Future of Work campaign 2017

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Businesses get results after embracing AI P4 AI BUSINESS

Future of Work

Key trends shaping the future of work Monzo CEO and Co-Founder, Tom Blomfield discusses P6 PHOTO: MONZO

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Julian David, techUK How AI can drive productivity

EXCLUSIVE Peter Cheese, Chief Executive of the CIPD on how the future of work is human

Read more How organisations of all sizes are adapting and thriving in the digital era

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An office fit for the future of work As working styles and technology are evolving, so too are offices. To be fit for the future, offices must become spaces focused on human interaction and flexibility.

O

ver the last 10 years or so, there has been much talk of the death of the traditional office as working styles and technology have evolved.

However, most people who do officetype work continue to do so from what most of us would still call an office. So, what’s going on?

The reality of this evolution is that the workplace is becoming ever-more central to an organisation’s purpose, brand, way of working and means of driving productivity and success.

Offices are changing, of course, but their centrality as the environment where employees come together to interact, socialise, share and generate ideas is increasingly important, Follow us

often serving as the glue that holds an organisation together. Obviously, this also means innovation in office design is essential to maximise value from the space available, motivate employees and drive productivity. The result is more emphasis on open plan, communal spaces, a multiplicity of working environments and room for collaboration.

The rise of the co-worker is another theme that is changing what is understood by an office environment. One of our own research studies estimates that over one million people will work in a co-working environment by 2018 which, coupled with space matchmaker apps, is revolutionising the way offices are accessed. The theme of ‘space on

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Richard Kauntze CEO, British Council for Offices (BCO)

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demand’ means providing as much space as is needed, where it’s wanted, when it’s wanted and, invariably, at an affordable price. This means working spaces are becoming more and more akin to a service industry and moving away from a traditional property transaction of yesteryear.

Another trend shaping workplaces is the increasing emphasis on wellness and how the office environment can contribute to our health, sense of wellbeing and, if all the stars align, our productivity. Gone are the days when you were sat at your desk, told what to do and expected to get on with it. Now, it is essential that the specific needs of employees are listened to such that an environment can be created that has an uplifting @MediaplanetUK

impact on employees all with the aim of enhancing productivity, boosting retention and, as a result, securing cost efficiencies. While getting this right can be complex, some seemingly mundane factors such as comfort, lighting and temperature play their part in improving wellness in the office and a little thought in this area goes a long way to driving benefits for an employer.

Whatever the exact future of the office, it is without question that the need for human contact to discuss and generate ideas will not diminish. In fact, it is likely that this need will define the workplace of the future with working environments becoming spaces focused on human interaction and flexibility above all else.

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SMEs need more from their space than start ups

By Virginia Blackburn SPONSORED

SMEs are not start-ups and not large companies – their workspace needs to reflect this.

In the new, fast-changing workplace, businesses need to be able to be agile. Embrace flexibility and you will increase productivity. But, in order to do that, innovative and high-growth SMEs require a specific type of workspace. Having outgrown co-working, they are finding conventional office space doesn’t work for them and are looking for something that will cater to their particular needs.

There is a need to plug this gap and provide a workspace that

is a step-up from highly shared co-working spaces, enabling SMEs to reflect their own brand and culture, while supporing them with flexible, all-inclusive agreements.

This will, in turn, increase employee satisfaction leading to increased productivity – one of the biggest issues facing British business today.

Five themes need to be kept in mind when creating this new type of workspace, which were not necessarily uppermost in more traditional offices. The first – and key – requirement is flexibility, because this means that growing SMEs will not have to commit to long rental agreements, but will be able to see their workplace grow and change as they do themselves. A flexible approach with short leases aligns with the planning horizons that SMEs are used to.

The next important quality is personalisation, which involves reflecting the company’s own brand and ethos. This too contributes to employee satisfaction levels as it

James Lowery Co-Founder, Storey

“Reflecting a brand’s culture and supporting them with flexible agreements will lead to increased productivity”

helps them to relate to their company, becoming a part of its culture.

To do this successfully, the company providing the space must take into account the exact nature of the work being done. It is a bespoke service for the client.

Thirdly, simplicity; this boils down to making sure the SME knows exactly what its monthly outgoings will be, and so all payments involved in the running of an office, including rent, utilities bills and high speed broadband are wrapped up into one fee, allowing the SME to forget about day-to-day issues and get on with building up the business.

The fourth concern is, of course, making the office space enhance productivity. This can be as simple as providing fast, resilient WiFi that ensures continuity of business, promoting wellbeing (e.g. standing desks) to providing the right types of spaces to support the way a company works e.g. collaboration spaces vs focus areas.

The office must have the abilty to adapt over time, as any SME will tell you, they have different requirements at different stages of their jouney.

Finally, an understanding of shared space is important. While SMEs might need most of their own space, there can be some shared facilities, which will help in keeping costs down and cannot otherwise be justified as they will not be used all the time. These include board rooms, kitchens, showers, bike storage and dynamic areas where companies can interact.

All of these themes work together to provide a great space that keeps the team happy – which in turn helps them to work.

Read more on storey.co.uk

Creativity is the new productivity SPONSORED

As the nature of work changes, so does the nature of the workplace. We examine some emerging ideas.

What, exactly, is creativity? Is it the painting of a beautiful picture? Is it the art of solving problems differently?

It can be both. Creativity is not just reserved for artists. In fact creativity is becoming increasing important in the workplace and one of the most important skills for employees in the future.

CEOs are hiring a different profile of employees to solve complex problems that, despite the increased influence of artificial intelligence, can’t be replicated by robots.

And it’s happening quickly. By 2020 it is predicted that core skill sets needed in most occupations are not those considered crucial today, while 65 per cent of children entering school now will grow up to do jobs that do not yet exist. Given all this, the way we think about work is already undergoing a dramatic change, with research by Microsoft revealing that 83 per cent of workers are already asked to be creative on a daily or weekly basis, while 72 per cent say that future success depends on their ability to be creative. However, 40 per cent say that creativity is neither encouraged nor rewarded, and 69 per cent feel they are not living up to their creative potential. Clearly further changes need to be made.

Unfortunately, the workplace itself is part of the problem, often deemed uninspiring, stressful and not conducive to creativity. Many offices are stuck in the past, whereas increasingly there is the need to be able to work alone, in large and small groups and in pairs. Accommodating these different

Madelyn Hankins Director, Steelcase UK

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needs calls for a palette of choices for workers by providing them a range of spaces to do their best work, or best creative thinking.

Architecture, furniture and technology need to be planned in harmony with one another in order to optimize the creative output. In an age where the new measurement of productivity is the value of ideas and solutions, the space has to work harder to augment the workforce.

A workplace that offers a palette of posture, presence and privacy helps boost wellbeing and a happy workforce. Modern workplaces must offer these in a range of spaces that support a range of devices and include ergonomically appropriate furniture to facilitate sitting, standing and collaboration.

Creativity is not a linear or predictable process but designing inspiring work spaces can augment the messy creative process. A collection of interrelated spaces that integrate place and technology help prompt the creative process. Steelcase and

Microsoft’s Creative Spaces offer five different areas that work in partnership together to allow people and their information to move fluidly from place to place to best support creative behaviours. The Focus Studio supports focused alone time, the Duo Studio is designed for work in pairs, the Ideation Hub is high-tech and encourages active participation, the Maker Commons allows for sharing ideas and rapid prototyping and the Respite Room offers a place for solitude and consolidation of thoughts.

Every individual has the capacity to be creative but sometimes creativity needs a helping hand. Organisations can foster creativity in their people by providing the right environmental attributes to prompt critical thinking.

It is important for organisations to create the right conditions for creativity through a holistic approach to business process, technology, the built environment and ultimately the organisational culture itself. Places shape our behaviours. And behaviours over time become our culture.

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Peter Cheese Chief Executive, CIPD

A rise of robots doesn’t have to spell bad news for workforces The discussion around the world of work and technology is often presented as a binary choice. Robots vs people. Technology vs humanity.

But it is not a zero-sum game. Assuming any increase in the use of technology automatically leads to the decline of jobs oversimplifies the issue. AI, digitisation and automation are increasingly more efficient at many tasks that people do today and the pace of innovation and development in these technologies is accelerating. But there are gains to be made for workers, employers and society if we can harness technology in order to create new, better jobs and augment people’s productivity, rather than simply replace them at work.

Technology can improve wellbeing We are already seeing examples of how technology can work alongside people. Take the automotive industry, who are making huge strides in using ‘cobots’, robots that work alongside people, to reduce the amount of heavy lifting their workers are doing on their assembly lines or reduce the low-skill, repetitive tasks. By investing in technology that augments their workforce, they are ensuring that people are focussed on the tasks that are more fulfilling, that better utilise their skills, and through that, improve employee wellbeing and contribute to better organisational outcomes.

Defining ‘good work’ To be able to make these kinds of choices, it is crucial that we understand what good looks like in the context of tech/ human interaction in the workplace. This is part of a – now growing – debate about the nature of ‘good work’; work, jobs or roles, that make the best of human skills, that is meaningful, purposeful, inclusive and gives people a voice or a say. HR should play a strategic role in these big agendas, by bringing insight and understanding as well as processes and practices that help us all deliver on this future.

The ethics question We also have significant issues of trust. As more data is collected about people, together with the growing threats of hacking and cyber security, we have to make sure that people feel safe, that their rights are respected. If people don’t trust the technology they are using, or the people who are implementing or supporting it, they won’t use it effectively or may even seek to avoid it.

It is not the first time that the nature of work is being transformed by technology. Yet, never before has the speed of change been so dramatic, and the shift in the technological capability so fundamental. We all need to work together to ensure that the future of work is human, and that work itself is seen and experienced as a force for good.

Human productivity, powered by AI Businesses globally have embraced AI and are beginning to see tangible results from the still nascent technology.

AI Business research demonstrates that over 90 per cent of Fortune 1,000 organisations have already embarked on an exciting journey that has the potential to create unprecedented efficiencies.

SKYNET versus Pragmatism In the last couple of years, the impact of AI in work has made multiple headlines. Most reporting tends to focus on the number of roles that will be ‘automated’ – and the inherent fear that computers will take over our jobs, before taking over the world.

But business leaders have taken a more pragmatic approach to adopting AI technologies within their organisations. AI Business recently completed a comprehensive research report with 3,000 executives globally – focussing on what AI means to their organisation.

“Increased productivity, process efficiencies and optimisation of activity are the three key areas of impact,” highlighted by Periklies Antoniou of Diageo.

■■ 92 per cent of respondents see AI bringing improved efficiency across the board ■■ 77 per cent expect to see a reduction in overall costs ■■ 66 per cent also anticipate enhanced accuracy in their operations.

Interestingly, 28 per cent believe that AI will enable humans to make the most of their creative side by removing mundane tasks that will be done more efficiently without human intervention.

In terms of individual business functions, over 85 per cent of respondents see data collection and management as the domain that AI will revolutionise. It is in this area that most organisations have already started investing, with machine-learning and deep-learning projects making the most of organisations’ big data.

Georgios Kipouros Co-Founder, AI Business

Daniel Pitchford Co-Founder, AI Business

Further still, business leaders expect a significant impact of AI in customer service – a function that applies to all organisations and one that is particularly difficult to ‘get right’. From NLP to image-recognition, organisations are using a wide range of AI tools to improve and strengthen their relationship with the customer.

Research and development (R&D) and marketing are very close as the third and fourth areas singled out by approximately 60 per cent of respondents, followed by sales and management, which was identified by about 50 per cent of respondents.

make mistakes and the potential to lose control over AI’s capabilities are further issues that prevent AI from reaching its full potential at work.

Surprisingly, the single biggest obstacle to AI adoption – highlighted by 67 per cent of respondents – is the lack of understanding about AI’s capabilities or limitations, coupled with the lack of talent. Despite the hype, knowledge of the opportunity around AI is still rather limited – and very few out there have the know-how to lead and implement AI projects.

Change is happening across the organisation’s structure as a result of AI Over 80 per cent of respondents expect a major change to business structures, roles and hierarchies with the development and increased implementation of AI technologies.

As has been widely reported, a number of jobs will eventually be automated. George Zarkadakis of Willis Towers Watson is, nonetheless, confident that a significant number of new roles will be created as a result of AI being implemented.

A bumpy road to adoption The road to enhancing human productivity is neither straightforward nor clearly defined – yet. The amorphous regulatory framework is one of the many concerns raised by executives; who regulates? What kind of rules should we expect?

The ethical challenges and risks of using AI are also on the CxO’s agenda. Liability when machines

$15.7tr potential boost to the global economy Is ROI from AI visible on the horizon?

While less than 38 per cent are already seeing some ROI on their investments – particularly in areas where AI has been used in customer-facing products and services – over half expect to see stronger results within the next three years. PwC analysis estimates a stunning $15.7tr as the potential contribution to the global economy by 2030 from AI, with up to 26 per cent boost in GDP for local economies.

AI Business’ own research confirms that we are only at the beginning of a metamorphic journey in human productivity. Business CxOs do recognise the opportunity in place. AI is still a work in progress, but the fourth Industrial Revolution is happening now and transforming the future of work.

Read more on businessandindustry. co.uk

Learning that lasts is a gamechanger for everyone SPONSORED

We are bombarded by information all the time.

How much sticks? And how can technology improve how much information we absorb and use?

Think back to your school days for just a minute: what language did you learn?

French? German? Mandarin? Spanish?

Did you play a musical instrument – the saxophone, the trumpet or even just the dreaded recorder?

Then cut back to now: how good is your conversational French these days? Could you pick up a recorder and knock out a good rendition of Three Blind Mice? Probably not – unless after school you moved to France to become a professional recorder player. And that’s because practice is what keeps your skills alive; practice keeps you fluent in that unfamiliar tongue or retains the muscle memory you need to play a tune off by heart.

Soft skills shouldn’t be hard work

Jo Eismont Creative Content Manager, Insights

We’ve all experienced moments – and days – at work where we’ve learned something profound about ourselves, our colleagues or our organisation, but have later felt frustrated that our new-found

knowledge didn’t necessarily translate into real and lasting change.

So-called ‘soft skills’ often have a reputation for being harder to implement than, say, learning to navigate a new database or use an upgraded IT system. Once learned, you can’t turn up to work the next day and claim that you’ve no idea how the database works, how to access it or what it’s for – we’re pretty sure that wouldn’t be acceptable to your manager. No, once you’ve received your training, you get stuck in and practice the task at hand until you can do it in your sleep.

But why should learning centred on self-awareness and relationship-building be any different, or considered any less foundational to

a successful workplace? Well, the answer is, it shouldn’t. Knowing yourself and your colleagues well enough to have excellent working relationships should be considered as important to your success as getting up to speed with that new IT system – because it is. Teams can’t reach greatness unless they’re founded on great relationships between self-aware people, and by the same token, organisations can’t reach greatness unless they’re full of world-class teams.

Read more on insights.com

Proof that productivity is linked to the maturity of talent acquisition SPONSORED

A survey of 400 Talent Leaders explores how organisations’ talent acquisition strategies impact productivity.

The report categorised respondents as high-, medium- or low-impact based on the impact of their talent acquisition functions on business performance. High-impact talent acquisition functions had articulated strategies that shape business decisions. Low-impact talent acquisition functions were characterised by immature talent acquisition processes and ineffective measurement.

31 per cent of companies with high-impact talent acquisition functions operate at maximum productivity, compared with only four per cent of companies with

low-impact talent acquisition functions.

Sixty-eight per cent of companies with high-impact talent acquisition functions also reported an increase in profits compared with only 31 per cent of companies with low-impact talent acquisition functions. In fact, the average profit margins of the 122 organisations identified as low-impact was 18.75 per cent, while high impact organisations had average profit margins of 41.94 per cent.

The survey revealed 42 per cent of talent leaders think a shortage of specific skills is the biggest challenge affecting productivity and profit.

Twenty-nine per cent of talent leaders believe it is the retention of new starters and 27 per cent believe it to be the political landscape and new legislation.

From the report we subsequently identified four actions to help a talent acquisition team contribute to their organisation’s productivity:

1. Data is the starting point Only 20 per cent of organisations

are strong at utilising HR data. You may have access to complex data from your recruitment technologies (ATS or CRM), or more simple and digestible data from social media or feedback from candidates. Either way, data enables you to prioritise key projects and an all-encompassing talent acquisition strategy for your organisation.

Paula Parfitt Senior Vice President, Europe Sales and Marketing, Cielo

2. Simplify your recruitment process Twenty-four per cent of talent leaders believe they have a simple recruitment process. To improve upon the process means highlighting areas in the candidate lifecycle where candidates are lost, or feedback is poor.

We advise clients to take themselves through the process – asking how they felt at each step of the process.

At a recent think tank, 72.3 per cent of respondents stated that this step alone has improved quality of hire.

done to help attract talent into the business. With new start-ups constantly appearing and technology evolving at a fast pace, organisations need to differentiate themselves to win over top talent – no easy feat.

4. Pick your partners Thirty-seven per cent of respondents use an RPO to support all or part of their talent acquisition process. These outperformed their peers at ‘innovating to meet the demands of business’, ‘delivering quality hires’ and ‘agility to meet changing demands’. It was also noted that the organisations surveyed with in-house teams struggled with day to day tasks such as CV screening, telephone interviewing and keeping candidates engaged – all elements that an RPO provider can help with.

3. Show your worth A validated Employer Value Proposition (EVP) is crucial. With 42 per cent of organisations citing skills gaps as a core issue, it is essential that all is

Read more on resources.cielotalent. com

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Tom Blomfield CEO and Co-Founder, Monzo

4 key trends shaping the way we work today 1. The distinction between life and work is blurring, and people now look for purpose and meaning in both.

Ten years ago, city jobs expected new graduates to spend the first few years working unreasonable hours, doing menial work. Once promoted, they’d inflict the same treatment on those who came after them.

Today, people are demanding fulfilling work from day one.

Our definition of fulfilment is changing: people aren’t as motivated by “making partner” or chasing a big bonus, but instead look for purpose to drive what they do.

In response, companies are making sure that people have a better work/life balance, and paying more attention to the wellbeing of staff. They’re giving junior employees more autonomy and ownership, not expecting them to work 90 hour weeks.

2. The rise of digital nomads The internet has had a massive impact on the way we work, enabling us to work from anywhere in the world. The ‘workplace’ is no longer one physical location, and companies increasingly accommodate remote working. From a beach in Bali to a loft in New York, we have the freedom to work from anywhere.

3. Output-oriented thinking Companies are starting to measure success in terms of output, not input. The culture of clocking in and out is a thing of the past, and the best employers no longer care about how many hours you sit at your desk each day. Instead, the focus is on delivering results.

4. The implications of automation All jobs have the potential to be affected by automation.

Investment banking, equity trading, accounting and law are all industries that rely on repetitive manual processes that could be done more efficiently and accurately by computer.

Automation may eliminate some jobs altogether, but it will also create the economic productivity to support new types of work. Past industrial revolutions have enabled the huge expansion in education and healthcare provision that’s followed.

The alarm around the implications of automation for the future of work is understandable. But we’re starting to wake up to the fact that a job for life doesn’t exist any more. There’s a growing need for continual, life-long learning, and there must be opportunities for people to retrain and reskill.

As a society, we need to recognise that a fraction of the population will bear the brunt of this upheaval, and must provide them with the support that they need, financial and otherwise. It’s vital that we think about shaping a fair and productive society in the wake of rapid, radical change.

Read more on businessandindustry.co.uk

Digital adoption and reskilling key for AI to benefit all

By Julian David

Technology has always changed the way we work, often for the better. It has improved fundamental tasks like mining and agriculture. Artificial Intelligence (AI) will be no different.

AI is already allowing resources to be moved from repetitive tasks to far more productive, high-value work.

Think about that last time you visited a hospital. How many staff were heads down filling in forms rather than heads up caring for patients?

Automating administration in hospitals will mean staff can be freed up to do what humans do best – provide care and empathy for others.

AI could boost UK GDP and drive productivity Studies suggest that leadership in the development and application of AI in the UK will have a huge impact – boosting GDP by 10 per cent by 2030 (£232 billion). Even if it was just half as much, it would still be significant, and the projected positive impact on productivity growth is crucial, as it will drive up long-term living standards.

The growth potential of AI extends across sectors. AI can improve and personalise customer service. It can automate and improve efficiencies in supply chains. And, it can transform the efficiency and effectiveness of our public services – from digitising citizens’ services to ensuring accurate and timely patient diagnoses.

Businesses must go digital first To take advantage of AI, companies, organisations and public services need to be digitised in the first place. They need the basic digital foundations in place to ensure they have good quality data about how their business or service operates. Organisations that are already digitised are likely to be quicker to apply AI while those that are not may get left behind as productivity lags. Getting all businesses

Julian David CEO, techUK

“AI can improve and personalise customer service” started on the digital journey really matters.

AI will certainly transform the UK, but with any significant transformation deep, complex social questions must be answered. The most challenging question when considering AI is: what will all this automation do to jobs? There is much to learn from history. We know that big technological innovations can lead to disruption.

Significant research has already identified the job types most vulnerable to innovation and their geographic concentrations, which gives us the ability to plan. The biggest mistake would be to stand transfixed in the headlights waiting for the impact to hit. Now is the time to prepare and act.

Revaluing roles that require empathy Education is key. Where we can predict short-term impacts, we should provide affordable, accessible and relevant retraining so that people can adapt. In the long-term, we need to think about the roles that only humans can do when working alongside intelligent machines. We need to rebalance our education system to align with the new world of work,

revaluing those jobs that focus on empathy, reasoning, creativity and adaptability. These skills are likely to be in demand across an economy augmented by smart machines, even when the work we are doing may be very different to today. These attributes also need to be encouraged in the next generation through the education system and we should incorporate design, arts and creativity into the existing drive to focus on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects.

Government is committed to AI; industry must re-skill to keep pace The government is clearly committed to bringing businesses and citizens on the digital journey. The recent Autumn Budget and the Industrial Strategy outlined ways to further embrace AI in a positive manner.

In the Budget, the Chancellor announced a £75 million fund to support AI development, building on our leadership in development and ensuring safe and ethical use.

The new Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation means we will have the brightest minds working to help Britain capitalise on digital technology while also considering the social impact and mitigating risks. The Industrial Strategy outlined a muchneeded sector deal for AI. These progressive steps give us the platform we need to maintain leadership and drive the AI agenda.

AI holds huge promise for the UK as an economic power and for the welfare of citizens. Government recognises this and must now work with industry, academia and policymakers, to maximise potential while leaving no one behind. We must address the key short-term issues, such as reskilling and digital adoption, and answer key complex social, ethical questions. In acknowledging these issues now, we can use this new technology to shape a future that works for all.

Read more on business andindustry.co.uk

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