Tag Archives: research

Late For Work? No Worries

Posted on by

Wave goodbye to the nine-to-five worker

Being late is fine with the boss, thanks to smart technology

 

The majority of global bosses are happy for staff to turn up late for work, according to new research by the world’s most trusted online back-up service, Mozy®.  Mobile technology, including smartphone apps and cloud services, now means that bosses are surprisingly supportive of a flexible workforce – more than most employees realise.

 

The findings, which can be read in full at www.mozy.co.uk/9-5, emerged in a study of 1,000 British, German, French, US and Irish employees and employers, which found 73 per cent of bosses have a relaxed attitude to time keeping, as they trust their staff are working long before they actually get to the office.

 

Yet this will come as a shock to most workers as half of employees are under the impression that their bosses definitely will mind if they are late.

 

“This is brilliant news for workers everywhere,” comments Claire Galbois-Alcaix of online back-up specialist www.mozy.co.uk , which conducted the study. “Hard work isn’t going unnoticed and mobile working and technology is having more of an impact on employer attitudes than people think.”

 

Time-keeping

The average global boss would be willing to turn a blind eye to employees being up to 32 minutes late and let staff spend a quarter of the week working from home. However, British bosses are the strictest, wanting late-running workers at their desks no later than 24 minutes into the working day, whilst US employers take the most relaxed view, tolerating their staff turning up to 37 minutes late in the day.

 

Mobile tools

The death knell of the nine-to-five worker has been rung by mobile technology, with three quarters of employers giving employees tools to get their jobs done wherever they are.  However, just 11 per cent of British employers tool their workers up to be able to access everything on the move – which would allow people even more freedom.

 

Email in bed

The study confirms the long-held suspicion that the urge to check emails first thing in the morning is overwhelming for some: a third of all British employees has logged in by 6.30am, compared with just 13 per cent of French employees. On average, by 7.00am one in five employees worldwide has already checked their email.

 

Give and take

Whilst the majority of employers globally are happy for staff to start their days later, in return they’re looking for flexibility from their employees and when they wind down for the night.  The fluid approach to working hours means that many employers are now comfortable with calling after hours, with 80 per cent saying they think it’s acceptable to call staff in the evening.  The research shows that French bosses are the most considerate and stop calling the earliest; 43 per cent draw the line at calling after 7.00pm. 16 per cent of UK employers, on the other hand, think it is acceptable to call workers between 10.00pm and midnight!

 

The real nine-to-five

Global employers demonstrate further evidence that behaviours have changed beyond recognition by underestimating the amount of work that employers are doing away from their desks.  As a whole, they believe their employees spend an average of 55 minutes a day working away from the office, when in fact, the average global employee has already clocked up 46 minutes before they even arrive at the office.

 

What does the new nine-to-five look like? The global results show that the average person starts checking their work email at 7.42am, gets into the office at 8.18am, leaves the office at 5.48pm and stops working fully at 7.19pm, meaning employees are “in work mode” for nearly 12 hours a day.

 

“We can see from the research findings that we’ve come a long way towards work being ‘a thing that you do’, rather than ‘a place that you go’ but, with just 11 per cent of British employers saying their employees can access all of their work tools remotely, there’s still a long way to go”, continues  Claire Galbois-Alcaix from Mozy.  “Using internet-based solutions that allow workers to access their data as if they were in the office, wherever they are and whenever they want, will help everyone to continue seeing benefits.”

 

Taking a relaxed attitude

Bosses are taking a laid-back approach to more than just punctuality, as personal tasks creep into the office day. Across the surveyed nations, 37 per cent of global bosses are happy for employees to take longer lunches. Meanwhile, more than a third of British employers are OK with staff downing tools to enjoy office banter and regular tea breaks.

 

One in eight of global employers polled even claim they are fine with employees carrying out personal tasks like online banking, food shopping and paying bills while at their desks – with the American bosses being most relaxed (22 per cent) and the British being the most stringent.

 

Over half of British employees think nothing of leaving work early for a doctor’s appointment, with one in five leaving early to watch a child’s school performance, and around one in ten using Facebook or Twitter whilst at work.

 

Top personal tasks creeping onto the office to-do list

1.       Leaving work early for the doctor or dentist

2.       Personal phone calls

3.       Regular tea and coffee breaks

4.       Chatting to colleagues

5.       Sending personal emails

6.       Taking a long lunch to get a few things done

7.       Online banking

8.       Leaving work early for a child’s performance at school

9.       Paying a few bills

10.   Having breakfast at work

11.   Reading newspapers and magazines

12.   Using Facebook and Twitter

13.   Calling customer complaints

14.   Researching things to buy online

15.   Brushing teeth

16.   Researching holidays

17.   Online shopping

18.   Showering after cycling / running /gym

19.   Looking up recipes for dinner

20.   Playing the lottery

21.   Online food shop

22.   Reading gossip online

 

Guide To The Perfect Secret Santa Gift

Posted on by

It’s that time of the year. Yes, the one where you have to somehow buy people presents that they won’t hate.

This is even harder, and far more treacherous, when buying for someone at work who you don’t really know. Getting Secret Santa gifts can be a minefield. So here are a few tips and tricks.

1) Do your research.

Think about the personality of the person you are buying for. Are they girlie? Sporty? Metrosexual? Don’t buy Shirley, who loves pink and teddy bears, a war DVD.

2) Go edible.

The best presents are usually edible. No re-gifting, no fake thank you’s, just eating. Hmm, what more could you want? Try and find out if anyone has any allergies or dislikes. Chocolate is a good bet. Or bubble bath.

3) Watch out for allergies or religious beliefs.

Rule out anything offensive or jokey. You never know how someone will take it and you need to work with these people all year. If you don’t get fired.

4) Play it safe.

Scented candles, bath oils, chocolate, a good book. Go for things everyone likes.

5) Be generous.

Don’t be known as the cheap person in the office. It’s always worth spending a few extra pounds and showing some class.

6) But not too generous.

You don’t want to embarrass people, or make the feel they have to reciprocate with something equally expensive. Or worse, think that you fancy them!

And more importantly, have fun!

Too Much Light At Night May Lead to Obesity {Health}

Posted on by

Research by the Ohio State University has found that persistent exposure to light at night may lead to weight gain, even without changing physical activity or eating more food.

By studying mice the researchers found that mice exposed to a relatively dim light at night over eight weeks had a body mass gain that was about 50 percent more than other mice that lived in a standard light-dark cycle.

“Although there were no differences in activity levels or daily consumption of food, the mice that lived with light at night were getting fatter than the others,” said Laura Fonken, lead author of the study and a doctoral student in neuroscience at Ohio State University.

The study appears this week in the online early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

As they’re not less active or eating more, the results suggest that the weight gain is because the mice living with light at night eat at times they normally wouldn’t.

In one study, mice exposed to light at night – but that had food availability restricted to normal eating times – gained no more weight than did mice in a normal light-dark cycle.

“Something about light at night was making the mice in our study want to eat at the wrong times to properly metabolize their food,” said Randy Nelson, co-author of the study and professor of neuroscience and psychology at Ohio State.

If these results are confirmed in humans, it would suggest that late-night eating might be a particular risk factor for obesity, Nelson said.

Mice exposed to dim light-at-night showed higher levels of epididymal fat, and impaired glucose tolerance – a marker of pre-diabetes.

“When we restricted their food intake to times when they would normally eat, we didn’t see the weight gain,” Fonken said about the mice. “This adds to the evidence that the timing of eating is critical to weight gain.”

So how does light at night lead to changes in metabolism? The researchers believe the light could disrupt levels of the hormone melatonin, which is involved in metabolism. In addition, it may disrupt the expression of clock genes, which help control when animals feed and when they are active.

Overall, the findings show another possible reason for the obesity epidemic in Western countries.

Researchers have long associated prolonged computer use and television viewing as obesity risk factors, but have focused on how they are associated with a lack of physical activity.

“It may be that people who use the computer and watch the TV a lot at night may be eating at the wrong times, disrupting their metabolism,” Nelson said. “Clearly, maintaining body weight requires keeping caloric intake low and physical activity high, but this environmental factor may explain why some people who maintain good energy balance still gain weight.”

The research was supported by the National Science Foundation and the U.S.-Israel Binational Science Foundation for the Ohio State University.

Printed Clothing {Style}

Posted on by

Film’s going three dimention happy at the moment so it’s no excuse for fashion not to follow suit. The uses of 3d printing are still being explored and designer-researchers are producing 3d printed textiles and clothing.

The emerging technology, which uses ultraviolet beams to fuse layers of powdered, recyclable thermoplastic into shape, leaves behind virtually no waste. Its localized production and one-size-fits-all approach also racks up fewer travel miles, requires less labor, and compresses fabrication time to a matter of hours, rather than weeks or months.

Designer Jiri Evenhuis, in collaboration with Janne Kyttanen of Freedom of Creation, were among the first to toy with the idea of using 3D printers to create textiles. “Instead of producing textiles by the meter, then cutting and sewing them into final products, this concept has the ability to make needle and thread obsolete,” Evenhuis has said.

3D printing has the “ability to make needle and thread obsolete,” says designer Jiri Evenhuis. 

A decade later, designer-researchers like Freedom of Creation in Amsterdam and Philip Delamore at the London College of Fashion are cranking out seamless, flexible textile structures using software that converts three-dimensional body data into skin-conforming fabric structures. The potential for bespoke clothing, tailored to the specific individual, are as abundant as the patterns that can be created, from interlocking Mobius motifs to tightly woven meshes.

Freedom of Creation’s 3D textiles are currently display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

3D Printing Process: ‘The FOC Punch Bag’ from Freedom Of Creation on Vimeo.

[via ecouterre]

Clare Jonas on Synaesthesia {Interviews}

Posted on by
Clare Jonas sits on the Southbank on a sunny Saturday afternoon. She’s not what most people imagine an academic to be like. Although she’s just about to finish her PhD at Sussex University, out of her satchel she pulls a ball of wool and some knitting needles.
Clare: Do you mind if I knit?
She’s recently taken up knitting and appears to be making some sort of hat, possibly to keep her enormous brain warm when the winter comes. Clare is obsessed with brains and has been poking about in them for most of her adult life.

Frost: Tell us what it is you do…
Clare: I research Synaesthesia which is a condition in which the senses get senses get mixed up, or two aspects of the same sense get mixed up or sometimes the concepts of the sense get mixed up.
Probably the most common type that involves mixing up the senses involves sound and vision, so you might see colours when you’re listening to music for example.
The way we refer to the different sides of Synaesthesia is inducive and concurrent. The inducer is what causes the Synaesthesia, maybe a letter or some music. Concurrent is the resulting sensation you get which is a ghost sensation.
Frost: Is it the same for everyone who experiences Synaesthesia?
Clare: Not every Synaesthae experiences it in the same way. Using the example of sound to colour synaesthesia; for some people a trumpet’s sound might be red, for others it might be blue.
At the moment I’m interested in the patterns of Synaesthesia but I’m moving towards how Synaesthesia differs from normal experiences and what can that tell us about “normal” experiences.
Frost: What interested you in the subject? Is it something you experience?
Clare: Yeah, I do have Synaesthesia. With me it’s concept and sense being mixed up. When I think about numbers or time or letters of the alphabet, they have spatial locations, so for example; the number ten is just in front of my right shoulder and January is by my right eye, the letters of the alphabet are kind of off in space to my left and above me.
Frost: Is Synaesthesia the result of nurture as opposed to nature??
Clare: I don’t think so because my brother and I went to the same primary school and would’ve been taught by the same teachers and he hasn’t got Synaesthesia and I have. It’s to do with the hardware in your brain. The theory at the moment is that some people have a genetic predisposition to Synaesthesia.
In the case of number and space getting mixed up, when you’re a young child with a tendency to have synaesthesia, you might put the number one, for example, in different places depending on the different times you’re looking at it, but as you get older your synaesthesia settles down into a fixed pattern.
We have a break and go for a wander talking the about the intelligence and comedy of homing pigeons as we stumble upon a science fair. “Keep your eye out for brains” coos Clare; she’s in her element as she quizzes some unsuspecting degree students about the power of algae and the magnetism of ants. I learn that you can remove parts of an ant’s legs and they try and carry on as normal and somehow it proves that ants count the number of steps they take. As she quizzes several more undergraduates and I’m sure I see one physically tremble with intellectual intimidation.
I carry on and ask her more questions.
Frost: Is synaesthesia a hindrance for people that experience it?
Clare: No, most people say they enjoy it. Although, in the same way that most people don’t know what it’s like to have Synaesthesia, so they can’t imagine the world any differently, that’s how it is for a synaesthete. So if numbers have colours or words have tastes, it’s just the way they’ve always been.
Frost: Could some people have such severe experiences that they don’t carry out a normal life?
Clare: No I wouldn’t say so, the worse thing I’ve heard from a Synaesthete is that it can be distracting. So if you’re trying to read a book you keep getting distracted by all the different colours of the letters for example. It doesn’t hinder people in any significant way as far as I know. In fact most of the time it can be kind of helpful, if you imagine you’re meeting someone for the second time and you’ve forgotten their name but you know it was a green name, that could mean that it must start with the letter “f” so you can narrow it down and you’re less likely to embarrass yourself.
Quite a few types of Synaesthesia, we haven’t investigated all of it, you get an advantage in the concurrent domain. So people who have letter – colour synaesthesia would have better colour processing than most people.
Frost: Do these people maybe tend to take up to artistic careers?
Clare: There’s some anecdotal evidence that synaesthete tend to go into more artistic careers but the synaesthete I’ve met do all kinds of things. When people contact us because they’ve heard about Synaesthesia they’ll often be people who work in offices or students, other academics, occasionally I’ll just be talking to a friend and they’ll say “oh but I have that! Isn’t that normal?” There are people everywhere who have synaesthesia…it’s actually quite common.
Frost: How common is it?
Clare: It depends on which form of Synaesthesia you’re talking about, the kind I have, the spatial stuff, that’s probably about 1 in 4 people have some kind of spatial synaesthesia. This includes thinking of time as having a spatial component or letters or numbers.
Frost: How do we know we’re not just imagining as opposed to it being real Synaesthesia?
Clare: There are two ways we can test it, the first is a modified Stroop test. In the original Stroop test people are asked to look at the names of colours, e.g. yellow, and say what colour ink it’s printed in, i.e. it might be printed in green. It’s much harder to say what colour the word is when it doesn’t match the ink. Then you see how long it takes them to name that colour as opposed to when it matches.
Frost: So it’s a massive disadvantage on brain training games?
Clare: I’m not brilliant at them and I don’t even have colour synaesthesia.  That test doesn’t always work; there are some people that don’t show that effect at all. If that’s the case there’s another test based on consistency. So this you can do more easily and on a wider variety of people. Basically what happens is we’ll test people on their inducer and concurrent pairings, for example we’ll ask them “what colour is five for you, what colour’s six, what does the word ‘brain’ taste of” that kind of thing. Then we’ll also get someone who doesn’t have Synaesthesia in and ask them to pretend that they have Synaesthesia. We tell the non synaesthete that we’re going to re-test them after a few days or a couple of weeks. We don’t warn the synaesthete that we’re going to re-test them and we test them again a longer period of time later than the control, so maybe months. So the idea is if the synaesthete is more consistent than the control over time, then they almost certainly have Synaesthesia.
Frost: Wont people be tempted to re-create the effects with drugs?
Clare: Well there are reports that there’s a drug in South America that can induce symptoms like Synaesthesia but it also induces severe vomiting.
Frost: Lovely, what’s the most unusual type?
Clare: the strangest is probably lexical-gustatory; where words have tastes when being read or spoken or heard. Or mirror touch; when you see someone being touched on their body and you feel that touch in the same location on your own body.
Frost: Do you know of any famous people that have Synaesthesia?
Clare: Thom York, I think he has music to colour. Probable Kandinsky had it, his painting are said to have names of musical compositions and look a bit like other peoples reports of Synaesthesia of music to space. Pharell Williams in N.E.R.D.
Frost: If someone wanted to find out more about Synaesthesia where can they go?
Clare: They could have a look at our website which is www.syn.sussex.ac.uk which is my research group which is headed by Jamie Ward. They can get involved in tests if they think they might have Synaesthesia. There’s a questionnaire on the website which they can fill out and send back to us or if they think they have a Synaesthesia which we haven’t covered on the questionnaire they could email us and ask. There are people doing research all over the world.