This article was originally emailed as our monthly Workplace Design & Management newsletter at 11:00 on 18/01/2018. You can view older newsletters here and register to receive them monthly.
ROBOTS, AI, BIG DATA
Should we be scared?
Without even mentioning Brexit, these are uncertain times. Commentators and futurologists opine about the accelerating impact of technology on our daily lives. Depending on your disposition, this is either exciting or terrifying! Pessimists threaten job losses and changes on a scale not seen since the Industrial Revolution. Yet, simultaneously, governments and regions are creating Smart Cities, architects and designers are launching Smart Buildings and public and private travel planners promote driverless cars and automated mass transit systems. Surely, these developments will make our lives easier – and better? Whatever your view, these are all extra factors to consider in a workplace context which is already seeing a quickening pace of change as a result of agile working, technology and changing attitudes. My plan for 2018 is to explore some of these concepts, their interaction and impact. Happy New Year!
BIFM CONFERENCE 2018
Think (beyond) FM – adapt or disappear
In the context outlined above, this year’s BIFM conference explores the dramatic changes in the workplace and how Facilities Managers can shape and respond to those changes. As FMs and HR managers discuss what experience and qualifications a Chief Workplace Officer might need, there are exciting opportunities for those with the drive and vision to absorb the latest thinking, harness the technology and help invent the future.
RETREAT BOOTH
Single & double units with multiple options
Open plan offices need space away from the desk for individual concentration or for collaboration without distracting others. There are many approaches to these requirements and enclosed booths are a popular solution.
For an effective individual breakout booth or a more complex room-within-a-room, the Retreat range offers modules accommodating one to four people with everything they need close at hand. To complement the stylish and relaxed design, buyers can specify LED lighting, power sockets, USB charging, smart TVs and a central table to create well-equipped individual or collaboration spaces. Everything necessary to encourage productivity is immediately accessible and ready for use. Please call us for further information.
STILL NOT RESUBSCRIBED?
You could win an iPad!
Despite my previous entreaties, many recipients have still not reregistered to continue receiving this newsletter. We have to ask this to comply with the imminent new data protection regulations. I know we shall lose many subscribers but I am hoping to retain a few more! I really do appreciate your continued interest. It will only take a couple of minutes and, as an extra inducement, we shall be holding a prize draw for all registrants on April 30th with a 128Gb iPad 9.7 as the prize. There will also be a monthly prize of a Contour Unimouse between January and March. Don’t worry if you have already resubscribed: you will still be in the draws!
Posted by Guy Osmond 
As you can see below, we are launching a handful of new services for 2018 and there is plenty more to come. Our long-awaited web site redesign really has been (and continues to be) a monumental task and will finally be launched in the second quarter of the year. It will be much more than a simple shopfront and has involved a lot of strategic thinking about what we shall need to represent the business effectively in the foreseeable future. There will also be some slight branding changes to coincide. Exciting! More soon.
This year’s regional training tour is now taking shape rapidly. The programme, featuring 
To coincide with the training tour, we shall also be offering product roadshows at each of the venues on the previous day. This will enable you to compare all the latest products side-by-side and benchmark them against established best sellers and your existing personal favourites. These free events will run during the afternoon and into the evening to suit self-employed consultants who prefer to visit outside office hours. To express interest in these free roadshows, register 
Another new service to be introduced this year is our programme of end-user product reviews. Participants will be sent a new product for assessment over a four week period. They will then be asked to complete a short online survey. On completion of the questionnaire, they will be invited to keep the product if they like it. Since all products will have already been through our internal 
Despite my previous entreaties in this newsletter, many recipients have still not 
As we complete two years of WDM newsletters (and 55 years in business), it is time to thank you once again for your continued support and wish you a fabulous Christmas and exciting New Year. The last quarter of 2017 has been our busiest ever, even with the inevitable December slowdown. Life is hectic on all fronts and it is gratifying to see how willingly organisations are investing in workplaces, despite the Brexit instability, resultant weakness of Sterling and general sense of uncertainty on so many fronts. Of course, whether business is easy or tough, looking after your talent continues to be the most important consideration and we are delighted to assist.
The New Year edition of 
It is a truism that the workplace is changing faster than ever before. Our two most popular presentation topics in 2017 were about Millennials and Sit-Stand. The latter is really very old news to us, since we have been selling sit-stand desks for nearly twenty years. However, the confusion and misinformation continues. Worrying about Millennial management is soon to be replaced by Centennials issues. Centennial (Generation Z) employees now entering the workforce were toddlers when social media, iPhones and tablets first appeared. Like Millennials (and everyone else!), they are all individuals so there are no simple rules, but they introduce new opportunities to review our thinking and communications.
As you have probably seen elsewhere, manufacturers’ 2018 price lists are showing a significant uplift, with 5% rises commonplace. After years of small or zero increases, they can no longer absorb the currency issues and rising costs. If you have a project in planning, we probably already know about this and will do everything possible to soften the blow.
This edition commences our 9th year of monthly newsletters so it is time to send seasonal best wishes to all our readers and express our thanks for your continued support. It is a delight to have so many readers who have been with us for a long time and many more who are more recent subscribers. We know that hardly anybody reads every item of every issue and it is our intention that you should just pick out the items that interest you. We are extraordinarily grateful for the interaction and feedback we receive as well as any suggestions for topics or improvements in the future. If you have not yet resubscribed to join the new database, you can do so 
As you probably know, we have been concerned for some time about 
Since the Brexit referendum, the pound has crumbled against both the Euro and the Dollar. This and raw material price rises have impacted the manufacturing industry and we are seeing significant increases planned for 2018. After several years of 0 – 3% increases, a 5% rise appears to be about average for next year, with some products rising as much as 8%! If you have any projects or purchases planned in the next few months, please 
Our first IIRSM Approved Training Course in 2018 will be ‘
Like many companies, we make a donation each year instead of sending Christmas cards. We always focus on local charities to ensure that any contribution benefits our own Dorset community. This year, our mobile phone contract is being renewed in December so we are also contributing additional funds from the sale of mobiles that are being replaced. Our charity choice this year is 
Recently, I have been spending quite a lot of my time debunking myths and clarifying facts in the great debate about what we should do to reduce sedentary inactivity. Whether I am making presentations or writing articles, the first and obvious fact (to me, at least) is that ‘standing more’ is not the issue. Sitting less is what really matters and there are many ways to address this. Despite the fact that ‘the sitting disease’ has been in the news for about the last three years, the press coverage and social media noise have only served to confuse the topic rather than clarify it. And, frankly, the workplace furniture industry (in pursuit of sit-stand desk sales) has probably just made matters worse. Sit-stand desks may well be a valuable part of the equation but they are just one element and there are many more aspects to consider. We believe these are best addressed as part of an employer’s wellbeing programme rather than just as a furniture/facilities issue. To discuss this (or share more of my rants!), please 
Many of our clients focus on mental health as one element of their broader wellbeing agenda and we have been working on meaningful, valuable training to meet their needs. Our first 
As a B2B (business-to-business) supplier, we have always regarded the big pre-Christmas sales extravaganza as a very long way from our normal business model and completely irrelevant to our large corporate clients. However, we have decided this year to experiment with a mass clearance of our demo chair stock at genuinely ridiculous (below cost) prices. We need the valuable space occupied by our mix of surplus samples and we are prepared to sell chairs at a loss to recover it! The stock list will not be of interest to corporate buyers but may well be just what you are looking for as a home purchase. Special prices will be available from 08:30 on 24.11.17 until 16:30 on 30.11.17. Most models are limited to one example so all sales will be subject to availability. 
We are approaching 2 years of uninterrupted monthly newsletters so I am very keen to carry on! As I have mentioned previously, we are asking all recipients to resubscribe to ensure we comply with the new GDPR regulations in 2018. This is my third and final request for you to subscribe to our new database before we close the old one. To maintain uninterrupted delivery, if you have not already done so, please take a couple of minutes to register for the new database 
Mental health is a major issue for many of our clients and we have been exploring ways to deliver meaningful, valuable training to meet those needs. I am therefore very pleased to announce that our first 
Since the withdrawal of the Microsoft Arc, we have been searching extensively for a quality wireless (R/F) mini keyboard. The choice of Bluetooth products continues to grow but there seems to be much less manufacturer commitment to the ‘dongle wireless’ format in a small footprint prodcut. The good news is that we have finally found a keyboard that we are very happy to promote. It uses scissor-action keys for excellent tactile feedback and scored very well in our 
With this issue (No. 96), we have completed 8 years of uninterrupted monthly newsletters so I am very keen to carry on! As I have mentioned previously, we are asking all recipients to resubscribe to ensure we comply with the new GDPR regulations in 2018. This is my third and final request for you to subscribe to our new database before we close the old one. To maintain uninterrupted delivery, if you have not already done so, please take a couple of minutes to register for the new database 
Looking back over this year, I have reported from ErgoExpo in Las Vegas, Preventica in Paris and the Furniture & Light Fair in Stockholm, as well as the Physio First and CIEHF conferences and Health & Wellbeing exhibition in the UK. Unfortunately, there is really nothing new to talk about from 
We are still formulating our programme which will now start in the New Year in order to allow enough time for advance advertising and promotion. The plan is to offer half day sessions accompanied by a product showcase at the same venue. The showcase will be available in the afternoon on the same day and will give visitors a hands-on opportunity with a wide variety of products. At the moment, London, Southampton and Bristol are the first definite locations. We are still waiting for further feedback before adding other venues. If you have not already expressed interest (this is not a commitment), please take a couple of minutes to do so 
Dynamic employers realise that wellbeing and productivity are inextricably linked. Whether your interest is in workplace design, mental and physical health, ergonomics, recruitment and retention, engagement, agile working or any combination of these factors, there will be valuable content to interest you at 
I have mentioned aircharge® here before and the brand has grown globally in the hospitality sector. Several major coffee shops and hotel chains are already offering Qi (pronounced ‘chee’) inductive charging facilities as a service in their public areas. Even car manufacturers are introducing the technology to their vehicles. With inductive charging now available on Apple products (from iPhone 8 onwards), we expect a much higher level of interest in offices. The aircharge® product portfolio has grown to suit a very wide range of installations with trim and inserts to match chrome, wood and leather as well as the ubiquitous black and white. The most common implementation offers a standard 80mm diameter insert but other variants are available and we also have desk lamps and monitor arms with integral chargers. View products 
We are delighted to announce that we now have 
Please ignore this item if you have already resubscribed! If not, we need your help to ensure we comply with the imminent General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which comes into effect in Europe in the New Year. To do this, we are asking ALL subscribers to reregister to ensure you continue to receive this monthly newsletter. To meet the more stringent 2018 requirements, we need to be certain we have proof of opting in from all our readers so we shall be closing down this database at the year end. To ensure uninterrupted delivery, please take a couple of minutes to register for the new database 
If you are looking for a quality computer chair for yourself or a loved one but have always felt corporate seating is too expensive for your personal budget, we have good news! In the course of our daily business, we use many sample chairs for customer evaluations but these samples do not become part of the subsequent sale (often due to colour or specification). The warehouse is now looking a little cluttered with these samples so, with Christmas decorations in the shops, it seems people (other than me) must be thinking about the festive season! To find the ideal chair gift (or treat for yourself) at a substantial discount, please check our current list 
We are very pleased to announce our 
Last month, I attended the International Partner Event at 
If you are interested in the IIRSM Approved Training referred to above, you may be even more interested to know that we are planning to deliver these sessions at key venues around the country. In order to help us identify needs and locations, we welcome your assistance in identifying where the interest lies. Please take a couple of minutes to declare your interest by completing 
We talked about the new GDPR requirements last month so, if you have already re-registered, I apologise for banging on about it again! To ensure we comply with the imminent General Data Protection Regulation in Europe, we are asking ALL subscribers to reregister to ensure you continue to receive this monthly newsletter. To ensure uninterrupted delivery, please take a couple of minutes to register for the new database 
The decorations are in the stores and the staff party brochures are arriving in the post so it must be nearly Christmas! If you are thinking about buying a comfortable work chair as a present for a loved one, now is the time to consider one of our ex-demonstration models at significant discounts. We have updated our list and there is a wide variety of models available, some at less than our original buying price. When you find what you are looking for, we can even hold it for you for delivery in December. However, this is very much a ‘when it’s gone, it’s gone’ list so don’t delay! You can find the latest list 
HÅG Tribute is the ideal chair to make a serious statement in your boardroom and formal meeting spaces. Norwegian Svein Asbjørnsen of sapDesign® worked with HÅG once again to develop the Tribute with the declared intention to create ‘the world’s most uncompromisingly comfortable executive chair’. Incorporating the signature HÅG in Balance® technology, integral lumbar support, optional headrest and TiltDownTM armrests, it is visually sleek yet offers outstanding comfort and support. As with all HÅG products, it is also highly sustainable and precision made. Please 
To ensure we comply with the imminent General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Europe, we are asking ALL subscribers to reregister to ensure you continue to receive this monthly newsletter. Since its introduction, we have accumulated a substantial database. To meet the more stringent 2018 requirements, we need to be certain we have proof of opting in from all our readers so we shall be closing down this database before the year end. To ensure uninterrupted delivery, please take a couple of minutes to register for the new database 
As our key clients sharpen their focus on employee wellbeing, our furniture offering is now complemented by a broader range of activities. These include training, events and services to address health, wellbeing and engagement issues. Our involvement in two upcoming events reflects this trend. 
I have been attending the 
I have been attending the 
At least every couple of months for about the last 10 years, we have been notified of a new ‘ergonomic’ mouse. These new devices are always either a cheap rip-off of an established product or a ‘revolutionary’, research-backed design that addresses key issues in a way that no previous mouse manufacturer has been able to do. In every case, the vendor is positively evangelical in their product advocacy! After nearly 25 years in the industry I hope, therefore, that you will forgive me for being somewhat jaded about such launches.
To ensure we comply with the imminent General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Europe, we are asking ALL subscribers to reregister to ensure you continue to receive this monthly newsletter. Over nearly eight years since its introduction, we have accumulated a substantial database. To meet the more stringent 2018 requirements, we need to be certain we have proof of opting in from all our readers so we shall be closing down this database before the year end. To ensure uninterrupted delivery, please take a couple of minutes to register for the new database 
As Autumn approaches, the conference and exhibition cycle restarts. This year we have stepped away from our previous experience and tried some very different events. We have been very pleased with the results. This trend continues in October and November with 
Osmond Ergonomics 