Search Results for: office of the future

September 17, 2018

AI will be commonplace in the working lives of staff very soon

Experts at Henley Business School have announced that the majority of the graduate workforce in the UK will be working with artificial intelligence on a daily basis by 2030, with technology such as ‘AI assistants’ expected to be commonplace in the next decade. New research released at the Henley annual World of Work 2030 conference, claims that a third (35 percent) of UK workers are excited about the prospect of their own personal AI assistant. With the average worker currently spending 3.5 hours a week on admin tasks, assistants’ could give workers back 12 working days a year (over two working weeks) by taking on these activities and freeing up time for more productive tasks.

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August 24, 2018

More flexibility needed to attract non EU migrants, as UK faces skills shortage

by Neil Franklin • News, Workplace

The CIPD is calling on the government to ease restriction on immigrants from non EU countries, in the wake of the publication of new official figures which show how the number of EU citizens moving to the UK has decreased over the last year. Earlier this month, the CBI issued a similar plea as fears mount over the impact of Brexit on the UK’s skills base.

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August 22, 2018

Why early intervention matters for workplace mental health

by Liz Walker • Comment, Wellbeing, Workplace

Last year alone, poor mental health was the primary cause of long-term absence for 22 percent of organisations, with employees feeling too stressed or anxious to face going in to work. This was up from 13 percent in 2016. However, 45 percent of those who take time off for mental health reasons give their employers another excuse for their absence. Symptoms of mental health can build up when not properly recognised or assessed, but they’re hard to combat when so many employees don’t feel confident enough to open-up about how they’re feeling.

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August 21, 2018

The Fourth Industrial Revolution will be the most disruptive yet, senior economist predicts

by Mark Eltringham • AI, News, Technology

The rise of artificial intelligence and automation will create a Fourth Industrial Revolution that will be be significantly more disruptive than the three previous industrial revolutions, according to the Bank of England’s chief economist. According to Andy Haldane, the transformation caused by automation of cognitive skills had the potential to have a greater impact than Britain’s first industrial revolution, when coal and steam changed the country, the second industrial revolution which brought chemical engineering and the combustion engine, or the widespread use of computers in the 20th and 21st centuries.

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August 3, 2018

New analysis sets out to define fastest growing sectors in London in 2018

by Neil Franklin • News, Property

A new analysis from Instant Offices sets out to identify the largest business sectors driving London’s economy. It claims that the three most prominent are information and communication, financial and insurance, and professional, scientific and technical services. The UK Business Register and Employment Survey (BRES) showed distinct trends in growth for specific sectors, in London and in the UK as a whole.

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July 24, 2018

Barclays to create up to 2,500 jobs at new Glasgow tech hub

by Neil Franklin • News, Property

Barclays has announced plans to develop a new campus at Buchanan Wharf, Glasgow, which will provide what it claims is a state-of-the-art workplace for the bank’s functions, technology and operations teams. The aim is to create a working environment that will ‘help the bank deliver outstanding services to customers and clients by fostering innovation and collaboration’. Barclays has agreed to purchase the campus development from Drum Property Group Ltd and is currently working with them to finalise the design of the new facility as part of the wider Buchanan Wharf development. It is expected that, once completed, the campus will be able to accommodate up to 2,500 additional roles, doubling Barclays’ current workforce in Scotland and making the bank one of Glasgow’s biggest commercial employers.

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July 19, 2018

When it comes to change management, culture sometimes eats strategy for breakfast

by Gary Chandler • Features, Flexible working, Workplace design

21st Century organisations are under constant pressure to evolve. They are beset by a number of forces that demand they change constantly. These include the need to restructure the organisation, adapt to new technologies, respond to competitors and changes in the economy and legislative environment. Inevitably, this constant need to change affects both people and the built environment in very profound ways. However, according to a study of Culture and Change Management published by the Katzenbach Center, only around half of all transformation initiatives meet their objects over time. Among the biggest obstacles to successful change management cited by the study is change fatigue, which is characterised by a lack of empathy and a widespread failure to engage with the change process.

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July 11, 2018

Challenging some of the most commonly held misconceptions about coworking

by John Williams • Comment, Coworking

There are a number of misconceptions that dominate much of the writing around flexible workspace, despite all the press coverage and discussion around coworking over the last two years. Yet even in this comparatively short space of time, a number of misconceptions about the market have managed to take hold. Some of them are intuitive but wrong to some or other degree. Some are distorted by coverage. Some arise for other reasons. And we know this thanks to the extensive data gathered in Instant’s latest market report. So here in this piece, I am going to try to shatter some of the myths around flex workspace and coworking in particular.

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July 6, 2018

A storm brewing around the workplace and facilities management

by Cathy Hayward • Comment, Facilities management, News, Workplace design

In Shakespeare’s plays, the sky often goes dark and a storm starts to brew as a prelude to tragedy or violence creating a sense of foreboding. And so it was at today’s BIFM AGM in the lead-up to the special resolution to change the name of the institute from the British Institute of Facilities Management to the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management. After a fire alarm test appositely kicked off the event, sun poured through the windows and ceiling panes of the Friends Meeting House in Manchester as BIFM chairman Steve Roots gave an update on the institute’s performance in 2017 and plans for 2018. As he introduced the format for the three ordinary resolutions, the sun dipped behind a cloud and the room was plunged into gloom causing murmurs of nervous laughter among the 80-strong audience. (more…)

July 4, 2018

Podcast: The British new wave and the evolution of the workplace

by Mike Petrusky • Facilities management, Flexible working, Podcasts, Premium Content, Technology, Workplace design

In this podcast I talk to Mark Eltringham about British music, which leads to a discussion about bands from the early days of new wave in Liverpool, including Echo & The Bunnymen. The evolution of music serves as a metaphor which leads to a conversation about the history of the workplace where Mark shares his perspective on some of the founding thought leaders in our modern sector. I ask him about today’s places of work and Mark references a recent report from Chris Hood of AWA, Kate Lister of Global Workplace Analytics and Haworth while also sharing some research provided by Leesman Index. We talk about the blurring of the lines and need for collaboration across departments inside organizations, the relationship between facilities management and workplace as a whole, while also discussing the controversy in the UK about the future of the FM sector.

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June 20, 2018

Successful EFMC event in Sofia sets its sights next on Dublin

by Beatriz Jiménez • Comment, Events, Facilities management

The Sofia Event Center in Sofia (Bulgaria), hosted from 5 to 8 June the 26th Edition of EFMC, the European Congress of Facility Management. The event, held for the first time in the Bulgarian capital, has brought together world experts of the sector and has served as a platform for communication between Facility Managers, suppliers, universities and associations. In the closing ceremony it was announced that EFMC 2019 will be held in Dublin (Ireland) on 13 and 14 June.

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June 12, 2018

Keeping people at the heart of the modern workplace

by Ryan Anderson • Comment, Technology, Workplace design

The modern workplace is undergoing significant change, and it’s no surprise that many of these changes are driven by the adoption of new technologies. However, unlike previous eras of technological change, most of the technologies being adopted by organizations today have the potential to offer more autonomy, choice and flexibility to their employees. This can cause disconnects (literally) with the built environment, but it’s also possible for those who design and manage work spaces to adopt a new mindset to stay in lockstep with technological change and to ensure the creation of positive workplace experiences.