Search Results for: Gen Z

December 28, 2017

The most read workplace stories from the last twelve months

by Mark Eltringham • Architecture, Facilities management, Features, Technology, Workplace, Workplace design

One of the greatest joys of online publishing is the opportunity it offers to reflect on the demonstrable preoccupations and interests of an informed audience. We can see what professionals see as the most important issues they face by what they read in the UK’s most widely read publication in its field. It’s especially heartening to see that those do not include the usual glib misdirections about Millennials, gimmicky office design, robots, open plan and ‘trends’ that have been more or less commonplace for years. We can leave those to others. Instead you have been seeking out stories that challenge the lazy mainstream narratives, reflect the reality of the endlessly shifting landscape of work, understand the challenges involved and retain a focus on the human beings at the centre of it all. So, here are the ten most read pieces from Workplace Insight published over the past 365 days. More →

December 28, 2017

Automation will benefit the economy but many people could lose out

by Mark Eltringham • AI, News, Technology

Around a third of all jobs in the UK are vulnerable to the introduction of robots, automation and artificial intelligence and the government must intervene to manage the transition and stop new technology driving up wage inequality, a report from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) claims. Although the report suggests that the tech will have a generally beneficial impact on the economy, it warns that lower-skilled jobs are far more likely to be phased out over the coming decades, and only higher-skilled workers would generally be able to command higher wages.

December 28, 2017

UK enjoys sharpest rise in output for two years, CBI report claims

by Mark Eltringham • News

Business activity in the UK ended the year on a high after manufacturers, service sector companies and retailers reported the sharpest rise in output in two years, according to a report from the business lobby group CBI. The composite measure based on 642 respondents across the three sectors showed the balance of firms reporting a rise in output at +19 percent, compared with +6 percent in the three months to November 2017. Growth was broad-based, according to the CBI, with all sectors reporting robust output volumes growth last quarter at a pace above their long-run averages.

December 23, 2017

The world converges on the new issue of Work & Place

by Mark Eltringham • News, Premium Content, Work&Place

We have published the new issue of Work & Place Journal and it’s our biggest and best yet. Sponsored by Steelcase, Liquidspace and The United Workplace, the new issue will shortly be published in its Spanish language version. Its overall readership is now nearly 100,000 so it’s not just bigger and better, it is even more influential. I would sum up its core theme as convergence. The essential idea behind this is the lack of any sort of meaningful distinction in a traditional sense between the physical, digital and cultural workplaces. These were once pretty clearly demarcated spheres of personal and organisational influence. Their overlap and integration define the greatest puzzles we face in the workplace in the early 21st Century. Some of these are addressed in the features included in this edition of Work & Place. They include Despina Katsikakis looking at what the idea of flexibility means, Neil Usher gets back to basics with his take on the elemental workplace, Beatriz Arantes tears down the barriers to creativity, Christine Kohlert and Scott Cooper offer their take on creative work, Rob Leslie-Carter offers a considered perspective on the current status of artificial intelligence and automation and Aki Stamatis considers the right to disconnect that is now becoming a global problem with local solutions More →

December 22, 2017

Seven workplace design and management stories that you must read this week

by Mark Eltringham • Features, Property, Technology, Workplace design

The jingle jangle of work non-work balance

Productive healthy ageing and musculoskeletal health

Understanding modern work in an age of insecurity

The death of employee engagement or a happy ending?

Is the era of management over?

The paradox of choice in the workplace

Ten workplace meta-trends for 2018 (really)

December 22, 2017

Five employment law milestones from the past year we need to remember in 2018

by Lucy Gordon • Comment, Workplace

The past twelve months have been an eventful period for employment law; from the uncertainty surrounding Brexit and the rights of EU Nationals working in the UK, to the mounting attention on employee data protection as the GDPR edges ever closer. Issues of Employment Tribunal fees, holiday pay and the gig economy have similarly captivated headlines, and these significant milestones from the past 12 months are set to have a big impact on the challenges facing the sector into 2018. More →

December 21, 2017

Commercial property is undergoing tech disruption, but not as some believe

by Polly Plunket-Checkemian • Comment, Facilities management, Property, Technology

According to a recent report, executives in the commercial property sector have significant reservations about emerging disruptive technologies such as Big Data and predictive analytics, augmented and virtual reality, Blockchain and driverless vehicles, but see huge potential for process automation. Disruption is a strong word. It conjures up apocalyptic images and radical interventions leaving unrecognisable outcomes in its wake. Big terms like artificial intelligence, Internet of Things (IoT) and big data bring equally big expectations. For those of us at ground level, it’s hard to see the cumulative impacts of the many changes taking place around us. It’s also hard not to share the same view expressed above. Future-gazing is nice to a point, but board level conversations like to take signposts from what is actually happening around them as well, and the commercial property sector is no exception. This sector is undergoing profound disruption but not necessarily from Silicon Valley’s headline grabbers.

December 20, 2017

CIPD predicts tighter labour market and continued poor productivity next year

by Sara Bean • Legal news, News, Workplace

There is little evidence that the pay squeeze will end soon, with only falling inflation likely to lead to meaningful wage increases next year. This is according to a CIPD analysis, which predicts that 2018 will see pay, productivity and migration top the agenda as the UK looks ahead to its exit from the European Union. It adds that the UK workforce could tighten, and with increased constraints on labour supply, 2018 could be the year that the UK finally runs out of people to fill jobs, despite unemployment levels being unlikely to see much change. There are also indications there will be no improvement in productivity, with continued stagnation in UK productivity, which will remain well below pre-crash levels. In the CIPD’s annual labour market predictions, Ian Brinkley, Acting Chief Economist, anticipates a flattening of employment growth and weak pay growth as the UK continues to struggle with its productivity problem.

December 19, 2017

We need to have an honest conversation about presenteeism

by Steve Brewer • Comment, Flexible working, Workplace design

We have talked before about the risks of over thinking problems. It is not just something that consultants, designers and the workplace intelligentsia are guilty of – everyone does it. It is why we do not switch off when we are ill and still insist on going to work. We over think the consequences of not being in our workplace. Likewise, many traditional line managers simply cannot get their head around their teams working from home. After all, modern management mantras all talk about creating a great atmosphere in which teams all work together – in the same space at the same time? We all tend to over complicate most things and that is one of the main reasons in the UK we struggle with the concept of working from home. A consequence of this is the rise in presenteeism, which is mainly linked to illness, people ignoring how bad they feel and because of a perceived pressure, still turning up for work.

December 19, 2017

Employers want to grow workforce next year, but concerned about Brexit impact

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, Legal news, News, Workplace

Just over half (51 percent) of firms across the UK will grow their workforce in the year ahead, with confidence highest amongst small and mid-sized firms (58 percent) according to the latest CBI/Pertemps Network Group Employment Trends Survey. But the survey warns that delivering further jobs growth depends on businesses being confident they can remain competitive if they choose to base staff in the UK. Nearly two thirds (63 percent) currently believe that changes in the UK labour market will contribute to Britain becoming a less attractive place to invest and do business over the next five years – up from 50 percent last year and 25 percent in 2015. Skills gaps were the single most prominent worry facing firms, with nearly four in five (79 percent) respondents highlighting this as a worry – up from 64 percent in 2016. Access to overseas workers is a big contributor to this, with nearly half of respondents (49 percent) identifying uncertain access to labour supply – up from 35 percent in 2016 as a concern.

December 18, 2017

Productivity plummets as majority of staff now concentrate on Christmas

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Workplace

Productivity plummets from today as over half of staff prepare for Christmas Over half of the workforce (57 percent) of employees admit to officially downing tools today (Monday 18 December) as the festive period gets well and truly underway, claims new research by Peakon. The HR analytics firm’s survey of more than 2,000 people reveals that, as Christmas creeps ever closer, employees admit to a whole raft of distractions from their everyday work duties. Two in five people (42 percent) confess to clocking off to Christmas shop online, a third (35 percent) say they’re planning Christmas day and almost one in three (30 percent) are planning their Christmas break instead. One in six (16 percent) confess to indulging in the odd Christmas tipple on the job – with men twice as likely to take advantage of a festive drink than women (22 percent and 11 percent respectively). 17 percent of those surveyed leave work earlier than usual, and one in 10 (12 percent) take longer lunches. A small percentage (4 percent) confess to calling in sick. But offering staff more flexible hours for shopping and Christmas prep would help maintain performance.

December 14, 2017

How designers copy nature to create new and extraordinary forms

by Charles Marks • Comment, Workplace design

Humans have a long track record of turning to Nature for inspiration. When Leonardo da Vinci turned his mind to the challenge of acquiring the power of flight for mankind, his sketches show he believed the solution lay in mimicking the form and function of bat wings. We’ve learned a lot about aerodynamics since the fifteenth Century but nature continues to provide a blueprint for the way we design materials and structures. Researchers at the University of Alabama have recently won a grant from the US National Science Foundation to explore how the scales on the wings of butterflies (pictured) help the creatures to fly in the hope that it will help engineers design better and more efficient aircraft.