Search Results for: government

Firms don’t use artificial intelligence much, so the current hype is tripe

Firms don’t use artificial intelligence much, so the current hype is tripe

a long road ahead for artificial intelligenceMany governments are increasingly approaching artificial intelligence with an almost religious zeal. By 2018 at least 22 countries around the world, and also the EU, had launched grand national strategies for making AI part of their business development, while many more had announced ethical frameworks for how it should be allowed to develop. The EU documents more than 290 AI policy initiatives in individual EU member states between 2016 and 2020. More →

Is it time for a carbon tax?

Is it time for a carbon tax?

productivity and environment carbon taxMost people now recognise that we are facing a climate emergency – the record breaking temperatures in the US are, perhaps, another reminder. Many would agree that economic and legislative change is the only way forward to achieve a sustainable change in behaviour. Who should pay for greater environmental responsibility? Is it time for a carbon tax to limit carbon hungry products and fund investment? More →

Working from home during pandemic has taken toll on mental health

Working from home during pandemic has taken toll on mental health

working from home

New research by the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen) claims there are links between working from home during the pandemic and increased levels of loneliness and mental distress. NatCen analysed data from interviews carried out with 8,675 people before the pandemic and in May, July and November 2020 for the Understanding Society COVID-19 survey. More →

Climate Commission launched to identify green investment opportunities

Climate Commission launched to identify green investment opportunities

climateThe new UK Cities Climate Investment Commission begins work to identify Green Investment opportunities across UK Cities. Cities, investment and innovation experts have launched a Commission which begins the process of identifying a transformational programme of Green Growth for the UK’s cities. More →

Employers must do more to address flexible working inequality

Employers must do more to address flexible working inequality

flexible workingThe CIPD is warning of the risks of potentially creating a two-tier workforce after its analysis of official data claims the use of different flexible working arrangements is unequal across the UK – with some areas exposed as ‘flexible working notspots’. More →

The new era of flexible working and knowing when to lie flat

The new era of flexible working and knowing when to lie flat

flexible working and knowing when to lie flatWhen people first started working from home in large numbers for the first time in the Spring of 2020, one of the most talked about issues was how the productivity of most stayed the same or improved. This shouldn’t have been that surprising given all that we have learned about remote and flexible working over the years, but it certainly drove the debate for a while. More →

Gen Z reject ‘right to work from home’ proposal

Gen Z reject ‘right to work from home’ proposal

Gen ZAmid news that the UK government is mulling plans to grant Brits the right to work from home permanently, a new Clockwise survey claims that a majority of Gen Z workers would in fact prefer to work from an office. More →

The office sector needs to face up to its landfill issue

The office sector needs to face up to its landfill issue

office sector and landfillOver the past ten years, reuse of furniture and furnishings has been extremely limited. Most redundant assets have been discarded to landfill. It’s a brutal fact that it is the easy and less expensive option. Many products sent for recycling often end up in landfill or incineration and so still contributing to carbon emissions. As offices plan for new ways of working, will the surplus products go the same route? More →

Research claims ’emerging class divide’ in who gets flexible working

Research claims ’emerging class divide’ in who gets flexible working

class divideNew polling in a report published by the TUC claims an emerging class divide as some workers opt to keep working from home whereas those who can’t work from home have little access to any forms of flexible working. More →

Cities could be more important post-pandemic, not less, suggests report

Cities could be more important post-pandemic, not less, suggests report

Manchester, one of the UK's great citiesParadoxically, more in-person work environments and the concentration of jobs in cities could be a medium- to long-term impact of the pandemic’s shift to remote working, suggests Citi GPS Technology at Work: The Coming of the Post-Production Society, a report produced by Citi and the Oxford Martin School at the University of Oxford. The report cites the automation of manufacturing and clerical tasks alongside the potential for professional services jobs that can be done remotely to be done cheaper overseas as the start of a foundational shift in developed economies. The future of work in these countries, it suggests, could be based largely on innovation, exploration and creative thinking which require face-to-face interaction and geographic proximity. More →

Women struggling with almost twice as much fatigue and anxiety as men

Women struggling with almost twice as much fatigue and anxiety as men

womenAs COVID-19 continues to limit our daily lives, forcing the Government to extend social restrictions into July, restrictions of a different kind are taking their toll on working women, and may be even longer-lasting, according to research from 87 percent. More →

UK working parents concern about future linked to final restrictions lifting

UK working parents concern about future linked to final restrictions lifting

parentsNew research from Working Families claims nearly a third of working parents (29 percent) are concerned their caring responsibilities will make them more vulnerable to redundancy when furlough ends, after juggling work and childcare through the pandemic. More →