January 27, 2020

Universal Music publishes new guide to neurodiversity in the workplace

Universal Music UK has published what it claims is the first handbook for embracing neurodiversity in the creative industries. It defines neurodiversity as “the infinite variation in cognitive functioning that can lead to differences in thinking, attention and memory”. The handbook, which is titled Creative Differences, explores the experiences of people with specific facets of neurodiversity such as ASD, ADHD, dyslexia, dyscalculia, dyspraxia and Tourette Syndrome. More →

January 14, 2020

The Fourth Industrial Revolution is upon us and we`re not ready for it

by Jamie Morgan • Comment, Technology

Cast your mind back a decade or so and consider how the future looked then. A public horizon of Obama-imbued “yes we can” and a high tide of hope and tolerance expressed in the London Olympics provides one narrative theme; underlying austerity-induced pressure another. Neither speaks directly to our current world of divisive partisan politics, toxic social media use, competing facts and readily believed fictions. More →

January 6, 2020

Executive pay at major firms will today exceed entire 2020 pay for average worker

by Neil Franklin • News, Workplace

The average FTSE 100 boss will have already earned as much by 5pm today as a typical employee will take home this entire year. According to the analysis from the CIPD and the High Pay Centre, those leading Britain’s biggest companies earn 117 times more than the average worker. The CIPD and High Pay Centre are calling on businesses not to treat the new reporting requirements on executive pay as a ‘tick-box’ exercise and to use it as an opportunity to fully explain CEO pay levels. They also highlight the need for firms to provide a clear rationale for why CEOs are paid what they are and what is being done to address the issue of fair pay in their organisation more broadly. They consider this an important step to help build trust in business amongst employees, wider stakeholders and society. More →

December 17, 2019

Self-driving cars will be most transformative future tech, bosses say. Techies disagree

by Neil Franklin • News, Technology

Self-driving cars are set to have a significant impact on society and change our future the most over the next 20 years, according to research from CWJobs. Working in collaboration with “futurologist” Melissa Sterry, the report (registration) surveyed over 2,000 UK business decision makers and IT workers to determine the technological inventions with the greatest impact on society since 2000 and what’s to come in the next 20 years. More →

December 16, 2019

Is flexible working the answer to improved employee mental health and productivity?

by Sarah King • Comment, Flexible working

One of Labour’s flagship policies for its 2019 general election campaign was to introduce a four-day week. More accurately, its policy is to introduce a 32-hour week. This brought flexible working again into the media spotlight. Research suggests that flexible working and reduced hours can have multiple benefits, including improved mental health and greater productivity. More →

December 11, 2019

Tech trends to watch that will disrupt 2020 and beyond

by Dave Coplin • AI, Comment, Public Sector

The next decade promises to offer both incredible opportunity and challenge for all of us. Technologies like artificial intelligence will no longer be considered new but will instead be at the heart of some huge disruptive changes that will run right through our society. In particular, AI will start to enable the automation of many things that were previously deemed too complex or even too “human”. We’ll see these changes and tech trends at work – traditional professions like accountancy, lawyers and others will over time, see significant portions of what they do be taken over by virtual robots. Vocations such as lorry drivers, taxi drivers and even chefs may disappear as machines are introduced to perform the same function but with more consistent results and less risk. More →

December 6, 2019

Age discrimination now begins for tech workers at 29

by Jayne Smith • News, Workplace

A new study from tech recruiter CWJobs claims to identify what it calls the ‘staggering level’ of ageism that IT and tech workers face at work. From seemingly innocuous comments to being overlooked for promotion in favour of younger colleagues, a worrying number of the UK’s tech-sector employees are facing daily hurdles to prove they’re not yet a career ‘dinosaur’. Well over a third (41 percent) of IT and tech-sector workers said they have observed age discrimination in the workplace, compared to 27 percent average across other UK industries. It’s no surprise then that 61 percent of workers in the sector answered ‘yes’ when asked if, in the tech industry employees experience prejudice when considered to be older, the highest of any UK sector. More →

November 28, 2019

The four day week will make management support more important than ever

by Adrian Moorhouse • Business, Comment, Wellbeing

With work collaboration tools like Facebook Workplace growing more common and constant out of hours access to work emails, it is increasingly difficult to distinguish between work and leisure. This lack of separation between the office and home risks creating a situation where we have less time to unwind. So it’s not surprising that the World Health Organisation officially classified burnout as an occupational phenomenon. Rising workloads, limited staff and resources, and consistently long hours are all contributing to half a million people in the UK suffering from work related stress, with 15.4 million working days lost as a result. Business and politics are hoping to buck this negative trend by finding ways of improving people’s work-life balance – most recently by experimenting with a four day week. More →

November 27, 2019

UK falling behind in global skills race

by Neil Franklin • News, Workplace

New research published today by City & Guilds Group claims that the UK risks being left behind as employers across the world race to upskill their workers. As digitalisation and fluctuating economies transform the skills needed in the workplace today, employees are less confident than their bosses that they’ll have skills they need for the future. The study, conducted by City & Guilds Group business Kineo, surveyed 6500 employees and 1300 employers across 13 international markets. It found that employers in developing countries with rapidly emerging economies are among the most likely to ramp up investment in upskilling their workforce in the near future, compared to developed economies such as the UK.

November 19, 2019

Back of the net – a conversation with Chris Lewis about leadership in the 21st Century

by Mark Eltringham • Podcasts, Premium Content

Is there a crisis of leadership in the 21st Century? And if so, what can we do about it? I had the opportunity to address the issues in conversation with Chris Lewis, the co-author along with Dr Pippa Malmgren of the Business Book of the Year The Leadership Lab, diverting briefly to talk about the golden age of football and its lessons for the modern day leader and how the challenges of leadership are not just evident in organisation, but society as a whole. More →

November 14, 2019

Women may be struggling to climb career ladder because of their beliefs about competition

by Jayne Smith • Business, News, Workplace

Women might be less likely than men to go for opportunities in competitive workplaces because they don’t see as much of an upside to competition as men do, research by UCL School of Management and London Business School reveals. Women are on average less competitive than men. This gender difference has been explained largely by external factors such as the different evolutionary and social pressures men and women experience. Extending our current understanding of the gender difference in competitiveness, Dr. Sun Young Lee and Dr. Selin Kesebir reveal beliefs about competition as one source of the gender differences in competitive attitudes and behaviours. More →

November 14, 2019

Next generation of property talent celebrated at BCO NextGen Awards

by Freddie Steele • Company news, Property

The UK’s rising stars in the commercial property sector have been recognised at the British Council for Offices’ (BCO) fourth annual NextGen Awards ceremony. The Awards are part of the BCO’s NextGen programme, which sets out to mentor and encourage the next generation of professionals to become future leaders in the industry, whilst providing a platform for new talent to share ideas. The ceremony, which took place at The Porter Tun, London, was attended by the country’s top designers, developers, architects and occupiers under the age of 35. It celebrated the achievements and successes of young professionals in the commercial property sector across the UK, and the leaders who have inspired them. More →