Latest news with #MarkDixon
RNZ News
25-05-2025
- Health
- RNZ News
Why doing an 'autumn clean' could keep you and your home healthier this winter
Photo: 123RF As the colder months approach, experts say that doing an 'autumn clean' could keep your household healthier this winter. "Most people think 'spring clean', but actually if you think about it, an autumn clean makes more sense," scientist Dr Michelle Dickinson said. "You're about to spend maybe up to four or five months hunkered down with all your windows closed because of winter in your home. So why not make sure that hunkering down space is nice and clean and dust-free and allergen-free?" Dickinson said pollen, mold spores and dust mites were among the allergens that could lurk in the home. "So, if you want your home to be healthy over the winter, actually getting a good clean in the autumn is a great idea." Allergy New Zealand chief executive Mark Dixon said New Zealand was the "world capital" for dust mites. He said dust mites loved humidity and lived in soft furnishings such as mattresses, pillows, carpets and curtains. He said they were often found in particularly high concentrations in bedrooms. Dixon said during winter, the combination of closed windows, indoor heating and moisture from cooking and showers created a perfect breeding ground. "If you can keep your home under 50 percent humidity, you're probably winning the war against dust mites". Ventilation was also important. Dixon said opening a window for 15 minutes during the colder months would help clear the air inside the home. Dickinson said being closed up over winter could also increase the amount of carbon dioxide in the home and make its inhabitants feel drowsy and lethargic. "If you're feeling quite sleepy in your home, just crack your window open a tiny little bit, let some ventilation in. It won't freeze your house, but it will probably help you clear your head and make you feel a bit better." []Not just what you clean, but how you clean it Dickinson said many household cleaners released "volatile organic compounds" which could cause headaches and eye, nose or throat irritation. She recommended using cleaners with natural ingredients instead, and ingredients such as citric acid worked just as well as bleach. Michelle Dickinson. Photo: RNZ / Robin Martin Ecostore research and development director Huia Iti said natural cleaners were not just healthier for the home, but when washed down the drain kinder to the environment. He said when purchasing a cleaner, consumers should look for products that were independently certified by credible organisations. "Unfortunately, there is a lot of greenwashing out there," he said. Some credible endorsements Iti recommended looking out for included B Corp, Eco Choice Aotearoa and Sensitive Choice. To get the best out of a clean, Dickinson advised cleaning top to bottom, so any stray dirt would fall away from the clean area and be picked up later. Cleaners, she said, also needed to be left on a surface for 10 minutes to be fully effective. "When you spray a cleaner onto a surface, the surfactants are the first to kick in. These clever molecules surround grease and oil, lifting them off your benchtop and pulling them into tiny spheres that can be wiped away easily. The disinfectants then need time to kill germs by breaking down the proteins and cell membranes that keep bacteria and viruses alive. After 10 minutes, everything is in a form that easily wipes away. "Also remember to do your high touch points, so your light switches, your door handles, and especially those areas that lots of grubby hands are going to be touching." To reduce dust mites, along with keeping the home well-ventilated, Dixon also recommended using HEPA-filter vacuums, mattress and pillow dust mite covers, and if needed swapping out heavy curtains for washable blinds. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Forbes
22-05-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Where Company Culture Thrives Beyond the Office
For decades, we treated office space as the default builder of company culture. We relied on proximity, physical cues, and accidental interactions to do the work of connection. But culture by osmosis doesn't scale—and it certainly doesn't travel. The pandemic proved what some already suspected: we can work effectively without sitting together. But it also surfaced the deeper truth. If culture isn't built into the building, it must be built into the work. That shift—from office-dependent to intentionally designed culture—is the transformation leaders now face. Culture is not where we sit. It's how we show up. And companies can no longer confuse floorplans with values. The first step is to recognize that most assumptions about in-person culture were never universal. Not everyone benefited from hallway chats or open office serendipity. Not everyone felt included or seen. As Mark Dixon, founder and CEO of International Workplace Group, said in our conversation on The Future of Less Work podcast about the many people in large office buildings: If you've ever worked in a global organization from anywhere other than the headquarters, you've probably felt this. Maybe you had to travel to HQ just to feel part of things. Or maybe you found yourself on countless conference calls, trying to contribute from afar while others shared eye contact and informal cues in a conference room. Trust, visibility, influence—none of it flows naturally when you're not in the room. When you stop treating the office as your culture engine, you start asking better questions. What actually builds connection, meaning, and commitment? Who gets included or excluded in how we do things? And how do we design culture that travels with people, wherever they go? Culture doesn't just happen. It must be curated. It's not enough to hope people bump into each other in the hallway or linger in the break room. Today, culture needs to be designed into the fabric of how people work and connect. And that doesn't just mean creating better moments for when we're in the same building—it means building the systems, the rituals, and the connections for when we're not. Instead of relying on accidental run-ins, organizations must create intentional moments of interaction. That includes investing in interactive platforms that allow people to collaborate meaningfully across distance. And it means establishing clear rituals and rhythms that give structure and emotional consistency to the employee experience, whether you're in a shared space or working from a laptop halfway across the world. As Dixon put it: If a football club can create global belonging without proximity, so can companies. Think of culture less as a place and more as an ecosystem: emotional resonance, shared rituals, recognizable signals, and consistent communication. That's not luck. That's design. In a world without desks and doors, culture doesn't trickle down from the top. It flows through people—especially those in the middle. First-line managers became the connective tissue of organizations when office walls disappeared. It was in the micro-moments—the quick check-ins, the tone of an email, the way feedback was given or withheld—that culture either flourished or fractured. During the pandemic, decision-making shifted downward by necessity, giving rise to more empowered leadership at every level. Video calls, once seen as a barrier, made leaders unexpectedly more visible and available. Employees who had once been peripheral gained new access and voice. But the lesson isn't just about what happened when we all went remote. It's about what happens when culture isn't dependent on shared physical space. Managers, by virtue of proximity in the workflow, are the ones who shape culture moment by moment—in everything they say and do, and just as powerfully, in everything they don't. Culture is lived, not laminated, and it comes to life through the small, human choices we make in how we treat one another at work. This isn't just about where people work. It's about how we design work to be inclusive, regardless of location. A remote-first mindset doesn't mean everyone is remote all the time—it means that everything from onboarding to collaboration is designed as if no one is in the same room. It forces us to decenter the office from our cultural assumptions. When you adopt this mindset, you're not simply enabling remote work. You're creating a culture that's accessible to everyone—those in headquarters and those halfway across the globe. You're designing with intention: ensuring that everyone has access to the same information, the same visibility, the same opportunities to participate, no matter where they sit. It means building transparent communication flows that don't depend on being in the right meeting. It means emphasizing outcomes over face time. And it means investing in tools and processes that support inclusion, equity, and access by default. Even if your team is largely office-based or hybrid, this mindset ensures that no one is left out simply because they weren't in the hallway when a key conversation happened. This is the big shift we're living through. We are unbundling culture from place. The office still matters—but it no longer defines culture. It becomes a tool, a convening space, a symbol. Not the source. Culture no longer depends on showing up to a building. It depends on how leaders communicate, how decisions get made, how people experience the organization in their day-to-day work. Are they included? Do they feel safe? Do they see themselves in the values being lived out? These are the new cultural markers. The future of culture is participatory. It's something we build actively, not absorb passively. And that means everyone has a role to play—especially leaders who are now responsible not just for performance, but for connection, cohesion, and clarity. It's in every interaction. Every check-in. Every decision to share or withhold information. Every small choice that says, "You matter here." Your best people work not because they have to, not because you tell them to, and not because you measure them on it. They work because they want to—because working for you is their way of achieving their purpose in life. So build a culture that doesn't depend on buildings. Build one that moves with your people, wherever they are.
Scoop
09-05-2025
- Health
- Scoop
Learn To Be An EpiPen® Lifesaver This Allergy Awareness Week
Press Release – Allergy New Zealand Allergy New Zealand is calling on Kiwis to learn how to use an EpiPen this Allergy Awareness Week (11-17 May). Allergy NZ Chief Executive Mark Dixon said; We want all Kiwis to feel confident to act in an allergy emergency, just as we would with … Would you know how to save a life if you needed to respond to someone having a serious allergic reaction (anaphylaxis)? Allergy New Zealand is calling on Kiwis to learn how to use an EpiPen® this Allergy Awareness Week (11-17 May). Allergy NZ Chief Executive Mark Dixon said; 'We want all Kiwis to feel confident to act in an allergy emergency, just as we would with basic CPR and accessing a defibrillator'. To help, Allergy New Zealand has launched a poster outlining the steps a person needs to take to administer an EpiPen® – and potentially save a life. The poster can be viewed HERE. Since Pharmac began fully funding EpiPens for people at risk of anaphylaxis in February 2023, more and more people in our communities are now able to carry them. 'With no cost barrier, New Zealanders of all ages and stages of life can now have a pen with them if they need it,' Mark said. 'Pharmac has recently renewed its funding commitment – a decision we applaud.' 'This Allergy Awareness Week, our focus is on educating people on how to use an EpiPen®. By following the actions in our poster, anyone should be able to step in and help someone if they are having a serious allergic reaction and are not able to help themselves. We encourage people to share the poster widely with family, friends, and community networks.' An EpiPen® is a medical device that contains a single, pre-measured dose of adrenaline that will alleviate symptoms for a person experiencing anaphylaxis (the most severe form of allergic reaction) until emergency services arrive. It is designed for quick and easy use by the person themselves, or if they are too unwell, family members, friends, teachers, colleagues, or members of the public. The steps in the poster outlining how to use an EpiPen® to save a life, include: How to identify if someone is experiencing symptoms of anaphylaxis How and where to administer the EpiPen® Actions to take – If possible, lie the person/child flat; administer the EpiPen®; call 111; say the word 'anaphylaxis' to the call taker; and follow their instructions until emergency services arrive. 'An EpiPen® is easily identifiable through its distinctive blue and orange colours at each end,' Mark said. 'A really easy way to remember how to administer an EpiPen® is: 'Blue to the sky, orange to the thigh'. If you remove the blue safety cap, put the orange end to the outer mid-thigh and push firmly against the leg for three seconds, the EpiPen® will be triggered and can deliver the dose of adrenaline without you seeing or needing to handle needles.' 'We hope we can encourage people to step in and act without fear if they know, or come across, someone who needs this urgent, lifesaving treatment. Knowing how to act, could literally make you a lifesaver. And it's not hard.' Allergy Awareness Week is also an important time for local groups and clubs to check how accessible EpiPens are in their communities. For instance, does your school, fire station, camping ground, Department of Conservation (DoC) hut have an EpiPen®, and are key people trained to use it?
Scoop
09-05-2025
- Health
- Scoop
Learn To Be An EpiPen® Lifesaver This Allergy Awareness Week
Would you know how to save a life if you needed to respond to someone having a serious allergic reaction (anaphylaxis)? Allergy New Zealand is calling on Kiwis to learn how to use an EpiPen® this Allergy Awareness Week (11-17 May). Allergy NZ Chief Executive Mark Dixon said; 'We want all Kiwis to feel confident to act in an allergy emergency, just as we would with basic CPR and accessing a defibrillator'. To help, Allergy New Zealand has launched a poster outlining the steps a person needs to take to administer an EpiPen® - and potentially save a life. The poster can be viewed HERE. Since Pharmac began fully funding EpiPens for people at risk of anaphylaxis in February 2023, more and more people in our communities are now able to carry them. 'With no cost barrier, New Zealanders of all ages and stages of life can now have a pen with them if they need it,' Mark said. 'Pharmac has recently renewed its funding commitment - a decision we applaud.' 'This Allergy Awareness Week, our focus is on educating people on how to use an EpiPen®. By following the actions in our poster, anyone should be able to step in and help someone if they are having a serious allergic reaction and are not able to help themselves. We encourage people to share the poster widely with family, friends, and community networks.' An EpiPen® is a medical device that contains a single, pre-measured dose of adrenaline that will alleviate symptoms for a person experiencing anaphylaxis (the most severe form of allergic reaction) until emergency services arrive. It is designed for quick and easy use by the person themselves, or if they are too unwell, family members, friends, teachers, colleagues, or members of the public. The steps in the poster outlining how to use an EpiPen® to save a life, include: How to identify if someone is experiencing symptoms of anaphylaxis How and where to administer the EpiPen® Actions to take - If possible, lie the person/child flat; administer the EpiPen®; call 111; say the word 'anaphylaxis' to the call taker; and follow their instructions until emergency services arrive. 'An EpiPen® is easily identifiable through its distinctive blue and orange colours at each end,' Mark said. 'A really easy way to remember how to administer an EpiPen® is: 'Blue to the sky, orange to the thigh'. If you remove the blue safety cap, put the orange end to the outer mid-thigh and push firmly against the leg for three seconds, the EpiPen® will be triggered and can deliver the dose of adrenaline without you seeing or needing to handle needles.' 'We hope we can encourage people to step in and act without fear if they know, or come across, someone who needs this urgent, lifesaving treatment. Knowing how to act, could literally make you a lifesaver. And it's not hard.' Allergy Awareness Week is also an important time for local groups and clubs to check how accessible EpiPens are in their communities. For instance, does your school, fire station, camping ground, Department of Conservation (DoC) hut have an EpiPen®, and are key people trained to use it?
