May 29, 2020

Organisations still adjusting to reality of `gig economy`

A new report from Aon claims that the so-called gig economy will continue to flourish but many employers are still adjusting to its realities. Using research from HR and gig workers across Europe, the report, Gig Economy: Financial Security or Greater Control, claims that 26 percent of European HR directors believe their workforces will have 51-75 percent of gig workers in five years’ time, while 18 percent of UK HRDs believe 75 percent or more of their workforce will be made up of contractors in 5 years’ time. Nearly all HRDs believe providing health and benefits packages would improve gig worker recruitment (94 percent), engagement (93 percent), productivity (88 percent) and retention (95 percent). More →

May 28, 2020

Working from home opens up new data security threat

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Technology

A new report from Tessian claims that nearly half of employees (48 percent) are less likely to follow safe data practices when working from home. The State of Data Loss Prevention 2020 report suggests that the global shift to remote working poses new security challenges for businesses and why traditional security solutions are failing to curb the problem of the insider threat and accidental data loss. More →

May 26, 2020

The experience of working from home is not the same for everyone

by Anna Hern • Comment, Flexible working, Wellbeing

So we’ve demonstrated that we can work from home. But is it a permanent solution? We hear senior managers counting the numbers and working out just how much money will be saved if organisations no longer need their office space. It’s a seductive argument. So before we all settle down in our spare bedrooms with a sigh of relief, let’s just have a think about what that model would mean in the long term. More →

May 21, 2020

Firms need to embed lessons from pandemic in a new work culture

by Neil Franklin • News, Technology, Wellbeing

Organisations should build on the lessons they have learned about themselves and their employees during the pandemic and embed them into their work culture. That is the main claim of the tenth annual Global Human Capital Trends report from Deloitte. More →

May 20, 2020

Organisational change is best achieved by `kinetic’ leaders, claims report

by Jayne Smith • News, Technology

Deloitte has published its 2020 Global Technology Leadership survey, “The Kinetic Leader: Boldly Reinventing the Enterprise,” which sets out to examine the broader scope and evolution of tech leadership roles. The findings claim to reveal the increased need for agile and kinetic leaders — change instigators adept at driving tech-enabled transformation and organisational change. More →

May 19, 2020

Getting beyond the hype of technological innovation and productivity

by Prof Henry Chesbrough • Comment, Technology

Not long ago, innovation was a largely internal affair. The journey from the laboratory to the marketplace took place largely within the four walls of the firm. Think of Bell Labs, IBM Research, or Xerox PARC. Each of them created important technological breakthroughs. And each breakthrough was commercialized through the company’s own businesses. More →

May 18, 2020

Majority of UK businesses now automating key processes

by Neil Franklin • AI, News, Technology

The UK is making great strides in adopting process automation technologies like robotic process automation (RPA) and process mining, according to new research from digital intelligence company ABBYY. The research report, The State of Process Mining and RPA (registration), claims that 64 percent of UK businesses are already using process mining technologies, with almost 3 in 10 (28 percent) currently using RPA and a further 34 percent intending to start in the next year. This comes as no surprise, since a vast majority believe that process mining (91 percent) and RPA (87 percent) are, or would be, useful to their business. More →

May 18, 2020

CIPD Festival of Work goes digital for 2020

by Freddie Steele • Events, News, Workplace

There’s just one month to go until CIPD hosts its Festival of Work, which has moved online for the first time. Extended to three days, it will provide even more access to expert masterclasses, discussions and skills sessions, and a taste of large-scale events of this kind for the future. It is following a well trodden path in the current climate as a number of other events have moved online. (For an up to date list of workplace events and their status visit our Events page). More →

May 17, 2020

About

by Mark Eltringham •

Insight Publishing is one of the world’s leading platforms for workplace news, commentary and features. It publishes podcasts, reports, daily updates and now IN and Works magazines.

Workplace Insight is the UK’s most widely read publication dedicated to the design and management of workplaces, offering a definitive source of daily ideas, comment, news and information. Launched in 2013, it publishes a weekly newsletter and has a readership of up to 8,000 unique users a day including workplace professionals, suppliers, purchasing, HR, IT and facilities managers and specifiers including fit-out firms, architects and designers.

IN Magazine was launched in 2020 to offer a new way of talking about the physical office and the digital and cultural aspects of work. Aimed at occupiers and managers, it is published every two months and has around 90,000 readers per issue. In the Spring of 2022, Works Magazine was launched aimed at Europe’s workplace interiors sector. It has quickly established itself as one of the continent’s essential reads for everybody interested in office design.

Insight Publishing is led by Mark Eltringham, a professional with over thirty years’ specialist experience working as an editor, writer and commentator. Mark is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts and is the European Director of Work&Place Journal. Works magazine is edited and published by Mick Jordan, who has been a mainstay of the European office design scene for over twenty years. Insight Publishing employs an experienced and knowledgeable team of industry experts, journalists and professionals to offer you the most independent reporting of issues relating to workplace design, culture and management, property, cities and technology.

Philosophy

From day one, we have worked on the premise that modern ways of working are no longer about just physical offices, but about cultural and digital work spaces too. This is the driving force behind a new discipline that embraces existing professions like general management, facilities management, HR, IT, real estate, design and architecture. The end result is a coherent way of looking at a wide range of workplace issues centred on the needs of people that occupy the three domains of 21st Century work. We offer a platform for all those with new, insightful and meaningful things to say about related issues. We prefer not to follow received wisdom but produce thought-provoking, informative and occasionally challenging content.

Contact

Insight Publishing Ltd

Brampton House

10 Queen Street

Newcastle

Staffs ST5 0PS

England

E. enquiries@workplaceinsight.net

May 14, 2020

Life-Based Value launch digital training program harnessing new skills

by Freddie Steele • Company news

Life Based Value has announced the launch of ‘Crisis’, a brand new digital training program available for British businesses that harness unique skills learned during the current lockdown for the world of work. The announcement took place at EdTechX’s Global online summit, from company founder Riccarda Zezza, as the UK is facing one of its most intense and challenging ever transitions – the disruption of normal working life due Covid-19, and the eventual return to work after lockdown measures eventually ease. More →

May 13, 2020

Building systems must be rethought before a return to the office

by Neil Franklin • Facilities management, News

Preparing an office for safe re-occupation is about much more than turning on the lights. Once it is agreed who will be working and when, there needs to be a thorough re-evaluation of air conditioning and ventilation systems, according to the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE). The Institution, whose membership includes the UKs leading experts on ventilation and air quality in buildings, has produced a series of guides for businesses looking to understand how their workspaces can be re-populated while minimising risk to their staff. More →

May 13, 2020

Pandemic threatens the transition to clean energy

by Jayne Smith • Environment, News

The coronavirus pandemic risks cancelling out recent progress in transitioning to clean energy, with unprecedented falls in demand, price volatility and pressure to quickly mitigate socioeconomic costs placing the near-term trajectory of the transition in doubt. Policies, roadmaps and governance frameworks for energy transition at national, regional, and global levels need to be more robust and resilient against external shocks, according to the latest edition of World Economic Forum’s Fos tering Effective Energy Transition 2020 report published today. More →