The Economist Magazine presents a selection of three essential articles read aloud from the latest issue of The Economist. This week, Xi Jinping is reinventing state capitalism (10:20), Belarus’s sham election (14:25), and the decline of the office romance.
Category Archives: Workplace
Health & Business: “The Office Redesign Is Just Beginning” (WSJ Video)
Plexiglass dividers and floor decals might not be permanent, but the pandemic will bring lasting change to offices. Experts from the architecture and real-estate industries share how they are getting back to work and what offices will look like in the future.
Photo: Cesare Salerno for The Wall Street Journal
Future Of Home Offices: “Zen Work Pod” – “Simple, Monastically-Inspired Design” By Autonomous
Minimal, Zen Design
Keep things simple and stay focused. Monastically inspired design promotes a minimalist yet productive work lifestyle. All unnecessary details have been removed to keep every feature of the pod indispensable.
Open, Yet Private
The completely enclosed space gives you the privacy you need to focus at work. Minimal design aesthetic, tempered glass walls that allow for open views, & high vaulted ceilings give a feeling of openness, providing mental clarity & the space to breathe.

Well-equipped
With built-in shelves and drawers to free up space and provide much-needed storage, a SmartDesk 2 – Home Office, and a Kinn Chair, the pod comes completely furnished with everything that you need to immediately start working more effectively from home.
Super affordable
You won’t find a better price for a completely self-contained home office like the Zen Work Pod. With its gorgeous contemporary design and full installation included within the price, the decision is easy. PLUS, subscribe before Jun 15 for super early bird deals ($1500 off retail price)!
2020 Innovation: “Remote-Only Organizations”: Is This The Future Of Work?
From a Stanford Engineering article (April 8, 2020):
Companies that structure themselves as location-independent have developed norms and practices that bridge the emotional and logistical distances. The same is true for their workers. For such companies, remote-only work can reduce costs, expand the talent pool and boost productivity. By contrast, being forced by a crisis to work remotely is likely to be disruptive and frustrating. It may be better than shutting down, but it will likely lead to a big drop in productivity.
In the span of a single month, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced companies and organizations of all types to have almost all of their employees work remotely from home.
Has the future of work, the all-remote workforce and even the virtual organization, arrived in full force? Though online technologies have made remote work increasingly common, most companies and organizations are still run out of brick-and-mortar facilities. Now they are scrambling to stand up virtual workspaces overnight.
The Aging Workplace: Baby Boomers Are Fastest Growing Segment Of Labor Force (GlassDoor)
From a GlassDoor.com online posting:
“Senior citizens today are healthier, more engaged, and working longer than past generations,” says Chamberlain. “A ‘gray wave’ of senior citizens will be impacting the workforce in coming years, both in the United States and the United Kingdom.”
Mature employees and job seekers bring a vast skillset and tremendous experience to open jobs, combined with a strong professional network that rivals any social-media-savvy Gen Zer. And despite the preconceptions of older workers, reports show they are just as open to learning and development as their young peers.
Move over, Gen Z and Millennials. The Baby Boomer generation, those born between 1944 and 1964, are the fastest-growing segment of the labor force in the U.S. and they are catching the eye of recruiters in every industry.
Read report: https://www.glassdoor.com/research/app/uploads/sites/2/2019/11/Job_Trends_2020-Glassdoor_FINAL.pdf
According to Glassdoor’s Chief Economist Dr. Andrew Chamberlain in the newly released “Job & Hiring Trends 2020” report, the 65+ demographic is working longer than past generations and shows no signs of retiring for good.
To read more: https://www.glassdoor.com/blog/baby-boomers-becoming-the-fastest-growing-workforce/