The Working Space
TWS - Orgatec 2022 Photo/Video Album

A quick walk thru of Orgatec 2022.

TWS - Orgatec 2022 Photo/Video Album
Manufacturer, NeoCon 2021
Source: CFN News Desk
Hightower wins multiple NeoCon awards including ...

Contract furnishings provider, Hightower received multiple awards at NeoCon 2021, including IIDA's 'Best Small Showroom' (under 4,000 sf) and 'Best of Competition' for its newly designed Chicago showroom.

Hightower wins multiple NeoCon awards including ‘Best Showroom’
Manufacturer, People
Source: CFN News Desk
Humanscale Announces Elizabeth Margles as Chief ...

Humanscale welcomes Elizabeth Margles to its Marketing Division in the role of Chief Marketing Officer. Margles comes to Humanscale with twenty years of experience in design, fashion and retail and a background in public relations and advertising.

Humanscale Announces Elizabeth Margles as Chief Marketing Officer
Manufacturer
Source: CFN News Desk
Steelcase teams up with Kontrol Technologies to ...

The exclusive relationship with Kontrol's BioCloud® Technology will provide real-time detection of airborne pathogens such as SARS-CoV-2 to help make workplaces safer as organizations return to the office.

Steelcase teams up with Kontrol Technologies to provide air quality monitoring and viral detection technology
Manufacturer, People
Source: CFN News Desk
Alan Jay Heller dies at 81

For over 50 years, Heller offered leading designers the opportunity to work with new technologies to create innovative products. Those were great partnerships and they resulted in great products.

Alan Jay Heller dies at 81

Working Life

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COWORKING FOR THE AEC COMMUNITY: IS IT A GOOD IDEA?

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COWORKING FOR THE AEC COMMUNITY: IS IT A GOOD IDEA?

I’ve been working out of a coworking space in Washington, DC’s Georgetown neighborhood for the past year. And it has been a very interesting and positive experience.

For starters, the building is gorgeous and the location is wonderful. We can work in the terrace overlooking the canal. The Wi-Fi is reliable. The people are really nice and there are some killer cookies and snacks on Fridays. We have met interesting people around the cafeteria table. We can ask the staff to do some clerical work for us and we only pay a monthly membership.

Via workdesign.com >

Did you know there is a "Yelp" for your boss and company?: This is what it's called..,

Did you know there is a "Yelp" for your boss and company?: This is what it's called..,

A couple of weeks ago, I was working to place an executive at a company when I get a call from one of the candidates. He’s in a bit of tizzy; he just heard that he was offered the position. I congratulate him on the good news, but then I hear his voice drop. It turns out that while we were on the phone he went on Glassdoor--one of the growing number of websites that allow employees to rate their experience working at a company--and saw some less than glowing reviews. This was a situation that I had never had to deal with on the fly. It has made me think quite a bit about how these sites fit into the future of hiring though.

Via linkedin.com >

Freelancers are thriving on both sides of the pond, but have politicians noticed?

Freelancers are thriving on both sides of the pond, but have politicians noticed?

Two new reports that highlight the growth of the freelance and self-employed workforce in both the UK and US also suggest that politicians and civil servants in both countries have little real understanding about the changing nature of work. According to the UK government’s regular Business Population Estimates report, the number of private sector businesses is at an all-time high, around 5.5 million, up by a million since 2010.  Yet the report fails to distinguish between freelancers, the self-employed and traditional SMEs, except to omit firms that are too small to pay VAT from its numbers. The trade association IPSE estimates that there are some 4.6 million self-employed and freelance workers in the UK, yet the BPE report does not account for the overlap in numbers. Even within the BPE’s own numbers, there are suggestions that its conclusions do not match the data. The annual growth in non-employing businesses outstripped those who employed others by a factor of 6:1 and 76 percent of businesses did not employ anyone aside from the owner.

Via workplaceinsight.net >

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The global uberification of commercial property and the workplace

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The global uberification of commercial property and the workplace

Technology doesn’t just transform the world, it reshapes our language. So, we all need to get used to the word uberification as well as the idea of it. Based on the success of the on demand taxi service Uber, the word refers to the way a product or service becomes available to customers on demand via the Internet. Customers book a service only at the point of consumption. This represents an entirely new commercial model and is the defining characteristic of the new 21st Century economy. Uber may have provided the tipping point, going from start up to market valuation of $66 billion in just 7 years, but its success has given us a name for a process that is reshaping businesses and customer experiences across the entire economy, including in the commercial property sector.

What we are experiencing is a new era of work that is so profound it will change economic structures and require individuals, firms and governments worldwide to readdress how people work. A growing number of people appear to be aware of this and we are already witnessing rapid expansion of the structures needed to serve it.

Via workplaceinsight.net >

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What it's like to work in a WeWork—and live in a WeLive

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What it's like to work in a WeWork—and live in a WeLive

WeWork has become more than a coworking space. With 121 locations in 38 cities—and a $16 billion valuation—it’s a company as valuable as Snapchat with the global reach of Airbnb. Now, for those who want to take their communal lifestyle home, there’s WeLive, the company’s new coliving spaces. And there is at least one millennial who has made the startup a way of WeLife—he both WeWorks and WeLives.

On Vice News Tonight, correspondent Nellie Bowles interviews 25-year-old Nicolas Lulli, who houses his social media company in a WeWork, and lives in a WeLive on Wall Street with his fiancée.

Via curbed.com >

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How to make the workplace more mindful

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How to make the workplace more mindful

With one in four people experiencing a mental health problem in any given year, the issue has rapidly scaled the social and political agenda.

ACAS estimates that mental health problems are costing UK businesses £30 billion a year through lost productivity and the cost of replacing staff.

So, in light of World Mental Health Day (10th October) are workplaces doing enough to safeguard staff wellbeing?

According to Shaun Baker, Head of Crown Workplace Relocations, employers can take some simple steps to make the physical working environment a more mindful place for employees. “It doesn’t have to be expensive or difficult to make changes to your workplace to help lift the mood. Our research has found that it’s the simple things in life which top staff wish lists”, says Baker.

Via bdaily.co.uk >

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Will jobs exist in 2050?

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Will jobs exist in 2050?

There’s no question that technology is drastically changing the way we work, but what will the job market look like by 2050? Will 40% of roles have been lost to automation – as predicted by Oxford university economists Dr Carl Frey and Dr Michael Osborne – or will there still be jobs even if the nature of work is exceptionally different from today? To address these issues, the Guardian hosted a roundtable discussion, in association with professional services firm Deloitte, which brought together academics, authors and IT business experts.

Via theguardian.com >

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The Way We Work

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The Way We Work

Attaining work-life balance is still as hard as ever. Even with more options for flexibility, Ernst & Young reported last year that one third of employees felt this imbalance skew more and more towards the demands of their job. Guilt, burnout, and stress are the unhappy products of how this disproportion plays out—on the one hand a feeling of professional underperformance, on the other a neglected personal life.

But increasingly, the gaps between life and labor are being questioned by a new generation of leaders, by a rising incidence of employee dissatisfaction, and by technologies that afford different forms of collaboration. A new report by Staples Business Advantage confirms that work-life balance is being supplanted by work-life integration. The Staples Business Advantage 2016 Workplace Index reveals some of the prevalent feelings in office spaces across the United States and Canada. The survey was conducted online with over three thousand office workers and decision makers. Boundaries are blurring, they found, partly because people still find their office to be the most productive for work, if not the most inspiring.

Via metropolismag.com >

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Tech Disruption’s Next Target: Office Buildings

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Tech Disruption’s Next Target: Office Buildings

Great technology in the workplace should have a positive impact on those running the building as well as employees in the tenant spaces, Comfy president Lindsay Baker tells GlobeSt.com. Baker, whose firm provides office technology geared toward keeping employees productive and comfortable, will be speaking during the session “Disruptive Technology” during NAIOP’s O.CON conference here in November. We spoke with her exclusively about the technologies shaping office product today and in the future, as well as how tech solutions are changing the way the office environment is managed and perceived by tenants.

Via globest.com >

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Home workers take fewer sick days than office based colleagues

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Home workers take fewer sick days than office based colleagues

Working from home has long been branded ‘shirking from home’ but a new survey suggests that home workers actually take fewer sick days. The research by CartridgePeople.com and published in the SOHO (Small Office/Home Office) Workers Report, found that home workers are not only happier but they are also healthier than their workplace-based counterparts – taking an average of 2.4 sick days per year, in comparison to the 2.6 taken by those working from company premises. Of course, that doesn’t tell us if they are in fact healthier, or that they’re more prepared to carry out their work duties from the comfort of their bed. But the survey of 1,096 British workers, including both home workers and those who work from their employers’ premises, also revealed that the majority of workers (60 percent) did feel happier when working from home.

Via workplaceinsight.net >

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Inside Out: How To Build A Thriving Workplace Brand

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Inside Out: How To Build A Thriving Workplace Brand

Love All Serve All.  This has been the corporate mantra at Hard Rock since 1971. While it was created as a customer-focused corporate purpose, it is one that shines out, and shines in. This company was ahead of its time in creating a culture where employees are encouraged to be themselves, from the hotel store clerk who could be a ringer for a member of ZZ Top to a waitress who dazzles you with music factoids while taking your order to a bellman with full-sleeve tattoos. And this ethos has created a strong, positive culture where people are, literally, comfortable in their skin and feel loyal to the brand. As a result, this seems to create an atmosphere in Hard Rock franchise establishments—from restaurants to hotels—where employees seem to want to do their best. “We don’t mind the people who work here being different; they can be who they are as long as they do a damn good job,” one manager told me recently.

Via forbes.com >

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American workers prefer the 9 to 5 but would take a pay cut in exchange for home working

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American workers prefer the 9 to 5 but would take a pay cut in exchange for home working

According to a new study by researchers at Princeton University and Harvard University, the average American worker is indifferent to flexible working hours and instead prefers a set 40-hour workweek. According to the study, most workers aren’t willing to take even a small pay cut to determine their own working hours. However, if given the option to work from home, many workers — especially women — would take an 8 percent wage cut to do so. The findings, published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), also show that workers consistently dislike irregular work schedules set by employers on short notice. They would even give up one-fifth of their salary to avoid working evenings or weekends. Nearly half of jobseekers would not take an irregular-schedule job even if it paid a quarter more than a 9 to 5 job. This is true even of workers who currently have irregular work schedules.

Via workplaceinsight.net >

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The art of managing space in the workplace

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The art of managing space in the workplace

New sources of information about how our workplaces are performing are a boon to professionals trying to determine the right amount, type and configuration of space will keep employees, CEOs and managers happy—all at once. But it’s possible to have too much of a good thing. All too often, we are buried in superfluous information, or have paid for technologies that seemed useful, but don’t move the strategic needle.

“Investments in workplace monitoring technologies should help achieve business objectives, provide actionable information, or achieve projected cost savings,” says Phil Kirschner, Senior Vice President, Workplace Strategy Americas, JLL. “It’s important to invest in the right technology, at the right time, and at the scale that makes sense given your company’s place in the workplace strategy lifecycle.”

Via jllrealviews.com >

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The Open Office Culture Conundrum: Are Startups Choosing Communication And Culture Over Productivity?

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The Open Office Culture Conundrum: Are Startups Choosing Communication And Culture Over Productivity?

Are companies today blindly following the open office trend, when it comes to restructuring their offices, or are they systematically investigating into what best suits their employees? Is it possible that in an effort to efficiently use office space, companies are disregarding the needs of the majority of their employees.

Via inc42.com >

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How Experiential Design is Changing the Way We Navigate Space

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How Experiential Design is Changing the Way We Navigate Space

User experience design (UX), grounded in human-computer interaction, has moved beyond the palm of the hand and to change our expectations of physical space. In a digital world analogy communicates through familiarity, teases ontology, and provides access.

When it works well, UX design breaks down resistance to new technologies by drawing on intuition and using the familiar to lighten the cognitive load. For example, you don’t need to think when you see that camera icon on your iPhone; the recognition is instinctive. In this far-from-dehumanizing context, technology becomes friendlier as the phone’s capabilities are easily recognized and accessed.

Via interiorarchitects.com >

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Majority of workers believe their workplace is making them ill

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Majority of workers believe their workplace is making them ill

A huge number of employees (87 percent) blame their workplace for making them ill, with only 25 percent saying they feel healthy at work on a regular basis, claims a new survey from Healthcare provider Benenden. In addition, half of those surveyed (50 percent) said they felt depressed at work, with just 40 percent admitting they are happy in their place of work. The survey of 2,000 employed people reveals that nearly half of workers still go into work, despite being ill.  And whether ill or not, once in work, those surveyed confessed to having regular health issues, with backache (84 percent) eye strain (42 percent) and regular migraines (27 percent) all being part of working life. In addition, just under half of respondents (at 44 percent), reported being regularly stressed at work, with a further 91 percent feeling tired several times a week at their desk. Nearly two thirds of workers (58 percent) said that work worries keep them awake at night.

Via workplaceinsight.net >

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Weird science; how workplace professionals are in danger of obsessing about data

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Weird science; how workplace professionals are in danger of obsessing about data

There’s been a series of reports recently and a lot of PR to back them up, plus we’re headed at pace into the workplace event season. Pretty soon we will be neck deep in data. And misleading headlines. Some of it is good. Some of it is bad. We need to be wary of the data, the science behind some of it and the wild claims made as a result. There’s a great piece about how big data isn’t the answer to our problems in Wired. One argument it puts forward is this: “today’s data sets, though bigger than ever, still afford us an impoverished view of living things.” It feels like there is a poor view of the workplace right now. One problem here is the commercial imperative to get results. That means the PR teams pick over the bones of what might be quite thin research and then bold arguments are extrapolated. It means detailed insights are blurred by headline grabbing claims, or simply not there in the first place.

Via workplaceinsight.net >

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Workers spend just a third of their time performing their actual job

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Workers spend just a third of their time performing their actual job

In the ongoing quest for workplace productivity the fact people spend too much time checking their emails has recently been noted, but it seems that workers are so frequently distracted in the workplace that only 38 percent of their time is actually spent on performing their primary job duties. A survey by Workfront, claims the top three things that get in the way of work include: wasteful meetings (62 percent), excessive emails (52 percent), and excessive oversight (39 percent). A quarter (26 percent) of workers said uninterrupted blocks of time would help them be more productive at work, followed by more efficient work process (26 percent), and more/better qualified people and resources (19 percent). And over two third (37 percent) of office workers agree that email will no longer be the main mode of communication in five years, with over half (57 percent) saying that the majority of workers will work remotely in the coming years.

Via workplaceinsight.net >

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Improve employee engagement by making your workplace an “experience place”

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Improve employee engagement by making your workplace an “experience place”

Any workplace optimization strategy needs to start with your business drivers. And for many today, the key driver for success is talent. How to attract the best, yes, but more importantly, how to keep them happy when they’re on board.

While it’s easy to chalk the talent war up to a competition for Millennials, it’s important to understand that the reason attracting younger employees is so important is because there are so many more of them than anyone else. Millennials in the workforce outnumber Gen-Xers two-to-one, and Baby Boomers are retiring by the thousands every day.

Via officerenew.com >

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Facebook rolls out Work, a social network for your office

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Facebook rolls out Work, a social network for your office

After two years of private beta testing, Facebook is unleashing its Work software on the world. The product is very similar to the social network used by over a billion people every day. But it focuses on connecting users with a network their colleagues at work, and charges a fee per user.

Work will be taking on office communication companies like Slack, a Silicon Valley darling which has obtained a multi-billion-dollar valuation, aka "unicorn" status, based on its aggressive growth. Right now it appears Facebook is undercutting Slack, charging between $1–3 per user, versus the $6.67 per user Slack charges for its standard package.

Via theverge.com >

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