Search Results for: tech

Digital Twins will change our relationship with buildings post lockdown

Digital Twins will change our relationship with buildings post lockdown

Digital Twin technology will be catalysed in the wake of the coronavirus, transforming the way we construct, design manage and occupy buildings. That is the key finding of a new white paper from Cityzenith, which includes contributions from a number of global practitioners and technology experts. More →

Hygiene remains main concern of people returning to work

Hygiene remains main concern of people returning to work

As lockdown measures begin to ease, many UK office workers are concerned about going back to the office – with worries rife over being able to maintain social distancing (59 percent) and appropriate hygiene and cleaning standards (44 percent), according to new research. The YouGov poll, for the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management (IWFM) surveyed office workers across the country to reveal that over a third (34 percent) are concerned about getting used to a corporate office culture again after the lockdown. More →

Employee productivity proves remarkably resilient during pandemic

Employee productivity proves remarkably resilient during pandemic

The surge in remote working coupled with the rapid adoption of communications and collaborative technology means many companies have seen no significant change in employee productivity, according to a new report from Willis Towers Watson. Organisations have responded to the rapid disruption caused by the dramatic spread of COVID-19 by finding innovative ways to help their workers cope with the impact of the pandemic, while at the same time preparing for an eventual return to the workplace for many employees, according to the  survey of employers’. More →

Remote working has a number of hidden risks

Remote working has a number of hidden risks

Many of us have had little choice but to resort to remote working in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. It is just days since Google, Apple and Twitter were making headlines by ordering their employees to work from home, but you could now say the same about lots of companies. More →

Organisations think empowering people is the route to success (but only a few act)

Organisations think empowering people is the route to success (but only a few act)

Nearly 90 percent of organisations say their success depends on empowering frontline employees to make decisions in real, but only 7 percent offer people the tools they need, according to a new report from  Harvard Business Review Analytic Services, sponsored by ThoughtSpot. The report, The New Decision Makers: Equipping Frontline Workers For Success, analyses the sentiments of 464 business executives from 16 industry sectors in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.  Only one-fifth of organisations say they currently have a truly empowered and digitally equipped workforce while 86 percent agree their frontline workers need better technology and more insight to be able to make good decisions in the moment. More →

Employees reluctant to give up flexible working after lockdown

Employees reluctant to give up flexible working after lockdown

New working patterns prompted by COVID-19 could cause employees to permanently reduce time spent in the office, as nearly half (45 percent) of Brits predict a permanent change to their employers’ approach to flexible working when lockdown lifts. O2 Business’ new report – entitled The Flexible Future of Work, conducted in partnership with ICM and YouGov – claims that employees will be reluctant to give up their new way of working after lockdown. Nearly half the workforce think flexible working will increase, with a third (33 percent) of this group expecting to increase the amount they work from home by at least three days a week after lockdown, and 81 percent expecting to work at least one day a week from home. More →

The six best ways to increase engagement in remote workers

The six best ways to increase engagement in remote workers

We exist in an era in which the ways in which we engage employees shift  continuously in parallel with their working hours. Technology and innovative workforce policy allow businesses to include remote workers anywhere and at any time. While this opens up a number of opportunities for work-life integration, it may also pose a number of specific challenges. More →

From the archive: We shouldn’t rely on narrow ideas to define flexible working

From the archive: We shouldn’t rely on narrow ideas to define flexible working

flexible workingThis piece was originally published five years ago. While we now read it with different eyes, what is interesting is how the ideas have stood up. Some better than others perhaps but a welcome reminder that the conversations we are now having about life after lockdown began some time ago. One of the particular and often unspoken issues that shadows in any debate about flexible working is what we mean by the term. We’ve been talking about new ways of working for a good quarter of a century now and what is generally understood about the practice has evolved considerably. The very idea was conceived at the birth of the new online era so is inextricably tied up with the Internet and new technology. More →

Team building exercises have never been more important

Team building exercises have never been more important

team building These days, almost every company implements team building exercises — and rightly so, as decades of research have shown how beneficial they can be. Indeed, in a Forbes article O2E Brands CEO Brian Scudamore argues that team building activities are the most significant investment companies can make. More →

Immunity certificates could lead to a two-tier workplace

Immunity certificates could lead to a two-tier workplace

Proposed “immunity certificates” allowing individuals to move freely in society could lead to discrimination, claims Edgar Whitley, Associate Professor from London School of Economics’ Department of Management, and other contributing experts in a new report. More →

Less desk sharing and more screens for receptionists, say property industry experts

Less desk sharing and more screens for receptionists, say property industry experts

Shared desking is likely to become less popular as a result of COVID-19, but we are likely to see an increase in the use of unisex superloos and screens for receptionists, according to a new thought paper by the British Council for Offices. The paper claims to outline how the workplace may change as a result of COVID-19, and how Britain can safely return to work in the coming weeks and months. More →

Fewer meetings and fractured days – how people are adjusting to working from home

Fewer meetings and fractured days – how people are adjusting to working from home

Over half of UK employees are working different hours than they used to, with many spreading work out over a longer period as they adapt to working from home. Those are two of the findings from a new report from Asana, which looks at how British, American, Japanese, Australian and German employees have adapted to remote working. The UK findings are based on 1,016 respondents working full-time and, due to the pandemic, remotely. More →