June 19, 2023

Throwing open the window to a new world of work

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Flexible working, Technology

While at work in a Viennese Obstetric Clinic in the mid 1840s, a Hungarian physician named Ignaz Semmelweis noticed that mothers were far less likely to succumb to a potentially fatal infection called puerperal fever when the medical staff treating them washed their hands. When he started collecting data to confirm his insight, he found that hand washing reduced mortality rates from around 10 percent to as little as 1 percent. Although, his findings predated the germ theory of disease, which left him without an explanation, in 1847 he published a book in which he proposed that the link was so evident that in future staff should always wash their hands in chlorinated lime before treating patients, to protect them from infection.

June 9, 2023

Getting back to the idea of a better future

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Technology

A recent edition of Jon Connell’s daily newsletter The Knowledge included this nugget: “Last month, I heard one of the world’s most successful fund managers admit that the charts and models he previously used “gave almost no clue” as to what to do with money now. (His one firm prediction, that the US dollar would weaken, has so far proved dead wrong.) Same with climate, with migration, with a business world about to be utterly transformed by AI. That, as much anything, will be one of the biggest questions of the coming years and decades: What do we do if we can’t predict the future?” More →

June 9, 2023

Artificial intelligence will boost short term headcount, claim half of employers

by Neil Franklin • News, Technology, Workplace

More than half (54 percent) of Britain’s employers expect Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies will have a positive impact on their staff headcount over the next two years, according to a survey by Experis, a part of ManpowerGroup. The survey of 2,000+ British employers also suggests that more than two thirds (69 percent) of businesses expect AI tools and technologies – including ChatGPT, Machine Learning and Virtual Reality – to have a positive impact on upskilling and reskilling, as well as on employee training (68 percent). 67 percent of British organisations anticipate a positive impact on employee engagement because of AI technology, and 60 percent think it can positively impact the onboarding process too. More →

June 8, 2023

What are the main issues that stop people embracing change?

by Jennifer Bryan • Comment, JB, Workplace

Many times we talk about resistance – the resistance to change – how we manage it, the reluctance of having to deal with it, the disruption it causes either positively or negatively. But rarely do we talk about why people are resisting – what is driving the resistance. More →

June 6, 2023

People don’t trust artificial intelligence on decision making ability in recruitment

by Neil Franklin • News, Technology, Workplace

The vast majority of British workers (88 percent) are happy for artificial intelligence to be used in the recruitment process but draw the line when it comes to human decision making, according to a new poll from Totaljobs. The survey, which asked 2,002 UK workers about their thoughts on how AI will impact their working lives, found that nearly three-quarters (72 percent) believe that full disclosure of how the technology is used in the hiring process should be mandatory. More →

June 5, 2023

The Internet and a pile of turtles that goes all the way down

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Technology

In his 1998 book A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking relates the following anecdote: “A well-known scientist (some say it was Bertrand Russell) once gave a public lecture on astronomy. He described how the earth orbits around the sun and how the sun, in turn, orbits around the centre of a vast collection of stars called our galaxy. At the end of the lecture, a little old lady at the back of the room got up and said: “What you have told us is rubbish. The world is really a flat plate supported on the back of a giant tortoise.” The scientist gave a superior smile before replying, “What is the tortoise standing on?” “You’re very clever, young man, very clever,” said the old lady. “But it’s turtles all the way down!”

June 1, 2023

Refurbishment of 25 Hanover Square commences

by Freddie Steele • Company news

Major work has begun on the refurbishment of 25 Hanover Square, completing the regeneration of a prominent corner site in London’s Mayfair with a 7-storey premium office building. This collaborative project between multiple stakeholders, including architects, interior designers and workplace experts Basha-Franklin, and asset and development manager Morgan Capital, has been holistically designed to fit the aesthetic of one of London’s most recognisable and historic garden squares. More →

May 24, 2023

BCO Awards for Central England continue focus on wellbeing and the environment

by Mark Eltringham • Company news, Property

What are claimed to be the Midlands and Central England’s most outstanding workplaces have been announced, with British Council for Offices Awards going to five office buildings across the region. Held at ICC in Birmingham, the BCO Awards for the region set out to recognise projects that demonstrate best practice in office design, fit-out, operation and sustainability. The organisers claims that the winners of this year’s competition in the Midlands and Central England stand out for their user-centred design credentials, as well as their creative implementation of wellbeing and sustainability measures. More →

May 23, 2023

Office giant Sedus announces partnership with Watson Furniture Group

by Freddie Steele • Company news

Sedus Stoll AG, the Germany based office furniture giant, and US based Watson Furniture Group have announced a new global partnership. The deal was signed at last year’s Orgatec office furniture exhibition. For both companies, the global partnership is seen a logical next step in the development of their businesses, the firms claim. Shared values and similar market strategies and expertise in the areas of technology and manufacturing are an excellent stepping stone to strategic cooperation. More →

May 18, 2023

Hybrid working averse businesses missing out on €113 billion opportunity

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News

European businesses continue to miss out on the full potential of hybrid working, according to a new survey from Ricoh Europe. The research, conducted by Opinium and analysed by CEBR, polled 6,000 workers and 1,500 decision makers across Europe. Business leaders say that workers are, on average, 4 percent more productive in a hybrid culture, equivalent to an additional €113 billion to the European economy compared with pre-pandemic ways of working. More →

May 17, 2023

Most people don’t worry that they are about to be replaced by artificial intelligence

by Jayne Smith • News, Technology

Despite all of the recent debate around the rapidly increasing abilities of Artificial Intelligence (AI), a new poll from ID Crypt Global, suggests that more than 80 percent of people have no concern that the technology is going to replace them in the workplace. Thanks to the recent rise of Chat GPT and other rival chatbots, the debate around AI has heated up with people all over the world debating both the good and bad of allowing autonomous technology into our lives, homes, and workplaces. More →

May 16, 2023

Getting back to the future of work

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Flexible working

Quoting George Orwell is the kind of thing that people who haven’t read George Orwell do. I have read Orwell, and even have a drunken story about Paul Shane signing my copy of the Collected Essays, which was the only autograph-able material I had on me at the time I met him in a pub in about 1990. For another time. In Nineteen Eighty-Four, Orwell describes Winston Smith’s realisation that the best books are those that tell you what you already know. This is an ancient profundity, and one that is sort of useful during times of significant, rapid change, when we are obliged to confront old truths in a new context. History doesn’t repeat itself, it rhymes, as they say. More →