Other People’s Stuff that I like

Johnson & Johnson Redefines Global Workspace to Optimize Well-Being, Teamwork, and Asset Utilization

Nice article from Tradeline on Guidelines for Activity-Based Space Planning.

https://www.tradelineinc.com/reports/2016-6/johnson-johnson-redefines-global-workspace-optimize-well-being-teamwork-and-asset

New Research Reveals Biggest Productivity Killers

for America’s Workforce

Click Here for the Link to Full Article

Here is a summary from Cornerstoneondemand.com, a leader in cloud-based applications for talent management.

Key survey findings include:

• 9-to-5 Is So Last Century. Having some freedom would likely help employees accomplish more. Sixty-five percent of workers think a flexible and remote work schedule would increase their productivity. The same number of respondents agrees that, given the right technology, in-person meetings could be completely replaced. However, only 19 percent are currently being allowed to work remotely by their employers.

• Don’t Bother Me. When it comes to workplace distractions, 43 percent of employees say that impromptu visits by coworkers are the biggest productivity killer. It’s no surprise then that the top work environment that employees feel fosters the most productivity is an enclosed office (37 percent), followed by partitioned cubicles (23 percent) and open desk layouts (19 percent).

• Putting Wearables to Work. Wearable technology is a seemingly underutilized productivity aid. While only 12 percent of those surveyed use wearable tech for work, a little over seven in ten (71 percent) wearable tech users say that it has helped them to be more productive. That small number of users is expected to grow; 72 percent of employees believe that wearable tech in the workplace will eventually become standard. The demand is there, as 66 percent of workers would be willing to use wearable tech if it helped them do their job better – a 7 percent increase from last year.

• The Quantified Employee. Eight in ten full-time employees would be motivated to use company-provided wearable tech that allows employers to track their health and wellness data. Some would be enticed to do this in exchange for benefits such as extra 5 percent end-of-year bonuses (67 percent), reduced health insurance premiums (57 percent) or discounts to exercise programs (36 percent). Nearly the same amount of employees (76 percent) would be willing to do the same for wearable tech that tracks job performance and productivity. In exchange, respondents would be open to receiving and extra vacation day for each month’s data (54 percent), a flexible and remote work schedule (46 percent) or a work week reduced by 5 percent (41 percent).

Ten Timeless IWMS Benefits

Written in 2010, these benefits still apply today. I would add two more: Saas & Mobile.

If your system is not in the cloud and doesn’t fully support mobile devices, you are losing out on two significant benefits that should be standard in your IWMS in 2015.

Office of Today, Workplace of Tomorrow – 

Cool Video from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

Interesting Workplace Article

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jacobmorgan/2013/10/01/8-indisputable-reasons-for-why-we-dont-need-offices/

Staples Vantage Point

http://wordpress.com/read/blog/id/54031797/

I know, Staples? Yes, that Staples and yes, their posts are quite interesting.

Good Fat / Bad Fat

By Carol Talpers & Susan Copeland, Flour Garden Bakery, Grass Valley & Auburn

At the Flour Garden Bakery, we make everything from scratch, and we select our ingredients carefully so that we can insure the quality of all of our foods.

We use fresh butter and eggs and milk and extra virgin olive oil. We use tofu and blueberries and apples, not manufactured substitutes. We do not use margarine or vegetable shortening – also called hydrogenated oils – or powdered eggs or prefabricated mixes and fillings loaded with artificial preservatives and flavorings, as many bakeries and food producers do to save money. We want to enhance your health as well as your pleasure in what you eat.

When you think about the fat in your diet, you need to know what kinds of fat you are consuming. The kind o fat in a diet is more important than the amount of fat. In his bestselling book Spontaneous Healing, Dr. Andrew Weil outlines an eight-week program for “Optimal Healing.” Dr. Weil suggests that the first thing you should do is “go through your pantry and refrigerator and remove all oils other than olive oil. Get rid of any margarine, solid vegetable shortenings, and products made with them. Read labels of all food products so that you can dispose of any containing partially hydrogenated oils. If you don’t have any extra-virgin olive oil on hand, buy a bottle and start using it.”

Dr. Weil’s book reflects a growing awareness of the dangers of hydrogenated oils. Margarine and shortening – hydrogenated oils – have been shown to increase heart disease and cancer risks and to accelerate tissue decay. Harvard researcher Walter Willett estimates that “partially hydrogenated oils used to make margarine…are responsible for more than 30,000 of the country’s annual deaths from heart disease.”

Why do hydrogenated oils constitute a health threat? Dr. Weil tells us that “the heat and chemicals used to harden vegetable oils into margarine change fatty acids in unnatural shapes, called trans-fatty acids (TFAs). Bent into the trans-shape, the acids don’t fit neatly into cell membranes or other cellular structures. If the body tries to incorporate them anyway, the cell may become deformed. As a result, trans-fatty acids not only contribute to heart disease, but may also increase cancer risks, promote inflammation, and accelerate tissue degeneration.”

In his book Dr. Weil writes that “TFAs are never found in nature, only in fats that have been subjected to unusual chemical and physical treatment. Some researchers refer to them a ‘funny fats’, but there is nothing funny about what they may do to us.”

In Renewal: The Anti-Aging Revolution by Dr. Timothy J. Smith, we learn that “trans-fats are seething cauldrons of free-radical activity.” Free radicals cause cellular damage that “fosters disease and shortens life…Cumulative free radical damage contributes to…allergies, Alzheimer’s disease, arthritis, atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), cancer, cataracts, infections, macular degeneration, multiple sclerosis, and Parkinson’s disease.” Butter, Dr. Smith tells us, “contains fewer free radicals” than margarine and no trans-fats.

Margarine was invented in 1869 by a Frenchman, Hippolyte Mege-Mouries and won a prize offered by Napoleon III for a cheap butter substitute, For a long time it was thought that use of hydrogenated oils caused only a loss of flavor. Today we know that the long-term health risks far outweigh short-term savings.

America’s commercial food industry, and most bakeries, use hydrogenated oil as a main ingredient in almost all the foods produced, from cookies to candy bars to refried beans. And often it is a part of other ingredients – chocolate chips, for example, may be made with hydrogenated oil.  Hydrogenated oils are used so frequently because they are cheaper! Fresh butter and extra-virgin olive oil are about twenty times as expensive. Foods made with fresh butter and olive oil are healthier for you. And they taste better!

So do yourself and your family and friends a favor – be aware of what goes into the food you eat and the food you serve. The benefits will last a lifetime.