September 24, 2019

Skills gap driven by changing structure of labour market

by Neil Franklin • News, Technology, Workplace

Recent years have seen a widespread drop in global unemployment rates but what continues to puzzle economists has been the subsequent failure of wage inflation to follow suit. This has created an unusual phenomenon of wage stagnation across global markets, according to the eighth edition of the Hays Global Skills Index, a report into skills and the skills gap published by recruitment firm Hays in collaboration with Oxford Economics. More →

September 23, 2019

Having data about people and their behaviour does not create a science

by John Rapley • Comment, Technology, Workplace

Two questions: is it good or bad that professional athletes earn 400 times what nurses do, and is string theory a dead end? Each question goes to the heart of its discipline. Yet while you probably answered the first, you’d hold an opinion on the prospects of string theory only if you’ve studied physics. More →

September 20, 2019

Flexible working now routine for two thirds of US workers

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Technology, Wellbeing

A new report from Owl Labs claims that although two-thirds of US workers now work away from their main place of work some of the time, there are still many people and organisations that are unaware of the benefits, processes and challenges involved in flexible working. The new report explores the effect flexible working has on personal happiness, recruitment, retention and skills as well as exploring the attitudes of people who are based in a fixed place of work.

September 20, 2019

Exploring the link between digital IQ and workplace culture

by Anthony Brown • Premium Content, Technology, Workplace design

One of the most talked about solutions to the UK’s seemingly intractable productivity deficit is the application of new technology. And as we begin to address the first challenges and opportunities presented by the Fourth Industrial Revolution, it grows more apparent each day that this is not merely a macro-economic issue, but something that affects us at an organisation and personal level too.

September 20, 2019

Managers lack confidence in their ability to develop employee skills

by Neil Franklin • News, Workplace

Despite acknowledging the importance of new skills, 45 percent of managers don’t feel confident in their ability to develop the skills employees need today, according to a poll by Gartner. In addition to a lack of confidence, Gartner research also claims that managers lack time to coach their direct reports, with managers spending on average 9 percent of their time on developing their direct reports. More →

September 19, 2019

Flexible working becoming preserve of the well paid

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News

The number of highly paid workers offered some form of flexible working has trebled in the past four years, according to the latest Flexible Jobs Index from flexible work consultancy Timewise. It found that the proportion of jobs with salaries of more than £80,000 advertised with flexible working options is up to 16 percent, compared to 9 percent last year and 5 percent in 2016. More →

September 19, 2019

Employee privacy issue explored at CoreNet Global Summit

by Freddie Steele • News, Property, Technology, Working culture

Employee acceptance of new technology was a recurring theme of the CoreNet Global Summit in Amsterdam last week. The business value of monitoring software was largely accepted during the three days of the Summit; however, the individual’s perspective – that the benefits that might be traded for loss of employee privacy – was widely acknowledged as a pressing issue. More →

September 19, 2019

Workers want firms to do more about air quality

by Neil Franklin • Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Wellbeing

Flexible working, sharing information about local clean air routes and incentivising active travel are just some of the ideas being put to businesses today as new research suggests employers need to do more to address the issue of air quality and pollution for staff both in the workplace and on their commute. More →

September 18, 2019

A fantastic workplace does not have to be innovative, just fantastic

by Neil Usher • Comment, Flexible working, Workplace design

A recent report from AWA, Global Workplace Analytics and Haworth identified that over half of those surveyed in 130 organisations work in assigned positions. What was more interesting – than the report was the positioning of the key findings – the message being that in many respects organisations were denying their people the full benefits of an agile (or activity-based – we’ll use agile here) workplace, the blunted old farts.

September 18, 2019

Automation will boost productivity, but risks leaving people behind

by Neil Franklin • AI, News, Workplace

Unless the Government steps up efforts to manage the transition to automation, many people and entire regions of the UK face being left behind and British businesses could find themselves becoming less competitive, says the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) Committee in a report published today.
More →

September 17, 2019

The four day week problem, WeWork delays IPO, harbingers of doom and some other stuff

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

It’s interesting to watch what happens when politicians – even more so than normal people – are faced with evidence they don’t like. And it’s especially interesting when they asked for the evidence in the first place. You can pick your own examples but it was interesting to note Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell’s immediate and decidedly lukewarm response to his own report into the wisdom of introducing a 4 day week, which concluded that the idea is ‘not realistic or even desirable’. More →

September 17, 2019

Workers prepared to accept automation but need training

by Neil Franklin • AI, News, Technology

Research from Gallup suggests that people feel unprepared for the introduction of new technologies, despite being optimistic about their job prospects. The Gallup Real Future of Work report of 4,000 employees has found that people around the world are generally upbeat about the impact of technology and automation on their careers, despite some analysts predicting that AI-enabled machines would take over 50 percent of human jobs within the decade. More →