Search Results for: Gen Z

One in five UK office workers admit they struggle with tech more than colleagues

One in five UK office workers admit they struggle with tech more than colleagues

by • Facilities management, News, Technology

The digitisation of the workplace may be seen as a boon to productivity, but that also depends on how well it’s being adopted by the workforce. A new survey claims that one in five (23 percent) UK office workers struggle with technology; and helping to solve the problems of these less tech-savvy employees takes up an average of 17 minutes of their colleague’s working day. The survey from memory and storage firm Crucial, found that work with an average of four colleagues in their office that are less tech-savvy than them. These colleagues always seem to encounter IT problems at work, distracting 62 percent of the UK workforce and costing businesses lost time fixing issues. Just over one in five (23 percent) British office workers admitted that they felt they were one of the less tech-savvy colleagues. A third of these aren’t worried about being less tech-savvy because they have other skills, another third (34 percent) admitted trying to fix tech problems themselves but always end up calling someone else, whilst 26 percent know someone will fix it for them anyway.

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The most successful business leaders adopt a courageous approach to technology and the future of work

The most successful business leaders adopt a courageous approach to technology and the future of work

by • News, Technology

Software consultancy ThoughtWorks has published a new report which claims that the best business leaders share a particular approach to the running of their organisations that the report characterises as ‘courage’. The Next Big Disruption: Courageous Executives claims to revealing what sets top business leaders apart from their competition. The report profiles a segment of leaders referred to as “Courageous Executives” in the US, the UK, Australia and India and the findings ‘underscore the critical role technology plays in business strategy, from navigating the chaos of digital transformation to how they’re setting their business up for future success.’ The report also claims to shed light on the leadership styles of Courageous Executives including their tolerance for risk and failure, their use of customer insights and the ways leaders in all four countries are preparing for the future of work.

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Whatever you might be told, this is not the Office of the Future

Whatever you might be told, this is not the Office of the Future

by • Comment, Facilities management, Technology, Workplace design

office of the futureIt seems like we don’t have to wait more than a few days at a time before some or other organisation is making its own prognoses about how we will be working in the future, especially at this time of year. The thing these reports about the office of the future all share in common, other than a standardised variant of a title and a common lexicon of agility, empowerment, collaboration and connectivity, is a narrow focus based on several of their key narratives and assumptions. While these are rarely false per se, and often offer some insights of variable worth, they also usually exhibit a desire to look at only one part of the elephant. The more serious reports invariably make excellent points and identify key trends, it has to be said. However, across them there are routine flaws in their thinking that can lead them to make narrow and sometimes incorrect assumptions and so draw similarly flawed conclusions. Here are just a few.

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Millennials are no more tech savvy and able to multitask than anybody else, claims review

Millennials are no more tech savvy and able to multitask than anybody else, claims review

by • News, Technology

Last year we reported on the fact that a large number of organisations still think they can solve all their tech and digital transformation issues merely by hiring one of the aliens we’ve come to call Millennials, based on little more than the idea they are ‘digital natives’. Since that time, a growing body of research and a little bit of thought has started to erode many of the stereotypes of this particular demographic. Turns out they’re just people like the rest of us and many of their ‘characteristics’ appear to be not that different to those of young people from other generations. The latest salvo fired at the stereotype comes from researchers Paul Kirschner and Pedro De Bruyckerec who claim the average Millennial is essentially a ‘yeti with a smartphone’ as they colourfully put it, just like everybody else. Millennials are not particularly good at multitasking either, according to the study.

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Being on a temporary or zero-hours contract is bad for your wellbeing, especially if you’re young

Being on a temporary or zero-hours contract is bad for your wellbeing, especially if you’re young

by • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

Two major new studies claim to show the impact of temporary or insecure work on the wellbeing of people, especially younger workers. Research into the lives of 7,700 people from the UCL Institute of Education (IOE) suggests that young adults who are employed on zero-hours contracts are less likely to be in good health, and are at higher risk of poor mental health than workers with stable jobs. Meanwhile, an analysis from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) and Business in the Community suggests that younger workers (born since 1982) in part-time and temporary work – or who are underemployed and/or overqualified – are more likely to experience poorer mental health and wellbeing, compared to younger workers in more permanent and secure work.

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Men and women report similar work life balance problems

Men and women report similar work life balance problems

by • News, Wellbeing

work life balanceContrary to commonly held perceptions and media narratives, women and men report similar levels of work-family conflicts, both in the form of work interfering with family and family interfering with work, according to research published by the American Psychological Association. The study found men are less likely to complain about or address the issue however. Researchers spent several years examining the findings from more than 350 studies conducted over three decades that included more than 250,000 participants from across the world. The results were surprising, said lead researcher Kristen Shockley, PhD, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Georgia. The research was published online in the Journal of Applied Psychology.

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UK commercial property market remains largely resilient

UK commercial property market remains largely resilient

by • News, Property

Although the commercial property market in the UK is proving largely resilient, demand to rent levelled off for the first time in almost five years during the past three months, according to a study from The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Its gauge of commercial tenants’ demand for property fell to -2 for the second quarter of 2017, its lowest reading since the third quarter of 2012. Demand varies across market sectors, however, with occupier demand declining in the office and retail sectors of the UK commercial property market, but conditions in the industrial segment remain firm, according to the survey.

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British businesses at risk of creativity crisis, according to new Microsoft research

British businesses at risk of creativity crisis, according to new Microsoft research

by • News, Technology, Workplace design

British businesses are at risk of a creativity crisis due to workplace cultures that stifle innovation, according to new research launched by Microsoft Surface. Uninspiring workplaces (41 per cent), a stressful atmosphere (34 per cent) and a lack of appropriate spaces to focus and think alone (28 per cent) were all identified as major inhibitors to creativity.  Two in five workers surveyed (40 per cent) say that creativity and innovation are neither encouraged nor rewarded within their workplace – despite creativity being one of the top three skills workers will need to thrive by 2020, according to the World Economic Forum. The research, based on the views of more than 1,100 workers, found that whilst almost three quarters of respondents (73 per cent) consider themselves to be creative, demands of the modern workplace need rethinking, with symptoms such as overworking and stress stifling our ability to tackle problems and produce good ideas. Half of workers (50 per cent) feel least creative when tired, 45 per cent when stressed, while existing workloads (39 per cent) and organisational processes (32 per cent) were also cited as barriers to employees being more creative.

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Retaining working mothers in the workforce is a top HR priority this year

Retaining working mothers in the workforce is a top HR priority this year

by • Flexible working, Legal news, News, Workplace

Nearly three quarters of employers in a recent poll say retaining female talent in the workforce is the most important issue in HR in 2017, as changes to childcare funding could impact on the recruitment and retention of working mothers. The research, which was carried out by My Family Care and recruitment firm Hydrogen, found that most employers thought that flexible working and supporting working parents and carers was important to them but strikingly, nearly three quarters (70 percent) rate the issue of retaining female talent after parental leave as the most important issue. However, 60 percent of HR professionals said their company provided no form of coaching or training support for their employees going through the parental transition. When it comes to the success of their family friendly initiatives, flexible working proved to be the most successful, followed by their Childcare Voucher Scheme and then enhanced maternity or Shared Parental pay.

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Employees accessing workplace IT systems from holiday may be cyber security risk

Employees accessing workplace IT systems from holiday may be cyber security risk

by • Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Technology, Workplace

Employees remote working while on holiday may pose a Cyber Security riskOrganisations are taking serious security risks by allowing employees to access workplace IT systems remotely while on their summer holiday, a telecoms company has warned. According to research by the corporate IT and cyber-security arm of Deutsche Telekom, nearly a third of employees (31 percent) use free Wi-Fi hotspots, and nearly a quarter (24 percent) use them for work-related emails and documents.  These are a big danger area as they are insecure and easy for hackers to clone (getting access to all email and web traffic, including any work documents and passwords). It also warns that 28 percent of employees email work documents to and from their personal email, despite this creating numerous security problems.  Ten percent use free USB charging points at airports and stations; and these ports can be used to transfer viruses and malware to unsuspecting users. The blame cannot solely be placed on the employees though, as just 28 percent of employees have never in their working career had any cyber security training to protect themselves and their employer.

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Japan introduces new teleworking laws to change work culture in run up to Olympics

Japan introduces new teleworking laws to change work culture in run up to Olympics

by • Cities, Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

It’s not just the UK that took time yesterday to reconsider its relationship with work. Japan launched a scheme to promote teleworking in an effort to address the country’s notoriously poor working culture and ease congestion in the build up to the Tokyo Olympics of 2020. Over 900 companies are claimed to have participated in Telework Day, which will be held on July 24 each year from now until the Olympics opening ceremony on July 24, 2020. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government has already introduced laws to address Japan’s notorious problems with overwork, raise contract workers’ pay, and curb a general abuse of labour laws. Earlier this year, the Japanese government announced plans to impose a cap on overtime of 100 hours a month to reduce the number of cases of “karoshi”, or death from overwork, among its people. The idea is to restrict overtime to an average of 60 hours a month, with a 100-hour limit in busy periods.

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Other UK cities must rebalance London-centric commercial property market

Other UK cities must rebalance London-centric commercial property market

by • Cities, News, Property

It is up to the UK’s other cities to rebalance the country’s London focussed commercial property market according to a new report, ‘What investors want: a guide for cities’, published by the think tank Centre for Cities with support from Capita. It examines the top priorities for investors when choosing which places to invest in, and offers practical advice for cities on how to make their places as attractive as possible for investors. The report shows that just over half of all investment in Britain’s commercial property market in 2016 – worth over £43bn in total – was spent in London. This was significantly more than the South East, the second most successful region, which secured nearly £5bn of investment, equivalent to 11% of the total share across Britain.

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