May 11, 2020
Digital Twin technology will be catalysed in the wake of the coronavirus, transforming the way we construct, design manage and occupy buildings. That is the key finding of a new white paper from Cityzenith, which includes contributions from a number of global practitioners and technology experts. More →
March 5, 2020
Despite holding firm in 16th place, the UK is being outpaced by greater improvements in female employment prospects in other OECD countries, according to PWC’s latest Women in Work Index, which analyses female economic empowerment across 33 OECD countries. While the UK performs above the OECD average and is second only to Canada when compared to other G7 economies, its position has barely budged since 2000 when it stood in 17th position, despite improving its performance across all five indicators. More →
February 20, 2020
The European Commission has put forward a strategy to promote the development of AI and robotics while putting people first and defending European values and rights. The strategy acknowledges that AI can open up new opportunities for businesses and bring solutions to challenges such as climate change. However, it aims to address the social, legal and ethical impact of new technology. More →
February 11, 2020
The ongoing worldwide friction between legislators and firms operating in the “gig economy” was evident this week as a US judge denied Uber and Postmates a temporary reprieve from California’s new gig worker law. The ruling comes as a setback for both companies as the legislation has the potential to undermine their business models. More →
February 10, 2020
More than half of the people in the UK classified as living in poverty are members of a working family. According to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s state of the nation report on poverty in the UK, poverty has risen for children and pensioners over the last five years. Although employment has increased, in-work poverty has also gone up because often people’s pay, hours, or both are not enough. More →
December 20, 2019
The big workplace news story of the past week or so appears to be one about a toilet seat. Sometimes it’s in the small things we can discern a greater truth. To see a world in a grain of sand, as William Blake wrote. The seat of this much discussed loo is tilted forward by 13 degrees so that after about five minutes it becomes very uncomfortable because people tire of using their legs to stop themselves sliding off. The reason is clearly to stop them ‘wasting time’ on the toilet. More →
December 12, 2019
Four years after the Paris Climate Agreement, tangible action from governments is falling well short of what is needed to restrict global warming to 1.5° Celsius. Meanwhile, the actions of the majority of businesses that do support emissions reductions also currently fall far short of where they need to be to address climate change. A new impetus for 2020 to raise company ambitions to net zero emissions by 2050 at the latest, is required. These are the findings of a new report, The Net Zero Challenge published by the World Economic Forum. More →
December 11, 2019
Fewer than 10 percent of UK CEOs have financial incentives in place to be environmentally friendly in their business practices and thus tackle the climate change emergency, according to new research from Vlerick Business School. In fact, the researchers found that only 6 per cent of UK CEOs have in their bonus a KPI focusing on the environment, and less than one per cent have long-term incentives focused on this area. More →
November 6, 2019
In five months’ time, employers will have to adhere to new employment laws proposed in the government’s Good Work Plan. However, the majority of UK businesses are completely unaware that these laws are due to come into effect. A survey by Citation, conducted via OnePoll, has found that 59 percent of British employers do not even know about the Good Work Plan, which proposes a variety of law changes that will come into effect in April 2020. More →
November 5, 2019
The World Economic Forum is creating a new partnership which it claims will harness the potential of technology innovation and smart policy to fast-track the circular economy. WEF claims that SCALE 360 will collaborate with government, business, civil society and entrepreneurs around the world to find bright new ideas that will help us cut the waste in the world’s economies. It defines a circular economy as a regenerative approach to production and consumption, in which products and materials are redesigned, recovered and reused to reduce environmental impacts. Research shows that this transition could generate $4.5 trillion in additional economic output by 2030. More →
September 24, 2019
Recent years have seen a widespread drop in global unemployment rates but what continues to puzzle economists has been the subsequent failure of wage inflation to follow suit. This has created an unusual phenomenon of wage stagnation across global markets, according to the eighth edition of the Hays Global Skills Index, a report into skills and the skills gap published by recruitment firm Hays in collaboration with Oxford Economics. More →
April 10, 2020
When it comes to the future of work, we only know what we don’t know
by David Clements • Comment, Workplace design