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Recent Editions
Human Times
North America
The joblessness rate for workers under 35 with a master’s degree has rarely been higher in the past 20 years, according to the Burning Glass Institute, a labor-market think tank. Holders under 35 of a master’s degree are at the 77th percentile of unemployment, where the 50th percentile is normal, according to the analysis. “Every indication is hiring managers now are more receptive than ever to the idea that a person doesn’t need a graduate degree to be competitive,” says Johnny C. Taylor Jr., president of SHRM, a lobbying group for human resource professionals, who adds that AI has been an accelerant for HR people inside large and midsize companies to adopt a skills-first approach to hiring. “We are seeing that, hands down, especially in the last two or three years with AI . . . [employers simply want to know] Can you do it?”
Full Issue
Human Times
UK
The UK unemployment rate increased to 5% for the first quarter, from 4.9% in the three months to February, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Vacancies fell to a five-year low. Payrolled employees decreased by 20,000, with an estimated drop of 100,000 expected in the following quarter, while youth unemployment reached 16.2%, the highest level since January 2015. Bosses blamed Labour's decisions to put up the minimum wage and National Insurance contributions for forcing them to turn away from hiring young people. Despite wage growth exceeding expectations at 4.1%, concerns about inflation and joblessness persist, with forecasts predicting a peak unemployment rate of around 5.3%. "The latest figures point to a labour market feeling the strain," observed Jack Kennedy, senior economist at jobs platform Indeed. "A volatile domestic political backdrop adds uncertainty that businesses could do without," he said.
Full Issue
Human Times
Europe
HSBC CEO Georges Elhedery has told an investor day event that the bank's employees need to embrace AI-driven change. "We all know generative AI will destroy certain jobs and will create new jobs," Elhedery said. "But my initial mission is I need 200,000 colleagues with us on this journey. However many will be left at the end of the journey isn't the problem. The problem is how can we make sure that those 200,000 colleagues have been given all the capabilities, the training, the tools to make themselves future ready, be more productive versions of themselves." He said the company's staff needed to ensure they were "not fighting us, not disenfranchised, not anxious, overwhelmed, and resisting the change."
Full Issue
Human Times
Middle East
Facebook owner Meta has detailed its layoff plans for this week in a memo shared with staff. The company said workforce reductions globally would be accompanied by a fresh round of organisational changes aimed at improving its AI workflows. Meta Chief People Officer Janelle Gale said in the memo that the company plans to move 7,000 employees to new initiatives related to AI workflows and to eliminate managerial roles. "Many leaders will announce org changes," she said. "As org leaders worked on the changes, many of them incorporated AI native design principles into their new org structures. We're now at the stage where many orgs can operate with a flatter structure with smaller teams of pods/cohorts that can move faster and with more ownership." New initiatives where Gale said staff were being transferred include those aimed at developing AI agents that can autonomously carry out tasks currently performed by humans.
Full Issue
Read the latest HR highlights
How HR is Tackling Long Covid?
Fingers remain tightly crossed around the world that the rampant hospitalization and fatality stage of the Covid-19 pandemic has generally peaked. Vaccination programmes are accelerating, and restrictions are gradually being lifted...
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ESG Is Not Just Another Name For CSR
Back in the distant 1980s if you wanted to demonstrate your environmental and ethical credentials it was sufficient to shop at or purchase shares in retailer The Body Shop. The charismatic Anita Roddick, founder of the “hippy” tinged retail chain, heralded a new age of environmental concern, caring capitalism and corporate awareness that evolved into what became known as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). CSR was much talked about and lauded, but in reality often ended up being a lot of a hot air (excuse the pun) and often never progressed much beyond a footnote in the annual report.
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Have Older Workers Paid The Highest COVID-19 Price?
Across the world the pandemic is slowly but surely moving into its next phase. Recovery beckons. As furlough schemes across the U.S. and U.K. are being wound down, restrictions eased or lifted, and workforces moving back up the gears, early signs indicate that older employees are more likely to be casualties of the pandemic aftermath than their younger colleagues. Here at the we have witnessed an increasing number of stories supporting the growing belief that older workers are disproportionately paying the highest Covid-19 price.
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Bosses. What's not to like? Plenty, say employees
“You’ll never have another boss like me, someone who’s basically a chilled-out entertainer”
So said, David Brent, the fictional manager of Slough-based paper merchant Wernham Hogg in the seminal TV comedy The Office. Ricky Gervais’s portrayal of Brent as a flawed, narcissistic, incompetent, and deluded manager was so well observed that many (including me) believed it was a genuine fly-on-the-wall documentary when they alighted accidentally on the first ever episode.
Rolling with the Payroll
To mark National Payroll Week the team at the Human Times has provided some insight into the industry that we hope you’ll find useful.
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