Search Results for: Gen Z

March 22, 2019

The future of work will be defined by four models, claims RSA

The RSA’s Future Work Centre has released research that models four ‘futures of work’ by 2035 – and claims to show how out of touch politicians are with changes in the workplace. The report, published in partnership with Arup, claims to avoid the usual sensationalism around topics such as automation, the Internet of Things, surveillance, gig work and AI to establish what workers can expect in the workplace in the near future. The report applies morphological analysis to generate its four models of work.

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March 22, 2019

UK gets new £5 million climate change research centre

by George Eltringham • Environment, News

Cardiff University has been selected as the main hub for a £5 million research centre to explore how we can live differently to achieve the rapid and far-reaching emissions cuts required to address climate change. A collaboration between Cardiff, Manchester, York and East Anglia Universities, and charity Climate Outreach, the Centre for Climate Change and Social Transformations (CAST) will work closely with industry, local/national governments, and charities to tackle climate change. It is funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. (more…)

March 22, 2019

UK workforce increasingly concerned with impact of Brexit on employment

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Workplace

More than a third (34.25 percent) of UK residents believe that Brexit would affect their current employment in a negative way, and only a negligible 3 percent of respondents think that Brexit will positively affect their current employment. Compared to the survey from Personal Group in 2018, there are some gender, age and professional nuances. Twelve times as many men than women have become more concerned about the impact on Brexit on their current employment. In February 2019 the number of men who believe Brexit will affect their employment negatively increased by almost 8 percent (7.89 percent) compared to a less than 1 percent (0.63 percent) rise amongst women.

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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 21, 2019

Interiors are not enough to win the war for talent

by Ben Capper • Comment, Workplace design

I often refer to Google and Facebook in my blog, due to their influence on workplace design. Many consider them to be workplace interior’s holy grail. But today’s big employers are competing with one another on a much broader set of principles. Cool interiors alone just won’t cut it. Zürich, like many European cities is home to a large number of global brands, with bustling financial services and tech sectors. I regularly hear of people with multiple job offers taking a job with a lower salary, rather than accepting a role in a company that doesn’t reflect their ideals. This decision can be influenced by office design and facilities, career development options, corporate culture and much more. (more…)

March 21, 2019

Performance-based pay linked to employee mental-health problems, study suggests

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing

In what its authors claim is the first big-data study combining objective medical and compensation records with demographics, researchers at Washington University in St. Louis and Aarhus University in Denmark discovered once a company switches to a pay-for-performance process, the number of employees using anxiety and depression medication increased by 5.7 percent over an existing base rate of 5.2 percent. (more…)

March 21, 2019

Government publishes strategy for future mobility in UK cities

by Neil Franklin • Cities, News

The UK government has published its Future of mobility: urban strategy, which sets out its approach to working with innovators, companies, local authorities and other stakeholders to develop benefits of new urban mobility technologies. Alongside publication of the strategy, it has also launched a £90 million competition for cities to deliver Future of Mobility Zones, which follows £60 million awarded to 10 cities across the UK via the Transforming Cities Fund. It aims to support local leaders and industry to trial new mobility services, modes and models through the creation of up to four future mobility zones. (more…)

March 19, 2019

What a 90 year old study teaches us about flexible working and productivity ⁰

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

Flexible working has developed a reputation as something of a silver bullet for a range of workplace challenges. It is the perceived solution to almost any of the major workplace problems you care to mention, including the gender pay gap, work life balance, churn, property costs, staff engagement, personal autonomy, stress, physical wellbeing, productivity and – of course – as a way of meeting the needs of those alien beings we refer to as Millennials. There is some truth in all of this, as we have known for some time, but things are far more complicated than often presented.

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March 19, 2019

People are happier in more beautiful surroundings, study confirms

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing, Workplace design

Researchers claim to have provided the first large-scale quantitative evidence that people are happier in more beautiful surroundings. The study, led by a team from the Data Science Lab at Warwick Business School, The Alan Turing Institute and the University of Sussex, suggests that this effect does not only hold in areas of natural beauty, but in towns and cities as well. The researchers analysed nearly one million ratings of photographs from an online game, alongside three years of data on the happiness of more than 15,000 people, gathered via a mobile app. (more…)

March 18, 2019

Pressing self-destruct, a final solution to workplace noise, a broken psychological contract and some other stuff

by Mark Eltringham • Features

I’ve never really wanted to go to MIPIM. I’m suspicious of it all for a number of reasons I won’t go into although you might reasonably guess what they are. So, I enjoyed this piece from Polly Plunket-Checkemian about her own misgivings. I understand that the testosterone level has been dialled down recently, but like Polly I’d like to see a re-examination of its format and intent, especially given that the real estate sector is having to rethink where it fits into the new era of work and meets the challenge of coworking.

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March 18, 2019

Government report shows increase in number of workers balancing care commitments

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News

A new official report has highlighted the increasing number of people who are having to balance caring for family members with their own working commitments. Catherine Foot, the Director of Evidence for the Centre for Ageing Better, responded to these statistics by calling for legislation to promote flexible working among older workers. Published by the Office for National Statistics, the report has found that one in four older female workers, and one in eight older male workers, have care responsibilities.

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March 18, 2019

UK ranks third globally for innovation, disruption and technology

by Mark Eltringham • Cities, News

The UK has risen one place, to third, in a global ranking of most promising countries in the world for technology breakthroughs that have a global impact. KPMG’s 2019 Technology Innovation Hubs report sees the UK trailing slightly behind the US and China, in a ranking of countries expected to produce the most disruptive technologies. The UK and Japan were almost tied in last year’s survey with the UK coming in 4th place. This year however, the UK moved ahead to secure the bronze place, whilst Japan was ranked fourth, Singapore was ranked fifth and India dropped from third place to sixth. (more…)