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.
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.
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.
Somewhere in the world, someone spills a cup of coffee in a data center. In millions of homes across the United States, televisions go dark just as Jordan Spieth aims his final putt in the U.S. Open golf tournament. Possible? Absolutely.
To err may be human, so preventing costly business interruptions should include the human factor as well. Even a simple spilled beverage can create a major problem, as happened in a 2015 incident that that knocked out 300,000 Bloomberg data terminals.
“One of the first things we did when we moved into the office was issue everyone with toy Nerf guns,” Paul Harris gleefully admits. The co-founder of BrightHR explains that he wanted the Manchester office to be an environment where if people were feeling overwhelmed, pressured or tired they could easily step away from the desk and have fun or simply relax.
Gensler today announced the results of its U.S. Workplace Survey 2016, finding that optimal workplace design is a key driver of organizational innovation. Gensler research uncovered a statistical link between the quality and functional make-up of the workplace and the level of innovation employees ascribe to their organization, and found that a high-performing workplace—one that prioritizes both individual and group work—creates an ecosystem of innovation across organizations and is a crucial predictor of how innovative an employee sees their company to be.
It was the Finnish architect Juhani Pallasmaa who described the door handle as ‘the handshake of the building’ in his book The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses. Buildings greet us in other ways too and we respond to those greetings in very human ways. So much so, in fact, that when we make decisions about the ways in which offices introduce themselves, we should take account of the psychological factors that can mean the difference between a successful or failed office design. For a start, first impressions count. According to researchers at the University of Ottawa, people make decisions about websites within a 20th of a second. That seems hasty, but the good news is that we take our time when we first meet other people. We make our mind up about them in one 10th of a second according to psychologists at Princeton. People also make similar snap decisions about a company based on its office design and especially its reception.
Glassdoor is a career website that is like a TripAdvisor or Yelp for organizations. All you have to do is search for the name of almost any company and it will reveal a wealth of information like employee salaries and reviews, pictures of offices, CEO approval ratings, and even benefit details. So nearly anything you would want to know about an organization can be seen, for free! The information on Glassdoor is shared by employees about the organization where they work. This exceptional amount of transparency is great if you have a wonderful place to work. However, if you have unethical practices and don't treat your employees well that will also be uncovered!
More than 150 attendees from the real estate, development, higher ed, design and construction industries gathered in Chicago to hear expert opinions on today’s student housing market and trends in design, construction and property management for student residences. Christopher Merrill, President and CEO of Harrison Street Capital gave the keynote address with Lisa Skolnik of Intralink Global furthering the discussion.
HOK says the corporate office will be designed as an experience center, with co-working and general office spaces becoming more human-centric to accommodate a variety of work styles.
Millennials are a demanding bunch, or so it would seem. Deloitte’s 2016 Millennial Survey reports that, if it were up to them, the cohort "would place far greater emphasis than current leaders on ‘employee wellbeing’ and ‘employee growth and development.’ They would be less focused on ‘personal income/reward’ or ‘short-term financial goals.’" That missing sense of meaning and opportunity appears to be lacking so grievously that, as Deloitte researchers put it, "Millennials have one foot out the door" of their current employers.
SAN DIEGO—Optimizing their use of space and facilitating productivity via recruitment, retention, health and wellness are top of mind for office users in many markets throughout the country, Cushman & Wakefield’s newly appointed director of brokerage for the San Diego region Nick DiPaolo tells GlobeSt.com. We spoke with DiPaolo, formerly with CBRE’s Denver office, exclusively about his new role and what brokers need to focus on in the San Diego office market.
There is no doubt that the UK’s office based knowledge industry is facing a crisis in the form of a ‘wellbeing deficit’. Both the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) and Health and Safety Executive (HSE) have reported record levels of absenteeism, with the latter attributing 23.3 million lost working days to work-related ill-health, such as depression, stress, anxiety and musculoskeletal disorders. A great deal is already known about the causes of the key issues of employee stress and demotivation, but more work needs to be done to establish how organisations can meet their corporate goals with regard to these issues, whilst still engaging, motivating and nurturing their workforce. A significant body of published research has identified that a sense of ‘personal control’ can have a hugely positive impact on employee wellbeing, but how can we engender that control when it comes to creating a productive working environment?
First there were Baby Boomers, then Generation X, and then Millennials. But now a new generation is entering the workforce and shaking things up by changing the way we look at employees and work in general. Gen Z arbitrarily applies to people born between 1995 and 2005, but it actually means more than that. As more generations come into the workforce, the focus is starting to shift from the year they were born to the characteristics they deliver.
If you woke up tired, mounting evidence would suggest your boss may be the key to a better night’s sleep. You’re not alone. An overwhelming majority of people are locked into a set schedule too. According to the University of Kent, only 5% of workers across Europe have complete control over what time they have to head to the office. Is flexible working an answer for you, your office or for the entire company? Managers should consider the arguments for allowing workers more autonomy over their schedules. Experts find that allowing workers control over their workweek may improve performance outcomes and productivity.
Spending on workplace technology has doubled in the past five years as artificial intelligence is used to redefine how we connect in the workplace. That is the central claim of a new report from design firm Unispace based on interviews with CEOs and Heads of Real Estate at some 100 blue chip firms worldwide including KPMG, Cisco, Adidas, GE, Accenture, Boston Consulting Group, Regus, Deloitte, UBS, Chevron, CitiGroup, and Ashurst, Respondents were asked to assess how they expect to use office space in 2020. According to the report, respondents indicated that they will continue increasing technology spend, irrevocably changing the traditional office space as we know it. Over the last five years, the average company spent 10 percent of its workplace budgets on technology with 30 percent going on services, partitioning and furniture. The trend has now reversed with technology spend outstripping other spend as companies strive to improve efficiency, collaboration, creativity, engagement and recruitment.
As the workplace continues to change, it’s important for us to take a step back and look at where we are today and where we are heading in the future. For the past two years Staples Business Advantage (the B2B division of Staples) has been conducting their annual Workplace Index which looks at what employees care about, both in the United States and in Canada. The full index explores topics such as technology, health and wellness, work overload, and much more. For the recent 2016 Workplace Index Staples asked me to participate as an advisor by giving them feedback on some questions and by sharing some of my insights on the data that was collected from almost 2,000 people.
But if you could enjoy all the benefits of living in San Francisco and also wake up in a beachfront property and also pay half the rent of living in the city, that would seem like a no-brainer for most people.
Looking for a major dose of news you can use? This month, Workplace Strategist Joelle Jach busts some of the biggest workplace myths. Do exercise balls increase productivity? Is technology necessary in the office? Do millennials even exist? For all these burning questions and more, we’ve got you covered.
Why should workplace designers care about symbols? Because “Space + Brand = Place”. The workplace is the company’s brand. It’s the brand message communicated to your customers, your employees, and your business partners. Step into your “workplace” and instantaneously your brand message is broadcast. In this premium article, Charlie Grantham explores what symbols are, why they matter in the workplace, and how you can use them to guide your business and clients.
Read the article on workdesign.com > [paywall]
Flexible workspaces, particularly coworking spaces, have put the workplace in a consumer centric position; demanding that the environment be more user-friendly and be designed for the actual users and members of the space. Multisensory design is an architectural and design practice that allows for a better workplace design approach.
The state of the modern workplace is evolving, perhaps more quickly than ever. Increases in diversity, the flexibility and scalability that technology provides, the nature of benefits and work environment that employees are willing to demand—all contribute to an ever-changing dynamic that’s exciting for workers and, to a certain extent, a challenge for employers.
Brian Shapland, general manager of turnstone, and Mark McKenna, Director of Design for turnstone and Steelcase Education, join Jane Graham to share insights around entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs, and how turnstone research within those ecosystems has informed new product development. Turnstone is a Steelcase brand dedicated to helping companies leverage their space and their culture to accelerate business results.
