Search Results for: technology

March 6, 2019

Less time spent commuting is key to workplace wellbeing

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News

Lenovo has released a study on ‘Britain’s evolving workplace’ (registration). It claims that more than three quarters (76 per cent) of those that have no commute by working from home are overall satisfied with their job and a third (37 per cent) of those surveyed admit to choosing their current role based on its close proximity to their home. The report claims that the changing nature of the modern workplace benefits both workers and employers, with one in ten workers most productive outside of typical 7am to 6pm working hours and a quarter (26 per cent) wishing to work more flexible hours.

March 6, 2019

City of Cambridge to digitally clone itself in bid to tackle congestion and pollution

by Neil Franklin • Cities, News, Technology

Smart Cambridge and researchers from the Cambridge Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction (CSIC) at Cambridge University have announced plans to create a digital clone of the city to explore how congestion and commuting times can be reduced and air quality improved. Researchers at the University of Cambridge-based CSIC and officers from Cambridgeshire County Council’s transport, sustainability and planning departments are examining how digital technology and data can be used to support decisions and make improvements.

The study will focus on the creation of a digital twin prototype, combining traditional urban modelling techniques, new data sources and data analytics. The prototype will include the recent trends of journeys to work in Cambridge, including how people of different ages and employment status travel to work and how different factors affect their travel. It will also explore future possible journeys to work based on transport investment, housing developments and how flexible working and new technology may impact commuting. A web-based modelling platform will also visualise future development options and give people an opportunity for feedback.

“Digital twins have the potential to help cities develop more holistic policies which will assist in addressing some of the very real challenges urban areas face such as congestion, pollution and the need to become more sustainable,” said Dan Clarke, strategy and partnerships manager for Smart Cambridge.

CSIC led a workshop with council officers in December which helped them to understand local requirements and how they can deliver a digital twin prototype which responds to imminent city challenges and supports the policy goals of improving air quality and reducing congestion.

“We are now working on the prototype and will deliver an initial version in eight weeks,”said CSIC research associate Dr Timea Nochta. “We will continue to develop it alongside the council so that it can be used to its full potential and so that officers feel confident in asking the right questions for technology to answer.”

Claire Ruskin, executive board member for the Greater Cambridge Partnership, and CEO of Cambridge Network, said: “We have worked together to collect and understand information before, and Smart Cambridge is delighted to be working with university teams again. We can begin developing next-generation tools for supporting plans and policies to give people alternatives to their cars to help improve journeys, reduce congestion and improve air quality in Greater Cambridge.”

The project has been funded by the Ove Arup Foundation and the Centre for Digital Built Britain. The work of Smart Cambridge is supported by the Connecting Cambridgeshire programme, led by Cambridgeshire County Council, with investment from the Greater Cambridge Partnership. CSIC is an Innovation and Knowledge Centre funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Innovate UK and industry.

Image: Andrew Dunn

March 5, 2019

Designing a better workforce: how workplace design can impact wellbeing

by Mary Lawrence • Comment, Wellbeing, Workplace design

In a recent survey, 95 percent of office workers said their physical work environment is important for their wellbeing and mental health. However, half believe their current working environment does not have a positive effect on their mental health, wellbeing, mood and productivity. The issue of employee wellbeing has risen up business’ agendas in recent years, and, as part of the drive for better mental health support for workers, companies are looking at ways in which the physical workplace can improve the mental health of their employees.

March 5, 2019

Employees want good tech and flexibility but stick with their own fixed desk

by Sara Bean • AI, Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Technology, Workplace

Almost two-thirds of those staff (60 percent) say inadequate technology is the biggest productivity blocker at work and by failing to do its job properly it is making life difficult for employees. This frustration trumps unnecessary bureaucracy, inefficient processes and annoying colleagues – other factors that stop employees from being productive, claims research from Cloudbooking. The research suggests that the digital piece of the employee experience puzzle is more prominent and important than expected – it is in fact the single most important factor with 90 percent of UK office workers who said efficient technology is important to their overall experience. Currently fewer than one in ten UK employees are “extremely satisfied” with their workplace experience, indicating there is significant room for employers to improve it by delivering better technological resources. However, despite wanting to embrace more flexible working, staff still prefer their own fixed desk.

March 5, 2019

Digital transformation offers great opportunities for firms, but at a risk

by Neil Franklin • News, Technology, Wellbeing

Digital technology can improve our lives but it also poses a major risk of widening social inequality and blocking opportunities for people without the skills to navigate the online world safely, according to a new OECD report. A mix of technical, emotional and social skills is a pre-condition for people to combine their digital and real lives in a balanced way, and to avoid the mental health problems and other risks linked to abuses of online technologies, the report says.

March 4, 2019

Filtering out the noise, the pathology of work, busy doin muffin and some other stuff

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Features

We might think that an inability to absorb the vast amount of information generated by our fellow humans and their machines is something of a modern phenomenon, but we’ve always known we can have too much of this particular good thing. Distringit librorum multitude, wrote Seneca in the First Century. An abundance of books is a distraction.

March 1, 2019

National Employee Appreciation Day? What a joke!

by Helen Jamieson • Comment, Flexible working, Wellbeing

Today is (apparently) a hot new date for all employers’ calendars as we ‘celebrate’ National Employee Appreciation Day. This US import seems to be finding feet in UK workplaces as employers plan to hand out freebies, gifts and perks to their hard-working staff. We all like to receive a thank-you, and likely won’t turn down free cakes, boxes of chocolates, or an early-finish. However, ‘moments’ like these do nothing to improve employment conditions. They are often nothing more than hollow gestures, designed to show the outside world how great an employer is rather than demonstrate true appreciation.

February 27, 2019

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Workplace ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Facilities management, Technology, Workplace, Workplace design

We know, and have for a long time, that the workplace is in a state of near constant flux and so we often fall into the trap of assuming that there is some sort of evolution towards an idealised version of it. That is why we see so many people routinely willing to suspend their critical facilities to make extravagant and even absurd predictions about the office of the future or even the death of the office. This is perniciously faulty thinking. However we can frame a number of workplace related ideas in terms of evolutionary theory, so long as we accept one of the central precepts about evolution. Namely that there is no end game, just types progressing and sometimes dying out along the distinct branches of a complex ecosystem. As a nerdy sort of guy of a certain age, I’ve tended to frame my thoughts on all of this with reference to an idea from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by the great Douglas Adams.

February 27, 2019

Digitisation and culture of uncertainty lead employees to seek stability

by Sara Bean • AI, Technology, Workplace

Job security is the top reason employees in the UK joined their company, and also the main reason they stay, according to Mercer’s 2019 Global Talent Trends study. With close to one in three employees being concerned that AI and automation will replace their job, senior managers are also worried about the effects of digitisation, with nearly three-quarters (71 percent) of executives in the UK predicting t significant disruption in the next three years, compared to 23 percent in 2018. Mercer’s global findings reveal a similar story finding that as executives focus on making their organisations “future-fit”, significant human capital risks – including the ability to close the skills gap and overcome employee change fatigue – can impede transformation progress. Addressing these concerns is paramount, given that less than one in three executives rate their company’s ability to mitigate the effect on employees as very effective.

February 26, 2019

The new issue of Work&Place, the most influential workplace journal in the world, is now available for free download

by Jim Ware • Premium Content

We have published the latest Work&Place issue for Spring 2019. As always, it offers a diverse compilation of timely and provocative perspectives focused on the intersections between and among work, the workplace, technology, culture, and business strategy. You might start with Rob Harris’s call for shooting the messengers in his (highly responsible) rant on the dearth of meaningful research about the business value of open offices and the all-too-frequent unfounded claims about how wonderful open plan is.

February 26, 2019

Digital and mobile tech at work is still not being used to full advantage

by Sara Bean • AI, Facilities management, News, Technology, Workplace

Just a third of businesses are using mobile technologies for their administration tasks, and as organisations struggle to digitise, many employees admit to finding pen and paper simpler to use. The vast majority (91 percent) of workers still prefer to use a desktop or laptop for administrative tasks, according to the research commissioned by ABBYY, as only one third (35 percent) use mobiles for admin, despite 43 percent of workers wanting to use it for this purpose. Millennials in particular are keen to use mobiles, with 55 percent wanting to use mobiles for admin – yet only 43 percent currently do. Older generations are also open to using mobile for admin, with 35 percent of Gen X currently doing so, and 41 percent wanting to. However, it’s clear that some employees are finding the latest technologies, such as mobile, too difficult to use – 28 percent still want to use pen and paper for admin tasks, as 46 percent find it simpler than other means. Desktop still runs the workplace in the UK, regardless of today’s remote working climate. Almost half of workers (48 percent) use a desktop or laptop because it’s easier, and 41 percent because it’s faster.

February 25, 2019

A four day week, people-watching at work, the art of AI and some other stuff

by Mark Eltringham • AI, Facilities management, Features, Technology, Wellbeing, Workplace design

While the recent Finnish pilot of universal basic income had mixed results, a trial of the other most talked about solution to our problem with work – the four day week – has been reported as far more promising. A New Zealand financial services firm called Perpetual Guardian switched its 240 staff from a five-day to a four-day week last November and maintained their pay. The results (registration) included a 20 percent rise in productivity and improved staff wellbeing and engagement.