Artificial intelligence to drive the next generation of jobs

Artificial intelligence to drive the next generation of jobs

artificial intelligenceThe uptake of artificial intelligence by businesses will transform the UK job market in the near future and will create around 133 million new jobs worldwide. The findings come from a new report called Harnessing the Power of AI: The Demand for Future Skills (registration) from recruiter Robert Walters and market analysts Vacancy Soft. More →

Flexible workspace makes up a third of London property deals

Flexible workspace makes up a third of London property deals

flexible workspace in GlasgowOver the past year, flexible workspace made up over a third of of commercial property transactions in London despite only making up around 6 percent of the total office supply in the UK capital, according to a new report by The Instant Group. More →

Older workers will drive long term success of firms

Older workers will drive long term success of firms

Older workers are essential for the success of firmsOrganisations that actively leverage the abilities and experience of their older workers will be best positioned for the future of work, according to Mercer’s report Next Stage: Are You Age-Ready? (registration). The importance of being “age-ready” is underscored for both businesses and economies by the impact of the twin forces of a rapidly ageing labour force coupled with an uncertain global economic growth rate, the report argues. More →

Triangulum smart cities project reaches completion

Triangulum smart cities project reaches completion

Manchester at heart of new smart cities programmeThe €30 million award-winning Triangulum project is drawing to a close as the participating cities in the pioneering project begin to share the first results from the five-year long future smart cities programme. Triangulum is one of 14 European Smart Cities and Communities Lighthouse Projects funded by the European Union’s Research and Innovation Framework Programme Horizon 2020. More →

Workers remain sceptical about open plan and shared space

Workers remain sceptical about open plan and shared space

a modern open plan spaceDespite a seeming shift towards companies embracing more collaborative workplace environments across Europe, the benefits of ‘hot-desking’ and open plan working seem to still be contentious for many workers. With this in mind, Savills, in association with YouGov, has conducted a survey of 11,000 office workers across the continent to understand just What Workers Want. More →

Workplaces should change to entice people back into them

Workplaces should change to entice people back into them

A n example of the new generation of great workplacesA new report published jointly by Instant Group and Area addresses the issue of how ensure workplaces address the physical, technological and personal needs of the growing number of people who have a choice about where they work. The report explores what employers can do to ensure that the workplace is still a place where people want to be.

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Working mums feel trapped by lack of flexible working

Working mums feel trapped by lack of flexible working

mothers feel trapped by lack of flexible workingDespite the fact that all UK employees have the right by law to request flexible working options once they have been at a company for 26 weeks, more than three-quarters of working mothers feel trapped in their current job because they worry about finding another with enough flexibility, a new survey from workingmums.co.uk claims.  In the poll of more than 2,000 parents , 80 percent of mothers said they felt stuck in their current role because they didn’t feel confident they would find another one with the amount of flexibility they needed. The majority of mothers (57 percent) said their career had not progressed since they had children. More →

Firms remain committed to wellness programmes

Firms remain committed to wellness programmes

wellness illustration DeloitteA new report from Deloitte claims that 78 percent of employers are looking to invest in workplace wellness programmes in the next three years, citing the main benefits as reducing employee inactivity (32 percent) and improving talent retention (25 percent). However, according to the Deloitte Corporate Wellness Segment many businesses struggle to create meaningful, worthwhile programmes that meet the needs of their entire workforce. Additional challenges for employers include yielding ROI and measuring the effectiveness and value of such programmes. More →

Firms turn to temp staff to acquire digital skills

Firms turn to temp staff to acquire digital skills

As well as using contingent staff to help them become more agile, research from recruitment consultancy Robert Half UK claims that over three quarters (76 percent) of employers are turning to the temporary market to aid their digital transformation efforts. More →

Firms shift to contingent work to stay agile, report claims

Firms shift to contingent work to stay agile, report claims

contingent workAround a quarter of firms worldwide and mid-sized companies are shifting permanent roles to contingent work positions this year to remain agile, according to a report from Randstad Sourceright. The quarterly Talent Trends study (registration), based on responses from executives, HR managers and other professionals across 17 markets worldwide, claims that businesses are using gig and freelance workers to fill formerly permanent positions. More →

Employment of mothers shapes working lives of children

Employment of mothers shapes working lives of children

working lives of mothers serves as role model for childrenA new report from the IZA Institute of Labor Economics claims that working mothers serve as role models for the working lives of their children, especially their daughters. The report suggests that  while the inter-generational correlation of labour market outcomes has been a subject of interest among both academics and policymakers for a long time, much of the literature has focused on the correlation of earnings. The new report argues that not only is the potential to earn transmitted across generations but also the willingness to work more generally. More →

Skills gap driven by changing structure of labour market

Skills gap driven by changing structure of labour market

skills gapRecent years have seen a widespread drop in global unemployment rates but what continues to puzzle economists has been the subsequent failure of wage inflation to follow suit. This has created an unusual phenomenon of wage stagnation across global markets, according to the eighth edition of the Hays Global Skills Index, a report into skills and the skills gap published by recruitment firm Hays in collaboration with Oxford Economics. More →