August 13, 2021

The future of work will be shaped by the needs of workers

by Neil Franklin • News, Workplace design

As the UK government has withdrawn its advice for employees to work from home, more organisations than ever will be instituting what have become known as hybrid working models: 68 percent globally, according to research from Steelcase. Definitions of “hybrid work”, however, are often contradicting and unclear – leaving business leaders without definitive guidance about how to approach the future of work. To provide businesses with a more concrete view of what hybrid working looks like in reality, and provide tangible actions to help streamline productivity and collaboration, Steelcase have researched the experiences and needs of workers worldwide in their report: Changing Expectations and the Future of Work. (more…)

August 10, 2021

Policymakers should encourage the responsible use of AI in decision-making

by Jayne Smith • Business, News, Technology

A new report from the Center for Data Innovation claims businesses are increasingly adopting artificial intelligence tools to support workforce decisions in areas such as hiring and retaining high-performing employees. But to successfully deploy and maximize the productivity benefits of these AI tools, employers should address potential concerns to ensure the technology does not exacerbate biases or inequalities, produces fair and accurate results, and does not unduly compromise worker privacy. (more…)

July 26, 2021

Only a tenth of global businesses are front-runners in inclusion and diversity practices

by Jayne Smith • Business, News, Working culture

Ninety percent of global businesses struggle with inclusion and diversity practices within their technology/ IT teams according to ‘The key to designing inclusive tech: creating diverse and inclusive tech teams’ report by the Capgemini Research Institute. (more…)

July 20, 2021

Firms don’t use artificial intelligence much, so the current hype is tripe

by Wim Naudé • Features, Technology

Many governments are increasingly approaching artificial intelligence with an almost religious zeal. By 2018 at least 22 countries around the world, and also the EU, had launched grand national strategies for making AI part of their business development, while many more had announced ethical frameworks for how it should be allowed to develop. The EU documents more than 290 AI policy initiatives in individual EU member states between 2016 and 2020. (more…)

July 19, 2021

European Commission adopts ambitious Green Deal to cut greenhouse gas emissions

by Neil Franklin • Environment, News

The European Commission adopted a package of proposals to make the EU’s climate, energy, land use, transport and taxation policies fit for reducing net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55 percent by 2030, compared to 1990 levels. The Commission claims that achieving these emission reductions in the next decade is crucial to Europe becoming the world’s first climate-neutral continent by 2050 and making the European Green Deal a reality. (more…)

July 19, 2021

Over two thirds of office workers dread speaking to their IT department

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News, Technology, Working lives

Research by Velocity Smart Technology, investigating how IT departments are coping with a move to remote working, claims that almost half (45 percent) of office workers have had to wait longer for an issue to be resolved whilst working from home – with 73 percent going on to say they have had to wait up to an extra five hours for an issue to be fixed. (more…)

July 16, 2021

Firms who prioritise working culture enjoy better financial performance

by Neil Franklin • News, Wellbeing, Working culture

Heidrick and Struggles has released the results of a new global CEO study Aligning Culture with the Bottom Line: How Companies Can Accelerate Progress which found that intentionally building a company’s working culture can impact the company’s financial performance in a number of ways. The survey of 500 CEOs across nine countries examines how working culture propels organisational performance in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, Spain, the UK and the USA. (more…)

July 14, 2021

Shaping London’s future: Mayor’s Resilience Fund Winners Announced

by Jayne Smith • Cities, News

The Mayor of London, in partnership with Nesta Challenges, has announced the winners of the Mayor’s Resilience Fund, a £1 million innovation programme set up to support London’s businesses and community groups to emerge stronger from COVID-19 and to ensure the capital is prepared for future disruptive challenges. (more…)

July 8, 2021

Climate Commission launched to identify green investment opportunities

by Jayne Smith • Environment, News

The new UK Cities Climate Investment Commission begins work to identify Green Investment opportunities across UK Cities. Cities, investment and innovation experts have launched a Commission which begins the process of identifying a transformational programme of Green Growth for the UK’s cities. (more…)

June 21, 2021

HR should play a more strategic role in business resilience

by Jeanette Wheeler • Comment, Flexible working, Technology, Workplace

Almost every organisation now knows it must become more resilient as the economy emerges from the pandemic. As well as coping with crises and global events, organisations must excel in the face of the many less high-profile disruptions that hit an organisation – from supply chain bottlenecks to shifts in demand and sudden skills shortages. HR departments have a major role to play in this but to do so successfully requires a change of mindset, taking a step back from traditional administrative functions and reviewing the entire business as if they were an outsider. (more…)

June 18, 2021

Cities could be more important post-pandemic, not less, suggests report

by Neil Franklin • Cities, Flexible working, News

Paradoxically, more in-person work environments and the concentration of jobs in cities could be a medium- to long-term impact of the pandemic’s shift to remote working, suggests Citi GPS Technology at Work: The Coming of the Post-Production Society, a report produced by Citi and the Oxford Martin School at the University of Oxford. The report cites the automation of manufacturing and clerical tasks alongside the potential for professional services jobs that can be done remotely to be done cheaper overseas as the start of a foundational shift in developed economies. The future of work in these countries, it suggests, could be based largely on innovation, exploration and creative thinking which require face-to-face interaction and geographic proximity. (more…)

June 17, 2021

Suburban commercial property markets outperform City Centres for first time in a decade

by Jayne Smith • Flexible working, News, Working lives

Research from The Instant Group claims that suburban commercial property markets are outperforming City Centres for the first time in over ten years. The increased demand is largely being driven by those who no longer want to work from home, but don’t want to be back in larger cities. (more…)