Search Results for: risk

How employers should navigate the ICO’s guidance on monitoring workers

How employers should navigate the ICO’s guidance on monitoring workers

As technology continues to advance at a rapid pace, so does the prevalence of firms monitoring workers and the sophistication of the tools available to employers to monitor their staff's activitiesAs technology continues to advance at a rapid pace, so does the prevalence of firms monitoring workers and the sophistication of the tools available to employers to monitor their staff’s activities. Hand in hand with the increasing prevalence of workplace monitoring tools are concerns that their excessive use may infringe workers’ data protection and privacy rights. Employers must take heed of recent ICO guidance to ensure they do not fall foul of the law in pursuit of the hoped for benefits of workplace monitoring, such as boosting productivity and profit. (more…)

For all its flaws, COP28 still gives us a route to a greener future

For all its flaws, COP28 still gives us a route to a greener future

As COP28 drew to a close, it gave those attending or observing from around the world the chance to reflect on the global commitments towards building a greener future.As COP28 drew to a close, it gave those attending or observing from around the world the chance to reflect on the global commitments towards building a greener future. The UAE played host to two weeks of debate over climate change as COP28 recently rolled into town. While some questioned this region’s suitability – it being a centre of the fossil fuel industry – perhaps there is an argument to be made that this is exactly where you should hold it – to bring the issues into sharp relief. (more…)

A bit of alien thinking on coffee and some other BS

A bit of alien thinking on coffee and some other BS

I’ve sometimes highlighted how our perceptions of the workplace are subject to an apex fallacy. The daily consumption of narratives about campuses, tech palaces and ‘cool’ design can obscure the fact that most people don’t experience this stuff in their daily lives. They work in adequate or possibly nice offices. Some in shabby offices or horrible offices. Many travel into work at the same time each day and sit with roughly the same people and do roughly the same things. They may work from home more frequently now, but they have a routine there too. Most will work in a mundane or nice home that mirrors the mundane office that awaits at the other end of the commute. (more…)

Hybrid working: the importance of having the right strategy

Hybrid working: the importance of having the right strategy

To make hybrid working work successfully, we need changes in the way people need to be managed, trained and inductedHybrid working changes everything it seems. To make it work successfully we need changes in the way people need to be managed, trained and inducted. It changes the needs for communication and social connectivity, goal setting and connection to vision. It requires greater clarity on what is acceptable and what isn’t. Employees must take on new grown-up obligations and organisations are required to ‘trust’ and employees to be ‘trustworthy’.  (more…)

It will take more than government funding for the world to reach net zero

It will take more than government funding for the world to reach net zero

The world needs up to $3.5 trillion of additional investments each year to reach net-zero and restore natureClimate finance was central to discussions at COP28 in Dubai and funding to reach net zero and restore biodiversity is still falling short. A new report from the World Economic Forum highlights the priorities for action and sets out how partnerships between organisations from the philanthropic, private and public sectors can create what it refers to as a positive domino effect, cut emissions at speed. (more…)

Workplace innovation is boosted when managers have high social status

Workplace innovation is boosted when managers have high social status

Social status of top management in a company is positively associated with workplace innovation due to greater access to resources for research and developmentSocial status of top management in a company is positively associated with innovation, including workplace innovation, due to greater access to resources for research and development (R&D), finds new research from UCD Lochlann Quinn School of Business (UCD Quinn School). The findings were first published in the journal R&D Management. (more…)

Workplace and property firms must wake up to the new era of networked businesses

Workplace and property firms must wake up to the new era of networked businesses

the networked workplaceWhile millions of words have been dedicated to the expected changes in post-Covid workstyles – how will people work, where will they work, how will they be supported – very little has been said about their employers: companies and corporations. Yet the anticipated changes to work and the workplace raise questions about the role of the company. Is it one just half of a transaction between employer and employee? Or is it something more? Indeed, what is the role of the company in the modern economy? Is the nature of the company likely to change? The answers could have a greater impact on workstyles than the pandemic. (more…)

UK built environment is woefully under-prepared for climate change

UK built environment is woefully under-prepared for climate change

New analysis published by UKGBC during the COP28 talks concludes that the UK’s built environment is severely under-equipped to adapt to our changing climate.New analysis published by UKGBC during the COP28 talks concludes that the UK’s built environment is severely under-equipped to adapt to our changing climate. On five out of seven critical climate resilience priorities, UKGBC’s scorecard finds that the Government policies in its Third National Adaptation Programme (NAP3) are insufficient, flawed, or missing, placing millions of homes and buildings – and the lives of people occupying them – at serious risk of damage from climate-related disaster. (more…)

Curtail zero hour contracts and give workers guaranteed work hours, say researchers

Curtail zero hour contracts and give workers guaranteed work hours, say researchers

the increase of zero hours contracts over the last 20 years has created significant risk for workersAn evidence review led by the University of Warwick has concluded that the increase of zero hours contracts over the last 20 years has created significant risk for workers. They found that unreliable work can result in a sudden loss of hours and earnings, and an inability to access legal advice for unfair or potentially unlawful employment practices. Along with colleagues from the ReWAGE expert advisory group, academics at the Institute of Employment Research at the University of Warwick examined the legal and workplace practices associated with zero hour contracts, along with data covering flexibility, pay insecurity, workers ability to assert their rights and workers health and wellbeing. (more…)

Has digital transformation led to an upsurge in workplace disinformation?

Has digital transformation led to an upsurge in workplace disinformation?

You don’t have to look far to find misinformation. Just a few weeks ago, amid the aftermath of the coup in Niger, online platforms were being inundated with false information, intensifying tensions surrounding the nation’s future. This included erroneous videos on TikTok and Twitter suggesting the presence of Wagner Group (Russian state-funded) fighters, false claims about Algeria’s military involvement, and inaccurate assertions about banning uranium export to France. (more…)

Demand for sustainable buildings and tight regulations drive business case for investment

Demand for sustainable buildings and tight regulations drive business case for investment

The current economic environment is creating challenges for investors and occupiers to make the case for investing in retrofitting and futureproofing their real estate. JLL’s new The Commercial Case for Making Buildings More Sustainable report outlines three key factors that should be prioritized in occupiers’ and owners’ decision-making to create a more resilient and sustainable built environment. (more…)

Massive investment programme needed to facilitate carbon neutral future, WEF report claims

Massive investment programme needed to facilitate carbon neutral future, WEF report claims

To facilitate the transition to a more sustainable and carbon-neutral future, $13.5 trillion in investments will be needed by 2050, particularly in the production, energy and transport sectorsTo facilitate the transition to a more sustainable and carbon-neutral future, $13.5 trillion in investments will be needed by 2050, particularly in the production, energy and transport sectors, according to a new World Economic Forum report. The Net-Zero Industry Tracker 2023, published in collaboration with Accenture, takes stock of progress towards net-zero emissions for eight industries – steel, cement, aluminium, ammonia, excluding other chemicals, oil and gas, aviation, shipping and trucking – which depend on fossil fuels for 90 percent of their energy demand and pose some of the most technological and capital-intensive decarbonization challenges. (more…)