Search Results for: productivity

March 5, 2018

Automation will lead to greater inequality rather than job losses

The total level of wages associated with jobs that have the technical potential to be automated in the UK is £290 billion per year, which represents 33 percent of all wages and earnings from labour in the economy, according to a new report published by IPPR for the IPPR Commission on Economic Justice. The report further claims that low-wage jobs have more potential to be automated than high-wage jobs and so it’s not just automation’s impact on the number of jobs that need to be considered but the impact on inequality. If automation leads to lower average wages or working hours, or loss of jobs in aggregate, a significant amount of national income could be transferred from wages to profits. And while increased automation of activities will replace some workers and labour earnings, employment and wages will rise in other areas of the labour market due to higher output and productivity, offsetting some of the original £290 billion lost but increasing pay inequality.

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March 1, 2018

Standing desks may not be the wellbeing panacea we’ve been led to believe

by Mark Eltringham • News, Wellbeing, Workplace design

Regular readers will know that we’ve been banging this particular drum for some time (see below), but new research confirms that sitting may not actually be the ‘new smoking’ and standing desks may not be the panacea we’ve been led to believe. A new study published in the journal Ergonomics confirms that standing at a workstation for prolonged periods of computer work can lead to ‘discomfort and deteriorating mental reactiveness’ which in turn can lead to a range of health problems and reduced productivity. As usual, the nuances and limitations of this research have been ignored in the reporting of the study so that now standing desks are seen as a problem when instead they’re a good potential solution as part of a workplace culture that encourages people to move and shift posture more frequently.

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February 23, 2018

Diversity shown to help drive business performance but discrimination is still widespread

by Sara Bean • News, Workplace

The economic cost of workplace discrimination to the UK Economy is £127 billion a year, claims new research. Of the £127 billion, £123 billion is due to gender discrimination, £2.6 billion as a result of discrimination against ethnic minorities and £2 billion due to discrimination as a result of sexual orientation. These are the claims of a new report commissioned by INvolve, a membership organisation that champions holistic diversity and inclusion in the workplace, and Cebr, an economics consultancy which analysed over 500 workplaces uncovered a significant positive correlation between diversity and financial performance.

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February 22, 2018

The UK needs a new approach to low pay, equality and flexible working

by Neil Franklin • News, Workplace

A new research paper from the Institute for Employment Studies (IES) claims to identify areas where employers and policymakers should act to reinvigorate their pay and rewards practices to improve employee engagement and productivity. According to the IES, with the likely intensification of current recruitment shortages, skills gaps and the fall in living standards as the UK leaves the European Union, the paper argues that both employers and policymakers should act on three key areas – low pay, gender pay and total rewards – to help halt the relative decline of the UK’s already below-par productivity performance.

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February 21, 2018

Cities must harness potential of new technology to keep themselves moving

by Neil Franklin • AI, Cities, News

The UK Government needs to develop a new transport strategy based on local partnerships to keep up with technological advances in areas such as self-driving cars, claims a new report. Rethinking Urban Mobility has been published by engineering company Arup, in collaboration with the London Transport Museum, law firm Gowling WLG and transport company Thales. The report coincides with the publication of a similar study from the World Economic Forum which claims that autonomous and shared vehicles, digitalisation and decentralisation of energy systems require new approaches to mobility.

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February 20, 2018

Built environment needs to address the talent gap to make the digital transition says WEF

by Sara Bean • AI, Architecture, Facilities management, News, Technology, Workplace

The construction industry needs new talent and skills to help in the adoption of new technologies to meet the challenges of digital transformation. It must also become more diverse, including increasing the percentage of women in the industry. These are the recommendations of a new report from the World Economic Forum, developed in collaboration with The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Shaping the Future of Construction: An Action Plan to solve the Industry’s Talent Gap. The report argues that the Infrastructure and Urban Development (IU) industry has failed to innovate as quickly as other sectors, resulting in stagnating productivity and negative effects on the economy, society and the environment. An ongoing industry-wide shortage of qualified workers is among the key reasons for this issue. It has undermined project management and execution, adversely affecting cost, timelines and quality. It also has impeded the adoption of new digital technologies, such as building information modelling (BIM), automated equipment and cloud-based collaboration tools, which could improve productivity. The report provides twelve key actions which needs to be implemented to close the structural talent gap of the construction industry.

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February 16, 2018

Pearls of elemental wisdom about workplace design and management

by Mark Eltringham • Comment, Facilities management, Workplace design

The greatest conundrum in the endless debate about whether the workplace affects people’s wellbeing and productivity is that it’s still going on at all. We’ve known for decades that people are affected in profound and meaningful ways by their surroundings and the culture in which they work. We know which factors are most important and which work in the absence of others. We know how these factors have shifted in response to changing working cultures and technological advances. And we know which are glib distractions from the real deal.

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February 5, 2018

Developing a cultured nose for what makes workplace design great

by Steve Brewer • Comment, Workplace design

Workplace people are at risk of obsessing about productivity. The idea of what is or is not effective and even the notion of wellbeing, has almost been done to death. We overthink stuff. As Neil Usher might say, there are a few bandwagons people are leaping on a little too eagerly. So, let’s keep it simple. Yes, we need a ‘space’ to work in (or just do stuff), but mostly we need a reason for using it in the first place. One thing most people agree on – even the media and flinty-eyed consultants – is that we need a motivation, a reason to do the things asked of us and a belief or intrinsic connection to do those ‘things’ well.

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February 2, 2018

Skill shortages and currency weakness contribute to three year low in economic confidence of SMEs

by Sara Bean • News, Workplace

Concern amongst small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) regarding the current economic climate fuelled by worries over a Brexit-related skills shortages, is at a three-year high, according to the latest Zurich SME Risk Index. It now sits at 56.38, indicating almost a 2 percent rise in perceived risk since Q1 2016 (55.43), and more than 3 percent higher than in October 2016 (54.55). SMEs attitudes towards economic growth, presently sits at a four-year low – with just two in five (40 percent) businesses confident that the UK economic situation will improve over the next 12 months. Similarly, the results regarding SMEs attitudes towards the international trade environment, reveals concern regarding overseas competition and currency rate fluctuations being at its highest in four years at 45.49. Equally, workforce challenges, namely the availability of skills and talent, is also an increasing concern for smaller businesses. Two in five (40 percent) SMEs now see workforce challenges as a major concern for their business; a rise of 8 per cent since October 2016, indicating that political issues are a major influence on the current attitudes of business owners in the UK.

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January 31, 2018

Creators of the Edge in Amsterdam to develop new generation of Smart buildings

by Sara Bean • Architecture, Facilities management, News, Property, Technology, Wellbeing, Workplace design

The creative team behind the development of the world’s most sustainable building – The Edge in Amsterdam – has announced the launch of a real estate technology company. EDGE Technologies, launched by OVG Real Estate CEO Coen van Oostrom will focus on creating a new generation of buildings which feature the latest innovations in sustainability and wellbeing. Whereas parent company OVG is focussed exclusively on the development of its existing portfolio, EDGE Technologies will focus on both the development and the long-term operations of this new generation of buildings, aiming for a cohesive experience across cities. Each EDGE building will be built and operated on the same technology platform and offer consistent user-centred design, created to serve the needs of today’s fast-changing and demanding workforce. To help achieve this the new company is launching a product that will capture and aggregate data across its properties in order to optimize, measure and inform both the user experience and the building’s environmental performance. (more…)

January 29, 2018

New RSA report highlights increasingly precarious and diverse nature of work

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, News, Technology, Workplace

Britain is dividing into seven new classes of worker as the gig economy grows, according to think-tank the RSA (the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce). Striving, Thriving or Just About Surviving has been published to coincide with the launch of the RSA’s Future Work Centre, following RSA chief executive Matthew Taylor’s employment review for Theresa May last year. The report warns of a 30:40:30 society: while around 30 percent live comfortably, economic insecurity is “the new normal” with 40 percent just managing and a bottom 30 percent not managing to get by.

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January 25, 2018

Two fifths of people think their jobs will be obsolete within a decade

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Workplace

A new survey from job site Jobbio claims that more than two fifths of British workers think their job will be obsolete in as little as ten years, compared to over a third of those in the US. Respondents believe roles such as travel agents, telemarketers and factory workers will all disappear. in the longer term, a little over two-fifths of 2,000 British respondents (41 percent) think that they won’t be able to retire until the ages of 70-74 in 2050 with less than a fifth (14 percent) thinking they will get to retire under the age of 65. The survey focuses on the issue of happiness and what makes people happy at work. It found that there are some marked differences between the two countries although people are universally keen to address the issue of work life balance.