Search Results for: communicating

Lack of skills investment means businesses miss out on benefits of automation

Lack of skills investment means businesses miss out on benefits of automation

by • AI, News, Workplace

A new report from the Capgemini Research Institute claims that, in the majority of companies (58 percent), automation is not yet meeting executives’ desired goals of increased productivity. The study, Upskilling your workforce for the age of the machine: Why a workforce upskilling strategy is key to unleashing automation’s productivity potential reveals that while automation does increase productivity to an extent, the key to reaching its full potential is by appropriate upskilling of the workforce.

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Top global industries leading the way in remote work

Top global industries leading the way in remote work

by • Features, Flexible working, Property

More business owners are swapping rigid 9-5 schedules and traditional office environments in favour of flexible space and remote work as an option for saving costs, retaining employees and encouraging a healthy work-life balance. With this in mind, Instant Offices has investigated what industries are leading the way for remote working and how to overcome the typical challenges of managing a remote team.

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The Genesis of ideation and the places we go to have our best ideas

The Genesis of ideation and the places we go to have our best ideas 0

by • Facilities management, Features, Technology, Work&Place, Workplace design

Picture1Because collaboration, creativity and innovation are increasingly perceived as key objectives and differentiators of performance, the genesis and mechanisms behind ideation and creativity are an an integral part of both business and personal development. As a consequence, there is growing interest in the way the physical attributes of work settings may influence or even trigger creative behaviour. The cliché of the shower as one of these favourite places comes to mind and yet experience does show that the idea of seeking a setting, a “zone” if you will, for a specific purpose is intuitively right. This needn’t be a retreat or cocoon, as is often assumed, but can also be a crowded, busy, noisy place, which might explain why so often the most animated work conversations move out of the office shop into the coffee shop. Equally, highlight events or special meetings tend to be held in a “venue’, often dressed for the occasion.

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Generations divide on the role of Artificial Intelligence in the workplace

Generations divide on the role of Artificial Intelligence in the workplace

by • AI, News, Technology, Workplace

Clear generational divide exists on the role of AI in the workplace

We try to avoid generalisations when describing the multi-generational workforce, but there’s no denying that younger workers who’ve grown up with digital communications appear less comfortable communicating face to face or on the phone. This is why it comes as no surprise to find that new research by ABBYY claims millennials would prefer to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to avoid speaking to colleagues and customers. While one in 10 millennials would hand over speaking to customers to robot colleagues, older generations are less keen, with only 4 percent of over-55s feeling the same.  (more…)

Business leaders admit recruitment process could be significantly affected by Brexit

Business leaders admit recruitment process could be significantly affected by Brexit

by • Legal news, News, Workplace

Business leaders admit recruitment process could be significantly affected by BrexitA quarter (25 percent) of businesses currently employ staff from the EU but half (50 percent) of business leaders say they would be put off employing someone from the EU after the immigration laws change a new survey has claimed. A quarter (25 percent) are also concerned the recruitment process will become lengthier, and almost a fifth (19 percent) believe it will become more costly. The study by Blacks Solicitors also found business leaders in the UK don’t feel confident in communicating the forthcoming changes to employees’ rights during Brexit. A quarter (23 percent) revealed they feel underprepared, and a further 61 percent say they are worried about leaving the EU. (more…)

When it comes to change management, culture sometimes eats strategy for breakfast

When it comes to change management, culture sometimes eats strategy for breakfast

by • Features, Flexible working, Workplace design

21st Century organisations are under constant pressure to evolve. They are beset by a number of forces that demand they change constantly. These include the need to restructure the organisation, adapt to new technologies, respond to competitors and changes in the economy and legislative environment. Inevitably, this constant need to change affects both people and the built environment in very profound ways. However, according to a study of Culture and Change Management published by the Katzenbach Center, only around half of all transformation initiatives meet their objects over time. Among the biggest obstacles to successful change management cited by the study is change fatigue, which is characterised by a lack of empathy and a widespread failure to engage with the change process.

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Firms ignoring employee anxieties about workplace communications

Firms ignoring employee anxieties about workplace communications

by • News, Wellbeing

UK companies are failing to support employees suffering with work-related performance anxiety, the business world’s equivalent to stage fright, despite it being a regular occurrence for many workers, according to new research. RADA Business, the commercial subsidiary of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art which provides communication skills training for corporate individuals, has published the report Beating Workplace Performance Anxiety, which surveyed 1000 workplaces. The report found that, on average, workers report feeling anxious at least once a week (five times per month). Despite this, few workplaces act effectively to counter incidents of workplace communications anxiety. Only 13 percent of people surveyed said that anxieties round communicating in the workplace are picked up and resolved by the management team.

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Public sector procurement must foster digital innovation and growth says report

Public sector procurement must foster digital innovation and growth says report

by • Facilities management, News, Public Sector, Technology

If the Government is to deliver its plans of driving digital transformation to improve the UK’s public services it must make a step change in procurement within central government and the wider public sector. That is one of the main findings of Procuring the Smarter State: key steps to promote innovation and growth in the public sector, published today by techUK. The Government spent more than £12.2bn with SMEs in 2015/16 and thousands more tech SMEs have signed up to sell their services to Government in the last year through agreements like G-Cloud and Digital Outcomes and Services. But the Government needs to do more if it is to reach its aspiration of spending one pound in every three with SMEs by 2022. This new report sets out how procurement can act as a tool for Government to deliver its vision for the future of public services and use public sector procurement to help foster innovation in the supplier community.

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Anxiety over communications skills performance affects majority of senior leaders

Anxiety over communications skills performance affects majority of senior leaders

by • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

Anxiety over communications skills affect majority of senior leaders

Employees in senior positions are more prone to experiencing workplace performance anxiety than any other role, despite their extra experience and authority, claims new research. The report by conducted by RADA in Business, the commercial subsidiary of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art found that the highest rates of anxiety for directors are around communicating, affecting 94 percent of those surveyed. 39 percent of senior directors cite networking with new business prospects and pitching as the situations where they feel the most unsure about their performance. Furthermore, almost a third (31 percent) say they are nervous of their ideas being shot down or being talked over, while a similar number (31 percent) say they are fearful of people thinking less of them. The next most-affected group was those in junior positions, with 92 percent reporting the effects of anxiety around communicating. With most people expressing the pressure to make an impact – whether being interviewed for a new job, moving into a more senior role, or presenting to colleagues or customers – as the main situations that bring on anxious feelings the most.

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Over half of remote workers say their colleagues don’t treat them equally

Over half of remote workers say their colleagues don’t treat them equally

by • Flexible working, News, Technology, Workplace

Over half (52 percent) of people who work remotely feel their colleagues don’t treat them equally, claims a new study. Working remotely has become a highly sought-after job perk and having the flexibility to live and work where you please, regardless of corporate headquarters, often draws people to take one job over another. But a survey from VitalSmarts produced by David Maxfield and Joseph Grenny, authors of the bestsellers Crucial conversations and Crucial Accountability, found that remote employees have a significantly harder time with a number of workplace challenges than their onsite colleagues. 67 percent of remote employees complained that colleagues didn’t fight for their priorities compared 59 percent of onsite employees. 41 percent of remote employees believed colleagues say bad things about them behind their back compared to 31 percent of onsite employees and 64 percent of remote employees had changes made to a project without warning vs. 58 percent of onsite employees. Over a third (35 percent) of remote employees thought colleagues were lobbying against them vs. 26 percent of onsite employees.

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Presenteeism leads a quarter of UK workers not to take a sick day unless hospitalised 

Presenteeism leads a quarter of UK workers not to take a sick day unless hospitalised 

by • Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

A quarter (23 percent), or 7 million UK workers, wouldn’t take a sick day unless they were hospitalised or had no other choice, claims a new survey by Canada Life Group. Nine in ten (89 percent) UK workers say they’ve gone into work when feeling ill, a proportion which is virtually unchanged compared to 2016 (90 percent), suggesting employers’ efforts to improve wellbeing are failing to reduce presenteeism. The issue is pronounced, with the survey indicating that 47 percent of respondents would come into work with a stomach bug and more than half (55 percent) would go into work if they had the flu – despite the high chance of this illness spreading to their co-workers.

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British organisations must step up to the challenges of artificial intelligence, robotics and automation

by • AI, News, Technology

A report published by the RSA think-tank has encouraged UK businesses to embrace artificial intelligence, automation and robotics. arguing that new technology has the potential to raise productivity levels, boost flagging living standards, and phase out ‘dull, dirty and dangerous’ tasks in favour of more purposeful and human-centric work. The Age of Automation report warns, however, that the UK is fast becoming a ‘laggard’ in the adoption of new machines and called on UK business leaders to accelerate their take-up of technology. The RSA found that sales of robots to the UK decreased over 2014-15, with British firms falling behind the US, France, Germany, Spain and Italy. A YouGov poll of UK business leaders, commissioned by the RSA, found that UK business leaders are currently wary of adopting AI and robotics, with just fourteen percent of firms currently investing in this technology or soon planning to. Twenty-nine percent of businesses believe AI & robotics to be too expensive or not yet proven and twenty percent want to invest but believe it will take several years to ‘seriously adopt’ the new technology.

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