Search Results for: collaboration

Security and skills are the top concerns for companies investing in new technology

Security and skills are the top concerns for companies investing in new technology

Over the next five years, the top three technologies that are set to move from the fringes to the business mainstream are Artificial Intelligence (AI), Blockchain and the Internet of Things, according to CBI research. In the CBI’s new report, Disrupting the future, the UK business group highlights how firms and the government must pave the way for adoption of cutting-edge technologies, tackling the barriers that businesses are facing. The CBI is calling on the Government to establish a joint commission in early 2018 involving, business, employee representatives, academics and a Minister, to examine the impact of Artificial Intelligence on people and jobs, setting out plans for action that will raise productivity, spread prosperity and open up new paths to economic growth.

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An environmental psychology perspective on workplace design

An environmental psychology perspective on workplace design

I recently had the pleasure of travelling to Cape Town to present a keynote address at the Dare to Lead conference organised by Green Building Council South Africa (GBCSA). I had just 20 minutes to speak on a psychologist’s view of health, wellbeing and performance; that’s a huge subject area and pretty much my whole career condensed down to the typical time it takes to boil a pan of potatoes. So, I focused on just three psychological theories: motivation, personality and evolutionary psychology.

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Calls for commercial property sector to have a greater focus on customer experience

Calls for commercial property sector to have a greater focus on customer experience

The UK commercial property industry is undergoing a fundamental shift towards a more customer centric approach, with an increasingly greater emphasis being placed on delivering outstanding customer service to occupiers. This is the key finding of a new report from The British Council for Offices (BCO) entitled ‘Office Service Standards and Customer Experience: a best practice guide’. While for those who hold a very traditional landlord occupier relationship this change in thinking, attitude and operation may feel revolutionary, the report argues we are already seeing the industry evolve across the board. It claims that this is accelerated by new ‘property sector disruptors’, who are driving a shift in the relationship between property owners and corporate occupiers. To ensure they are keeping pace with their changing requirements and aspirations, property owners and managers are increasingly realising the need to invest in building strong relationships with their occupiers

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A third of UK employees ready to quit their jobs as half their time is spent on “work about work”

A third of UK employees ready to quit their jobs as half their time is spent on “work about work”

A new study claims that duplicated work, disorganisation, and micromanagement are widespread within UK businesses. The study claims that unproductive working practices in UK companies are rife, with 42 percent of employees saying they spend most of their time on futile “work about work” tasks, including status meetings, organising work, and tracking down information, as opposed to doing their actual work and moving projects forward. As well as impeding productivity, this is threatening staff retention: almost a third (31 percent) of UK employees admit they have either thought about leaving or actually left a job as a result of a culture which wastes their time on side issues.

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Majority of workers are optimistic that automation will enhance their work life balance

Majority of workers are optimistic that automation will enhance their work life balanceUK workers are largely optimistic about the impact automation will have in the workplace, with three in four believing it will give them more time to concentrate on their primary job duties and work more flexibly, claims new research. Workfront’s annual State of Enterprise Work report, which aims to capture not only how work is being done and what challenges office workers see in the present, but also how they see current workplace trends playing out in the near future reveals that 84 percent agreed with the sentiment that “the use of automation in the workplace will let us think of work in new and innovative ways.” 82 percent expressed excitement at the chance “to learn new things as the workforce moves toward more automation;” and while the overwhelming view on automation was positive, around 2 in 5 (38 percent) feared that rising automation will place humans and robots in competition for the same jobs in the future.

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How smart workplaces increase performance and attractiveness 0

The workplace can and should be used as a strategic tool to support work and cooperation, to shape the experience of the brand and to produce competitive advantage for the organization. Even when not used as a strategic tool the workplace still affects all these parts and there is always a risk that the workplace has instead a negative impact if we are not aware of the relationship and really use workplace as a strategic tool to affect attractiveness, productivity, efficiency and sustainability. The workplace makes a great difference and it is becoming an important differentiator between successful and less successful organizations. I also strongly believe that the workplace management area is a key for us in the FM industry to bring FM to a higher level, to shift from cost focus to more value focus, and this is something we need to do together within the FM industry and we really should take the driver’s seat. But, let’s start from the beginning.

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People who work in coworking spaces believe they are more productive

People who work in coworking spaces believe they are more productive

People who work in so-called coworking spaces claim they are more motivated and have more positive interactions with others, according to a new report. The report by Staples Solutions, called Collaboration Generation: The Rise of Millennials in the Workplace, details the trend in collaborative working, in addition to what attracts the millennial generation to business. Since 2010, co-working spaces worldwide have increased by 5,519 percent as the average office space per employee has decreased by 2.9 percent, the research reveals, with London seeing a reduction in traditional office space by 8.8 percent.

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Groundbreaking White Collar Factory building opens in London

Derwent London has announced the opening of White Collar Factory. The firm claims that the project is one of the most visionary developments of recent years, White Collar Factory combines the look of a well-built industrial space with modern office design. Located near Old Street Roundabout in North East London and designed by architectural practice Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (AHMM), the features of the White Colla Factory include 3.5m high ceilings, concrete core cooling, a 150m rooftop running track, communal roof terrace, a new landscaped public space and the ability to accommodate flexible occupation. The 293,000 sq ft mixed-use development includes a 237,000 sq ft office tower, where the first tenants are already in occupation. Tenants include Adobe, AKTII, BGL, Box.com, Capital One, Runpath, Spark44, The Office Group and Workshop Coffee. The tower forms part of a new urban campus with a further 56,000 sq ft of offices, studios, incubator space, restaurants and apartments, set around a new landscaped area of public realm, ‘Old Street Yard’.

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Majority of US office workers demand technology that allows them to work anywhere

Majority of US office workers demand technology that allows them to work anywhere

Majority of US office workers demand technology that allows them to work anywhereThe majority of North American office workers expect their employers to provide technology that allows them to work from wherever they choose and three quarter of employees (74 percent) would rather leave their job to work for an organisation that would allow them to work remotely more often, even if their salary stayed the same. This is because working remotely has moved from being a work perk to a necessity of 21st century living, claims a new study by Softchoice. Collaboration Unleashed: Empowering Individuals to Work Together from Anywhere, found that 85 percent of North American office workers expect their employers to provide technology that allows them to work from their desk, in a meeting room, at home, or the coffee shop down the street.

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High expectations mask large gap between understanding of artificial intelligence and its implementation

High expectations mask large gap between understanding of artificial intelligence and its implementation

New research published by the Boston Consulting Group and MIT Sloan Management Review suggests that there remains a wide gap between the understanding and adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) at most companies. The global study of over 3,000 firms and industry experts claims that almost 85 percent of executives believe AI will allow their companies to obtain or sustain a competitive advantage. However, only about one in five companies has incorporated AI in some offerings or processes. The new report claims to identify the key characteristics of AI leaders and offers companies a starting point for developing an AI strategy.

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Remote workers perceived as less valued by management than office based staff

Remote workers perceived as less valued to workplace by office based staffAmerican office workers think it’s twice as difficult for remote workers to build relationships with the boss, make work friends, collaborate with their team and navigate the workplace culture than in-office workers, according to recent research. The “Reality of the Remote Worker Report,” claims that remote workers tend to have their presence go by unnoticed, with 43 percent of office workers believing it’s harder for remote workers to be seen in the workplace than those non-remote. The report, conducted online amongst over 1,500 US workers by YouGov for CyberLink, found a number of disadvantages for remote workers; with nearly 1 in 6 (15 percent) of office colleagues thinking that remote workers are less valued by a company, 20 percent believing they’re promoted less often and 8 percent even viewing them as less trustworthy. And office workers who were asked about their own concerns about working remotely expressed a range of potential frustrations.

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The United Workplace launches to support business workplace strategy on a global scale

The United Workplace launches to support business workplace strategy on a global scale

A global collaboration of workplace experts has been formed to assist companies in the development of their workplaces. Workplace specialists Fourfront Group and Amicus are the founding partners of The United Workplace (TUW), an organisation set up to share expertise and knowledge and deliver workplace design, fit-outs and commercial furniture consultancy and installation worldwide. The network comprises of Fourfront Group in the UK, Amicus which delivers workplace design and fit-out projects in Australia, Ware Malcomb an architectural practice in the US, and Summertown Interiors, a United Arab Emirates fit-out contractor.

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