June 15, 2018
Digital addiction: how technology keeps us hooked
Plumber wins gig workers’ rights battle
Why exhaustion is not unique to our overstimulated age
Ten red flags signalling your analytics program will fail
The CEO society and our culture of metric fixation
The bottom line on coworking spaces
It’s time we value our data – as people and society
June 14, 2018
The UK Government has announced that key parts of its OS MasterMap will now be made openly available for the public and businesses to use. It estimates that this will boost the UK economy by at least £130m each year, as companies and startups use the data. The release of OS MasterMap data is one of the first projects to be delivered by the new Geospatial Commission, in conjunction with Ordnance Survey. The aim is to drive forward the UK as a world leader in location data, helping to grow the UK’s digital economy by an estimated £11bn each year. The data can be used for a variety of purposes including navigating public transport, tracking supply chains and logistics. It is also essential for the application of drones and autonomous vehicle technology. Today’s announcement follows the launch of the first GovTech challenge in May this year – a competition designed to incentivise Britain’s tech firms to come up with innovative solutions to improve public services. These competitions will be delivered using the £20m GovTech fund launched in November 2017.
June 13, 2018
Organisations with a strong people analytics culture are much more likely to report strong business performance claims new global research from the CIPD in association with Workday. However, the survey also highlights that the wide scale adoption of people analytics practice is still low and that more needs to be done to improve skills and confidence in the HR function, particularly in the UK which is lagging behind other markets in both capability and confidence. The research also highlights the importance of access to data. It found that access to people data improves outcomes but only 71 percent of HR professionals have access to this data, and just 42 percent of finance professionals do. For those with access to people data, just 22 percent use it daily in their decision-making and almost a quarter (23 percent) use it in decision-making just once a month or less. The research, People Analytics: driving business performance with people data, surveyed 3,852 business professionals globally – including HR and finance professionals – to understand attitudes towards people analytics and how it is being used in organisations.
June 13, 2018
Almost half (49 percent) of companies are struggling to find skilled workers as digitisation and automation cause significant change in the skills businesses look for in professionals, according to new data from Robert Half UK. As a result, one fifth (21 percent) are now looking to recruit candidates with exceptional soft skills, with a view to developing the desired technical skills on the job. In the Robert Half research, UK business leaders consider an openness to new ideas (28 percent), an openness to change (26 percent) and good communication abilities (19 percent) as key attributes and will prioritise these areas when considering new talent. Digitisation and automation are rapidly evolving the business world. Companies are having to quickly adapt to the changing world of work, and are looking for employees who can keep pace,” says Matt Weston, UK Managing Director at Robert Half.
June 12, 2018
A new Gallup report reveals the growth of AI is not seen as a disadvantage for employees. The real problem is lack of emotional intelligence in management, with managers failing to move beyond the role of “task manager” and adopt the coaching perspective they need in order to future proof the workforce. The Real Future of Work study interviewed 4,000 working adults in the UK, France, Germany and Spain to understand how employees are being managed and the subsequent impact this might have on the future. Worryingly, one in four UK employees say they only receive performance feedback from their manager once a year or less, a further 20 percent claim it’s only a “few times a year”. Almost one in five (19 percent) UK workers predict technology will increase the risk of losing their job – the highest in the European countries surveyed and more than double those concerned in Spain. When asked how technological changes will influence work in the next three years, seven out of ten workers in the UK felt it will increase their productivity followed by France (66 percent), Spain (51 percent) and Germany (37 percent).
June 11, 2018
There is a persistent image of a coworking space as a sort of glorified serviced office for tech and creative startups who can’t afford the eye-watering rents in the areas they need to be. This is usually in the technology hothouses of the world’s major cities where they can work alongside the corporate giants and fellow innovators that thrive there. The reason such perceptions exist is because they are largely true. It’s no coincidence that coworking spaces have thrived up till now in the world’s most expensive property markets – in London, Hong Kong and New York, serving exactly the sorts of start-ups and freelancers who rely on proximity to their potential clients.
June 11, 2018
Businesses looking to invest outside of London may be deterred by the UK’s still unreliable digital infrastructure or below-average internet speeds in many areas. New data from GoCompare reveals the UK locations with the best digital infrastructure for businesses keen to relocate. The study suggests that soaring costs in the capital and post-Brexit uncertainty are combining to create a dynamic environment for businesses in the UK’s regions. A CBI report estimated that a total of £208bn in revenue could be unlocked if the regions are properly invested in. Already, 68 percent of investment in digital tech went to businesses in regional hubs outside of London.
June 7, 2018
The vast majority of property professionals in the UK now regard proptech as an opportunity rather than a threat, new research has found. However, a majority also remain sceptical about their own organisations’ progress on adopting new technology. Those are the key findings of a survey of more than 300 property professionals carried out by Trident Building Consultancy, in association with RICS, GoReport and Teesside University.
June 5, 2018
Companies that are less technologically advanced are at risk of falling behind the competition and not attracting top talent, claims a new global study from Aruba. By contrast, employees who work in digital workplaces are not only more productive but also more motivated, have higher job satisfaction, and report an overall better sense of well-being. The study, Digital Revolutionaries Unlock the Potential of the Digital Workplace, outlines both the business and human benefits of more digitally-driven workplaces, and how. Almost all respondents (97 percent) thought their workplace would be improved through greater use of technology, while 64 percent said their company will fall behind the competition if new technology isn’t implemented. The same portion (64 percent) believe the traditional office will become obsolete due to advances in technology. However, the survey also warns that companies must be vigilant as more digital-savvy employees are taking greater risks with data and information security.
June 1, 2018
More than 6 million UK adults are already self-employed or working as a contractor in the so-called gig economy, with a further 6 percent of currently full-time professionals looking to make the transition this year. New research of more than 2,000 UK adults commissioned by WeMa Life claims to reveal how the rise of the gig economy is transforming the UK’s employment landscape, with one in five (19 percent) working adults currently identifying themselves as being a freelancer, sole trader or self-employed. The study found that 71 percent of gig economy workers identified flexibility as the biggest appeal for working on a contractor or temporary basis. Furthermore, having control over the hours and types of jobs undertaken has also empowered a new section of the workforce that were previously unable to access full-time employment – it was uncovered that nearly half (46 percent) of those working in the gig economy do so because they are not in a position to work a full-time job due to other commitments in their life.
May 29, 2018
Drone technology has the potential to increase UK GDP by £42 billion (or 2 percent) by 2030, according to new research from PwC. The research estimates there will be more than 76,000 drones in use across UK skies by 2030. More than a third of these (36 percent) could be utilised by the public sector (including in areas such as defence, health and education). The report claims that drone technology could help the UK achieve up to £16bn in net cost savings by 2030 through increased productivity. The technology, media and telecoms (TMT) sector stands to save the most by using drones, with a potential net saving of £4.8bn by 2030.
June 12, 2018
Keeping people at the heart of the modern workplace
by Ryan Anderson • Comment, Technology, Workplace design
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