March 18, 2024
It shouldn’t need saying, but it does. Managers have a major impact on employees’ productivity and engagement, as well as other factors that create great workplaces such as building trust, fostering open communication, and caring for employees as individuals, according to a new global study by the UKG Workforce Institute.
March 17, 2024
In the face of climate change, social justice movements, and recession, employees are seeking alternative commitments from employers. A new poll from Sparta Global claims that for job seekers in 2024, a company’s contributions to environmental sustainability, poverty alleviation, and community well-being are of growing importance. More →
March 15, 2024
Great Place To Work has announced its annual UK’s Best Workplaces list, based on feedback from around 250,000 people. Taking into account culture audits and employees’ perspectives the organisers say they have identified what makes these employers the best. More →
March 14, 2024
Of all the things we buy, with the exception of our clothes, furniture is the most intimate, the one item we spend most time in contact with. According to JG Ballard who dedicated himself to understanding our relationship with the world around us, ‘Furniture constitutes an external constellation of our skin areas and body postures’. Whether he would have recognised it as such, Ballard was a pioneer of the principle we now refer to as psychogeography, defined by one of its founders, Guy Debord, as ‘the study of the precise effects of setting, consciously managed or not, acting directly on the mood and behaviour of the individual’. More →
March 14, 2024
The CEOs of the world’s largest companies are increasingly optimistic about future growth, with 66 percent highly positive about the global outlook over the next three to five years. This is the headline finding of the second annual Arthur D. Little (ADL) CEO Insights Study, which was launched today. The study found that whatever their strategy or sector, global CEOs are increasing their growth investments. Artificial intelligence (AI) is seen as crucial to growth, with 96 percent of CEOs having already deployed AI in some form, although, demonstrating the early stages of its adoption, just 13 percent have a compelling, enterprise-wide AI strategy in place. More →
March 14, 2024
Credit ratings agency Moody’s is relocating its London headquarters from offices in Canary Wharf to a new location in the City of London. This move adds to the trend of financial firms opting to leave the Docklands district. The company will shift to offices at 10 Gresham Street in 2026, coinciding with the expiration of its lease at One Canada Square, the iconic pyramid-topped skyscraper in the heart of the east London estate. A spokesperson for Moody’s confirmed the selection of the new location, emphasizing that the move is subject to closing. More →
March 14, 2024
A new poll from Orgvue, an organisational design and planning software platform, suggests that businesses continue to ramp up investment in artificial intelligence despite being unclear on its business impact or how to implement it. Four in five (82 percent) of organisations have already invested, with another 33 percent saying they will increase this by more than 50 percent in the coming year. Based on a survey of 1,000 C-suite and senior decision makers at medium and large organisations, the report, Human-first, machine enhanced: the role of AI in workforce transformation, highlights contradictions in the business community concerning technology investment and AI’s impact on the workforce. More →
March 14, 2024
Just under a third (32 percent) of UK employers plan to hire more contract workers this year, according to a new report [registration] from recruitment company Robert Walters. Over a quarter (29 percent) report being encouraged to do so by the upcoming IR35 offset rule – coming into effect in early April. Not only that, but a January report from KPMG & REC found that demand for temporary professionals continued to increase softly across the private sector towards the end of 2023 – boding well for this year’s hiring. More →
March 13, 2024
A new poll claims that 74 percent of all cybersecurity breaches are caused by human factors. According to the data, published in The State of Email and Collaboration Security 2024 report from Mimecast, cyber threats are growing at an unprecedented pace, and the year ahead is fraught with cybercrime and incidents anticipated ahead of the busy election year where over 50 countries head to the polls. With new threats like AI and deepfake technology, the stakes are higher than ever to execute a strong cyber defence. More →
March 13, 2024
Thousands of individuals across the UK will receive training and qualifications in cutting-edge technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) as part of new government initiatives. Additionally, other transformative fields such as medicine, 6G, and quantum computing are also part of this initiative. The driving force behind the move is a substantial investment of over £1.1 billion aimed at enhancing the country’s skill base. More →
March 12, 2024
The UK’s greenhouse gas emissions fell by 5.7 percent in 2023 to their lowest level since 1879, according to a new analysis from Carbon Brief. According to the report from the researchers, the last time UK emissions were this low, Queen Victoria was on the throne, Benjamin Disraeli was prime minister, Mosley Street in Newcastle became the first road in the world with electric lighting and 59 people died in the Tay Bridge disaster in Dundee. More →
March 14, 2024
Our false memory of work in 2019 is stopping us from having better conversations
by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Workplace