August 26, 2020
US based office furniture giant Steelcase has announced it has achieved carbon neutrality for its own operations. The company also announced new 2030 goals that have been validated by the Science Based Targets initiative. Building upon this momentum, the firm has established a goal to become carbon negative by 2030. (more…)
August 20, 2020
Employees are applying only 54 percent of the new skills they learn, despite the number of skills required for a single job increasing by 10 percent year on year, according to Gartner, Inc. Gartner TalentNeuron data also claims that 33 percent of the skills needed three years ago are no longer relevant. (more…)
August 20, 2020
British workers are much more positive about the impact of new technologies on job creation and business growth compared to employees based in Belgium, Germany, France or the Netherlands. This is according to a large-scale survey conducted by payroll and HR services provider SD Worx in collaboration with the Antwerp Management School. 44.7 percent of Brits have seen the number of jobs rise thanks to tech innovation, compared to 44.4 percent of the French, 38.4 percent of the Dutch, 35.6 percent of the Belgian and 25.7 percent of the German workers. The data looks at organisations in the past three years. (more…)
August 17, 2020
New data looking into the attitudes of 6,273 employees, commissioned by Perkbox, claims the considerable impacts of the furlough scheme and the prospect of returning to work to wellbeing. The research claims that 61 percent of furloughed workers have concerns over their future job security, and a further 42 percent have concerns about the future of their company due to their employer’s participation in the scheme. This is despite almost half (45 percent) enjoying the time off and break from working that this time provided. (more…)
August 14, 2020
Half (49 percent) of employed British adults feel positive about the prospect of returning to their place of work after lockdown, with less than one in five (18 percent) feeling negative, an Aviva study claims. The findings paint a relatively positive picture for businesses that have supported their people through lockdown, such as regularly communicating with workers and taking necessary steps to manage the risk of infection in the workplace. However, where businesses have not embraced risk management and prevention strategies, employees may decide not to return to work at all. (more…)
August 13, 2020
Three quarters of UK employees (74 percent) trust their employer to create a physically safe workplace and generally healthy work environment and the vast majority (92 percent) of employees are at least “a little” comfortable with contact tracing led by their employer for the purpose of organisational safety. This is according to a new survey Kronos Incorporated of 3,903 employees across 10 countries. (more…)
August 11, 2020
The UK is facing an AI skills gap that could leave companies struggling to compete with rivals from across the world, a new Microsoft report claims. The research, entitled AI Skills in the UK, also found that businesses in this country use less AI than firms overseas, and when they do it tends to be less advanced. UK organisations are also less likely to be classed as “AI pros” compared to the global average (15 percent versus 23 percent), and the UK has a higher failure rate of AI than the global average (measured by the number of projects generating no commercial value – 29 percent versus 19 percent). (more…)
August 11, 2020
Business leaders around the world have focused on protecting their employees in their immediate COVID-19 response, with UK CEOs leading the pack on mental wellbeing support. Some 93 percent of UK CEOs (92 percent globally) prioritised protecting employee health and safety over everything else. However, UK CEOs were found to have been significantly more focused on their employees’ mental wellbeing than their global counterparts, with 90 percent providing wellbeing support and initiatives, compared with 61 percent of CEOs globally. (more…)
August 7, 2020
Once upon a time. Not so long ago. We used to get ideas for stories on lots of different topics. These included those I often dismissed at the time as quaint, such as somebody’s thoughts on why you should bring your dog to work. Now I often hanker for such whimsy, faced with day 127 of an inbox stuffed with nothing much more than ‘how to return to the office after lockdown’. (more…)
August 6, 2020
According to the latest data from the Cycle to Work Alliance, June 2020 saw a 120 per cent increase in the number of people joining the government Cycle to Work scheme. Introduced in 1999 as part of a series of measures under the government’s Green Transport Plan, it is now undergoing a revival as thousands of people remain reluctant to use public transport fearing exposure to COVID-19. (more…)
August 4, 2020
Even as the UK starts to open back up following the COVID-19 enforced lockdown, there are still many unanswered questions about how almost every aspect of our lives will be impacted. What is certain though, is that we will continue to see a paradigm shift take place across all areas of the workplace. Employers must ensure they have the right measures and policies in place to deal with the transformations that have taken place across the UK’s labour market throughout the lockdown period. This is crucial, as only those who have a strong workplace culture will succeed in the post-pandemic world. (more…)
August 17, 2020
Is it time to get rid of all workplace policies and procedures?
by Freddie Steele • Comment, Workplace