelocks, Kinnarps is familiar with the wide range of KitLocks by Codelocks cabinet and locker locks.

Steve Newman, KitLock Sales Manager at Codelocks explains, “We understood the council wanted to avoid the need to cut keys or have lockers allocated to specific employees. And with the ongoing concern of Covid-19 and the transfer of germs, it was also important to give easy access to personal belongings whilst minimising touch. The KL1100 RFID offers the flexibility the council needs.”

The KL1100 RFID is a smart card operated lock designed for both public and private lockers. It is perfect for building and facilities managers that oversee large quantities of lockers, as they can benefit from managing cards remotely.

Kinnarps found a locker company that the KL1100 RFID could be installed on and combined the two products to create ‘hot lockers’, similar to hot desks for all of the county council offices. County council employees simply collect a card from the reception at the start of their day, use a dedicated locker to store their personal belongings, and then return the card so it can be used by someone else the next day.

Simon Cotter, Account Manager at Kinnarps said, “We needed to provide over 1000 lockers for the council, so we sought a supplier that had an innovative and stylish lock solution with enough available stock. Due to the volume of lockers we needed to provide, we were glad that the KL1100 RFID was straightforward to install.”

Convenient Contactless Access

The KL100 RFID is perfect for the council’s hybrid-working approach. “The council office manager has expressed the importance of being able to manage card access remotely, as their employees are all working on different days and at different times. It also removes the cost and hassle of having to cut and hand out keys.” explains Simon. “Council employees have found the lockers easy to operate and appreciate the fact the council has put a storage solution in place that is secure and requires minimal contact.”

Council employees can now be sure that whichever office they choose to work from, they have convenient access to lockers to store their belongings.

April 26, 2022

Growing number of firms link increased productivity to home and flexible working

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News

The number of employers who believe that an increase in homeworking and flexible working has increased their organisation’s productivity or efficiency has jumped significantly over the last year, according to new research from the CIPD. When asked in December 2020, a third (33 percent) of employers said homeworking had increased their organisation’s productivity or efficiency. However, when asked about increased home/hybrid working in October/November 2021, over two-fifths (41 percent) said these new ways of working had increased this. More →

April 26, 2022

Two thirds would take a pay cut in exchange for a four day week

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Workplace

A poll of 2,000 people published in the new edition of the State of Hybrid Work study from Owl Labs claims that flexibility is now key to retaining top talent in 2022 and beyond. 65 percent of British employees would rather be paid less in exchange for a four day week and over a third (37 percent) would choose to decline a job if flexible hours are not offered. The report claims that offering greater flexibility will prove key to preventing employees from driving the ‘Great Resignation’ – with nearly one in three (31 percent) employees changing jobs in the past two years and a quarter (25 percent) of employees actively seeking a new opportunity in 2022. More →

April 25, 2022

What Jacob Rees Mogg really got wrong about working from the office

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Flexible working, Property

One of the challenges of taking part in The Great Work Conversation is swerving alignments with the wrong people. It’s easy enough to call out the crusty, passive aggressive notes apparently left by Lord Bufton Tufton on the desks of civil service drones. But it’s equally easy to find yourself tarred with the same brush if you dare to suggest not everybody is about to cocoon themselves in a bedroom forever or swap all they have for a life trundling from place to place in a dormobile, exchanging work for tokens. More →

April 25, 2022

The studied carelessness of agile workplaces

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Workplace design

In recent years we have grown very fond of borrowing foreign words to describe some of the more difficult to express ideas about wellbeing and the new era of agile, experiential and engaging work. We’ve adopted Eudaimonia from the Ancient Greek of Aristotle to describe the nuances of wellbeing, happiness and purpose. We went nuts briefly for the Scandinavian idea of hygge to describe a copy and laid-back approach to life that we felt we’d been lacking. More →

April 22, 2022

Hybrid working and how we escape the constraints of leadership

by John Higgins and Jennifer Bryan • Comment, Flexible working

Jennifer was at the ballet the other day, watching Acosta Danza, and there was a dance with ropes. In the movement of the relationship of the dancers, the mood, the emotion were all defined using the rope. It was very beautiful. Then towards the end the ropes were taken away and everything changed – the performers were liberated, unconstrained. At first like a frenzy, but then the dancers started to gel together letting go of the need for the rope. And this got her thinking about the role of constraint in leading change, especially in the new era of hybrid working. More →

April 22, 2022

New episodes of Workplace Geeks land

by Freddie Steele • Flexible working, News, Podcasts, Premium Content

Two new episodes of Workplace Geeks have now joined the already impressive roster of the first season. In episode 5 – The other 90 percent: ‘A Toolkit for Living in a New Building’ – Chris and Ian explore a novel approach to the ‘post-occupancy evaluation’ (or POE) of new workplaces with Dr Harriet Shortt, Associate Professor in Organisation Studies at UWE Bristol. Harriet and her collaborators (including Stride Treglown and ISG) used a participatory visual technique featuring smartphone photographs to explore the lived experiences of staff, students and visitors using their brand new £55m Bristol Business School building. All participants were invited to respond with images and accompanying comments to two simple questions: How do you feel about the building and how are you using the building? More →

April 22, 2022

Great Resignation: nearly half of job quitters think they were better off in the old job

by Jayne Smith • News, Workplace

Nearly half of people (43 percent) who quit their jobs as part of the so-called Great Resignation during the pandemic now think they were actually better off at their old job. This revelation comes from a six-country survey of nearly 4,000 people by UKG that examines sentiment about quitting during the Great Resignation, including if job leavers felt that they made the right decision, the disconnect between managers and employees about why people quit, and the chances workers would boomerang back to their old job. More →

April 20, 2022

The effects of workplace change may not be the ones we expect

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Flexible working, Wellbeing

There’s a scene in the 1986 horror movie The Fly in which Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum) persuades the reporter Veronica Quaife (Geena Davis) to try two steaks, one of which Brundle has just sent between two teleportation pods in an effort to work out why the pods can’t process organic matter, including the organic matter that had recently belonged to a very unfortunate baboon. More →

April 20, 2022

Economic inactivity hits record high amongst men aged over 50

by Jayne Smith • News

Economic inactivity levels amongst men aged 50-64 in December 2021 to February 2022 were the highest since records began, according to new analysis from Rest Less. The firms analysed labour market data from the Office of National Statistics and found that economic inactivity levels amongst men aged 50-64 reached 1.47 million in the latest official figures – the highest they have ever been since records began in 1992. The economic inactivity rate amongst this demographic reached a nine-year high and is now at 23.1 percent. More →