This paper, written by Gemma John and based on her keynote address at BIALL's 49th Annual Study Conference held in Birmingham in June 2018, explores the value of offices and libraries as spaces for meeting, sharing and learning in a moment when new technology enables individuals to access information anywhere, anytime, at the click of a mouse. Drawing on first-hand material from research, policy and projects, it explores the transformation of offices and libraries as workspaces, and the place of offices in the library and of libraries in the office. It focuses on how both offices and libraries are being designed for productivity as the boundary between work and home begins to blur in the United Kingdom.

Increasing longevity and the strain on state and occupational pensions have brought into question long-held assumptions about the age of retirement, and raised the prospect of a workplace populated by ageing workers. In the United Kingdom the default retirement age has gone, incremental increases in state pension age are being implemented and ageism has been added to workplace anti-discrimination laws. These changes are yet to bring about the anticipated transformation in workplace demographics, but it is coming, making it timely to ask if the workplace is ready for the ageing worker and how the extension of working life will be managed. We report findings from qualitative case studies of five large organisations located in the United Kingdom. Interviews and focus groups were conducted with employees, line managers, occupational health staff and human resources managers. Our findings reveal a high degree of uncertainty and ambivalence among workers and managers regarding the desirability and feasibility of extending working life; wide variations in how older workers are managed within workplaces; a gap between policies and practices; and evidence that while casualisation might be experienced negatively by younger workers, it may be viewed positively by financially secure older workers seeking flexibility. We conclude with a discussion of the challenges facing employers and policy makers in making the modern workplace fit for the ageing worker.

Dawn Jones discusses the findings from an in-house project looking at how agile and flexible working can be successfully adopted by legal and business professionals. It is based on information gained from speaking to those with agile and flexible working already entrenched in their businesses, external consultants who advise on this change of working habits and internal teams and individuals who are already exercising agile and flexible working (albeit in a non-formal way). It is a high level guide to start thought processes around the differences between agile and flexible working, the people, the offices and the finances.

This checklist by Ruth Bonino and Gemma Rosenthal of Reed Smith is the latest in our practical checklist series. They explain the meaning of flexible working; who is entitled to request it; the mechanics of requesting and the procedure to follow if the request is denied.

The present and future security of employee-pension funding remains at the forefront of public debate across Europe and beyond. In the United Kingdom, to finance future pension entitlements it has been suggested that the state pension age be increased. This paper presents the results of analyses of four major national social surveys that have explored the working and living conditions of workers in paid employment after the state pension age. Comparing the circumstances of these workers with workers just below that age illustrates the extent to which it constitutes a break in the working and domestic lives of older people. The findings suggest that, in order to accommodate older workers in the workplace, more attention may need to be placed on informal as well as contractual arrangements of flexible working. Beyond part-time working, older workers rarely take up additional or alternative flexible working arrangements. At the same time, older workers continue to experience housework as burdensome, while in partnered households the gendered division of domestic labour prevails. Research and policy have yet to consider in depth these risks associated with working longer in life.