February 8, 2016
CIPD joins forces with the UK Government to tackle workplace cyber security 0
Human resources has a key role to play in improving the cyber security of UK workplaces. That is the key challenge addressed by a new joint initiative from the Chartered Institute for Personnel and the Development and the Department of Culture, Media and Sport. Data breaches cost companies up to an average of £1.46 million are often a result of human error and malice, according to the CIPD. The initiative includes a free online course called Cyber Security for HR professionals as part of a wider initiative to promote the importance of cyber security at work, as well as the critical role that HR has to play in ‘mitigating the competency and behavioural risks present in the workplace’. Government figures released last year indicated that the costs associated with the most severe breaches now start at £1.46 million for large businesses, up from £600,000 in 2014, and can reach up to £310,000 for small businesses, up from £115,000.
February 5, 2016
Embracing the inevitable rise of the robots in the workplace 0
by Gary Chandler • Comment, Flexible working, Technology, Workplace design
We often have reason these days to speculate on the truth of an idea known as Amara’s Law. First coined by the researcher Roy Amara it states that “we tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run”. But defining what we mean by short and long term can be very difficult when technology is changing so quickly. Nothing better illustrates this than the issue of how automation will transform society and workplaces. For the past few years, the effects have mainly been the subject of academic and scientific research alongside some lurid headlines in the mainstream media. So, a fairly typical 2013 paper from researchers at Oxford University assessed the risk faced by over 700 professions and discovered that nearly half of all jobs in the US could be categorised as at high risk of automation. Less academic studies such as a report published last year by Deloitte draw similar conclusions.
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