January 29, 2020

Is your biggest competitor already working for you?

by Jackie Le Poidevin • News, Working culture

Employers worried about rivals poaching their staff should be looking closer to home to spot their next competitor, a new study has claimed. In a survey of 3,000 UK employees by Synergy Creative, nearly half (47 percent) said that they would love to be their own boss, raising the prospect of them setting up in competition to their existing employer. Of those intending to find a new job in 2020, a third said their ideal job is to work for themselves, compared to 25 percent who are looking to move to another company. (more…)

January 28, 2020

1800s warehouse opens its doors for coworking

by Jackie Le Poidevin • Coworking, News

An 1860s warehouse located in the original Granada Studios estate in Manchester city centre has opened its doors as a coworking space for small and medium businesses. Bonded Warehouse, managed by All Work & Social, part of Allied London, includes work and social spaces on all six floors, a space for wellness and fitness, event spaces, a brewery and tap room, gin bar and 24-hour coffee lounge for collaboration and socialising. (more…)

January 27, 2020

Over half of UK small firms lack high speed internet

by Neil Franklin • News, Technology

UK SMEs are facing a serious digital dilemma, with three in five operating their business without a high speed internet connection. This finding, from Bionic’s Business Efficiency Index (registration), is part of an overall picture of the UK’s small business community struggling to keep pace with tech acceleration; small minorities have modern payment methods or access to e-commerce channels. 57 percent of SMEs do not have high-speed internet, and under one in ten businesses (9 percent) plan to invest in access in the near future. (more…)

January 24, 2020

Changing world of work yet to reshape expectations of young people

by Neil Franklin • News

Huge changes to the world of work over the past two decades have made little impact on teenagers’ career expectations, which have become more concentrated in fewer occupations, according to a new OECD report. Dream jobs: Teenagers’ career aspirations and the future of wor k says 47 percent of boys and 53 percent of girls surveyed in 41 countries expect to work in one of just 10 popular jobs by age of 30. The figures, based on the latest PISA survey of 15-year-olds released last month, reveal a narrowing of expectations as these shares increased by eight percentage points for boys and four percentage points for girls since the 2000 PISA survey. (more…)

January 23, 2020

AI reskilling is ‘crucial’ for business success

by Jackie Le Poidevin • News

As AI continues to disrupt the world of work, a new report says upskilling and reskilling will be crucial in developing workers’ competencies to complement technological innovation. Yet according to the 2020 Talent Trends Report released by Randstad Sourceright, only about a fifth of businesses around the world (22 percent) are currently training existing employees to help them adapt to AI. (more…)

January 22, 2020

Workers reveal their technology pet hates

by Jackie Le Poidevin • News, Technology

Data entry is the world’s most hated office technology task, with workers wasting about 40 percent of their day on this and other ‘digital admin’, a study has claimed. In a survey of 10,500 office workers spanning 11 countries, respondents said they average more than three hours a day on manual, repetitive computer tasks which aren’t part of their primary job and are ripe for human error. (more…)

January 21, 2020

The vaguery of workplace serendipity

by Neil Usher • Comment, Facilities management, Technology, Workplace design

It has become vogue to refer to the workplace as being ‘all about people’. It points in all directions at once. Organisations need fit, healthy, happy, skilled, motivated, engaged and purposeful people being (and feeling) productive and doing their best work every day. They want their people working closely together – they’ve spent a lot of time and money drawing in those they feel can contribute to a whole that is other than the sum of the parts. (more…)

January 21, 2020

New generation prefer technology to face-to-face negotiation

by Jackie Le Poidevin • Business, News

Younger decision makers are increasingly relying on technology such as emails, video conferencing and WhatsApp in negotiations with suppliers, rather than speaking to them face-to-face, new research from Barclaycard Payments has claimed. Despite supplier negotiation being regarded as an ‘art’ by seven in 10, many said it will increasingly be conducted digitally over the next five years (68 percent). (more…)

January 17, 2020

HR struggles to develop high-quality leadership talent

by Jackie Le Poidevin • Business, News

More than one-third of HR chiefs are struggling to develop effective senior leaders and only half of 2,800 surveyed leaders believe they are well-equipped to provide the leadership to guide their company in the future, according to a survey by Gartner, Inc. Efforts to tackle the emerging issues of the 2020s and beyond – including public pressure for business transparency, the rise of automation and the creation of never-before-seen jobs – will be fruitless unless HR managers find ways to nurture and retain capable future leaders, the research and advisory company concludes. (more…)

January 17, 2020

Structure of teams could be source of competitive advantage

by Neil Franklin • News

Cass Business School and Slack have published new research into the nature future of teamwork which identifies the relationships between team alignment and execution, drivers for competitive advantage, and the role of new workplace technologies. It suggests that teams are the fundamental building blocks of modern organisations but their role in delivering better outcomes for an organisation is still undervalued. (more…)

January 16, 2020

HR leaders feel completely unprepared for the future of work

by Neil Franklin • News, Workplace

Most chief people officers (CPOs) in the US realise they need new skills to meet the demand of the 21st century role, but few are prepared, citing a lack of development and investment from the C-suite, meaning they feel unprepared for the future of work. This is according to a new study by HR People + Strategy (SHRM’s Executive Network of business and thought leaders in human resources) and with Willis Towers Watson, a global advisory, broking and solutions company. The study, based on direct input from more than 500 executives, examined the key changes shaping the CPO role and identifies a pathway for developing and accelerating this next generation of HR leaders. (more…)

January 14, 2020

Issue 1 of IN Magazine is now online

by Mark Eltringham • IN Magazine, News

It’s been six years since Workplace Insight first appeared as a blog. I’d been in the office design and management sector for twenty years already, but I created Insight to explore both a new medium and a new conversation about work and workplaces. Since that time we have published over 6,000 stories with contributions from over 400 people. And – get this – we have been read by over 2.5 million people both in the UK and around the world. Clearly, we have been on to something, chronicling the development of what is essentially a new discipline. (more…)