MillerKnoll Debuts New Headquarters for Global Retail Business / Kimball Reports First Quarter 2023 Results / Bisley owner gifts staff over half of company shares in succession move / Interface Reports Third Quarter 2022 Results / Meta Bails On Third Office Space, This Time In Austin / Companies Are Turning To Coworking To Support Their Larger Teams / Power to the People: The Human-Centric Workplace / Workplace tech is changing fast. Are companies keeping up?

The Working Space
Monday, November 7, 2022

Industry News

Kimball International, Inc. Thursday announced results for the first quarter ended September 30, 2022. Consolidated net sales of $177.8 million increased by 14% from the year ago quarter, driven by double-digit growth of Workplace and Health end markets. Gross margin expanded 220 basis points year-over-year to 33.5%, benefiting from price increases that more than offset ongoing freight and raw material inflation, as well as continued operational excellence savings. Selling and administrative expenses (S&A) of $53.4 million declined year-over-year as a percentage of total net sales by 210 basis points to 30.0% in the first quarter of fiscal 2023. Adjusted S&A was $52.4 million, or 29.4% of net sales, compared to $48.6 million, or 31.1% of net sales, in last year’s first quarter. Net income was $6.6 million, or $0.18 per diluted share, up from net loss of $5.0 million or $(0.14) per diluted share in the year ago quarter. Adjusted net income was $4.8 million, or $0.13 per diluted share, ahead of adjusted net income of $1.9 million, or $0.05 per diluted share in the first quarter of fiscal 2022. Adjusted EBITDA was $11.5 million compared to $4.9 million in the year ago quarter.
Newport, UK-based office furniture manufacturer Bisley has gifted its employees over half of shares in the company as part of succession plans. Company owner and chairman Anthony Brown has established an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT) allowing 51% of company shares to be indirectly owned by Bisley's employees.
 
The remaining 49% of shares will be owned by Mr Brown and a few small minority shareholders. The firm said the immediate focus for the group is to manage its way through the various economic challenges in delivering profitable growth that allows the beneficiaries to benefit from being within the EOT.
Architecture firm billings grew at a modest pace in September. While the Architecture Billings Index (ABI) score of 51.7 for the month means that slightly fewer firms reported increasing billings this month than in August when the score was 53.3, growth continued at most firms for the 20th consecutive month. However, there are some areas worth monitoring in the coming months. Two indicators of future work, client inquiries into new projects and the value of new design contracts, recorded their lowest post-pandemic growth rates in September as fewer clients are expressing interest in new projects now than in the last year and a half. However, backlogs at firms remained at a robust 7.0 months as of the end of September, still near record-high levels since we began collecting this data regularly more than a decade ago.
HNI Corp., one of the largest office furniture manufacturers in the world, announced it will cut costs by $30 million as business conditions continue to worsen.
OfficeSource, one of the largest office furniture brands in the United States, is proud to unveil a new logo reflective of the brand's evolution toward design-driven product development and a more curated shopping experience. Retaining elements of the original logo, COE Distributing updated the mark of its private-label brand to reflect the current brand mindset, while symbolizing the new journey OfficeSource is embarking on. OfficeSource debuts the new look this week at the Independent Suppliers Group Industry Week 2022 in Las Vegas, and COE’s 2023 catalog, released in January, will prominently feature the refreshed OfficeSource branding along with products for the changing work environment.
MillerKnoll today unveiled its new retail headquarters in Stamford, Conn., welcoming employees back to a flexible workplace that embraces collaboration, creativity and community, while facilitating the evolving concepts of a hybrid workforce.
Interface, Inc. announced results for the third quarter ended October 2, 2022. Net sales totaled $327.8 million, up 4.8% year-over-year. Currency neutral net sales were up 10.9% year-over-year. Orders were down 9.7% from Q3 2021 and down 4.3% on a currency neutral basis. "Interface had another solid quarter with currency neutral net sales growth of 10.9% and adjusted EPS of 30 cents. Demand for our best-in-class lower carbon offerings continues across the business, with notable strength in Q3 in the office and retail sectors," commented Laurel Hurd, CEO of Interface.
Americans bought piles of furniture during the pandemic, with sales on desks, chairs and patio equipment jumping by more than $4 billion from 2019 to 2021, according to a market data company. And a lot of it won’t survive the decade.

Fast furniture, which is mass-produced and relatively inexpensive, is easy to obtain and then abandon. Like fast fashion, in which retailers like Shein and Zara produce loads of cheap, trendy clothing that’s made to be discarded after only a few wears, fast furniture is for those looking to hookup but not settle down. It’s the one-season fling of furnishings.

What do employees want when it comes to hybrid work? Eptura offers some helpful hybrid work statistics to help navigate the new normal. Hybrid work continues to evolve as companies adopt new hybrid workplace models, and there are many lessons we can all learn along the way.
Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. has decided not to occupy 589K SF of office space in Downtown Austin, but rather to sublease it, The Real Deal reports, the third time the social media company has backed out of an office commitment in the last month.
Faced with rising costs on all sides without a surge in revenue to compensate, healthcare systems are desperate to cut costs in ways that don't impact patient care. One part of the balance sheet where they seem to be focusing is in office space - not medical office, but the traditional kind.
Manhattan’s October leasing activity dropped by 40% since September and by 41%, year-over-year, according to Colliers October 2022 Manhattan Office Report, the lowest monthly leasing total since May 2021.

The year-to-date leasing volume totaled 25.77 million square feet, a 35.4% increase over the 19.03 million square feet leased during the same period in 2021.

Tech has been a good client of commercial real estate, even during current uncertain times. Take Google as an example: closing on a $2.1 billion deal for St. John’s Terminal in New York in April of this year, leasing 300,000 square feet of office in San Francisco in July, and announcing the deal to buy the Thompson Center in Chicago in August.
A new Chicago-based study indicates that after a drop-off in demand for flexible workspace earlier this year, larger users - those needing 25 or more desks - are expressing renewed interest in coworking, serviced and hybrid office spaces.
 
Amid the great reshuffling surrounding hybrid work and the return to the office, demand for flexible workspace in the Chicago metro was forecast to be down 14% between 2021 and 2022, per findings provided to Bisnow from The Instant Group, which bills itself as the largest global marketplace for flexible workspace, with clients like Prudential, Booking.com and Shell.
The slowing economy is causing a jittery office leasing market as tenants are increasingly hesitant to commit to space, which is having an impact on the bottom lines of New York City's largest office owners. 
As workers slowly return to offices after the pandemic, productivity has been dropping in the U.S. economy. (Amir Hamja/Bloomberg News)

Employers across the country are worried that workers are getting less done — and there’s evidence they’re right to be spooked.

In the first half of 2022, productivity — the measure of how much output in goods and services an employee can produce in an hour — plunged by the sharpest rate on record going back to 1947, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Features

Orgatec is back and with it a homely jigsaw puzzle that maps the development of different requirements in the working context since 2018. Orgatec, the leading international trade fair for modern working environments, had to take four years off. The review is by Anna Moldenhauer. 
The need for agility and flexibility is driving the post-COVID workspace reformation. Many of the products showcased at this year's work-design fair Orgatec addressed these needs. Here are 10 of the best.
Providing people with greater control over their workspaces and environment is now more important than ever. Throughout the past few years, people were increasingly strained by the major shifts happening at their workplaces—switching to remote or hybrid work and, more recently, fully returning to the workplace. This has resulted in increased demand for resources and tools to ease burdens of coming back to the office.
Our workplaces have changed for good. How is workplace design answering to these immense changes. Sustainability, agility, co-creation, technology, and wellbeing are some of the responses that designers have had to these changes and were explored in-depth during The Next Space: The Empathetic Workplace hosted by FRAME in partnership with IBA and held during Orgatec. Explore the key takeaways from the event.

Workspace News

Even before the pandemic, companies were considering how to offer a unique office experience to their employees. In some situations, that meant repurposing existing space instead of building a new one.
As the world has continued to go back to normal in a lot of ways, the office remains an outlier. What was once a mandated attempt at stopping the spread of a virus has now become a battle between employers and employees over work preferences.
Would you open your doors to colleagues from other countries and swap homes with them for a few weeks or even months? To keep pace with working trends, some organizations are turning to Airbnb-style initiatives.
Despite demand for flexible offices expected to fall between 2021 and 2022, the last few months have offered a glimmer of hope for the industry.

According to a new Chicago-focused study from The Instant Group, interest and inquiries into coworking are forecasted to surpass expectations for this year.

In Chicago, demand in the second half of 2022 has outpaced the same time last year by 5%.

Future Forum, a research-based consortium launched by Slack, with founding partners MillerKnoll, Boston Consulting Group, and MLT to help companies better support the future of work, released key findings from its latest global Pulse study. One finding: Younger workers are more likely to experience burnout, with 49% of 18-to-29-year-olds saying they feel burned out compared with just 38% of workers over the age of 30.
The world of work has been changed in countless ways over the last few decades—the acknowledgement of the corporate world’s lack of diversity, the arrival of the millennials, the advent of company wellness programs and four-day workweeks and sabbaticals. But perhaps nothing about the world’s workplaces has evolved faster than the technology that can be found within them.
When it comes to choosing office space – either renewing, downsizing or seeking new — Jason Wurtz, executive vice president, office services, NAI Hiffman, tells GlobeSt.com that market activity is improving as companies can no longer delay their decisions.

“The clock is ticking, and short-term decisions can only be extended for so long,” he said. “Companies are becoming more confident with how they will operate going forward.

A new report from the British Council for Offices (BCO) is urging the commercial property industry to ‘retain, extend life, reduce impact’ to futureproof offices. The report sets out to provide circular economy guidance to the office sector in relation to new-build, refurbishment and fit out. The Circular Economy in Offices report [BCO members only] claims to set out how offices can be designed and constructed in order to eliminate waste and pollution, circulate products and materials and regenerate nature.
Citigroup recently stepped out in favor of hybrid work – a move that sets it apart from many financial institutions.

An announcement from newly minted Chief Executive Jane Fraser went out to the company's 210,000 global employees describing the company's new policy, although many of the details are yet to be finalized.

When coworking centers are competing for members, touting sustainable practices can be an important value proposition. The trick is, the meaning of “sustainable” can be wide-ranging.

It can refer to sustainable environmental practices, such as recycling and using solar panels, or it can refer to a sustainable job schedule, such as one that accommodates raising children.

The coworking industry uses the word “sustainable” in various ways — and often, it is unclear which meaning is implied.

Design

It used to be an experiment on the fringes, but hybrid work has gone mainstream and it’s one of the biggest economic and cultural changes facing leaders today. Most organizations who choose hybrid work are trying to offer a balance between the flexibility people want and the need to bring employees together to create greater cohesion and build a sense of community. Some leaders worry their corporate culture is slowly dissolving and talk of “quiet quitting” – pulling back from work while staying in the job (or, as some would say, a Tik Tok term for disengagement) – is making them think it’s time to make sure they’re leading by example.
Amenities only go so far in enticing new employees. Attracting and retaining workers is about more than compensation and benefits. According to a recent study from Glassdoor, 77 percent of respondents consider a company’s culture before applying for a new job. A critical goal of workplace design is to physically incorporate that culture, values and behaviors into the work environment to better support positive employee/employer interactions and experiences.
In today’s connected world, the perfect workspace could be anywhere. Yes, the old adage says it’s all about location, location, location, but once you’re in a working environment, it’s all about design. These 5 design elements can determine, not only, the aesthetic and vibe of a workspace, but also influence employee productivity, engagement, and satisfaction.

Trends

As the tectonic evolution toward hybrid work continues to reshape work behaviors across all sectors, leading companies today are focused upon delivering human-centric workplaces—with an emphasis upon hybrid working. From initially assuming a business-as-usual return to the centralized corporate office, many organizations have pivoted toward individualistic workplace design that further enhances the human experience and delivers superior workplace performance.

The Metaverse

Environments, a Lighting Environments company and leader in creating hybrid environments through IoT and virtual environments, has launched the Elevated Environments Workplace of the Future, the company’s approach to a world made better through connection and digitally enriched experiences. Learn More

Latest Products

Kimball International announces new additions to its portfolio that support workplace, heath, and education markets. Informed by research, Kimball International is proud to design, develop, and launch new products that support a greater purpose. These introductions reinforce their belief that spaces should spark connections and create an environment of belonging.
Allseating has launched Innate, a fully upholstered ergonomic task chair envisioned by award-winning industrial designer Todd Yetman. Providing intrinsic and integrated functionality and customization for all-day comfort in private and open office spaces and home offices, Innate features a proprietary and intuitive design that was thoughtfully crafted to cradle the sit-bones and keep its user relaxed and focused.

 

Designed as a visionary concept intended to draw people together and inspire collaboration, Hightower introduces Picnic by +Halle. +Halle, a Hightower brand partner, represents a brave new generation of product designers. Picnic is a collection designed in collaboration with Form Us With Love.
Orgatec 2022 trade fair, the recent, October edition of the biannual Cologne event, brought together the world's purveyors of newly released office furniture. Among the exhibitors, Italian furniture company Citterio proposed a new office dynamic, led by micro-architectures - its ‘CSS Village’ modular office system of self-supporting structures.
To me this small, easily-missed object is an example of just perfect design. Industrial Facility, a/k/a Kim Colin and Sam Hecht, designed this minimal, simple and elegant bag hook to mate with the steel legs of Herman Miller's OE1 table/desk (which they also designed). "We leveraged the OE1 steel table legs to develop a hook that can be attached anywhere along their length - to hold a bag up to 40kg (88 lbs.) in weight."
Another EOOS collaboration with Keilhauer, the GSD contract furniture collection is a multi-piece, configurable ensemble that provides workplace solutions and supports teams in whatever way they connect and collaborate. With hybrid work being here to stay, the ways that employees interact within the office at work are changing.

Other News

Exercising vigorously (running, lifting weights, playing sports, or doing just about anything to get your heart pumping heard) three to five times a week for 40 to 60 minutes per exercise session has been shown to reverse many metabolic issues associated with desk work.
For the first time, you can pull an all-nighter at The Office Experience in Washington D.C.,the largest-ever official fan experience dedicated to the hit show. Complete with set recreations, original show costumes, props, interactive activities, and more, fans of The Office will have the chance to celebrate the show’s major characters, favorite scenes, and story lines with this iconic experience.
NYC-based designer Max Simon, who refers to himself as a "Furniture Rabbi," designed this chair that is made from scaled-up Erector Set pieces, as that was one of Simon's favorite childhood toys. 

Trends in Commercial Projects from Around the Globe

All 30 of L’Oreal's distinct brands are represented in the realization of their Shanghai offices, a canvas of aesthetic to mirror the company's global mission to celebrate diverse beauty.

Space Matrix celebrated the individuality and diversity of L’Oreal in the design of their offices in Shanghai, China.

Global provider of identity management software, Okta, engaged M Moser to redefine the purpose of its workplace in Sydney. Through a pilot office in San Francisco, we tested a new strategy, resulting in a unique approach called the 'dynamic workplace'.

Upcoming Industry Events

NeoCon 2023
June  12-14, 2023 | Chicago, IL
 
NeoCon has served as the world’s leading platform and most important event of the year for the commercial design industry since 1969. A launch pad for innovation—NeoCon offers ideas and introductions that shape the built environment today and into the future.  

National Ergonomics Conference & ErgoExpo 2022
November 8-10, 2022 | Paris Las Vegas Hotel, Las Vegas

National Ergo 2022 returns November 8-10 bringing the Ergonomics community together for the industry's longest running conference and trade show. Learn from the Nation's top Ergonomic and Safety executives with over 40 educational sessions, keynotes and workshops.  

Milan Design Week 2023
April 18-23, 2023 | Milan, Italy

Milan design week is the biggest annual design event in the world and takes place from 17 to 23 April 2023. The week includes the furniture fair Salone del Mobile, which takes place at the Fiera Milano exhibition centre and is the largest event to take place during the week. The selection of fringe events collectively named Fuorisalone also takes place across the city.

hd expo+conference
May 2-4, 2023 | Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas

HD Expo + Conference is the largest hospitality event of its kind in the country, showcasing the latest products, services, and innovative developments from the industry’s leading manufacturers.  

Clerkenwell Design Week 2023
May 23-25, 2023 | London

Clerkenwell is home to more creative businesses and architects per square mile than anywhere else on the planet, making it truly one of the most important design hubs in the world. To celebrate this rich and diverse community, Clerkenwell Design Week has created a showcase of leading UK and international brands and companies presented in a series of showroom events, exhibitions and special installations that take place across the area.

Orgatec 2024
October 22-26, 2024 | Cologne, Germany

Orgatec is the International trade fair for office and property equipment. Held in Cologne, Germany.

Help Wanted Ads

Find the best Contract Furniture Industry jobs and hire the best talent.
Serve as main contact to all lab reseller partners for training, education, website development, regional sales visits and sales meetings and support of all client project pursuits.
The Sales Account Manager oversees existing and new customer sales activities assigned by the Director of Sales & Marketing. The ideal candidate will possess an enthusiastic and entrepreneurial spirit for selling. Self-starter with the ability to pioneer, cultivate, and grow sales.
The PlanSCAPE® Designer is an accredited expert in school design. This position assists in all project planning. Works in conjunction with the Art Director to develop space planning layouts, render environments, and select color pallets. 
The PlanSCAPE® Specialist is a point contact during the selling and project development process. The PlanSCAPE Specialist will serve as the space plan, design consultant and vendor partner product expert for large scale PlanSCAPE projects.
Barbican Architectural Products enters it’s 35th year of business looking to find the right partners for it’s Architectural Wall Division. Organizations should provide an established network of Architects, Interior Designers, General contractors and end users. Due to the overwhelming response and the utilization of our Architectural Walls, we need solid business partnerships to support the growing demand.
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