HRLocker, a leading provider of HR solutions based in Co. Clare, today revealed that only half of employees trust the use of AI in their workplace, illustrating the significant hurdles organisations must overcome to integrate AI effectively and responsibly. The survey of 200 SME owners and 500 employees across Ireland also highlights the need for transparency and robust AI governance to leverage AI’s transformative potential without compromising trust.
AI trust gap in the workplace
The research indicates a notable lack of trust in the responsible development and deployment of AI among both business leaders and their workforces. Despite recognising AI’s potential for business transformation, scepticism about its responsible use persists. Key findings include:
Only 64% of business leaders and 50% of employees welcome AI in their organisations.
25% of employees and 20% of leaders are not confident that their organisation prioritises employee interests when implementing AI.
A significant 68% of business leaders believe AI should be developed with human review and intervention, yet 40% of employees feel their companies lack clarity on which systems should be automated versus those requiring human oversight.
Furthermore, 72% of employees report that their organisations are not collaborating on AI regulation, and 78% indicate a lack of shared guidelines on responsible AI use.
Impact on business practices
Despite the trust issues, AI is recognised for its ability to enhance various business functions, particularly in SMEs. Key statistics from HRLocker’s survey include:
62% of small business employees believe AI can help increase or retain headcount, with 55% reporting a positive impact on customer experience.
58% of business owners believe that AI has the potential to streamline operations and reduce costs, but only 45% of employees share this optimistic view.
65% of employees who are supportive of AI believe it can help them with routine tasks, allowing them to focus on more strategic activities.
Conversely, 30% of employees are concerned that AI could lead to job displacement, highlighting the need for clear communication and reassurances from employers.
Employee concerns and recommendations
The survey also highlights significant concerns among employees regarding AI’s role in HR processes. Almost two-thirds (62%) of employees are uncomfortable with HR teams using AI, fearing potential biases and a lack of transparency, with 48% of employees worrying that AI could lead to unfair treatment or bias in performance evaluations.
Additionally, 44% of employees believe that AI might compromise the confidentiality of their personal data and 58% feel that there is insufficient communication from management about how AI will be used and its impact on their roles.
“Ensuring robust governance and clear guidelines for AI use in the workplace is not just a best practice; it’s a necessity,” states Adam Coleman, CEO at HRLocker. “Without prioritising transparency and responsibility, we risk alienating employees and undermining the very trust that is fundamental to successful AI integration. Our research highlights a pressing need for businesses to address these governance issues head-on to fully realise AI’s potential in a way that benefits businesses and their people.”
The world of work has evolved significantly in our digital age. New technologies have enabled greater connectivity and collaboration between employees whether coming together in-person or working remotely.
The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) may have the most profound impact yet on the workplace as we know it. AI is a once-in-a-generation technology that provides significant potential to create more agile, flexible, and efficient workplaces in the future.
From enhancing productivity to fostering collaboration and enhancing the security of digital infrastructure, developing a modern workplace with new AI experiences will enhance the user experience today and set organisations up for success in the future.
An AI-enabled workforce
Most businesses in Ireland already recognise the importance of embracing AI in preparing their organisation for the future. Research by IBEC reveals that nearly two in three Irish businesses believe that AI has the potential to enhance productivity and work conditions.
The race to prepare for an AI-enabled future is already well underway across many industries, with substantial investment in AI-related infrastructure. According to the IDC, total global investment in AI is expected to increase to $301.43 billion by 2026.
The potential impact of the technology is significant and wide-ranging across many industries and applications. AI is key to unlocking value within data and thus is becoming one of the most important tools for businesses of all sizes.
Among the workforce, AI has the capacity to automate many routine tasks, freeing up employees to focus on more strategic and value-added productivity. When you automate intelligently, team members can spend less time on repetitive, routine tasks and more on innovation, creative thinking, problem-solving, and collaboration. For example, the use of generative AI (GenAI) tools to create written content or images from prompts can speed up the completion of time-intensive tasks like writing reports creating presentations and proposals, or emails. In the advertising industry, these tools are already being used to quickly develop high-quality assets that may only need minor editing from human designers before being rolled out in campaigns.
AI tools can also be used to enhance collaboration and communication across the workforce. For instance, AI-powered notetaking tools that transcribe and analyse meeting content can be used to ensure better understanding and information sharing across teams saving time on mundane tasks.
The Role of AI powered workstations
As organisations look to advance their AI capabilities, AI-powered workstations are set to be a crucial pillar in ensuring their workforce can harness the power of the technology at scale. The development and deployment of AI technologies on workstations offers significant strategic and operational benefits for businesses from greater flexibility to scaling and simplified implementation.
As the use of AI tools in the workplace rapidly grows and AI models increase in size and complexity, AI workstations can provide a highly scalable infrastructure solution that meets the evolving needs of organisations. Recently launched, Dell’s new range of AI-powered Precision desktop and laptop workstations provide enhanced support for the high level of data processing required to manage AI workloads in the modern workplace.
Each workstation is equipped with a neural processing unit, a specialised processor optimised for handling complex mathematical computations integral to artificial neural networks. This high performance is complemented by large storage and memory to enable the efficient handling of vast amounts of data and speed up the development cycle of AI models.
AI-powered workstations also provide increased flexibility for organisations in the development of AI models. High-end processors and powerful GPUs built into the workstations enable developers to rapidly prototype and fine-tune generative AI models locally in a cost-effective way.
By providing a fully integrated solution for the entire development process of AI models, from data preparation to model training and deployment, these workstations can ensure that your organisation is fully prepared for the future, whatever your use case.
Building a more secure work environment
As organisations face increasing levels of cyber threats, GenAI can be a powerful tool to strengthen cyber resilience in the workplace. GenAI can enhance detection and respond to anomalies and potential threats in real time. If malicious actors do gain access, it can isolate attackers and stop them from spreading further.
With flexible and remote working models becoming standard in many organisations and establishing themselves as a long-term working practice, GenAI can also help to address the endpoint security challenges associated with employees accessing company resources from different locations and devices. By continuously monitoring user behaviour and network activity, GenAI can strengthen the cybersecurity position of the organisation and adjust permissions based on risk assessments.
Preparing for change
AI is set to change the way we work, enhancing productivity and unlocking new opportunities for businesses. As organisations advance on their AI journey, it is important that they take a joined-up approach to the technology.
At Dell Technologies, we’re committed to helping organisations create AI-powered experiences in workplaces across Ireland. From running complex AI workloads on workstations to using day-to-day AI-powered applications on laptops, our extensive range of commercial AI workstations and laptops are tailor-designed to bring organisations and employee productivity into the AI era and unlock the full potential of the technology.
By taking action now, businesses and organisations can create a modern workplace shaped by new AI experiences.
Zoom Video Communications, Inc. announced Zoom Workplace, its AI-powered, open collaboration platform, and introduced new AI Companion expansions to help reimagine teamwork. Zoom’s latest products and features, including new AI Companion features for Zoom Phone and extended capabilities with Ask AI Companion, a refreshed look within the Zoom app, and more, will provide its customers with the all-in-one AI-powered platform they need to power modern work. Zoom also announced customer experience enhancements to Zoom Contact Center, so businesses can strengthen customer relationships and leverage real-time AI-powered insights to improve live agent engagements.
“We have seen the positive impact that Zoom AI Companion has had on our business and our customers, transforming how we work by freeing up precious time for collaborative teamwork,” said Smita Hashim, chief product officer at Zoom. “Zoom Workplace with AI Companion will help solve real customer problems by bringing the core collaboration solutions into a single AI powered platform to help improve productivity, efficiency, and the overall workday, all within the Zoom experience users trust and love.”
Drive Impact with AI Companion
Zoom continues to elevate AI within its platform, helping users harness their productivity directly within their existing workflows, enhancing employees’ skills, and empowering teams to focus their time where it matters. Zoom’s latest AI Companion innovations will include Ask AI Companion, an enhancement of the digital assistant that will help users prepare for their workday across Zoom Workplace, plus AI Companion for Zoom Phone and additional capabilities for Team Chat and Whiteboard. All AI Companion features will continue to be included at no additional cost with the paid services in eligible Zoom user accounts.
Ask AI Companion will provide a new way to interact with AI Companion across the Zoom platform. Users can enhance their productivity and be better prepared for their workday with Ask AI Companion, which will gather, synthesise, and share information from Zoom Meetings, Mail, Team Chat, Notes, Docs, and more. Ask AI Companion will also help prepare users for and recap meetings, show relevant action items, draft agendas, and summarise chat and email threads, as well as documents. In a later release after the initial launch, Ask AI Companion will be able to pull relevant content from select third-party applications (if the customer chooses to enable them) to be even more helpful.
Zoom Phone is now boosted with AI Companion capabilities to help make calls and follow-up more productive. With AI Companion in Zoom Phone, users can request a post-call summary and next steps, so they can focus on the conversation instead of taking notes. If they miss an important call, voicemail prioritisation helps elevate urgent messages, moving them to the top of the queue, and voicemail task extraction delivers tasks from voicemails to help users understand the next steps without listening to every voicemail. Team SMS thread summary also provides a concise overview of Team SMS threads in PowerPack, so users can quickly catch up after stepping away.
Other AI Companion innovations across the platform will include new Team Chat and Whiteboard capabilities. In Team Chat, AI Companion now helps users save time with smart scheduling that automatically detects the intent for a meeting in chat and suggests a meeting time, and in the future will provide sentence completion and will expand to support 38 languages (in preview) for the chat compose and thread summary features. Zoom Whiteboard users are now able to generate and refine whiteboard flowcharts and mind maps using a simple prompt to kick-start ideation and creativity. For more information about AI Companion innovations, visit the Zoom blog.
Reimagine Teamwork with Zoom Workplace
Zoom Workplace, the company’s AI-powered collaboration platform, will deliver new innovations to help businesses reimagine teamwork, facilitate connections, improve productivity, and optimise flexible work experiences. Zoom Workplace will elevate the Zoom experience with Zoom AI Companion so that all employees within a company can be more productive, collaborate better, and enhance their skills.
Zoom Workplace will continue to be an open platform that enables customer choice. Zoom’s APIs, SDKs, and over 2,500 integrations in the Zoom App Marketplace make it easy for customers to integrate Zoom into existing tech or integrate users’ favourite apps into Zoom.
With the introduction of Zoom Workplace, Zoom is unveiling a refreshed user experience with more choices, including the ability to choose from four colour themes within the Zoom app, so users can make the app their own. Hosts will also have the opportunity to add customised virtual meeting backgrounds to tailor the feel or focus of the meeting.
“With Zoom, there aren’t any challenges with implementing complex tools, so we can focus on engaging our employees and collaborating on the work that matters,” said Diofanto Rosales, vice president of digital workplace and IT infrastructure at Flex. “Zoom Workplace will bring all our essential work tools together in a single app, making it easier than ever to get work done.”
For Zoom Meetings, users will see a new Meetings tab within the Zoom app that will allow users to collaborate before, during, and after meetings. It supports traditional calendar views and serves as the central place for agendas, recordings, and other shared assets such as documents, plus AI Companion smart recordings and meeting summaries. Last year Zoom introduced continuous meeting chat, which helps users continue chat conversations so collaboration can continue outside of meetings asynchronously and throughout the life of a project. With the new Meetings tab, users can access continuous meeting chats from the Meeting card before and after the meeting.
During meetings, the new multi-speaker view will automatically adapt the video layout to highlight active speakers to help attendees follow the discussion more easily. AI-powered portrait lighting will help illuminate users’ faces in poor lighting, and generative AI virtual backgrounds will allow users to create custom backgrounds.
Additional new features for Meetings will include a customisable toolbar that will allow users to pin their most-used features, multi-share, which will allow multiple participants to share their screens and documents, whiteboards, and notes simultaneously, and document collaboration that will provide the ability to select documents, streamline document access permissions, and co-edit right from meetings with documents from third-party apps.
In Zoom Team Chat, asynchronous communication will be boosted by Team Chat tabs that will help users stay organised by keeping channel-related assets like links, whiteboards, and resources in a single view, shared spaces that provide a shared grouping of channels to help users better organise conversations and improve discoverability of relevant project or team based topics, and workflow automation, a powerful, no-code workflow engine, will be easily configurable to automate business tasks in Team Chat.
For hybrid and onsite organisations, navigating the office will be easier than ever with the introduction of a Workspaces tab, providing access to Workspace Reservation with wayfinding and Visitor Management directly from the Zoom Workplace app. To help make meetings more inclusive, Zoom Rooms will include the option to enable new smart name tags, which will be able to automatically apply name tags to people in a Zoom Room during a meeting.
When one screen isn’t enough, users will be able to expand Zoom Rooms with a companion device for an additional screen to collaborate with audio and video. For Workvivo customers, a new integration with Zoom Rooms will provide the ability to instantly broadcast important updates, news, and events to employees using Workvivo TV with certified devices for Zoom Rooms.
“Businesses are looking for AI-powered solutions that will help them move the dial by boosting employee productivity and team collaboration,” said Zeus Kerravala, Principal Analyst at ZK Research. “Zoom’s newest innovations, including its release of Zoom Workplace and Ask AI Companion, demonstrate its commitment to deploying AI that is intuitive and effective across one platform to improve productivity and collaboration.”
At launch, Zoom One bundles will be rebranded as Zoom Workplace bundles, giving new and existing customers simple pricing for our different offerings. For more information about Zoom Workplace, visit the Zoom blog.
Strengthen Customer Relationships with Zoom Business Services
Zoom’s business services include AI-powered solutions for marketing, customer care, and sales. Tightly integrated with Zoom Workplace, Zoom Business Services empower customer-facing employees to provide exceptional experiences throughout the customer lifecycle.
Zoom Contact Center already includes AI Companion for Contact Center at no additional cost. Further real-time capabilities available with AI Expert Assist include intelligently retrieving and suggesting the best responses from a curated set of knowledge bases, customer relationship management (CRM) systems, and other systems of record. Now supervisors are getting even more AI Companion for Contact Center capabilities. Supervisors now have visibility into their agents’ live engagements with real-time customer sentiment, live transcriptions, and conversation summaries from a single dashboard to help them better manage agents and easily identify when they need to provide assistance.
In Zoom Contact Center, businesses can now expand their digital communication channels to include WhatsApp and inbound email, giving customers more flexibility and choice, and making it easier for agents to engage and respond to customers.
Agents will benefit from custom app integration with Zoom’s open and flexible framework that allows teams to build apps from proprietary or third-party data sources that surface relevant customer information directly within the agent desktop, which reduces toggling between apps and allows for personalisation and faster resolutions. Agents will also benefit from deep integration with Zoom Workplace, which will allow them to seamlessly direct transfer customers with AI-generated engagement summaries to back-office experts using Zoom Phone Power Pack, enabling seamless escalations and helping reduce handling time.
Zoom Contact Center and Zoom Phone will also offer an integration with PCI Pal to enable secure capture of payment data, including PCI attestation of compliance (AOC). Also, Zoom Contact Center customers now have the ability to store certain data locally in Zoom’s EU data center, designed to meet the data storage needs of EU-based customers.
Revenue organisations who use Zoom Revenue Accelerator can now enhance their customer conversations with deal memos, which will provide a brief summary of a conversation and an analysis of its impact on the possibility of winning a deal. Coming soon, a built-in automated scorecard will help improve sales outcomes by creating scorecards that rate customer interactions and provide actionable feedback.
For marketing professionals, Zoom Events enhancements amplify their hybrid events to help make them more engaging. With new AI Companion image generation, hosts can now create custom images based on a simple text prompt for event registration pages, virtual backgrounds, and marketing emails. To help bridge the gap between hybrid events and in-person events, the Swoogo integration for Zoom Eventsallows event professionals to reach broader audiences. For more information about Zoom’s business services innovations, visit the Zoom blog.
Newly announced products and features are expected to roll out over April and May. Some features and products may not be available for all regions and industry verticals at launch.
Dell Technologies will introduce the broadest portfolio of commercial AI laptops and mobile workstations designed to bring organizations and employee productivity into the AI era.
“The next generation of PCs is emerging at a pivotal time – with upcoming refresh cycles and new capabilities on the PC creating the perfect storm,” said Patrick Moorhead, founder and CEO of Moor Insights & Strategy. “Dell’s commercial AI PCs and workstations, coupled with its ecosystem of peripherals, software and services, offer an AI continuum designed to enhance the user experience today and set organizations up for success in the future.”
“Every company that wants to remain competitive will have to implement AI in some way, and AI PCs will be central to that,” said Sam Burd, president, Client Solutions Group, Dell Technologies. “From running complex AI workloads on workstations to using day-to-day AI-powered applications on laptops, the AI PC will be an important investment that pays dividends in productivity and paves the way to a smarter, more efficient future. Dell’s advantage starts with offering more AI PCs across the commercial portfolio from day one, giving customers the ability to start future proofing for AI today.”
AI PCs for hybrid work
The neural processing unit (NPU)–equipped AI PC will grow from nearly 50 million units in 2024 to more than 167 million in 2027, representing nearly 60% of all PC shipments worldwide.[ii] The NPU adds an AI acceleration engine that can take on more dedicated AI tasks, freeing up the CPU and GPU to do other things. This creates a more responsive experience and enhances performance, security, battery life and productivity.
Dell provides the world’s most intelligent, manageable and secure commercial PCs.[iii] With a new line-up of Latitude laptops and Precision mobile workstations, Dell will offer customers the broadest portfolio of commercial AI laptops and mobile workstations, from entry-level to ultra-premium laptops and workstation options. Powered by Intel Core Ultra processors with Intel vPro®, Dell commercial PCs drive AI workloads and unlock new levels of productivity and efficiencies. For example, employees can now:
Collaborate more effectively. Combining the benefits of the NPU to offload capabilities like auto-framing, background blur and eye-tracking with the power efficiency of Intel Core Ultra processors, gives workers up to 38% more battery life and valuable working time in a day packed with Zoom calls.[iv]
Create content faster. By distributing AI processing across the CPU, GPU and now NPU, users can create generative AI images over five times faster with Stable Diffusion,[v] a text-to-image model.
Work more securely in a hybrid work environment. More ISVs will continue to build applications for the AI PC. For example, Dell is working with CrowdStrike and Intel to offload security functions onto the device via the NPU. This provides more comprehensive threat detection, helping customers swiftly detect malicious sites and security vulnerabilities with reduced latency compared to cloud-based solutions.
Stay in the flow of work. The portfolio features Windows 11 and a Copilot key to make it even easier to get things done and stay in the flow of work. With the press of a key, you can have faster access to your everyday AI companion.
AI-powered, automated services
Building on years of industry leadership in proactive, predictive automation as well as expert advice and managed services, new Dell Services capabilities help customers:
Maximize PC uptime and improve productivity with new self-healing capabilities through the ProSupport Suite for PCs. Customers who connect to Dell’s SupportAssist technology can leverage telemetry and AI to fix PC issues without human intervention. This lets IT activate Dell-authored scripts to autonomously correct blue screen errors, thermal issues and more across their entire fleet of PCs.
Keep PC fleet refreshes on track and on budget with Dell’s managed services. When customers need new AI devices, Dell provides detailed planning, forecasting and supply chain management to enable timely, targeted multi-vendor device rollouts.
Adopt and maximize GenAI investments with Digital Employee Experience Services for Gen AI. These services equip employees with the tools and technology tailored for their diverse roles.
Product spotlights
Dell’s new Latitude portfolio (link to blog) includes the Latitude 7350 Detachable, the world’s most collaborative commercial detachable,[vi] giving professionals the freedom to work fully docked at the desk or on-the-go as a tablet or laptop. It features the best user-facing 8MP HDR camera amongst other detachables[vii] for high-quality picture in challenging lighting conditions. The fully refreshed portfolio features updates across 5000, 7000 and 9000 series, including the Latitude 7350/7450 Ultralights, the world’s lightest 13.3” and 14” premium commercial laptops.[viii]
Dell’s new mobile and fixed Precision workstations (link to blog) meet the performance needs of power users, developers and beyond. As the global leader in workstations,[ix] Precision provides the power to run complex AI workloads securely and cost effectively on the PC. Integrated into new Precision mobile workstations are NVIDIA RTX™ 500 and 1000 Ada Generation Laptop GPUs, helping deliver the AI capabilities and enterprise reliability to work from anywhere, while the Precision 3280 Compact Form Factor (CFF) is a new space-saving form factor built for light AI development and creative applications.
Dell’s most intelligent headset portfolio in its class[x] includes five new headsets. The Dell Premier Wireless ANC Headset (WL7024) features AI-based noise canceling microphones that distinguishes human speech signals from background noises from both the user and their audience and adjusts the level of noise cancellation based on the user’s environment. The advanced smart sensor intelligently performs tasks like mute/unmute, pause/play as long as either earcup is lifted, while intuitive touch controls tailor the audio experience.
Accelerating the circular economy
As a leader in circular design, Dell addresses the full lifecycle – from increasing the use of recycled materials and minerals in products, to making devices easier to repair and responsibly recycle.
The new Latitude devices are the world’s first commercial PCs to use recycled cobalt in their batteries.[xi]
Inspired by Concept Luna, the Latitude 7350 Detachable is the world’s most serviceable commercial detachable[xii] featuring a serviceable display panel and making it easier to repair and prolonging its use.
As organizations refresh their devices to optimize AI capabilities, Dell recovery and recycling services help customers properly retire their IT equipment to divert e-waste from landfills, keeping products and materials in circulation for longer.
Availability
Latitude 7350 Detachable will be available in Q2.
Precision 3280 CFF (Compact Form Factor) will be available on March 26.
Precision mobile workstations will be available on March 12.
Dell Premier Wireless ANC Headset (WL7024) will be available in China on March 29and rest of world on April 14.
ProSupport Suite for PCs with self-healing capabilities is available globally by the end of April.
Digital Employee Experience Services for GenAI are available globally.
Managed Services for device refresh are available in the US and EMEA on March 15.
Almost half of Irish people (44%) say they have experimented with AI or use it regularly for personal use, according to a new report by Dye & Durham, the leading provider of practice management solutions to legal professionals. The Dye & Durham Ireland Pulse Report for Q4 2023, a survey of 1,001 adults in Ireland conducted by YouGov, explores trends in technology, the economy and the property market.
While Irish consumers are embracing AI in their personal lives, they are more hesitant to use it in their professional lives, with 35% saying they have experimented with or regularly use AI for professional reasons. The remaining 65% say they have never used AI for professional use.
Despite hesitant adoption of AI for professional use, more than three quarters of Irish workers (79%) say technology plays an important or critical role in their day-to-day work. Nearly half (44%) expect AI to become important to the way they do their jobs in the next five years while less than a quarter (23%) are of the opposite opinion. Other technologies expected to emerge as key to their jobs include cloud computing (59% say it will be important), analytics (57%), and 5G (56%).
When it comes to technology’s role in the provision of government services, more than half (58%) of Irish consumers say government agencies would benefit from incorporating more technology into their services when asked to choose from a list. Similarly, 53% say the same of doctors / medical practitioners, while 44% and 38% say financial services and lawyers/conveyancers would benefit, respectively.
David Nash, Chief Product Officer at Dye & Durham, says: “We’re seeing an interesting adoption pattern when it comes to emerging technologies in Ireland. When it comes to AI, for example, there is broad recognition of its impact on the way we do our jobs, but people are taking an incremental approach to using it themselves, especially for professional purposes.”
“For our customers in the legal sector, this is a very important trend to watch. Their clients are engaging with new technologies and expecting them to take on a bigger role in their lives over time. That has clear implications for how legal services will be delivered in the future.”
Near-term economic outlook is positive but nearly half expect a recession in next 12 months
The Q4 2023 Ireland Pulse Report also reveals that Irish consumers have a generally positive economic outlook over the near term, with just over half (51%) saying they don’t expect a recession in the next six months. They are also more optimistic about their financial situations than they were in Q3 2023. More respondents (26%) say they’re in a better financial position than they were a year ago (vs. 19% who said the same in Q3 2023). At the same time, fewer respondents (39% in Q4 2023 vs. 48% in Q3 2023) say they are in a worse financial position than they were a year ago.
On the other hand, as they look further ahead, more consumers (48%) are expecting a recession in the next 12 months. But just 24% expect to be in a worse financial situation a year from now, and fewer (6% in Q4 2023 vs. 10% in Q3 2023) plan to hold off on property purchasing plans to wait for lower prices.
Martha Vallance, Chief Operating Officer at Dye & Durham, says: “Our Pulse Report for Q4 2023 shows encouraging signs when it comes to how Irish consumers are feeling about the economy as a whole. This is good news for small and medium-sized law firms who have been managing through reduced case volume. As consumer optimism grows, so too does the opportunity to capitalize on increased transaction activity. Forward-looking law firms who invest in operational efficiencies now stand to gain the most from these positive indicators.”
As a business owner or manager, ensuring the safety and well-being of your employees should be at the top of your priority list. One way to accomplish this is by providing reasonable suspicion training for all staff members. This type of training can help you identify potential issues before they become major problems, maintain workplace safety, ensure legal compliance, and preserve productivity and reputation. In this blog post, we’ll explore the various benefits of reasonable suspicion training for both your business and employees, as well as how it can provide consistent and fair practices while supporting those who may need assistance in difficult situations.
Identifying Potential Issues
This type of training provides employees with the knowledge and tools necessary to recognize signs of drug or alcohol abuse, as well as other problematic behavior. By implementing drug and alcohol reasonable suspicion training, your employees will have a much easier time identifying potential issues early on, allowing you to take proactive measures to address them and prevent them from causing harm to your employees or business. This could include providing support and resources for employees who may be struggling with substance abuse or mental health issues. Furthermore, reasonable suspicion training can also help your team identify warning signs of harassment or discrimination in the workplace. By addressing these types of behaviors promptly, you can ensure that all employees feel safe and valued within your organization.
Maintaining Workplace Safety
Not only does it protect employees from harm, but it also helps to avoid costly legal issues and reputational damage. There are several steps that employers can take to ensure that their workplaces remain safe. One of the most important measures is training employees on safety procedures, such as how to properly handle hazardous materials or operate heavy machinery. Additionally, enforcing strict rules around personal protective equipment (PPE) and ensuring that all necessary safety gear is provided can prevent accidents from occurring. Another element in maintaining workplace safety to keep an eye on is conducting regular inspections and audits. Employers should identify potential hazards and make changes accordingly, whether it be installing proper lighting or repairing damaged equipment. In addition to these proactive measures, creating an open culture of communication between management and employees can help identify potential issues before they become major problems. Encouraging workers to report any concerns or incidents without fear of retaliation will foster a sense of trust within the organization.
Legal Compliance
Ensuring legal compliance is a crucial component of reasonable suspicion training. By educating managers and supervisors on relevant laws and regulations, businesses can avoid costly lawsuits or penalties. It’s important to understand the rights of employees as well as the responsibilities of employers when it comes to drug and alcohol testing. One key law to be aware of is the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which prohibits discrimination against individuals with disabilities. Employers must make accommodations for those who are in recovery from addiction or undergoing treatment for substance abuse. Additionally, some states have their own specific laws regarding drug testing policies. A thorough understanding of these laws can help companies create fair policies that protect both employees and the business itself. Training sessions should also cover proper documentation procedures, confidentiality requirements, and other legal considerations.
Consistent and Fair Practices
In order for an employer to protect their business and employees, they must ensure that all incidents are handled in a consistent manner. This means having clear policies and procedures in place that outline the steps to be taken when there is suspicion of drug or alcohol use. It’s important to remember that consistency also involves treating all employees fairly, regardless of their position within the company. Everyone should be held accountable for their actions in the same way, without bias or discrimination based on race, gender, age or any other factor. By following these principles, employers can create a workplace culture where everyone understands what is expected of them and how they will be treated if there is reasonable suspicion of drug or alcohol use. This helps establish trust between management and employees while simultaneously protecting everyone involved. In addition to creating a safe working environment through consistent and fair practices, this approach can also help with legal compliance. Employers who have established policies and procedures in place have documentation to back up any decisions made regarding reasonable suspicion testing.
Employee Support and Assistance
An essential aspect of reasonable suspicion training is providing support and assistance to employees who may be struggling with substance abuse or other related issues. This can involve offering resources for treatment, counseling with an online therapist, or other forms of support that can help employees get back on track.
It’s important to approach these situations with empathy and understanding, while also maintaining a focus on workplace safety and productivity. By taking the time to provide this kind of support, employers can create a more positive work environment where employees feel valued and supported. At the same time, it’s crucial for employers to maintain appropriate boundaries when dealing with employee issues. This means respecting privacy concerns while also ensuring that all necessary steps are taken to safeguard workplace safety.
Preserving Productivity and Reputation
By providing reasonable suspicion training to employees, employers can ensure that their staff members understand the importance of being alert for any signs of drug or alcohol use in the workplace. This will help prevent accidents caused by impaired workers which could damage company property or lead to injuries. Moreover, if an employee does test positive for drugs or alcohol during a reasonable suspicion test, it shows that the employer has taken appropriate measures to keep their workforce safe. This indicates a commitment to ensuring high standards of professionalism and responsibility within the organization which helps preserve its reputation.
Furthermore, having policies in place regarding substance abuse at work and following through with those policies when necessary provides a clear message about what is expected from all employees. It creates an environment where everyone knows what they should do if they suspect someone under the influence at work while also protecting them from retaliation when reporting such concerns.
Reasonable suspicion training can provide numerous benefits to your organization by helping to identify potential issues before they escalate, ensuring legal compliance, promoting consistent and fair practices, providing employee support and assistance, and preserving productivity and reputation. By investing in reasonable suspicion training for your employees, you will not only protect your business but also ensure that your employees feel safe and valued. A well-trained workforce can help create a positive work environment where everyone has an equal opportunity to thrive.
Expleo, a global technology, engineering, and consulting service provider, is today announcing that it is launching progressive initiatives aimed at attracting women back to the workplace. The Return@Expleo programme, in partnership with Women Returners, along with an expanded leave policy and a comprehensive Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) Programme, aims to empower female professionals seeking to return to work.
Expleo’s Return@Expleo programme is aimed at professionals who have taken extended career break. Participants will be equipped with the resources they require to refresh their skills, re-establish industry connections and pursue their career progression. On completion of the five-month paid career returners programme, successful candidates will have a view towards permanency within Expleo. This will help Expleo fill current job openings in the areas of Quality Assurance, Business Analysis, and Engineering.
Expleo’s commitment to diversity is further exemplified through its generous leave policies, which the company has expanded this year to include menopause leave, fertility treatment leave, volunteer leave and special leave relating to important life situations, such as a child starting school. Team members can also avail of fully-paid maternity, paternity, adoption, and parent’s leave. In addition, Expleo’s life enrichment programme offers unpaid leave for traveling, research or education.
Expleo’s award-winning Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) Programme, meanwhile, has long been a champion for female voices in the workplace. With a dedicated D&I Committee and Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), Expleo ensures that all employees have a voice in shaping D&I initiatives. The company’s commitment to continuous learning is demonstrated through its annual D&I training for the leadership team and employees. Expleo’s dedication to gender diversity has been recognised with award wins including the recent Diversity and Inclusion Award at the Tech Excellence Awards. It has also previously been awarded the Best Large Workplace in Ireland.
Aimee Farrell, Project Manager at Expleo, who went through the programme said: “I joined Expleo as a Project Manager through the Return@Expleo programme in March 2022 following a five-year career break to stay at home with my young children. From the very first contact I had with Expleo and the team at Women Returners, I knew that my career was in good hands. They made the transition back to work very straight forward and provided support including webinars on brushing up your CV and job interview preparation, through to a five-month programme of workshops specific to my needs. This personalised approach helped me regain confidence and update my skills. Connecting with the other participants on the programme created a supportive community, offering shared experiences and valuable insights. I recommend this programme to any woman seeking to return to the world of work.”
Eimear Fitzsimons, Head of Recruitment, at Expleo, said: “At Expleo, we are dedicated to cultivating an inclusive and diverse workplace. We understand that many women desire to return to the workforce, but may lack confidence and feel that their skills are outdated – particularly when it comes to our fast-moving technology industry. Through our initiatives, we aim to provide the encouragement and support that career returners need to step back into the professional realm and carve out successful careers.
“Helping women to get back into the workplace is just one element of ensuring greater gender diversity in our industry. We understand that life happens and that is why we have extended our leave policies to include menopause leave and special leave, which can cover unexpected or unique events. We stand by our employees through every stage of their lives, continually assessing and enhancing our benefits to meet their evolving needs year after year.
“We have also taken measures including the removal of gender-biased language from job ads; implementing internal mentorship programmes; offering a flexible model for working parents, Expleo Fusion; and hosting impactful workshops and webinars. Our goal is to empower female professionals, dismantle barriers, and foster an inclusive environment where every individual can thrive and make meaningful contributions.”
Some of the country’s leading technology wizards are converging on Manchester early next monthto shape a new era of innovation – inspired by father and son entrepreneurs.
Ian Taylor spearheads disruptive ITC consultancy,TECHGIANT Workplace, with his 20-year-old son Oliver. The company was recently named one of the UK’s top 100 SME businesses and is hosting a digital transformation insight event at Manchester United’s Old Trafford stadium on June 8th.
It will see guest speakers from top tech companies come together to inspire and educate as part of a ‘Foundations of Change’ theme – spanning cloud-based communications, cybersecurity, devices, infrastructure and AI.
“Manchester’s industrial heritage and rich reputation for innovation makes this the perfect place to inspire new ways of working and the next generation of technology leaders.” Ian explained.
“This is a conference all about UK digital transformation, and aims to provide great insight into the ways in which companies can adopt technology to bring them into the 21st century, allowing them to compete on both a domestic and international stage.
“My son is just 20 (fellow Director and Shareholder), and brings in the understanding and knowledge of just what the next generation (Gen Z) expect from the work environment, therefore helping direct the pillars of change across business enterprises.
“We want to reshape and inspire the next generation of tech innovators based on best practice, research, analysis and insight from many industry experts.”
Ian, who hails from Shevington in Wigan, concluded: “The tech giants are coming to Manchester and I’m coming back home. I’ve missed the pies too!”
TECHGIANT Workplace has developed a three-year business plan based on annual revenues of over £5m with further exponential growth planned to reach £20-£30m in just five years.
Launched in Autumn 2022, TECHGIANT wants to ensure organisations can fully embrace and exploit digital transformation and reshape their communication and collaboration strategies, helping companies to invest in the core technology areas which support sustainable positive operational change.
“It’s about creating certainty, finding the right technology fit and developing partnerships which last,” Oliver explained.
“I actually see my young age as a real benefit because I truly do understand the aspirations and demands of this emerging generation in relation to business asks, and in the years to come I hope my company, with its vast market knowledge and global partner relationships, will be of great assistance to both employees and employers alike.
“We want to be the first of a new generation of service providers, a true giant of tech. We are changing the rules, bringing the marketplace to customers and guaranteeing IT buyer certainty for the future. Culture and business productivity is underpinned by technology and so it’s about getting involved in the operational challenges themselves, and looking to apply the right change agents to help companies go faster, compete harder and retain more talent for years to come.
“With huge curiosity around areas such as Artificial Intelligence and return to the office mandates – technology and customer demands continue to evolve, which elevates to a level of critical importance the role of the trusted advisor.”
Almost 6 in 10 (58%) of people within Ireland’s autistic community fear that being open about their diagnosis to an employer would worsen their chances of finding their preferred role. This is according to new research published today by leading hiring platform IrishJobs and Ireland’s national autism charity AsIAm.
The Autism in the Workplace report, published just ahead of World Autism Day on Sunday, 2nd April, assesses the attitudes of more than 461 Irish autistic people and businesses of the workplace and employment. The report builds upon the findings made in the first edition of the Autism in the Workplace Report in March 2021.
Reasonable accommodations
According to the report, fears around disclosing their diagnosis and worsening their employment chances means that fewer than 20% of autistic people received any supports or reasonable accommodations during the recruitment process for their current role. 40% did not made their current employer aware of their diagnosis at all, while just 15% disclosed their diagnosis before or at interview stage.
This is in spite of the fact that 8 in 10 autistic people find most recruitment processes to be inaccessible to them.
80% of autistic people also said they would be likely to disclose their autism diagnosis if they were sure the employer or client would be supportive, however, the same percentage do not feel confident that employers, managers, colleagues and clients know enough about autism to support them.
In fact, of those autistic people in employment, more than half (51%) admit they find current supports and accommodations to be insufficient. Yet, the vast majority (94%) of autistic people believe that, with the right supports, they would be an asset to any business or organisation.
Lack of understanding
Compounding the lack of communication between autistic people and employers is a lack of understanding and education among businesses.
Only just over a third of businesses believe their staff know enough about autism to support an autistic colleague. In addition, half of the organisations surveyed said they don’t know what reasonable accommodations an autistic staff member might require. Just over two-thirds of recruiters also said they believe or are unsure about whether it would be more difficult to hire an autistic person, while 58% don’t provide unconscious bias training to interview panels which includes information about autism.
Despite these barriers, some signs of positive progress are emerging. The vast majority (98%) of recruiters who employ autistic people believe that they make a positive contribution to the workplace, with 50% claiming to have at least one autistic staff member, up 21% on the previous report. Over three-quarters of employers (84%) also say that new ways of working are opening up new opportunities to recruit autistic talent.
Available Government supports
The research suggests that more education is needed to bridge the gap between employers and autistic people. The Irish Government provides a number of supports for employers hiring autistic individuals. However, despite it being a 26% improvement on 2021, 58% of businesses surveyed in the report say they are unaware of the current supports and schemes.
The same problem arises when it comes to availing of supported employment or advocacy organisations. Just 23% of businesses have used supported employment or advocacy organisations to assist in recruiting or retaining autistic talent in the past, while almost a quarter are unsure if they have. Availing of these supports would help employers to further unlock the potential of autistic talent, 96% of whom believe that businesses and organisations can do more to provide employment or entrepreneurship opportunities for autistic people.
It would also support employers to put more structures in place for autistic people in the workplace. The majority of businesses have an official diversity and inclusion policy but only 23% said their policy covers people with autism. In addition, while improved by 15% on 2021, the majority of businesses (61%) still do not have or are unsure about whether they have a dedicated autism friendly policy. 10% said their business has one but they are not familiar with it, while just 29% said their business has one and it is strongly implemented.
Insights
Commenting on the new findings, Sam McIlveen, Managing Director, StepStone Ireland, parent company of IrishJobs, said: “At IrishJobs, we’re proud to publish our latest Autism in the Workplace Report in partnership with Ireland’s national autism charity AsIAm. From our previous report, published in 2021, we know that autistic people across Ireland face a number of challenges in the employment landscape and so, this year, we set out to gain a more up-to-date picture of the attitudes of more than 461 Irish autistic people and businesses of the workplace and employment.”
“Despite a number of improvements, including in relation to the number of autistic people employed across Ireland, it’s clear that several barriers remain to their full integration within the workplace. Foremost of these is the fear felt by autistic people around disclosing their diagnosis to a potential employer. This is compounded by a lack of confidence in the employer and the supports they can require.
“Despite the barriers that exist, there is evidence of green shoots. Compared to 2021, we see more employers reporting that they have autism-friendly practices in place, and more are aware of supports they need to recruit in this area. New ways of working are also opening up greater opportunities to recruit autistic talent. Amidst a tighter labour market for employers, at IrishJobs and AsIAm, we’re confident that the findings and recommendations contained in today’s report will create further opportunities for businesses not only to learn more about autism but to unlock the full potential of autistic talent.”
Adam Harris, CEO of AsIAm, said: “AsIAm, Ireland’s national autism charity, is delighted to present our latest Autism in the Workplace Report, in partnership with IrishJobs. The publication of this report builds on the findings made in our first edition in 2021 and on the significant work undertaken by our two organisations in opening a dialogue with employers on the importance of creating opportunities for autistic talent.”
“The survey clearly shows that autistic people would be more inclined to share their experiences and access support in the workplace if they could be confident in the response of employers. This requires planned outreach by employers and an openness to different approaches to recruitment than the traditional interview process which is the first great hurdle for many within our community.To address this challenge,employers need to think boldly about how to access talent from within a community that communicates, thinks and experiences the environment very differently to others.
Meanwhile, employers are also struggling to attract, recruit and support autistic talent. This is unsurprising when you consider that most businesses are unaware of current schemes or supports available to them. At AsIAm and IrishJobs, we are helping to address this challenge through our Same Chance Commitment and toolkit, which offers a step-by-step guide to becoming an autism-friendly employer and offers businesses the chance to pledge their support to create autism-friendly workplaces. By availing of these supports, businesses can not only learn more about how to support autistic talent in the workplace, but they can empower autistic people to be more open about their diagnosis, leading to a place of greater inclusivity and shared communication and understanding.”
To read the full IrishJobs I AsIAm 2023 Autism in the Workplace Report, visit www.irishjobs.ie.
