May 15, 2024

Mastering GenAI: how to bridge skills gaps and boost employee confidence

Six in ten employees will require training before 2027 according to the World Economic Forum, which estimates that the talent shortage will exceed 85 million people by 2030. The introduction of GenAI in the workplace means this skills gap is set to expand. In Udemy’s recent Global Learning & Skills Trends Report, we found that there are three key learning and skills trends for 2024. Firstly, we are seeing that companies are increasingly looking to hire based on skills rather than formal qualifications like degrees, as these hires more closely align with long-term strategic goals and are better equipped to upskill existing teams. More →

May 14, 2024

Marcie Incarico: a tribute

by Mick Jordan • Comment

We were deeply saddened to hear that Mix Interiors’ board director, Marcie Incarico, had lost her battle against cancer. Marcie was a tour de force, bringing boundless energy and strong leadership to her team. Marcie always strived for excellence, whether working on behalf of her clients or delivering her own company’s products and events. This, of course, was most visible through the Mixology and Mixology North events, where Marcie and the team built on the successful model developed by me and Henry Pugh – a model that put celebration of the industry at its heart. More →

May 13, 2024

We must embrace AI for sustainable workforce transformation

by Christian Rebernik • AI, Comment, Technology

Each technological revolution has gotten faster; and the era of Artificial Intelligence is accelerating at an unprecedented rate—an intimidating prospect, given Musk’s recent prediction of AI surpassing human intelligence. Some say the tech will take on “80 percent of the jobs that exist today”, but history has shown that technological advancements have consistently led to the creation of new job roles, elevating the standard of living and improving overall productivity. More →

May 2, 2024

Beware the workplace mouse trap

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Workplace

Life imitates art part 94. Scientists have discovered that lab mice may be conducting their own experiments on us. A paper published in the journal Current Biology and summarised here, speculates that mice seem to be testing their testers. They do this by deviating from simple expected behaviours such as responding to rewards to work out what might happen. More →

April 29, 2024

Stress, anxiety and a beamish response to it all

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Legal news, Workplace

We now have a policy of not offering ourselves as an outlet for any of the deluge of comment pieces and surveys that are published each year to accompany the various days – and increasingly weeks and months – dedicated to certain conditions like stress and anxiety. They are a gift both to and from the PR industry. This is largely because we cover such issues year round so don’t feel the need to add to the PR feeding frenzy they generate. Whatever you make of the findings of the reports and others like them, even cynics would have to acknowledge they tap into an unmistakable feeling that work is not as enjoyable as it should be. More →

April 29, 2024

Workers may have new rights to request flexible working, but let’s not celebrate too soon

by Molly Johnson-Jones • Comment, Flexible working

The new flexible working rules which came into force this month have been touted as a win – normalising and bringing clarity to the world of flexible work. However, in reality, they will do the very opposite. Under the new rules, workers now have the right to request flexible working from day one of employment. However, employers can take up to 2 whole months to respond to requests, and they do not have to be clear about their stance on flexible work beforehand. This is a huge oversight. Many workers rely on flexible working, and therefore need to know if arrangements are possible before they start new roles. Employers must be clear about their approach to flexible working from the outset, if we want to normalise flexibility in a way that allows both businesses and workers to benefit. More →

April 27, 2024

A philosophical take on meaningful work

by Caleb Althorpe • Comment, Wellbeing, Workplace

Work is an inescapable feature of the modern world. Most of us, except for a lucky few, spend a significant portion of our lives working. If this is the case, we may as well try and make it meaningful. In a 2019 report, 82 percent of employees reported that it is important to have a purpose in their work and that creating meaningful work was one of their top priorities. But what exactly makes a particular job an instance of “meaningful work”? Is it just any sort of work people happen to believe is meaningful? Or is it a job with certain objective features? More →

April 23, 2024

Trust gap on AI in the workplace must be overcome if businesses are to get ahead

by Rob Smedley • AI, Comment, Technology, Workplace

With many AI firms increasingly pivoting towards developing specialised tools for easier integration into the workplace, it may come as a surprise that half of the companies Freeths recently surveyed have no plans at all to implement them, with only 15 percent reporting that investing in artificial intelligence tools for human resources was a strategic priority. More →

April 22, 2024

AI is not coming for your job. But it will make it better

by Barry Murphy • AI, Comment, Technology, Workplace

“Artificial intelligence will outsmart humans, resolve all IT and business problems, and humans will not be needed in the workforce!” These are some of the most common misconceptions that too many companies and workforces currently have around AI and automation. To date, workforces have been inclined to broach AI with apprehension due to concerns that it will negatively affect or eliminate their jobs. Conversations have skewed towards the technology as a disruptive force, here to steal jobs and ultimately leave people redundant. A study found that 60 percent of workers are concerned about job loss in regards to working with Gen AI. Additionally, a further third worried that, despite AI being unable to completely replace them, it could make them less useful in the workplace. More →

April 19, 2024

We can have a dramatic impact on people’s lives with simple, small and cost-free changes

by Mark Eltringham • Cities, Comment, Flexible working, Wellbeing

London, the crouching monster, like every other monster has to breathe, and breathe it does in its own obscure, malignant way. Its vital oxygen is composed of suburban working men and women of all kinds, who every morning are sucked up through an infinitely complicated respiratory apparatus of trains and termini into the mighty congested lungs, held there for a number of hours, and then, in the evening, exhaled violently through the same channels. More →

April 19, 2024

Roboquitting is the latest workplace trend to emerge in the era of hybrid working

by Marvin Gort • Comment, Flexible working, Technology

The era of hybrid working has driven many changes in the way people work. And the latest workplace trend to emerge is something called roboquitting. It takes advantage of remote work and AI to allow people to automate parts of their jobs, freeing them for side hustles and more free time. It builds on the trend for quiet quitting over the past four years, which describes how people do the minimum requirements of their job. They put in no more time, effort, or enthusiasm than absolutely necessary to collect a salary. More →

April 18, 2024

A look back at The Stoddart Review: the once and future guide to workplace productivity?

by Rachel Houghton • Comment, Workplace design

The Stoddart Review, published in 2016, was one of the most significant reports of recent years to explore the role of the workplace for employee productivity in extensive detail and why the office environment was key for productivity purposes. There has been a huge shift in the world of work since then. What we once knew as the workplace has changed forever. More →