April 3, 2018
Nearly half of large organisations will adopt artificial intelligence in the workplace by 2019
Chatbots and voice assistants powered by artificial intelligence are starting to gain traction in the workplace of large organisations, according to a report from tech firm Spiceworks. The report, based on a survey of 500 IT professionals in organisations across North America and Europe, found that within the next 12 months, 40 percent of large businesses – those with more than 500 employees – expect to implement one or more intelligent assistants or AI chatbots on company-owned devices, compared to 25 percent of mid-size companies and 27 percent of small businesses. The findings indicate that although adoption is on the rise, some organisations are holding back due to a lack of use cases in the workplace and privacy concerns.
Two new reports published today reflect increasing concerns about stress and mental ill health at work and a lack of understanding by many organisations in how to combat the problem. A new study by Bupa claims that mental health is now a priority at board level for almost two-thirds (65 percent) of businesses, rising to 72 percent among large corporates, while mental health is now a bigger issue than physical illness among employees for nearly a third (29 percent) of businesses. Yet while an overwhelming majority (96 percent) of businesses want to help support their people, many (57 percent) do not know how to best support employees with these challenges. Two in five (39 percent) admit that awareness and understanding of mental health issues is still low across their organisation. These findings are echoed in a report carried out by Perkbox that claims work is by far the most common cause of stress (59 percent). Yet almost one in two (45 percent) of British businesses do not offer anything to help alleviate this, despite the fact that 1 in 4 (25 percent) struggle to be as productive at work when stressed.
It should come as little surprise that graduates who have undertaken an internship are more likely to have honed the skills businesses needs, one of the main findings of the Institute of Student Employers (ISE) annual Development Survey, which launches today (28 March 2018) at the ISE Student Development Conference. The report found that 63 percent of employers believed graduates who had undertaken work experience had the required soft skills, yet less than half (48 percent) thought this of graduates in general. According to the report the five most common graduate skills gaps are; managing up (5 percent of employers believed graduates had this skill); dealing with conflict (12 percent); negotiating/influencing (17 percent); commercial awareness (23 percent and resilience (31 percent). This is why closing skills gaps is a priority for businesses with 74 percent of employers taking specific actions to tackle the issue in 2017. Changes to recruitment and on-the-job training were the most common actions and 16 percent of organisations improved their internship development programmes specifically to close skills gaps.
