February 15, 2022

The opportunities and challenges of new technologies for AML

by Freddie Steele • Company news, Technology

Back in 2021 the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) put out a paper on the opportunities and challenges that new technologies are bringing to Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CTF) efforts. If you are unaware of who the FATF is it may be worth your while to investigate farther into it. For now, though, let it be known that they are an independent inter-governmental body that defines the rules and procedures that need to be in place to prevent these two criminal activities. More →

February 15, 2022

Skills crisis intensifies as demand for white collar jobs outstrips supply

by Neil Franklin • Jobs, News

Demand for people to fill permanent and contracted white-collar jobs while the UK continues to battle a skills crisis. That’s according to the latest Recruitment Trends Snapshot report from The Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo). The data provided by Bullhorn, claims that demand for contractors was also up year-on-year, increasing 38 percent. Month-on-month figures also showed a spike in jobs, with permanent and contract vacancies increasing 104 percent and 78 percent between December and January, which can be attributed to a bounce back following a seasonal lull. More →

February 14, 2022

The Great Resignation will cast a long spell

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Flexible working, Wellbeing, Workplace design

The writer Alan Moore believes in magic. Not hocus-pocus magic, double double toil and trouble, but in the power of words and art to change reality and bring things into existence. It’s a compelling idea, one that Moore shares with Picasso amongst others, and the evidence for it in its metaphorical sense is all around. More →

February 14, 2022

Record pay rises on the cards to address tough recruitment conditions

by Neil Franklin • News, Workplace

Employers anticipate offering record pay rises of 3 percent in 2022 as they look to combat increasing recruitment and retention difficulties. This is the headline finding from the CIPD’s latest quarterly Labour Market Outlook, which highlights the scale of the growing challenge facing organisations in finding and keeping staff, and how they are responding. This quarter’s pay award figure is the highest since the survey was conducted using its current methods in the winter 2012/13 report. The Labour Market Outlook surveyed more than 1,000 employers in January 2022 about their hiring, pay and redundancy intentions for the first quarter of the year. More →

February 14, 2022

Costa Coffee opts for My Work Booth to offer mobile workers a bookable quiet space

by Freddie Steele • Company news

My Work Booth has collaborated with Costa Coffee to fulfil the need of mobile workers for confidential meeting spaces in public areas. The pilot scheme sees the introduction of the four Framery Pods into Costa locations in London and Manchester, providing a sound proofed environment for concentrated working and confidential meetings/calls bookable via the My Work Booth app. More →

February 10, 2022

ESG concerns mean half of younger workers considering career change

by Neil Franklin • News, Workplace

Companies across the UK risk losing out on top talent if they fail to take account of younger workers’ greater ethical awareness, with the majority willing to sacrifice earnings for their values. New research by Robert Half claims that nearly two in five (38 percent) employees would look for a new role if they thought their organisation was not doing enough on ESG (environmental, social and governance) issues, such as reducing carbon emissions or operating ethically. More →

February 9, 2022

The metaverse will shape the future of work. Here’s how

by Maria Moraes Robinson • Comment, Technology, Workplace design

Although the term ‘metaverse’ was coined in 1992 by science fiction novelist Neal Stephenson, it has only just entered the mainstream lexicon after Facebook changed its name to Meta to reflect its strategic focus on making this sci fi vision a reality. Given that there is no singular definition of what a metaverse is, and there will be many competing metaverses transforming our experience of social media, electronic commerce and how we collaborate and transact online, it is important that leaders start to understand the profound ways in which this new technological paradigm is set to radically impact on the future of work. More →

February 8, 2022

The office sector needs to develop better arguments for its products

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Flexible working, Property, Workplace design

The distillation of every received and laundered idea of the past two years leads us here. A claim from Gallup that in future just over a third of the desks in offices will be empty. Whatever Gallup thinks, this is great news for the office sector. One of the truths the office sector hasn’t always liked to talk about too much over the last few decades is that in a typical office over that period, around half of the desks have already been empty. More →

February 8, 2022

Remote work monitoring software used by four in five employers

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Technology

According to a new report from Instant Offices (registration), four in five employers whose staff are offered hybrid or remote work are already using employee monitoring tools to track work performance and activity. According to the study: 78 percent of companies report using employee monitoring software to track worker performance and online activity; 73 percent say stored recordings of calls, emails, and messages have affected team members’ performance reviews; over 50 percent say they are implementing non-traditional monitoring techniques; and 94 percent of employers track emails. More →

February 8, 2022

New business climate demands agility from managers, report claims

by Jayne Smith • Business, News

A new report, The Big Reset Playbook: Change Agility (registration) from work trends analyst The Josh Bersin Company, claims that traditional approaches to change management have often fallen short of expectations, and that new workplace practices based on agility are now needed to manage change in a new business climate. According to the report ‘businesses are looking to tackle the challenge of managing change in a new reality that includes the shift to hybrid working, globalization and The Great Resignation’. The research claims that in companies that successfully manage change, leaders and high performers reinforce the company’s mission and purpose, explain how their reinvented business models work, create cross-functional teams to design and implement change, and maintain forward momentum. More →

February 7, 2022

New issue of IN Magazine is now online

by Mark Eltringham • Features, Premium Content

The January 2022 issue of IN Magazine is now online. In this issue we: visit what is claimed to be the best office in the world; consider whether the experience of our daily lives is shaped more by maintenance than design; challenge the idea of people as blank slates; look at a new generation of datacentre design; explore the regional flex office market; ask how rising energy costs will impact remote workers; talk to manufacturers using waste and unwanted materials to create new products; hear from Robert Bolton of KPMG on a new era for HR; and learn about how intentional design applies to the workplace. All back issues of IN Magazine are available here.

February 7, 2022

Half of unemployed men aged 50+ out of work for at least a year

by Jayne Smith • Jobs, News, Workplace

There were nearly 200,000 men aged 50 and older out of work between September and November 2021 – an increase of 24 percent in two years – and 50 percent of them were unemployed for at least a year, according to new analysis from Rest Less, a digital community and advocate for older people. Rest Less analysed the latest labour market data from the Office of National Statistics to find that unemployed men aged 50+ are significantly more likely to be in long-term unemployment, defined as out of work for at least a year, than any other age group. More →