Ideas &
updates.

We're delighted to announce that we're going to be partnering with Mako Commercial Interiors and Neat to bring the WX Hub to the Workplace Event at the NEC in April.

Find out more about what we have planned.

How likely are your people to recommend your workplace?

That’s the power of eNPS — a single question with the potential to guide smarter, more people‑focused decisions. In this blog, we explore why it could be a better North Star for workplace teams than traditional benchmarks, how to pair it with qualitative feedback, and what happens when HR and FM start working together instead of in silos.

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In a sea of workplace feedback, it’s easy to chase the loudest voice.

But volume doesn’t always equal value. Audiem’s unique Resonance Rating helps workplace teams cut through the noise and focus on the issues that really matter. Not just what’s said, but what actually lands.

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In this blog, we reflect on a panel conversation at the Amsterdam Workspace Design Show with leaders from ASML, Magnum and Dutch architects EGM. From ice cream memories to semiconductor supply chains, the discussion explored how physical space can express brand values, embed cultural norms — or, if handled poorly, undermine both.

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Many organisations invest heavily in employee surveys but how much of that feedback ever sees the light of day? This article explores why so many insights vanish between collection and action, and why workplace teams might hold the missing piece.

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What does reporting into Finance vs HR really mean for workplace teams? This article explores how reporting lines shape strategy, culture, and consistency — and why the org chart might matter more than you think.

A fresh look at the Workplace Mix — the framework at the heart of Audiem’s platform. This article explains how it turns open-text feedback into structured insight, why it matters more than ever, and how it sets us apart from generic AI tools.

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Mergers aren’t just about portfolios and payrolls — they’re about people. This article explores how workplace culture (different to corporate culture) often slips through the cracks, and why real integration means looking beyond buildings and org charts.

If Netflix can personalise your viewing experience, why can’t we personalise the workplace? This article explores how human feedback — not just behavioural data — could be the key to building smarter, more responsive workplaces.

Expectations are shifting — in every part of life, including the workplace. This article explores how evolving demands are reshaping what satisfaction really means, and what that means for the teams trying to deliver it.

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Real estate strategies are chasing efficiency — but are they measuring what matters? This article unpacks why optimisation without experience data could cost more than it saves.

Why do we work the way we do?

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In this piece, Chris Moriarty explores the cultural patterns shaping today’s workplace — and asks what future generations might make of our current assumptions. From hybrid habits to inherited routines, it’s time to challenge the paths we keep walking.

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Why should people come back to the office?

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It’s a fair question — especially when the commute feels like a cost. In this article, we explore what workplace professionals can learn from marketers about creating a compelling value exchange. Spoiler: it starts with understanding what really matters to your people.

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What’s the difference between FM and Workplace? Depends who you ask.
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In this piece, Chris Moriarty reflects on a decade of conversations, conference stages and confused job titles — and why it might be time to stop debating and start connecting the dots.

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Audiem 2.0 is nearly here. Here’s what’s new, what’s next, and why it matters.

Everyone wants better feedback — but few teams realise they’re already sitting on it.
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Helpdesk tickets are a hidden treasure trove of insight. This article explores how workplace teams can unlock their real value — without sending another survey.

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In a bid to stay efficient (and avoid complaints), too many FM and workplace teams stick to simple rating scales. But when you only ask for numbers, you only get surface-level data. What’s really happening in the workplace might be just out of view.

During the pandemic there organisations rejoiced as they were able to consolidate their portfolio. But now the CEO has issued an RTO mandate and the CRE team are left figuring out how to make it work.

Using Hans Christian Andersen’s famous fairy tale, Chris illustrates how seemingly minor workplace irritations, such as the absence of clear signage indicating whether to push or pull a door or poorly designed desk booking systems, can have a surprisingly significant impact on employees’ daily experiences and productivity. These small annoyances, which Chris refers to as “micro-frustrations” or “productivity toxins,” can meaningfully affect our everyday working lives. But what exactly are they? And are they truly more important than broader workplace experience strategies?

In this article, James unpacks a common misconception about generative AI: that it can deliver powerful workplace insights straight out of the box. He explains why truly responsible use of these tools demands deep system expertise, something most organisations don’t have. Enter Audiem: an expert system designed to do the heavy lifting for you, making it easier to extract meaningful, reliable insights without becoming a data scientist.

In “Can We Reinvent the Modern Office?”, recent Workplace Geeks podcast guests Jeremy Myerson and Philip Ross challenge the conventional approach to workplace design, advocating for a fundamental shift away from outdated models rooted in efficiency and control. They propose ten transformative directions—ranging from social and healthy to digital and shared—that aim to create workplaces fit for the future. Their insights encourage a bold reimagining of how we work, urging leaders to move beyond incremental changes and embrace a more profound transformation. This thought-provoking piece invites readers to consider whether it's time to reset and rebuild the modern office from the ground up

In this article, James Pinder argues against the overuse of rating scale questions in employee surveys, highlighting their limitations in capturing employee experiences. He argues that while these questions provide structured data, they often reduce nuanced feedback to mere numbers. James advocates for embracing free-text responses, which offer richer insights and more meaningful engagement, challenging organisations to rethink their feedback strategies and adopt more human-centric approaches to understanding employee sentiments

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In the world of workplace, "biophilic design" can be regarded as little more than some nice plants and a token water feature. But beneath the preconceptions and misunderstanding lies a complex intersection of evolutionary theory, environmental psychology, sustainable practice and the potential for urban transformation. In our latest Workplace Geeks special—and first ever ‘Workplace Geeks investigation™’ deep dive—Chris Moriarty and I set out to explore the roots and relevance of biophilic design: where it comes from, why it matters, and how it's being used (and sometimes misunderstood) in today’s workplace and beyond.

Chris Moriarty, co-founder of Audiem, shares his insights on various workplace setting topics, including progressive work concepts, 4-day workweeks, hybrid/telework and more.

In a recent episode of the Workplace Geeks podcast, we published our last in a series of chats with members of the Workplace Leaders Top 50 list 2024.

What makes WeWork spaces so memorable isn’t just the design; it’s the people behind the experience. In the 'We Want a WeWork' article, Chris Moriarty explores how roles like community and workplace managers are reshaping how we think about office life. It’s a call to reimagine what great workplace experiences look like and how every organisation can learn from the co-working model. Read the full article to see why experience, not just space, is the future of work.

In January, Ian Ellison had the opportunity to join a panel of experts for WORKTECH Academy’s quarterly briefing webinar.

Marvin Minsky, a pioneer in the field of artificial intelligence, argued decades ago that “Easy things are hard” for computers. He meant that computers struggle to do things that humans can do easily and often without really thinking about.

A major new research initiative, WorkPulse, has been launched by workspace provider Workpattern in collaboration with AI-powered analytics platform Audiem. This ongoing project aims to uncover emerging workplace trends by tracking employee sentiment across industries and regions.

Surveys remain a popular way of collecting workplace experience data, but increasingly, we hear people talking about survey fatigue and the reluctance of employees to give feedback.

Co-founder Chris Moriarty shares his views on what the CRE industry should focus its attention on. Spoiler alert, it involves people and not buildings!

Workplace experiences ebb and flow. They are rich and complex. While they might seek to cater for diverse and wide-ranging groups, they are individually and often very personally felt. They are shaped over time, yet can be transformed – from delight to disgust, or vice versa – in an instant. And they are typically subtle and nuanced – not only positive and negative, but often ambivalent too.

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if the focus of the 1980s was on business ‘excellence’ in terms of performance and efficiency, perhaps the most important organisational pre-occupation of the post-pandemic 2020s will concern something equally complex and elusive: workplace experience. Here we explore the challenges that come with it.

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Dive into our chat with Nigel Oseland on the Workplace Geeks podcast, exploring the Human Zoo concept in office design. From evolutionary psychology to the Bürolandschaft approach, hear Nigel's take on reimagining workspaces for well-being and performance.

Ian talks through our new Topics engine. A powerful way to unlock workplace insights from huge amounts of employee feedback. Combined with our Workplace Mix framework, this tool has the ability to transform how you view workplace experience in your organisation.

We're pleased to announce that on the 20 April, we'll be hosting our very first Audiem event. A chance to get a full view of the platform, understand the thinking behind it and see some of the ways that organisations are using it. We'll even throw in a case study from some of the largest tech companies on the planet.

We've looked at neurodiversity with Josh Artus looking at a guide he authored to help design more inclusive spaces, but what does the academic landscape look like in this field? What evidence is there that can give us confidence that measures will work? We explore it with Jo Yarker.

Neurodiversity is rightly getting some much deserved focus in workspace design circles but are we approaching it in the right way and how do we avoid slipping into unhelpful stereotypes. The amazing Josh Artus guides us through this important topic.

In our very first interview on the Workplace Geeks podcast we spoke to Kursty Groves. Speaker, fellow podcaster, and accomplished workplace strategist, we chatted about 'Space for Innovation'. A phenomenal exploration into how the spaces can get our creative juices flowing. A blend of academic research, practical experience and storytelling which gets us under the skin of innovation.

Imagine there was a workplace design metric sitting there, completely unseen and completely unknown to the vast majority of people. And imagine we could use it to predict the effectiveness of office space. Well imagine no longer, dive into the wonderful world of Space Syntax with Kerstin Sailer.

We were so lucky to convince one of the OG's of workplace research, Jeremy Myerson, to join us on one of our earliest episodes. In this discussion we find out how he turned a research project that focused on getting employees to draw lines on grey boxes into an award winning paper still influencing workplace research today.