Search Results for: people

October 16, 2018

The self-employed live day to day but remain worried about plans for the future, claims study

Self-employed workers are mostly financially secure and happy in the present, but concerned about the future, a new report by IPSE (the Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed) and Sherpa has found. The report, ‘The Path to Prosperity, claims that although almost three quarters (72 percent) of freelancers are currently enjoying life because of how they are managing their money, 77 per cent are concerned the money they have – or are going to save – will not last. It also found that over half (51 percent) of the self-employed have felt anxious or stressed about their financial situation. This is exacerbated by the lack of tailored money management advice and flexible savings products available for the self-employed.

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October 15, 2018

Some thoughts on the addictive power of workplace design

by Agustin Chevez • Comment, Workplace design

The search for some concoction or contraption to improve our performance at work is nothing new. Lawyers, bankers and other professionals have famously used performance-enhancing drugs to gain a competitive advantage. But the design of a workspace can actually have similar effects on those who create it, consume it or pursue it. And, just like a drug, workplace design can have good and bad effects. Instead of chemicals, design manipulates space to change behaviour. An increase in the length of a lunch table, for example, can encourage people who did not know one another to interact more.

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October 15, 2018

Review of progress on diversity in boardrooms shows that there is much to do

by Neil Franklin • News

Business leaders have been urged by Sir John Parker to step up their work on ethnic and cultural diversity at the top of business. The call to action comes as the Parker Review Committee, led by Sir John Parker, publishes its first annual update to track the progress made against the recommendations in its Final Report, published in October 2017. The Final Report urged business leaders to improve the ethnic and cultural diversity of UK Boards to better reflect their employee base and the communities they serve. It set out achievable objectives and timescales to encourage greater diversity.

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October 12, 2018

Friday finds: the best workplace stories for this afternoon and the weekend

by Mark Eltringham • Features

Is the office cubicle actually designed to crush your soul?

“Permanent casuals” and other oxymorons

Post-Brexit immigration: reconciling public perceptions with economic evidence

Viewing a new world of work through old lenses

So you want to work in HR?

Is coworking dead?

Stress and mental health at work: half a decade in policy and practice

People at work

October 12, 2018

European research network sets out to discover exactly how the Internet is bad for us

by Neil Franklin • News, Technology, Wellbeing

A pan-European network to tackle problematic internet usage officially launches today with the publication of its manifesto, setting out the important questions that need to be addressed by the research community. As the internet has become an integral part of modern life and its use has grown, so too has its problematic use become a growing concern across all age groups. It has provided a new environment in which a wide range of problematic behaviours may emerge, such as those relating to gaming, gambling, buying, pornography viewing, social networking, ‘cyber-bullying’ and ‘cyberchondria’, which can have mental and physical health consequences.

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October 12, 2018

Some regions are better prepared for the rise of automation than others

by Neil Franklin • Cities, News, Technology

Concerted action is needed from national and local politicians, businesses and education providers to improve educational opportunities in all cities, from early years to schools and adult learning. This is according to a major report from the think tank Centre for Cities. It examines how automation and globalisation are transforming the skills needed to thrive in the workplace, and the extent to which people in English cities are gaining these skills. The report claimsthat interpersonal and analytical skills – such as negotiation and critical thinking – are increasingly important for current and future workers, as manual and physical jobs are particularly under threat from automation and globalisation.

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October 11, 2018

Bloomberg HQ declared the best new building in the UK as well as best office

by Mark Eltringham • Architecture, News, Workplace design

The humble office doesn’t always feature prominently in RIBA’s annual Stirling Prize list but last night, Bloomberg’s European headquarters was named the UK’s best new building. The 2018 RIBA Stirling Prize judges were unanimous in their decision to award Bloomberg the 2018 RIBA Stirling Prize describing it as a “once-in-a-generation project”. RIBA President, Ben Derbyshire says it is a “monumental achievement”. It’s the second award bestowed on the project in the last week. The BCO has already declared the building the UK’s best workplace. (more…)

October 11, 2018

How the media oversold standing desks as a fix for inactivity at work

by Catriona Bonfiglioli and Josephine Chau • Features, Wellbeing, Workplace design

Sitting is so culturally ingrained at work, at the wheel, in front of the TV and at the movies, it takes a great effort to imagine doing these things standing up, let alone pedalling as you work at a bike desk. So, when the world’s first specific guidelines on sitting and moving at work were published, they generated headlines such as: Abandon your chair for four hours to stay healthy, office workers are told and: Stand up at your desk for two hours a day, new guidelines say. But what many media reports did not mention was the guidelines were based on limited evidence. They were also co-authored by someone with commercial links to standing desks (desks you raise and lower to work at standing or sitting), a link not declared when the guidelines were first published in a journal. Media reports also overplayed the dangers of sitting at work, incorrectly saying it wiped out the benefits of exercise. Our new study reveals the nature of this media coverage and its role in overselling standing desks as a solution to inactivity at work.

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October 10, 2018

CIB sets out a roadmap for the creation of intelligent and responsive buildings

by Mark Eltringham • Architecture, Facilities management, News, Property, Wellbeing, Workplace design

The International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction (CIB) has published a free roadmap written by members of the W098 Commission and CIBSE Intelligent Buildings Group, which presents collective ideas for the creation of intelligent and responsive buildings for current needs and the future. Intelligent buildings present a number of challenges, according to the authors. They must be responsive to people’s needs including their health and wellbeing; be sustainable in the use of resources as well as incorporating the most useful parts of the evolving technologies.

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October 10, 2018

The Genesis of ideation and the places we go to have our best ideas ⁰

by Giuseppe Boscherini • Facilities management, Features, Technology, Work&Place, Workplace design

Because collaboration, creativity and innovation are increasingly perceived as key objectives and differentiators of performance, the genesis and mechanisms behind ideation and creativity are an an integral part of both business and personal development. As a consequence, there is growing interest in the way the physical attributes of work settings may influence or even trigger creative behaviour. The cliché of the shower as one of these favourite places comes to mind and yet experience does show that the idea of seeking a setting, a “zone” if you will, for a specific purpose is intuitively right. This needn’t be a retreat or cocoon, as is often assumed, but can also be a crowded, busy, noisy place, which might explain why so often the most animated work conversations move out of the office shop into the coffee shop. Equally, highlight events or special meetings tend to be held in a “venue’, often dressed for the occasion.

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October 10, 2018

Leaders need to rethink work to get the most out of AI and automation

by Neil Franklin • News, Technology, Workplace

Leaders need new tools to increase automation in their organisations, says Ravin Jesuthasan, Managing Director at Willis Towers Watson, in a new book. Reinventing Jobs: a 4-step approach for applying automation to work, co-authored with John Boudreau, presents a four-step framework to give leaders a systematic process for applying new automation to work, supported by dozens of case studies from around the world.

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October 10, 2018

Long waits for mental health treatment lead to life changing problems, RCPsych study finds

by Neil Franklin • News

A quarter of people (24 percent) with a diagnosed mental health condition reported waiting more than three months to see an NHS mental health specialist, a poll for the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPsych) has found. Some (6 percent) say they waited more than a year to see an NHS mental health specialist – one man interviewed following the poll said he waited 13 years to get the help he needed. Where respondents’ mental health got worse, these waits led to relationship problems including divorce (36 percent), financial troubles (32 percent) and work problems including job loss (34 percent).