November 5, 2019

HR leaders feel unprepared for the future of work

by Neil Franklin • News, Technology, Workplace

Only 9 percent of chief human resources officers (CHROs) agree that their organisation is prepared for the future of work, according to a new report from Gartner. The study ties in to Gartner Gartner ReimagineHR conference, which took place last week. It concludes that to address the needs of organisations and workers in the future, HR leaders must focus on five areas of work. It suggests that tackling the future of work should not mean looking at the various changing aspects of work, such as AI, the gig economy and the multigenerational workforce, in silos. Istead, HR leaders should focus on the big picture of what the future of work can and should look like in their organisation. More →

October 1, 2019

UK organisations falling behind on AI

by Neil Franklin • AI, News, Technology

UK organisations risk falling behind global competitors unless they act now to accelerate their use of AI technology, according to a new report unveiled today by Microsoft UK. The report claims that organisations currently using AI are now outperforming those that are not by 11.5 percent – a boost that, in the face of unprecedented economic and political uncertainty, UK businesses can ill-afford to pass up, the authors suggest. More →

September 6, 2019

Escaping the hell of hot desking

by Tim Oldman • Comment, Workplace design

Hot-desking is a scourge on modern work. That’s the only conclusion you will draw by reading ‘The hidden hell of hot-desking is much worse than you think’ (published in the FT on 28 July 2019) and dozens more like it that continue to appear in national media and top business titles. The piece contends that organisations are using the guise of agile working to excuse their cost-saving prerogative. In reality it is a penny-pinching ploy that “strips people of their own desk and casts them out to the noisy, chaotic wasteland of shared work spots,” or so we’re told. More →

July 22, 2019

A new generation of smart cities is with us

by James Ransom • Cities, Features

An abandoned mine shaft beneath the town of Mansfield, England is an unlikely place to shape the future of smart cities. But here, researchers from the nearby University of Nottingham are planning to launch a “deep farm” that could produce ten times as much food as farms above ground. Deep farms are an example of what the latest wave of smart cities look like: putting people first by focusing on solving urban problems and improving existing infrastructure, rather than opening shiny new buildings. More →

July 16, 2019

The workplace of tomorrow redefined by learning and AI

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News, Technology, Workplace

Unily has released a report analysing the trends and issues shaping the workplace of tomorrow. The report, ‘Future of the Workplace 2030+’, has been co-created with the futurist Anne Lise Kjaer, a regular on the TED Talks circuit best known for the book The Trend Management Toolkit. Looking at the transformation of our working lives over the next 10 years and beyond, the report explores both the challenges and the opportunities as companies prepare for a new wave of technological advances and a new generation of workers. It sets out specific challenges including how to incorporate Generation Z in the workplace, integrate new technology and face greater scrutiny of organisational values. It also suggests that new jobs will emerge such as ‘Vice President of No’, ‘Professional Rebel’ and ‘Ideas Broker’. More →

July 12, 2019

Family firms focus more on corporate social responsibility

by Mark Eltringham • News, Workplace design

Companies owned by families pay more attention to issues of corporate social responsibility (CSR), such as sustainability and environmental issues, according to research from Vlerick Business School, but the research also found that attention to CSR decreases as the company is handed down to the next generations. Dr. Kerstin Fehre, Professor of Strategy at Vlerick Business School, alongside Dr. Florian Weber from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany, studied family firms and the attention they gave to CSR compared to non-family firms. The study, published in the journal Business Ethics: A European Review, used over a hundred of the largest HDAX listed companies in Germany and analysed messages to shareholders published in annual reports. More →

June 25, 2019

Dublin EFMC conference brings together the facilities world

by Freddie Steele • Facilities management, News

The Aviva Stadium in Dublin hosted from 13th to 14th June the 27th Edition of EFMC, the European Facility Management Conference. The event, held for the first time in the Irish capital, has brought together international experts of the FM sector and has served as a platform of communication amongst facilities managers, suppliers, Universities and associations. The event culminated with tours of One Microsoft Place and the offices of Google in the Irish capital. In the closing ceremony it was announced that EFMC 2020 will be held in Barcelona. More →

May 23, 2019

Wellbeing, a pile of turtles, office culture and some other stuff

by Mark Eltringham • Features, Flexible working, Technology, Wellbeing, Workplace design

This week is Clerkenwell Design Week amongst other things, and as part of it I chaired a discussion on Tuesday about acoustics at work in the showroom of Flokk and their effect on wellbeing. We were fortunate to have a panel that involved the likes of Nigel Oseland, Michelle Wilkie of tp bennett, Joachim Schubert of Offecct and Lee Jones of Wellworking as well as an informed audience, if for no other reason than everybody’s ability to talk about the subject as complex and multi-faceted and, to some extent, hardwired. More →

March 27, 2019

The pursuit of happiness, lumpy tech, space science and some other stuff

by Mark Eltringham • Features, Technology, Wellbeing, Workplace design

Underlying most of the stuff you read about the workplace is the quest for happiness. Indeed happiness has become something of a preoccupation for those pondering the issue at the apex of social and economic thinking, as epitomised by Gallup with its latest World Happiness report. As always, the Gallup report stumbles over definitions of happiness, often using the word interchangeably with wellbeing and stuffs it with other ideas without explaining how or even whether they contribute to happiness.

March 22, 2019

New centre will assess potential for bias in algorithmic decision-making

by Neil Franklin • News, Technology

The potential for bias in the use of algorithms in crime and justice, financial services, recruitment and local government will be investigated by the UK government’s new Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation (CDEI). The CDEI will explore the potential for bias in existing systems and to support fairer decision-making. This may include increasing opportunities for those in the job market in existing recruitment and financial services systems. It will also explore opportunities to boost innovation in the digital economy. More →

March 15, 2019

How artificial intelligence changes occupant experience

by David Karpook • Facilities management, Features, Technology

If a robot received a signal that you had entered the building, it might bring you a fresh cup of coffee just as you reach your desk. If the front door recognised your face, it might unlock itself for you without requiring you to use a fob to gain access. If your desk knew you had left for the day, it might offer itself to a colleague who is looking for a quiet workspace. Throughout history, the interaction of humans with technology has been pretty much one-sided. We turn our technologies on and off, operate and guide them in their tasks, and use our senses to monitor their functioning and detect anomalies.