March 22, 2019

New centre will assess potential for bias in algorithmic decision-making

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 20, 2019

Feeling appreciated and the quality of workplace both key to employee happiness

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Wellbeing, Workplace, Workplace design

The quality of the workplace has a powerful effect on the levels of happiness of staff, with nearly half of respondents (49 percent) to a recent survey stating that having a great office environment is important to their happiness at work, but according to the figures, only a quarter (25 percent) say a good workplace environment is a current positive about their work. The survey from Peldon Rose also found that less than half (45 percent) of employees actually feel appreciated at work and only two-thirds (67 percent) report feeling happy. Yet the majority of workers (80 percent) who took part, believe that feeling appreciated is most important to their happiness at work – ahead of salary (58 percent) and feeling trusted (55 percent).

March 20, 2019

RNIB launches new focus for Disability Confident scheme

by Mark Eltringham • News, Workplace

The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) has launched a new suite of resources that will help employers support blind and partially sighted people in the workplace. The resources have been created as part of the DWP’s Disability Confident scheme, the nationally-recognised Government accreditation that supports businesses to attract, recruit and retain disabled employees.

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.

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 19, 2019

People often feel as if they are kept in the dark about flexible working

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News

New research from LinkedIn (registration) claims that a third (36 percent) of UK professionals believe their employer does not do enough to support new parents. The release of the figures comes as LinkedIn claims that 18th March was the day that working families only just start getting paid for the year, once growing childcare costs are taken into account. The survey of 4,000 UK workers suggests that professionals feel they are being left in the dark when it comes to parental policies, with a third (37 percent) not even aware of what support their workplace provides for new parents. More →

March 19, 2019

Demotivated workers would be driven by higher pay and more flexibility

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Workplace

Almost a third (31 percent) of UK professionals state that their expectations are ‘not being met at all’ by their current employer, whilst a further 24 percent state that their needs are only just ‘moderately’ being met. The findings, which come from research undertaken by recruiter Robert Walters and job board CV-Library – also suggest that while the amount they were paid was most important to staff, other benefits are increasingly playing a more prominent role in keeping staff motivated. Well over half (61 percent) claimed that work-life balance, flexible working hours (39 percent), and cultural fit (25 percent) are crucial to keeping them happy at work. 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.

March 18, 2019

Artificial Intelligence is transforming the workforce as we know it

by Dennis Spaeth • AI, Comment, Technology

It may seem like an inevitable fact of administrative positions that anyone who fills them will be subjected to a never-ending litany of repetitive tasks. Employees in these jobs often don’t receive work that engages their brains or peaks their interests. Rather than flexing their critical thinking skills, these workers are resigned to completing the necessary, yet boring, administrative tasks.