Search Results for: learning

January 10, 2019

Disability and age discrimination are top concerns for UK employees

by Sara Bean • News, Wellbeing, Workplace

More than half of employees say the inclusion of disabled people is an area that requires the greatest improvement within their organisation; with the diversity of age groups coming in a close second at just under half. This is according to the latest findings from Wildgoose’s Diversity and Inclusivity in the Workplace survey. The results suggest a shift in the areas that employees prioritise when it comes to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace and raises the concern that dual discrimination based on disability AND age is common practice in the workplace. Other significant findings from the research show that nearly half (47 percent) of male employees don’t consider the gender pay gap to be a major issue, in comparison to the three quarters of females that do; a statistic that is particularly concerning given the recent publication of major organisations’ gender pay gaps and continued media coverage of the issue. Interestingly, the gap between men and women narrows when it comes to equal promotional opportunities.

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January 9, 2019

Digital transformation and an uncharted future for workplace design in 2019

by Cherie Johnson and Julie Yonehara • Comment, Technology, Workplace design

In some way, humans have touched every single thing on this planet. We’re stepping into unknown territory. We’re changing everything. Think about that. Now, think about digital transformation. New technologies are changing how we interact with our environment, how we work, how we play and how we live. Tech tools are being more readily adopted as they get better and more accessible and, as a result our attitudes about them are changing. These are big ideas. And, they are rapidly changing our work and the domain of workplace design around the world. (more…)

January 7, 2019

World Bank report calls for changing approach to working cultures

by Neil Franklin • News, Workplace

A new report from the World Bank has call for more investment in people to prepare them for the economies of the future. The 2019 World Development report (WDR) “The Changing Nature of Work” claims that digital technologies are driving the demand for advanced cognitive skills, socio-behavioral skills, and adaptability in labour markets. The digital economy also presents an opportunity to create more jobs.

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January 7, 2019

Workers say finding people with the right skills is biggest issue this year

by Sara Bean • News, Workplace

Over half of workers (53 percent) believe that getting the right people with the right skills will be the biggest issue faced by their workplace in the year ahead. This is according to research published by Acas today, which commissioned YouGov to find out what UK employees identified as the most important workplace issues in the year ahead. The other two top issues identified were technological change (36 percent) and productivity (36 percent). Other issues identified by participants in the poll included fit and healthy staff (18 percent) and Equality and Fairness (17 percent). Acas Chief Exec, Susan Clews, said: “Employees feel that getting workers with the right skills is a key concern in the year ahead. This could be attributed to uncertainty around our relationship with the EU at the moment or general concerns around skills shortages.

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December 21, 2018

The ten most read stories on Workplace Insight for 2018

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

We can’t help but feel that the world caught up with us a bit during 2018. We’ve been talking about the intersection of people, place and tech since we started up five years ago. Of course, we weren’t even the first to do this. As we’ve always acknowledged, we’re standing on the shoulders of the giants who first recognised what was happening a quarter of a century ago. Many of the ‘trends’ with which we are presented are nothing more than the crystallisation of ideas first expressed by people in the 20th Century. They seldom get their due.

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December 21, 2018

Are open plan workspaces truly evil or is this just fake news?

by Dr Caroline M. Burns • Features, Workplace design

A recently published paper describing the results of an academic study by Ethan S. Bernstein and Stephen Turban[1], both of Harvard, has become another unwarranted casualty of the debate within our industry and in the mainstream media on ‘open plan’ offices versus anything else. The researchers conducted two controlled studies in different organisations before and after a workplace refurbishment from dedicated cubicles to dedicated open plan (benching) neighbourhoods, and concluded that face to face interaction reduced significantly, while email and other digital communications increased in the new environment.

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December 17, 2018

Don’t be a turkey, get on the commercial property gravy train

by Jo Sutherland • Comment, Property

Last week, the RICS Commercial Property conference tackled the biggest issues impacting the built environment sector, arming delegates with fragments of the formula for future success. The morning CEO Question Time panel put a trio of CEOs in the spotlight. In addition to airing concerns about the current political climate, rapidly shifting societal attitudes, diversity and inclusion, the ageing population coupled with the ongoing housing shortage, climate change and the complexities involved in exploring new business models to drive and diversify revenue, they all zoomed in on the accelerated pace of change we’re witnessing, crowning it the key challenge for today’s C-suite.

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December 17, 2018

More than half of employees have experienced some form of workplace bullying

by Neil Franklin • Wellbeing, Workplace

More than half (52 percent) of employees in global organisations have encountered workplace bullying and felt psychologically unsafe at work, according to a new study conducted by City & Guilds Group. The report also claims that only one in ten firms proactively take steps to support staff mental health, and found a major discrepancy in how senior management and employees view psychological safety in the workplace. Almost all of respondents surveyed (94 percent) said that they consider psychological safety to be “important”, but just 10 percent of businesses are seen to treat it as a priority. In part this seems down to confusion over accountability; almost half (43 percent) of senior management expect HR to deal with the psychological safety of employees at work, while the majority of employees (56 percent), believe line managers and senior management should take the lead.

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December 4, 2018

I’m a designer and I job share with an AI

by Ceilidh Higgins • Comment, Technology, Workplace design

Thomas Edison is credited with the phrase “Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration” and I believe there is no field where this applies more than architecture and design. So often people assume that interior design is such a fun, creative job – that it’s all about drawing, colours and furniture, something like being paid to colour in and shop – when today being a designer is just as much about people management, psychology, project management, documentation, checking codes and standards and managing contracts. It’s also often about a culture that expects long hours and being always available to the job. “It’s not work when you are passionate about it?” is common. But what if instead we could all work less hours and job share with our computers?

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November 30, 2018

How the way we interact with technology is changing the way we think

by Charles Marks • Comment, Technology, Workplace design

We are all familiar with the emoticon, the little symbol we use to strengthen whatever it is we really mean or would like to convey in a text, chat, message or email. The symbols have become more important as these forms of communication have supplanted some forms of face to face contact. Researchers have now learned that our brains no longer treat emoticons as a form of punctuation, but have started to respond to it as if it were a real face. A study published in the journal Social Neuroscience found that the part of the brain that is activated when we look at real faces is now triggered by smileys too. It’s yet another example of how our brains are adapting to the changing demands placed on them by technology, a subject that not only has profound implications for the way we relate to technology but also the way we work and the ways we design and manage our surroundings and especially how we maintain focus and interact with our colleagues.

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November 29, 2018

2019 will be the year of the data-driven digital ecosystem, claims Dell

by Neil Franklin • News, Technology

Dell Technologies have shared their predictions for 2019. Its central forecast is that this will be the year of the data-driven digital ecosystem, bringing us one step closer to 2030, which Dell describes as the next era of human-machine partnerships and a society where we will be immersed in smart living, intelligent work, and a frictionless economy. This includes: The spark of the next gold rush in tech investments, spurred by the greater value to be derived from data; 5G paving the way for micro-hubs to line our streets, and the opportunity for real-time insights; Multi-cloud environments driving automation, AI and ML processing into high gear; Making room in the workforce for Gen Z; and stronger, smarter and greener supply chains

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November 28, 2018

Generation Z are more motivated by job satisfaction than money

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, News, Technology, Workplace

Generation Z, the latest generation to enter the workforce, are more likely to be motivated by job satisfaction and working for social good than by money, a new report claims According to new research from Huawei, in partnership with Chris Brauer, Director of Innovation at Goldsmiths, University of London, based on responses from 2,000 18-25-year olds’ across the UK, also reveals that a new tribe of working professionals among Gen Z is emerging, the ‘New Working Order’. (more…)