November 10, 2017
Cities in developed world are less confident in their digital ecosystems
According to a new study from The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), business leaders in 45 cities around the world are relatively confident that they can find the support they need for their digital transformation efforts. Many city environments come up short, however, particularly in the supply of digital talent. The study claims that firms in Bangalore, San Francisco and Mumbai display the greatest degree of confidence while executives in developed world cities are some of the least confident, including those in Berlin, Tokyo and Yokohama. The study also claims that half of businesses (48 percent) have considered relocating operations to a city with a more favourable environment.
There are ongoing dual narratives in UK economy caused by the 2016 Brexit vote, the latest Morgan McKinley October Employment Monitor suggests. On the one hand, a new report by Colliers International dubbed London Europe’s top economic City. On the other hand, institutions are stubbornly stuck in limbo, and the fear of major jobs losses looms thick in the sky, keeping hiring low. “The economic tug of war that Brexit kicked off means we still have no idea quite where we’ll land,” said Hakan Enver, Operations Director, Morgan McKinley Financial Services. October was the lowest jobs month of 2017, a possible indication that the closing months of the year will be especially quiet. Job seekers increased by 6 percent month-on-month, but were down just under 40 percent year-on-year. The trajectories are in line with the overall dual trends of 2017. Jobs available were down 14 percent month-on-month and 20 percent year-on-year. Given the underlying health of the economy, Brexit looks to be the main culprit for the job market attrition.
Office rents have begun to slip across Central London, and the chief reasons could be uncertainty around the outcome of the Brexit talks and the UK seemingly missing out on the rising level of global trade, suggests Cluttons’ London Office Market Bulletin Autumn 2017. While the report highlights that many locations in Central London have seen headline office rents hold steady for the better part of two years, rent free periods have been moving out in order to sustain this, but now appear to be at a critical tipping point, level, which is driving some landlords to consider alternative incentives, such as delayed completions. Freddie Pritchard-Smith, Head of commercial office agency at Cluttons said: “Many firms remain nervous about making a long-term commitment to more space, choosing either flexible overflow space or to reconfigure within their existing office. The exception to this of course remains the serviced office and TMT sectors, who have helped transactional levels in the West End to surpass 4 million sq ft already this year, which is paradoxical to the falling rental conditions.”
Over half (52 percent) of people who work remotely feel their colleagues don’t treat them equally, claims a new study. Working remotely has become a highly sought-after job perk and having the flexibility to live and work where you please, regardless of corporate headquarters, often draws people to take one job over another. But a survey from VitalSmarts produced by David Maxfield and Joseph Grenny, authors of the bestsellers Crucial conversations and Crucial Accountability, found that remote employees have a significantly harder time with a number of workplace challenges than their onsite colleagues. 67 percent of remote employees complained that colleagues didn’t fight for their priorities compared 59 percent of onsite employees. 41 percent of remote employees believed colleagues say bad things about them behind their back compared to 31 percent of onsite employees and 64 percent of remote employees had changes made to a project without warning vs. 58 percent of onsite employees. Over a third (35 percent) of remote employees thought colleagues were lobbying against them vs. 26 percent of onsite employees.
November 10, 2017
Warnings of widening gender pay gap as women are hit hardest by low pay
by Sara Bean • Comment, Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace
It is Equal Pay Day today (Friday 10th November) – the day in the year which is marked in the calendar as the one where women start to work for free, and the campaigning charity the Fawcett Society has warned that the pay gap is actually widening for some groups of women and will now take 100 years to close, based on the current rate of change. Research by the Living Wage Foundation published to mark the day has also revealed women are hit hardest by low pay in the UK. Women make up nearly two thirds (62 percent) of workers currently struggling to make ends meet on less than the real Living Wage claims the Foundation, which amounts to 3.4 million women compared to 2.1 million men. Nearly 1/3 of all UK working women (26 percent) are still earning less than the Living Wage, compared to just 16 percent of all working men. And this trend has been the case since 2011, when KPMG and the Living Wage Foundation launched its annual Living Wage report.
More →