Zurich spends £1m on employee upskilling drive November 5, 2020 Insurance giant Zurich has spent £1million upskilling existing employees to combat an upcoming skills shortage. Zurich has identified 270 robotics, data science and cyber security jobs that, if employees are not reskilled, could go unfilled by 2024. The business is on a mission to retrain 3,000 UK employees – two-thirds of its workforce – over [...]
Coronavirus pressure drives down number of permanent jobs November 5, 2020 The number of permanent staff appointments fell in October as rising Covid-19 cases weighed heavily on recruitment plans, with jobs in retail, hotels and catering hit particularly hard. Greater uncertainty drove a marked rise in temporary placements, according to the latest KMPG and REC report on jobs, and overall demand for staff fell. Widespread reports [...]
Lloyd’s to revamp company cultural following sexual harassment incidents November 5, 2020 Lloyd’s of London recently quizzed employees on its culture in a bid to improve its work environment for women. The move follows reports of sexual harassment at the firm in recent years. Last month Lloyd’s launched its 2020 culture survey, the second culture survey carried out by the business. The market’s first 2019 survey found [...]
Thanks to reverse mentoring, I am confident that our uncertain future is in safe hands November 5, 2020 It is difficult to recall a time when the future looked less certain than it does today. Perhaps the only thing we can be sure of right now is that we are at the beginning of a challenging period, as we grapple with the impacts of the pandemic on the economy. For younger people, the [...]
Forget the drama of Succession and The Godfather — family businesses can be a great investment November 4, 2020 Companies with big family stakes are notorious for rows over ownership, control and succession — not to mention nepotism. Accordingly, existing Environmental, Societal and Governance (ESG) ratings mark them down on governance, discouraging anyone looking to invest for responsible growth. But if you dig a little deeper, there are good reasons to invest in them. [...]
Mining firm Antofagasta has least equal male-female board split in FTSE 100 November 3, 2020 Mining company Antofagasta has been named the FTSE 100 firm with the least gender diverse board, with 80% of directors at the firm being men.
Five trends to watch in China’s consumer sector November 3, 2020 | City Talk As the world continues to try to contain the spread of Covid-19, China is among the few countries sustaining a return to normal activity. Restrictions on movement have been lifted and the government’s test and trace system has so far proven effective in containing new outbreaks. As a result, shops, restaurants and other services have [...]
Close Brothers launches two new sustainable funds as demand grows November 3, 2020 Close Brothers Asset Management has launched two new sustainable funds amid growing demand from investors and clients. The asset manager has today launched the Close Sustainable Balanced Portfolio Fund and the Close Sustainable Bond Portfolio Fund, which will be actively managed. Close Brothers said the funds will look to generate “consistent long-term returns by screening [...]
The view from outside the echo chamber: Working from home isn’t working November 3, 2020 After much speculation, a second national lockdown is here. For many, this is an extension of effectively nine months already spent working from home. However, some businesses are taking this a step further, by asking people to stay at home until the end of 2021, moving jobs to secondary cities, and even advertising for new remote-only [...]
CEOs, take note: Hygiene is now a boardroom issue November 3, 2020 The history of business is full of inflection points. Some are instantly easy to recognise, and fatal for non-innovators: the iPhone surpassed and killed the once ubiquitous Blackberry, while digital streaming rendered Blockbuster obsolete. Others are more gradual and harder to see. Entertainment venues, for example, took anti-smoking legislation in their stride and transformed, while [...]
