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Chinese government to create a $2.1 billion industrial park dedicated to artificial intelligence research

Chinese government to create a $2.1 billion industrial park dedicated to artificial intelligence research

by • AI, News, Technology

The Chinese government is preparing to build a technology park in Beijing dedicated to research into artificial intelligence, according to the Chinese news agency Xinhua and Reuters. The scale of the development can be gauged by the level of investment – some $2.12 billion (13.8 billion yuan) to build the park, located in west Beijing. The park is also forecast to generate revenues of $7.7 billion (50 billion yuan) a year from the 400 enterprises that are expected to be housed there. Zhongguancun Development Group, the developer of the project, will look to partner with foreign universities and build a “national-level” AI lab in the area, according to the reports.

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Automation will impact low paid jobs first because of the living wage, report claims

Automation will impact low paid jobs first because of the living wage, report claims

by • AI, News, Technology

The development of the living wage coupled with the growing automation of tasks could create a perfect storm that prices a growing number of people out of the jobs markets, a report from the Institute of Fiscal Studies claims. The authors suggest that one of the unintended consequences of the increase of the rate to £8.50 by 2020 could be that people in low paid work could find themselves in competition for jobs with robots and artificial intelligence. The report concludes that there will be a tipping point at which human labour becomes economically unviable, although it does not predict when that will occur.

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We need to stop talking about self-employment as a monocultural phenomenon

We need to stop talking about self-employment as a monocultural phenomenon

by • Comment, Flexible working

Self-employment has grown considerably in the UK over the past 15 years, now totalling around 4.8 million workers, or 15 per cent of the workforce. There is a debate about the extent to which this growth in self-employment is a positive development: some believe that it is a positive feature of an entrepreneurial and flexible economy, while others fear that it is increasing levels of precariousness. This is a difficult issue to address as there is great heterogeneity among the self-employed workforce. In order to shed light on this, IES undertook research for the Centre for Research on Self-Employment (CRSE) to divide the self-employed workforce into segments. The policy debate on self-employment has often been carried out on the assumption that there is some homogeneity among the self-employed workforce. However, this is far from the case, and it could be argued that diversity is increasing due to the growth of the so-called gig economy. In order to help clarify the debate, IES undertook research for the CRSE that aimed to achieve greater clarity in terms of the size and nature of the different segments of the self-employed workforce. The aim is that if the sector is better segmented, this will help policymakers to avoid taking a broad-brush approach to the treatment of self-employed workers.

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New research claims people are more comfortable discussing sex than mental health at work

by • News, Wellbeing

A new study from mental health campaigners Time to Change claims that British workers would rather talk to their colleagues about relationship issues, money problems and sex than broach the topic of mental health. The survey of 2,000 people suggests mental health remains one of the last taboos in the workplace, showing that, despite progress, there is still a lot more work to do in 2018 to combat the stigma. One in four of us will experience a mental health problem in any given year and yet Time to Change says these figures show that when it comes to employment the vast majority of people still feel unable to speak openly about their mental health with their line managers and even their close colleagues.

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How designers copy nature to create new and extraordinary forms

by • Comment, Workplace design

Humans have a long track record of turning to Nature for inspiration. When Leonardo da Vinci turned his mind to the challenge of acquiring the power of flight for mankind, his sketches show he believed the solution lay in mimicking the form and function of bat wings. We’ve learned a lot about aerodynamics since the fifteenth Century but nature continues to provide a blueprint for the way we design materials and structures. Researchers at the University of Alabama have recently won a grant from the US National Science Foundation to explore how the scales on the wings of butterflies (pictured) help the creatures to fly in the hope that it will help engineers design better and more efficient aircraft.

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The ups and downs of wearables for workplace health and wellbeing

by • AI, Comment, Technology

Businesses in the 21st century have tried just about everything to improve productivity. For a long time, Google and its ilk were seen as model workplaces, with their open offices and abundance of ball pits and bean bags. Then the consensus shifted, and the cubicle or workstation was seen as the paradigm for employee concentration. Now the focus has shifted to technology, and the field of ‘wearables’. Devices like the Fitbit, Google Glass and Apple Watch have come and gone with significant consumer buzz, but relatively low uptake. What failed to impress consumers, however, may yet have a place in business. For better or ill, it seems the companies we work for are increasingly obsessed with collecting our data.

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Returnship programmes offer parents route back into work, yet only 4 percent of employers offer them

by • Flexible working, News, Workplace

A totaljobs study of 2,600 jobseekers and nearly 100 employers claims that while a ‘returnship’ initiative can offer a valuable route back into the workforce for anyone taking a break in their career, their success is hindered by a lack of awareness, rather than a lack of interest. The study found that 85 percent of employers are not aware of returnship programmes despite the fact that two thirds of recruiters believe they would offer returnships if they were incentivised by the government and 72 percent of employees would consider a returnship programme if they’d taken a break from the workforce.

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A 300 year old idea explains some of the enduring appeal of the open plan

by • Comment, Facilities management, Workplace design

In the 18th Century the utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham came up with his idea of the Panopticon, a prison building with a central tower encircled by cells so that each person in the cells knew they could be watched at all times. Whether they were observed or not was actually immaterial. Bentham called it ‘a new mode of obtaining power of mind over mind’ and while he focused on its use as a prison, he was also aware of the idea’s usefulness for schools, asylums and hospitals. Bentham got the original idea following a visit to Belarus to see his brother who was managing sites there and had used the idea of a circular building at the centre of an industrial compound to allow a small number of managers to oversee the activities of a large workforce. This is something of a precursor of the scientific management theories of Frederick Taylor that continue to influence the way we work and manage people.

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Employer bias is undermining business innovation and potential says OU

by • Legal news, News, Workplace

 

Over a quarter of senior managers hire people just like them, and this bias is still rife in some organisations, according to new market research commissioned by The Open University. The study amongst business leaders and employees finds that three in 10 (29 percent) senior managers admit they hire people just like them, and warns employers may be overlooking candidates from different social and educational backgrounds, impacting access to talent, and hindering business innovation and performance as a result. Employers place significant importance on educational attainment (86 percent), cultural fit (77 percent), tastes and leisure pursuits (65 percent), and even social background (61 percent). Considering the typical social make up of managers, this raises concerns about diversity, a key driver of innovation, and hints at a glass ceiling for those from less privileged backgrounds, with the re-enforcement of the historical class system. The issue is prevalent in both recruitment and employment, with bias creating a ‘degree premium’, particularly at entry level.

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Reduced hours do not necessarily lead to reduced workloads, study finds

by • Flexible working, News, Workplace

Professionals who want to work part-time have to do more than renegotiate their working hours; they also have to redesign their jobs to reduce outputs. Research published in the journal Human Relations, by Dr Charlotte Gascoigne from the Timewise Foundation and Professor Clare Kelliher from the Cranfield School of Management, shows that employers often do not reduce workload when professionals transition to part-time. This is not an insignificant problem for employers: one in five professionals and managers in the UK works part-time already, with more than two in five working part-time in the Netherlands. According to previous studies, a quarter of full-timers in the UK would prefer to work part-time, and are prepared to earn less, but don’t believe it’s possible.

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What P T Barnum can teach us about the facilities management circus

by • Architecture, Comment, Facilities management, Workplace

Does any of this describe you? “You have a need for other people to like and admire you, yet you tend to be critical of yourself. While you have weaknesses you are generally able to compensate for them. You have considerable yet hidden strengths that you have yet to turn to your advantage. Self-controlled on the outside, you are slightly insecure inside. At times you have serious doubts as to whether you always make the right decision. You prefer a certain amount of change and become dissatisfied when hemmed in by limitations. You pride yourself as an independent thinker and do not accept the statements of others without satisfactory proof. But you also think it can be unwise to be too frank in revealing too much about yourself.” Does this sound familiar? Well it should because that is how most people see themselves.

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Gig economy workers should not be criticised for defending their rights

by • Comment, Flexible working

The gig economy and workers’ rights are among the most prominent themes of our age. In the future of employment – in particular, what it means to be employed or self-employed – they are critical. Catapulted to the heart of this debate is Uber, which has deployed its ride-hailing platform app in nearly 500 cities around the world since its San Francisco launch seven years ago. But in the UK and elsewhere, it has run into myriad legal problems. Most recent among them, Uber lost a hearing at an Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) in London in a case brought by co-claimants, James Farrar and Yaseen Aslam. The verdict in favour of the two Uber drivers poses a threat to the fundamental premise that has fuelled the meteoric rise of the gig economy: that workers work for themselves and not for the apps which rely on them.

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