Inside This Issue
Organizations are very good at adding things to work.
A new AI tool. An awareness week. A policy. A network. A training module. Another message from leadership.
Much less often do we change the work itself.
That tension runs through both of this week’s featured pieces.
At James Poulter’s book launch in Shoreditch, the conversation about AI quickly moved beyond tools to something more fundamental: how jobs, careers and organizations need to change when technology starts taking on the work people once learned from.
And new research from Birkbeck, University of London raises an uncomfortable question about neurodiversity at work. Employers have invested in awareness, networks and visible commitments, yet psychological safety for neurodivergent employees has not improved since 2023.
The barriers employees describe are strikingly ordinary: unclear instructions, shifting priorities, unnecessary meetings and the constant effort of working out what everyone else seems to understand instinctively.
Those are not awareness problems. They are work design problems.
That theme continues elsewhere in this issue. Gleb Tsipursky argues that employees need a formal route to challenge and correct what AI systems produce. Workbloom is stripping administration out of recognition programs. And digital signage is becoming part of the working infrastructure as screens connect with room booking, occupancy and facilities data.
So perhaps the question for all of us is a simple one:
When you last improved something for your people, did you change the work — or did you add something to it?
Featured Insights:
If AI removes the junior work, where do the senior people come from? James Poulter launched AI at Work: How to Build a Full Stack Organization in a small independent bookshop in Shoreditch. He asked the room how many people were using AI, and then how many felt good about it. Far fewer hands stayed up the second time. Esther Smith was there and picked out five things that stuck, among them what happens to a career ladder once something automates the bottom rungs, and why we’re all going to have to become much better conversationalists.
Why has psychological safety for neurodivergent employees not improved since 2023? The lanyards, awareness weeks, networks and leadership statements are already in place at many large employers. But new research from Birkbeck, University of London suggests the everyday experience of work has not kept pace. Esther Smith looks at the barriers employees actually describe, why return-to-office mandates can make them worse, and the changes to work itself that could remove much of the friction.
In other news
Stay current with key headlines and announcements from across the industry.
Events
You can browse our full events calendar for conferences, summits and industry dates throughout the year.
Free event of the week
AI & The Future of Work Summit
30 September 2026 | London AI Hub, 140 Goswell Road, London | Free
16:00-19:00 UK | 11:00-14:00 ET | 10:00-13:00 CT
An evening session from AskOllo on what AI is doing to the shape of work, and a useful room if this week's features left you arguing with yourself.
