What is an inclusive workplace and how do businesses ensure their workplace meets employees’ needs? This breakfast lecture will discuss two of the most significant shifts in the workplace: the ageing of the workforce and the changing nature of work itself in the knowledge economy. Drawn from a body of international research the lecture will show, how an inclusive design perspective can offer new insights into the needs and motivations of employees and suggests how achieving the balance between management efficiency and individual wellbeing might be explored in the 21st century office.

Jo-Anne Bichard is a design anthropologist based at the Royal College of Art Helen Hamlyn Centre where she works with designers engaged in the inclusive design process. She has a BSc in Social Anthropology, and MSc in Science Communication and is awaiting her PhD viva in Architectural Studies. She has conducted a number of ethnographic studies of work and public spaces including medical research labs, public sanitation environments and corporate offices. She is co-author of New Demographics New Workspace: Office Design for the Changing Workforce which was based on research ‘The Welcoming Workplace’ and published in 2010 by Gower Publishing.

The talk will be held in English.