Search Results for: Gen Z

November 14, 2018

Advent of artificial intelligence demands HR managers look at the world in new ways

The HR profession must undergo a mindset shift in order to reap the benefits from artificial intelligence (AI), according to a new white paper. In preparing organisations for the potential gains from AI whilst minimising its risks, HR needs to become more proactive in engaging with change to secure a strategic role, according to the authors. Published by the Institute or Employment Studies (IES), the paper details risks involved in the use of AI, such as the perpetuation of unconscious bias in recruitment selection decisions, as shown in recent issues faced by Amazon.

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November 7, 2018

Employers need to prepare workers for the new era of artificial intelligence

by Sara Bean • AI, News, Technology, Workplace

People and machines are entering a new era of learning in which artificial intelligence (AI) augments ordinary intelligence and helps people realise their full potential. But CIOs need to prepare workers for a future in which people do more creative and impactful work because they no longer have to perform many routine and repetitive tasks, according to analysts speaking at the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo. Although AI will give employees the time to do more, organisations will need to train and retrain their employees in anticipation of AI investments, with CIOs also likely to be the leader or instigator of AI initiatives in their organisation.

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November 6, 2018

Employers struggle to understand what motivates people in new generation of megacities

by Neil Franklin • Cities, News, Workplace

Mercer has published the results of an extensive study that examines the needs of workers in the world’s fastest-growing cities across four key factors – human, health, money and work. The study provides insight into the motivations of workers against the backdrop of fierce competition for their talent. The study, People first: driving growth in emerging megacities (registration required), is based on a survey of 7,200 workers and 577 employers in 15 current and future megacities across seven countries, namely Brazil, China, India, Kenya, Mexico, Morocco and Nigeria. As defined by the United Nations, these 15 cities will have a combined population of 150 million people by 2030 and share strong, projected GDP.

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October 10, 2018

CIB sets out a roadmap for the creation of intelligent and responsive buildings

by Mark Eltringham • Architecture, Facilities management, News, Property, Wellbeing, Workplace design

The International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction (CIB) has published a free roadmap written by members of the W098 Commission and CIBSE Intelligent Buildings Group, which presents collective ideas for the creation of intelligent and responsive buildings for current needs and the future. Intelligent buildings present a number of challenges, according to the authors. They must be responsive to people’s needs including their health and wellbeing; be sustainable in the use of resources as well as incorporating the most useful parts of the evolving technologies.

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October 10, 2018

The Genesis of ideation and the places we go to have our best ideas ⁰

by Giuseppe Boscherini • Facilities management, Features, Technology, Work&Place, Workplace design

Because collaboration, creativity and innovation are increasingly perceived as key objectives and differentiators of performance, the genesis and mechanisms behind ideation and creativity are an an integral part of both business and personal development. As a consequence, there is growing interest in the way the physical attributes of work settings may influence or even trigger creative behaviour. The cliché of the shower as one of these favourite places comes to mind and yet experience does show that the idea of seeking a setting, a “zone” if you will, for a specific purpose is intuitively right. This needn’t be a retreat or cocoon, as is often assumed, but can also be a crowded, busy, noisy place, which might explain why so often the most animated work conversations move out of the office shop into the coffee shop. Equally, highlight events or special meetings tend to be held in a “venue’, often dressed for the occasion.

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October 4, 2018

A new deal for dads at work is essential in the quest for gender balance

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News

New research published by consulting firm Talking Talent claims to identify how it is essential for employers to improve support for working fathers in order to achieve equality for working mothers. Organisations need to go further than setting policy to achieve this – they need working practices that make it easier for employees to share parental responsibilities between mum and dad, according to the report (registration required). Successfully sharing their role as parents is essential for women to continue the progression of their careers and is key to closing the gender pay gap, according to the study of 7,000 people. But it will only succeed if organisations ensure working dads don’t face exactly the same negative experiences which have stopped working mums progressing in the past. The research claims that over half (52 percent) of working parents, including 26 percent men and 30 percent women, think that their career has slowed down compared to their childless colleagues.

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September 21, 2018

Generations divide on the role of Artificial Intelligence in the workplace

by Sara Bean • AI, News, Technology, Workplace

We try to avoid generalisations when describing the multi-generational workforce, but there’s no denying that younger workers who’ve grown up with digital communications appear less comfortable communicating face to face or on the phone. This is why it comes as no surprise to find that new research by ABBYY claims millennials would prefer to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to avoid speaking to colleagues and customers. While one in 10 millennials would hand over speaking to customers to robot colleagues, older generations are less keen, with only 4 percent of over-55s feeling the same. (more…)

September 18, 2018

Report finds negative impact of gender and age on confidence of managers

by Sara Bean • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

A fifth (20 percent) of female managers admit they would rather be managed by a male colleague and unsurprisingly given that opinion, the same proportion worry their gender hinders people’s confidence in them. The data, commissioned by AVADO also revealed that age played a part in management attitudes, with 68 percent of young leaders (20-24) saying they felt their age hindered colleague’s confidence in them as a manager. However, when asked about who they perceive to make the better managers, respondents said it would be the person who was most qualified to do the job (44 percent. By contrast almost half of men (48 percent) said that they were very confident in their management skills, compared to 30 percent of women.

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August 22, 2018

People working in fully open plan spaces are generally fitter and less stressed

by Mark Eltringham • News, Wellbeing, Workplace design

The open plan debate grinds on, and the latest grist to its mill is a study from researchers led by Esther Sternberg of the University of Arizona which suggests that it is those people who work in open plan spaces that are fitter and happier than their associate employee contemporaries in cubicles and private offices. The study, published in the journal Occupational & Environmental Medicine, used wearable sensors to study 231 US workers in four government office buildings. It’s worth noting that this is five times as many workers and twice as many offices as the much publicised recent study that we were told by various media outlets and commentators was the ‘final word’ on the subject.

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August 2, 2018

Extending reporting requirements may help close gender pay gap say MPs

by Sara Bean • Legal news, News, Workplace

Employers should be required to publish a narrative and action plan under Gender Pay Gap reporting requirements, the inquiry on executive pay and the gender-pay gap by the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Select Committee has recommended today. It has found that the requirements to publish data which came into force in April this year represents a ‘small but welcome step towards ensuring that women can make their fullest possible contribution in the workplace and to the economy’, but it calls for the Government to be more ambitious. Detailed statistics should be provided to aid analysis and organisations should explain what they are doing to tackle their gender pay gaps. Under the new rules employers would have to provide some narrative reporting alongside their gender pay statistics, with an action plan setting out how pay gaps are being and will be addressed, including objectives and targets. Subsequent reports would include progress against this action plan, including targets set. (more…)

July 27, 2018

Half of CIOs say Artificial Intelligence will lead to more jobs and improve productivity

by Sara Bean • AI, Flexible working, News, Technology, Workplace

Half of CIOs say Artificial Intelligence will lead to more jobs and improve productivity

Fears that Artificial Intelligence will destroy the job market are not shared by more than half (51 percent) of UK CIOs who see AI as a job creator. This is more than three times the number who say that it will diminish workers’ job prospects (16 percent). For the survey UK CIOs were asked, ‘Artificial intelligence is changing the way that companies operate and people work. Do you think AI will have a positive or negative impact on job creation and recruitment?’ Their largely positive response closely reflects that of a recent PWC report which predicts AI could create as many jobs as it displaces in the UK over the next 20 years. (more…)

July 18, 2018

Progress stagnates on gender diversity in senior roles at FTSE 350 companies

by Neil Franklin • News, Workplace

Achieving the government’s target of women making up a third of FTSE 350 board members by 2020 is beginning to look increasingly unlikely,according to executive training organisation The Pipeline’s annual Women Count report. It claims that there has been no progress over the last year in the number of women on executive committees and that 16 companies no longer have any women in ‘profit and loss roles’ which brings the total to 147, while eight companies no longer have any women on the committees at all. Yet the positive value for having greater gender diversity with women in executive positions is unquestionable, according to the authors.