March 15, 2019

How artificial intelligence changes occupant experience

by David Karpook • Facilities management, Features, Technology

If a robot received a signal that you had entered the building, it might bring you a fresh cup of coffee just as you reach your desk. If the front door recognised your face, it might unlock itself for you without requiring you to use a fob to gain access. If your desk knew you had left for the day, it might offer itself to a colleague who is looking for a quiet workspace. Throughout history, the interaction of humans with technology has been pretty much one-sided. We turn our technologies on and off, operate and guide them in their tasks, and use our senses to monitor their functioning and detect anomalies.

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March 5, 2019

Digital transformation offers great opportunities for firms, but at a risk

by Neil Franklin • News, Technology, Wellbeing

Digital technology can improve our lives but it also poses a major risk of widening social inequality and blocking opportunities for people without the skills to navigate the online world safely, according to a new OECD report. A mix of technical, emotional and social skills is a pre-condition for people to combine their digital and real lives in a balanced way, and to avoid the mental health problems and other risks linked to abuses of online technologies, the report says.

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March 4, 2019

Filtering out the noise, the pathology of work, busy doin muffin and some other stuff

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Features

We might think that an inability to absorb the vast amount of information generated by our fellow humans and their machines is something of a modern phenomenon, but we’ve always known we can have too much of this particular good thing. Distringit librorum multitude, wrote Seneca in the First Century. An abundance of books is a distraction.

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February 25, 2019

Workplace passport offers support needed by disabled people

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

The TUC and the GMB have launched a new disability passport to help the nearly 1 million (946,010) disabled people who fall out of work or switch employers each year to get the support they need. Disabled people can leave their jobs for many reasons. One preventable reason is when employers fail to carry out their legal duty to make – and keep in place – the reasonable adjustments their disabled staff need to do their jobs.

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February 8, 2019

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

by Neil Franklin • 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…)

February 1, 2019

Are these the 2019 Top Employers to work for in the UK

by Neil Franklin • Company news, Wellbeing, Workplace

The Top Employers Institute, a certifier recognising employers that provide world-class employee conditions, has released its list of Certified UK Top Employers for 2019. Over 600 HR professionals gathered at London’s Hilton on Park Lane, on the 31st January 2019, to recognise the best employers in the UK. (more…)

January 30, 2019

Talkin’ about my generation: Harnessing the power of the multigenerational workplace

by John Hackston • Comment, Workplace

A child born in the west today has a 50 percent chance of living to be at least 105. This is of course a good thing – most people welcome the idea of a longer, healthier life – but it does mean that many of us will need to work longer as pension funds shrink and retirement ages increase. This has led to a new reality for business, the rise of the multigenerational workforce. Organisations that recognise that they can draw on talent from all ages and life stages will have a competitive advantage over those with a more traditional outlook. However, this new model can also present challenges – something that all businesses should consider. (more…)

January 28, 2019

The bumpy road to automation, dancing elephants, free beer and some other stuff

by Mark Eltringham • Features, Flexible working, Property, Technology, Wellbeing

The World Economic Forum’s Annual Summit in Davos offers the world’s elite the chance to rub shoulders and address important themes of capitalism and society. Its output has largely consisted of making assured noises about Big Subjects, and especially globalisation and the effects of technology on the economy, now typically framed around the current / imminent Fourth Industrial Revolution™.

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January 15, 2019

Surface Design Show 2019 Preview

by Neil Franklin • News, Workplace design

Surface Design Show hosts over 150 exhibitors highlighting the very best in exterior and interior surface design from 5 – 7 February. Taking place at London’s Business Design Centre, the show provides a platform for architects, designers and specifiers to explore interior and exterior surface materials, lighting design, development and innovation. Visitors will uncover thousands of new materials from the latest technological advances in building materials to innovative workplace surfaces and everything in between.

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January 4, 2019

No more blank slate, lots more workplace choice and some other stuff

by Mark Eltringham • Features

The Christmas and New Year break can prove a burial ground for content. This is a shame because there is as much great stuff around at this time of year as any other. And just as much casual dross. The workplace sector retains its tendency to consume and parrot comfortable, simplistic narratives, in lieu of the challenging and nuanced ideas that tell us far more about who we are and where and how we work. Unsurprisingly Neil Usher was one of the first out of the gates in expressing a wish for something new for the New Year.

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January 4, 2019

Why new technology can still make employees happier, healthier and more efficient

by Elaine Rossall • AI, Comment, Flexible working, Lighting, Technology, Wellbeing

For many years, we became used to new technology being treated with excitement. Essentially, people thought technology made their lives better. More recently this consensus has been tested. On a very practical level, there is growing concern about the impact of everyday technology. ‘Screen-time’ has become a byword for anxiety and disengagement from the real world. Meanwhile, there is trepidation about the impact of future technology, such as the automation of jobs. Whilst caution is needed, there is a danger that we are forgetting the many benefits technology can bring. As an example, look to the workplace. Already, offices are gaining hugely from technology that benefits employee wellness and productivity. However, we have only just begun to feel its impact. A ‘fast’ office may sound like an oxymoron. A building isn’t going to win a 100-metre race. Yet fast offices, which allow employees to control their immediate environment, are becoming increasingly common.

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December 17, 2018

Meatspace, cyberspace, the uncertainty of expertise and some other stuff

by Mark Eltringham • Features, Technology, Workplace, Workplace design

The sign that somebody knows their stuff about a subject is often that whatever they say about it is full of questions, equivocations and caveats. They’ll often start out by saying things are complicated in mitigation of their opinion on a particular topic. They’ll say there are no silver bullets. It’s almost always neophytes, chancers and the conflicted that offer certainty. To prove my point here is David D’Souza of the CIPD making a point about the tendency to look for pat, narrow solutions to complex, broad challenges. Not only does he have something interesting to say, you know that he has the depth and breadth of knowledge to expand on each of the points he makes with yet more sophistication. It’s fractal thinking.