October 4, 2022

Reliance on hero leaders holds back progress on the environment

Reliance on a wise ‘guru’ leader or ‘hero CEO’ endangers progress in tackling the environmental crisis by shifting responsibility, according to a new report from CEMS. Instead, all leaders need to adopt a corporate culture of ‘collective’ responsibility, empowering all employees to make decisions with a generational outlook if real change is to take place. The new report – Leading for the Future of Our Planet – builds on findings from a CEMS survey of 4,206 professionals across 75 countries revealing that the environment is the single greatest concern facing modern-day business leaders, overtaking technological advancement. (more…)

July 22, 2022

Awards and recognition for innovation can harm future levels of creativity

by Neil Franklin • News

New research from Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis, published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, claims to have identified one reason why some first-time innovators struggle to repeat their initial creativity while others go on to continually produce creative works. Markus Baer, Professor of Organizational Behavior at Olin, and Dirk Deichmann, of the Rotterdam School of Management in the Netherlands, discovered that recognising first-time producers of successful novel ideas with an award or recognition can significantly decrease the likelihood that they will produce future creative work. (more…)

June 20, 2022

Birmingham BT HQ shows road ahead for its offices and the city

by Mike Hills • Cities, Features, Property, Workplace design

In January of 2020, shortly before that thing happened and before we knew much about the UK Government’s ‘levelling up’ programme, Birmingham was already a city on the rise. It had recently been announced that it was to host the Commonwealth Games in 2022 and was riding the crest of a number of high-profile developments and regeneration projects, not least those that arrived on the back of the controversial high speed rail station. (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…)

March 7, 2022

Working outside ‘traditional hours’ can harm motivation, say researchers

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

Working outside traditional hours, and checking in at all hours of the day, night, weekends, and holidays, is not necessarily beneficial for the 21st-century workforce, according to new research from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and Cornell University. The researchers address the issue of working ‘out of hours’ in the paper, “Working During Non-Standard Work Time Undermines Intrinsic Motivation,” published in Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. They set out to examine the motivational consequences of studying and working outside of traditional hours, such as weekends and holidays, among employees and college students. (more…)

January 31, 2022

From the archive: How organic design can reflect the way people move around a building

by Paul Goodchild • Comment, Workplace design

The story goes that, after Rem Koolhaas had been appointed to design the McCormick Tribune Campus Center at the Illinois Institute of Technology in 2003, the legendary architect noticed how students had created their own pathways between the buildings on the site. The site of the new building included a field on which their footprints had worn down the grass to such an extent that distinct grooves had been carved out that reflected their movements, prompting him to consider the effect of desire lines on organic design.

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January 21, 2022

Employment opportunities denied to people from low socioeconomic backgrounds

by Neil Franklin • Jobs, News, Workplace

Over 50 percent of UK job seekers from low socioeconomic backgrounds miss out on employment opportunities, claims a study of over 2,200 people. The survey (registration), from EdTec startup Forage suggests that employers must refine their social mobility initiatives to achieve a fair recruitment process for all. (more…)

December 7, 2021

Applications open for 2022 ULI Hines Student Competition – Europe

by Jayne Smith • News, Property

The Urban Land Institute (ULI) and real estate firm Hines, have launched the 2022 ULI Hines Student Competition – Europe with a call for entries. This third annual team challenge for universities and business schools across Europe will test students’ skills in applying their knowledge of all aspects of real estate and land-use in a practical and challenging exercise. Applications are now open, and the deadline for submissions is 16 February 2022. (more…)

October 27, 2021

EU to boost sustainable growth of Europe’s cultural and creative sectors

by Neil Franklin • Cities, Environment, News

The European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT) has announced a new innovation partnership, in the form of a Knowledge and Innovation Community, to support the competitiveness and sustainable growth of Europe’s cultural and creative sectors and industries. The new partnership plans to help accelerate these sectors’ recovery and unlock untapped economic opportunities in the fields of architecture, cultural heritage, design, fashion, film, music, publishing, performing arts and video games. (more…)

October 18, 2021

Young workers most concerned remote work will impact career success

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News, Working lives

Young professionals and students have far greater concerns about the rise of remote work than their senior counterparts, according to a new report from Universum. The annual Most Attractive Employers report, which surveyed over 18,000 people in the UK, suggests in the wake of the pandemic and Brexit, a remote-working ‘leadership gap’ could contribute to future skills shortages as junior and senior professionals have vastly different views on being out of the office. (more…)

July 30, 2021

Indoor air quality guide published by BESA

by Neil Franklin • Facilities management, News, Wellbeing, Workplace design

The removal of most Covid restrictions in the UK has increased calls for clearer practical guidance and the setting of specific indoor air quality (IAQ) contaminant targets to support the health and wellbeing of building occupants. The Building Engineering Services Association (BESA) has, therefore, produced a concise guide to good practice: ‘Indoor Air Quality for Health & Well-Being’, which is designed to help building owners, managers and engineers interpret IAQ data and turn it into useful strategies for improving the indoor environment. (more…)

July 5, 2021

Redwigwam scoops largest ever contract to provide 10,000 flexible workers

by Freddie Steele • Company news

Redwigwam has won its biggest ever contract as demand surges for flexible workers across the UK. The Liverpool-headquartered company specialises in providing fully managed, trained and flexible staff for a wide range of sectors including the retail, logistics, cleaning and hospitality industries. It has just won a contract which will provide employment for 10,000 temporary staff across the country, in a variety of roles, over the next six months. (more…)