Eastlake Work Group and Steelcase, global leaders in the office furniture industry, invited guests to eastlake work group’s head office in East Kilbride for a seminar to highlight the increasing challenge of a multi-generational workforce. (more…)
How do you create an office environment that satisfies different employees’ needs? How do you inspire the polarised generations that come together in today’s workplace?
These questions wer answered at a seminar last Thursday in Cardiff hosted by workplace interior specialists, eastlake work group, in association with Steelcase - a global leader in the office furniture industry.
The Steelcase Applied Research and Consulting (ARC) team has extensively studied the impact of emerging trends and cultural diversity within the workplace and following over a decade of research, has uncovered four different generations working side by side in the office.
Steelcase workplace consultant, Zoe Humphries, presented the team’s most recent research into the needs and behaviours of office workers.
“With people living longer, they are working longer and we now have four different generations working together,” explained Zoe. “Naturally when conflict arises, productivity is slowed.”
“Traditional office design has been structured around hierarchy, with workers in the middle of a room and management on the outside, often in bigger offices. However, business today relies on social networks and is about communication and collaboration, not hierarchy, and therefore office design needs to reflect this.”
The four generations in the workplace today are Traditionals (born before 1945), Boomers (born between 1946-64), Generation X (1965-77) and Millenials (1978-99). All these groups have varying expectations of the organisations they work for, different ways of working and different attitudes to technology and communication.
Inevitably there is a clash of different work styles and attitudes between younger and older employees. This is one of the most significant productivity challenges facing present employers. There are also space-planning implications. Different generations work better in different environments, some prefer open plan offices whilst others need private office space - how do employers accomdate this?
Zoe continued, “there are four things to consider when translating generational issues into space. Firstly, hierarchical design should be avoided, the Millenials don’t like to respond to hierarchy, Generation Xers like to move around the work place, while Boomers like to sit in teams. So, it is important that the office design supports people’s preferred working practice.
“Physical barriers should be removed to facilitate and support communication and collaboration. Top management should be integrated with those working at a lower level to both share and exchange knowledge.
“Finally, and probably the most important thing, design should achieve and support face to face mentoring. Mentor pods indicate to staff that management have time for them. This works particularly well for the younger generation who have access to Traditionals and their knowledge before it is lost from the workplace.”
One of the UK’s leading workplace interiors specialists, the eastlake group, is celebrating five years of commercial success this August.
Formerly Georgesons, the company was taken over by David Eastlake in 2003 and has gone from strength to strength with targeted turnover projected to be £40m in 2008 and staff numbers currently standing at 180. (more…)
Workplace interiors specialist eastlake commercial interiors (eci), has recently been tasked with the interior design of a brand new, Welsh themed office for one of the world’s fastest-growing design, engineering and management consultancies. eastlake commercial interiors (eci) were given the challenge to create a new and dynamic interior workspace for WSP with the additional challenge to complete the project in only five weeks. (more…)
Leading workplace interiors specialist, the eastlake group, celebrated its biggest ever month of orders in April 2008, taking in over £8m. This massive figure more than doubled their record month for 2007.
Clients who helped to push the record figure over the £8m mark include the engineering consultancy, WSP, a large pensions + investments group and a major international bank. (more…)
Students showcasing their work at UWIC Cardiff Design Show will be going all out to impress with a work placement at the eastlake design partnership (edp) up for grabs and the opportunity to work on some high profiles projects.
The leading UK-wide workplace design and consultancy firm has an office in Cardiff Bay and has decided to support the UWIC School of Art & Design summer exhibition for the second time, with the work placement the first opportunity for an under-graduate to join the team. (more…)
The eastlake group has increased staff numbers working out of its head office in East Kilbride by 10 in the last quarter, taking total staff numbers to 180.
In addition to taking on new staff across all businesses within the group, others have been given new roles within the business. Emphasis has been placed on increasing the strength of eastlake’s Major Accounts team, which looks after the organisation’s key clients including BP, Scottish Media Group and Aegon.
Workplace interiors specialist, the eastlake group, has announced a major expansion for its Manchester operation. The expansion will see the Middleton-based team expand from 12 to 18, with a projected turnover increase of £4m to £6.5m.
Year end sales reflect success of year for top workplace development group.
Leading workplace development company, the eastlake group, is celebrating its most successful year yet as 2007 comes to a close. The company, acquired by CEO David Eastlake in 2003, has gone from strength to strength since the MBO, this year securing two of their highest sales months ever with £3m revenue in both October and November – a record for the business. (more…)
Leading workplace solutions specialist, the eastlake group, has followed its UK expansion by opening its first premises in the USA. The group, which expanded in the UK earlier this year with the acquisition of a Leeds based manufacturing company, opened their US offices in December 2007. The move is to support the organisation’s major expanding client base of blue chip organisations in America. (more…)
The Eastlake Group, one of the UK’s leading workplace interios companies, has appointed a new design director to eastlake design partnership (edp), the Group’s design consultants.
The new addition to the Cardiff Bay office is Simon Raper. Hailing from West Yorkshire, Simon is a graduate in Architecture and Interior Architecture & Design, and has almost twenty years experience in delivering projects in the field of commercial interiors. He joins edp from his previous role as a Partner and co-founder of 360 Design (UK) - a multi-disciplined design practice. The Eastlake Group has offices across the UK and with ambitious plans to develop edp in Wales and the South West, Simon takes over this important role of directing operations within the region. (more…)
Top workplace innovation experts eastlake commercial interiors (eci) and Milliken Carpet have joined forces to give Glasgow businesses the chance to learn from Philip Ross - expert and consultant in emerging technologies and their impact on the workplace.
Philip, founder and CEO of the Cordless Group is a consultant, commentator and researcher on technology and workplace futures and has pioneered research into the impact of new technologies on work, the work process and workplace. He has worked with organisations such as Ernst & Young, Allen & Overy, GlaxoSmithKline, Jones Lang LaSalle and Ericsson on future workplace concepts based on emerging cordless technologies. Philip has also spoken at conferences around the world and authored a series of papers and books on workplace, technology and design issues.