May 27, 2021
Search Results for: workplace
May 26, 2021
Time to take stock about the future of the workplace
When it comes to conversations about work and workplaces, the past year has offered a fully immersive experience. Everybody now has an opinion. Inevitably some of them are better informed and more rooted in experience than others. So, after a full year of talk and as we return to some form of routine working life, the time has come to take stock. Few organisations and people will remain untouched by the sudden shift in attitudes towards working life, so we asked four workplace experts for their views on the current state of play. (more…)
May 25, 2021
The power of nudge: How behavioural science and AI can improve workplace wellbeing
When the global pandemic struck last year, many companies were forced to close offices and enable employees to work remotely – bringing forward their digital transformation roadmap by a good few year. A year on, and while it seems that the Covid-19 restrictions are reducing, there is unlikely to be a complete shift back to the office. Instead, most companies are now planning to adopt a hybrid work model; with employees working a mix of in-office or remotely. (more…)
May 18, 2021
New artificial intelligence regulations have important implications for the workplace
The European Commission recently announced its proposal for the regulation of artificial intelligence, looking to ban “unacceptable” uses of artificial intelligence. Up until now, the challenges for businesses getting AI ‘wrong’ were bad press, reputation damage, loss of trust and market share, and most importantly for sensitive applications, harm to individuals. But with these new rules, two new consequences are arising: plain interdiction of certain AI systems, and GDPR-like fines. (more…)
May 10, 2021
The workplace industry needs to think outside its ever-shrinking boxes
Is the workplace industry stuck in the past, in a 20th century model of how and where work is done? The separation of work and the rest of life during the Industrial Age has shaped the structures of modern life: the houses we live in, the offices, factories and shops we work in, and the transport networks that shuffle us from one location to another for different activities. It has also shaped the planning system, the institutional and financial structures of how places are designed and built, and perhaps most of all the mindsets of just about everyone involved in creating places to work and live. (more…)
April 28, 2021
The hybrid workplace sagas, part two. Valhalla
“Wow, Dougie, they’ve remodelled our office while we were away!”
“Fantastic. Did you know about it?”
“No, they said the surprise was a key part of the change programme.”
“So what’s different?” (more…)
April 27, 2021
The hybrid workplace sagas, part one. Ginnungagap
“Hi Dougie – how’s the new hybrid workplace going?”
“Morning Clara. You mean the Team-Rostered Attendance Programme. It’s fantastic – we have control at last!”
“Wow, I’m jealous. I guess you all just fell into it?”
“Yeah. How did you know?”
“Just a hunch. So how does it work?” (more…)
April 19, 2021
Pressure and weak leadership form the recipe for workplace bullying
Employees experience more bullying on days with higher work pressure and passive avoidant leadership, finds new research from BI Norwegian Business School and the University of Bergen and published in The European Management Journal. Professor Olav Kjellevold Olsen and colleagues studied how work pressure is related to daily experiences of workplace bullying related acts, as well as the relationship with transformational or laissez-faire leadership. Transformational leadership involves paying more attention to employees’ needs for achievement and providing social support. Laissez-faire leadership involves a more passive and destructive approach leaving followers on their own in situations in need of leadership. (more…)
April 16, 2021
A fifth of UK workers feel remote working has reduced recognition in the workplace
Research from Ezra, provider of digital coaching claims that a fifth of UK workers feel they get less recognition within their career as a direct result of working remotely. It remains to be seen to what extent we will return to a full working environment, as Covid restrictions see many continue to work from home for part of, if not their whole working week. (more…)
April 6, 2021
Workplace interruptions may help people feel a sense of belonging
In those heady pre-lockdown days, the most common complaint about office life, and especially open plan office life, was the inability to get work done without distraction. Now a new paper from researchers at the University of Illinois suggests that the interruptions may have served some purpose in the way they helped people feel a sense of belonging in the workplace. (more…)
May 27, 2021
For a workplace culture to flourish, sometimes you have to let go
by Cathy Hayward • Comment, Flexible working, Wellbeing, Workplace design