This article was originally emailed as issue 169 of our monthly eBulletin at 11:30 on 13/12/2023. You can register here to receive them monthly.
ANOTHER ANNIVERSARY & A LOOK TO THE FUTURE
As we approach the end of the calendar year, we are delighted to celebrate 14 years of the eBulletin. During that time, we have delivered 168 monthly newsletters – and only a handful have been ‘not quite’ on time! An anniversary is a time to reflect and, with the arrival of readily-available AI tools, I have been pondering on the march of technology, especially in the last twelve months. The question I keep exploring is ‘How much online content is still written by humans?’. You can rest assured that ALL of ours is, but we are using ChatGPT and Google Bard as research tools for articles and experimenting with other AI tools like automatic meeting minutes. I have even been playing with a voice cloning app that creates audio of ‘my voice’ from typed text. Does that mean that future podcasts will also be created without humans? Or maybe they already are! That’s amazing and frightening in equal measure.
OXFORD EVENT – SAVE THE DATE – 05/03/24
We are planning a significant free event in Oxford on Tuesday March 5th, 2024. Save the date if you are a professional involved in facilities, estates, HR, wellbeing, equity, diversity or inclusion. The venue is the fabulous Linbury Building at Worcester College, in the heart of Oxford. Opposite the bus station and less than 10 minutes’ walk from the railway station, Linbury sits in 26 acres of gardens. The agenda will match the setting, with Rosie Russell and Dr Nigel Oseland already on the programme. Full details will follow early in the New Year.
SMART WORKING HANDBOOK
If you are formalising your hybrid/smart working programme, reviewing it, honing it or at a loss about what to do next, you need the Smart Working Handbook. First published in 2011, the new 3rd edition was released at the beginning of this month and I was delighted to attend the London launch by Andy Lake, its author. Full of practical, structured information and guidance, it includes case studies from organisations as diverse as GCHQ and Airbnb. Find out more and download your free copy here.
PODCAST UPDATE
I’m really pleased with feedback from the first episode of my new podcast. Monthly instalments are released at 6:30am on the first Monday of each month and December’s (number 2) is now available. Dan Williams of Visualise Training & Consultancy provided us with an entertaining and heart-felt discussion about disability, doing the right thing and whether labelling individuals is more of a hindrance than a help. Find out more and select your listening platform here.
YEAR END SHUTDOWN
As always, we shall be closed for the Christmas and New Year period. The last order date for confirmed 2023 delivery of stock items is Monday December 18th. We shall close at noon on Friday December 22nd, reopening at 09:00 on Tuesday January 2nd, 2024. Along with the whole team, I would like to thank you for your continued business and support through 2023. Watch out for exciting news early in 2024!
Posted by Guy Osmond 
Osmond Ergonomics 