Search Results for: generation z

February 26, 2019

Digital and mobile tech at work is still not being used to full advantage

by Sara Bean • AI, Facilities management, News, Technology, Workplace

Just a third of businesses are using mobile technologies for their administration tasks, and as organisations struggle to digitise, many employees admit to finding pen and paper simpler to use. The vast majority (91 percent) of workers still prefer to use a desktop or laptop for administrative tasks, according to the research commissioned by ABBYY, as only one third (35 percent) use mobiles for admin, despite 43 percent of workers wanting to use it for this purpose. Millennials in particular are keen to use mobiles, with 55 percent wanting to use mobiles for admin – yet only 43 percent currently do. Older generations are also open to using mobile for admin, with 35 percent of Gen X currently doing so, and 41 percent wanting to. However, it’s clear that some employees are finding the latest technologies, such as mobile, too difficult to use – 28 percent still want to use pen and paper for admin tasks, as 46 percent find it simpler than other means. Desktop still runs the workplace in the UK, regardless of today’s remote working climate. Almost half of workers (48 percent) use a desktop or laptop because it’s easier, and 41 percent because it’s faster.

February 26, 2019

Survey suggests that all age groups are similarly motivated at work

by Sara Bean • Comment, News, Workplace

When comparing the results of 18 – 29-year-olds with other age brackets, we often find that researchers are bending over backwards to find some kind of pattern. Now a new survey a new study from Automatic Data Processing (ADP) finds unsurprisingly, that there is actually little difference between the age groups regarding those who go to work because they like their company and feel that they’re on the same mission. Of those aged 30 – 49 years old, 9 percent choose this option as did 11 percent of 50 – 64-year-olds.

February 22, 2019

The biggest problem for city centres is a lack of high skilled jobs

by Mark Eltringham • Cities, News

The Centre for Cities, in partnership with George Capital, has mapped the UK cities with the strongest city centre economies in the UK, and identified their common features. The report City Centres: Past, Present and Future found that focusing on the struggles of certain high streets ignores the success of well-performing city centres and misdiagnoses the core problem: insufficient footfall in city centres due to a lack of jobs.

February 8, 2019

Post digital era offers the chance to create personalised experiences at work

by Neil Franklin • AI, News, Technology

The enterprise is entering a new “post-digital” era, where success will be based on an organisation’s ability to master a set of new technologies that can deliver personalised realities and experiences for customers, employees and business partners, according to the Accenture Technology Vision 2019 annual report that sets out to predict the key technology trends that will redefine businesses over the next three years. More →

February 8, 2019

Finding the Goldilocks Point for collaborative workplace design

by Jonathan Hindle • Comment, Technology, Workplace design

One of the great paradoxes of modern life is the ever increasing likelihood of breakdowns in communication in a world in which we have more ways to talk to each other than ever before. This can play out in especially toxic ways in the wider world, but its effects in the workplace can also be problematic. Most importantly, what we often assume to be true about communication and collaboration may not be borne out by the facts and this in turn has implications for workplace design.

February 7, 2019

Employee use of apps at work puts their organisation at risk of cyber-attack

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, News, Technology, Workplace

Workers continued use of unapproved apps in the office, including Instagram, Facebook Messenger and Snapchat, to communicate with colleagues as well as friends and family is putting their organisations at risk of cyber-attack, new research suggests. Four in ten employees (41 percent) admit to using Instagram for more than two hours each day, despite the app being banned in almost half of UK organisations. The majority of employees are well aware that certain apps are not approved for workplace use, but this hasn’t stopped them breaking the rules.

February 4, 2019

Largest ever speculative office development in Bristol gets green light

by Neil Franklin • Cities, News, Property

AXA Investment Managers – Real Assets (AXA IM – Real Assets), along with development manager Bell Hammer, is to commence construction of the initial phase of its 300,000 sq ft mixed-use Assembly Bristol regeneration project, having appointed Galliford Try as the main contractor. The construction contract and initial work has commenced for Building A which comprises 200,000 sq ft across 11 storeys with practical completion due in 2020. The building is claimed to a offer new archetype for Bristol office space; comprising multiple uses, and a range of flexible office spaces designed for both local and global businesses in the services, creative, consultancy, financial, media and technology sectors.

February 1, 2019

Millennial headlines, eternal workplace truths, the pathologisation of sitting and some other stuff

by Mark Eltringham • Facilities management, Features, Technology, Wellbeing, Workplace design

The New York Times asked an interesting question this week. “Why Are Young People Pretending to Love Work?” it demanded, begging the immediate response ‘for the same reason everybody else does’. If only that pat, facetious response were enough to satisfy the actual questions concealed by the typically misleading headline. What the article actually wants to know is why some members of one particular tribe of young people have a toxic relationship with work. And that tribe (of course) is made up of the diverse, attractive, urbanite, coffee-fixated, stock image Millennials working for the world’s tech giants. Interesting in so far as it goes, but this tribe is not homogeneous to begin with and does not represent the world’s ‘young people’. It’s beyond time we stopped working on the basis that it does. Change the headlines.

February 1, 2019

Are these the 2019 Top Employers to work for in the UK

by Neil Franklin • Company news, Wellbeing, Workplace

The Top Employers Institute, a certifier recognising employers that provide world-class employee conditions, has released its list of Certified UK Top Employers for 2019. Over 600 HR professionals gathered at London’s Hilton on Park Lane, on the 31st January 2019, to recognise the best employers in the UK. More →

January 23, 2019

Work’s not working; to be productive we need to get creative

by Zoe Humphries • Comment, Workplace design

Productivity in the UK workforce is dropping; output per hour fell 0.4 per cent in the last quarter of 2018 compared with the previous and grew just 0.2 per cent on the third quarter of 2017, according to the Office for National Statistics. Yet the UK workforce log the longest hours in Europe, working 42.3 hours per week on average. Clearly something isn’t lining up. So we must surely ask the question, what is going wrong and what can we do to improve the situation?

January 21, 2019

Robot delivery dogs, digital pollution, why tech firms like ping pong and some other stuff

by Mark Eltringham • Features, Technology, Wellbeing

Today is officially* Blue Monday and instead of offering up an endless series of clickbait pieces telling you how to cope and make the day better for your colleagues, we’re turning our attention to more interesting things. Such as this recent piece arguing that our obsession with ‘millennials’ can cloud our perspective on more important issues about people, their characteristics, advantages and inequalities. It argues that birth dates are rather less important to people’s life chances than their background, individual abilities and structural issues in the economy and society. Who – as they say – knew?

January 18, 2019

Employers must take better action to avoid sick building syndrome

by Steve Loughney • Company news, Facilities management, Workplace design

Sick building syndrome is a collective term to describe when occupants of a specific building suffer from a related illness. Problems can either be localised to a specific room or more widespread throughout a building. The symptoms can manifest as headaches, blocked or runny noses, skin irritations, sore eyes or tiredness and difficulties with concentration. A number of building-related factors are linked to the condition with ageing offices and factories acting as magnets for sick building syndrome. Studies have shown that headaches and respiratory problems among office workers were directly related to the use of air conditioning and inadequate ventilation. Room temperature, light and noise, humidity, carbon dioxide, chemical contaminants (volatile organic compounds – VOCs), air quality and naturally occurring poisons can all inflame symptoms for sufferers requiring more precise control over environmental factors in the workplace. Making sure buildings are healthy for their occupants is a challenge. More →