August 2, 2024

Tech workers and young people will need a major skills upgrade if they are to keep up with AI

The vast majority (92 percent) of ICT roles are expected to undergo big changes as a result of advancements in artificial intelligence and the technology continues to transform the information and communications (ICT) sector according to a new report from tech giants, Cisco, Microsoft and Google. The AI-enabled ICT Workforce Consortium, led by Cisco has published the “Transformational Opportunity of AI on ICT Jobs” report, offering guidance on the areas for of concern for workers to reskill in response to the evolving job landscape. This transformation will impact professionals in 47 ICT roles, including cybersecurity, data science and software development, according to the report. (more…)

July 18, 2023

We need better evidence to help protect people at work

by Sarah Cumbers • Comment, Workplace

We make decisions at work every day and for those in complex roles or in fast-changing situations, it can feel like a continuous process. In business, of course, the choices we make can have a significant impact on the bottom line and, more importantly, our people, the environment and the communities we’re operating in. With so much riding on what we choose to do, our decision-making processes must be designed to maximise our chances of successful outcomes. This is especially so when our decisions involve how to protect people at work so can be literally a matter of life or death. (more…)

May 3, 2023

Around a quarter of jobs will shift over the next five years, WEF report claims

by Neil Franklin • News, Workplace

Almost a quarter of jobs are expected to switch in the next five years according to a new report from the World Economic Forum. Its Future of Jobs Report for 2023 suggests that employers anticipate 69 million new jobs to be created and 83 million eliminated among the 673 million jobs corresponding to the dataset, a net decrease of 14 million jobs, or 2 percent of current employment. The data is an extrapolation of data from 803 employers employing around 11 million people. (more…)

March 9, 2022

Workplace Geeks podcast: Space for thought, with Jeremy Myerson

by Neil Franklin • Features, Flexible working, Workplace design

In this new episode of Workplace Geeks, Chris and Ian talk to WORKTECH Academy director, author and activist, professor emeritus Jeremy Myerson, about his award-winning research, ‘Space for thought: designing for knowledge workers’. The paper was co-authored with lead-researcher Catherine Greene back in 2011, and the findings are arguably even more relevant now in the aftermath of the pandemic, as many organisations grapple to unlock suitable alternative working arrangements for their diverse knowledge workers’ needs. (more…)

September 22, 2021

More hybrid working to bring 3.8 million Brits into employment

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News, Working lives

Hybrid working could bring nearly four million people “locked out” from work such as parents, carers and disabled people into the workforce and enable part-time workers to work more hours adding £48.3bn to the UK economy each year, according to a new study by Virgin Media O2 Business and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr). (more…)

May 24, 2021

Spaceflow and Flowbox partnership helps landlords monitor and control properties to support sustainability

by Freddie Steele • Company news, Property, Technology

Spaceflow, a tenant experience operating system and Flowbox, an in-building advanced technology management company, announce their partnership. Through their common product offering, Flowbox and Spaceflow help landlords and building operators with their ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) goals. With FLOW, real estate companies can monitor energy consumption, occupancy, air quality, temperature, CO₂levels, humidity and in later phases, control and automate their building hardware in one platform. Real-time data helps owners and managers optimize operations, streamline the use of energy sources, reduce operating costs and be guided through investment decisions. (more…)

July 5, 2020

From the archive: the future of work and place in the 21st Century ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Facilities management, Features, Flexible working, Technology, Workplace design

However much we know about the forces we expect to come into play in our time and however much we understand the various social, commercial, legislative, cultural and economic parameters we expect to direct them, most predictions of the future tend to come out as refractions or extrapolations of the present. This is a fact tacitly acknowledged by George Orwell’s title for Nineteen Eighty-Four, written in 1948, and is always the pinch of salt we can apply to science fiction and most of the predictions we come across. (more…)

April 7, 2020

Manchester set to be the next UK tech hub

by Neil Franklin • Cities, News

Manchester could be set to see an influx of tech talent in the next three years, according to new research from CWJobs, the UK’s leading tech job board. Surveying 1,000 tech workers, Manchester emerged as the top choice outside of the capital (22 percent) to work in, with a fifth (20 percent) also revealing it’s the city they would choose to set up a tech business in the next three years, ahead of Birmingham (11 percent) and Edinburgh (8 percent). In the same survey, 505 IT decision makers (IT DM) also placed Manchester as the best location to set up a tech business, with over a quarter (27 percent) choosing the city. (more…)

December 18, 2019

Anthropology might hold answers to the most difficult workplace challenges

by Christopher Diming • Comment, Workplace design

Many recent discussions have centered on the drawbacks of the open-plan office, a major format in the UK, and possible pathways to the communal workplace of the future. As part of this, it has been acknowledged that the factors responsible for determining the open-plan office’s performance are complex, and a number of the present-day workplace’s characteristics are messy and hard to quantify. In this brief article, I present anthropological methods as means for practitioners to further unpack the symbolic aspects of communication in open-plan offices and spark workplace solidarity.

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November 6, 2019

Cyber security remains a key tech priority for businesses

by Neil Franklin • News, Technology

Organisations are prioritising investment in cyber security to strengthen their defences against their perceptions of a growing threat, according to a new survey of its customers to gauge their technological priorities by Softcat. According to a BBC report, 55 percent of UK firms have experienced a cyber-attack in 2019, up 15 percent compared to last year, signifying a growing threat so their fears may be well-founded. Softcat’s survey claims that 83 percent of industries ranking cyber security as their biggest technology priority for the year ahead. (more…)

July 19, 2019

The Age of Blorp, a dead tulip, no muggles allowed and some other stuff

by Mark Eltringham • Architecture, Features, Technology, Wellbeing, Workplace design

First the good news. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has rejected the proposals for Foster+Partners’ godawful 300 metre tall ‘Tulip’ viewing tower in London. The reasons given for the refusal from the Mayor’s office include the fact that the thing didn’t represent the sort of “world class architecture that would be required to justify its prominence”. A nicely dressed up way of saying it’s a terrible idea, a terrible piece of architecture and has absolutely no place in London. (more…)

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…)