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Recent Editions

Human Times
North America
A Meta executive has told staff that they are banned from discussing abortion on Workplace, an internal version of Facebook, citing “an increased risk” that the company is seen as a “hostile work environment.” The policy, which Meta introduced in 2019 but hasn’t until now been reported, prohibits workers from discussing “opinions or debates about abortion being right or wrong, availability or rights of abortion, and political, religious, and humanitarian views on the topic,” according to a section of the company’s internal 'Respectful Communication Policy' reviewed by The Verge. Meta’s VP of HR, Janelle Gale, said during an all-hands meeting with staff that abortion was “the most divisive and reported topic” by employees on Workplace. She said that “even if people are respectful, and they’re attempting to be respectful about their view on abortion, it can still leave people feeling like they’re being targeted based on their gender or religion . . . It’s the one unique topic that kind of trips that line on a protected class pretty much in every instance.” Some Meta employees have urged management to ditch the policy following a leak of a Supreme Court draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade. They contend that the prohibition is at odds with employees being allowed to talk “respectfully” about issues such as Black Lives Matter, immigration, and trans rights.
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Human Times
UK
The European Central Bank (ECB) has told eight unnamed banks to shift staff out of London, saying it has identified 56 groups of traders who should be doing their jobs from within the EU following an investigation into whether the institutions are seeking to dodge post-Brexit rules. An ECB exercise known as “desk mapping” found that the banks, which all have headquarters outside the EU, haven’t boosted sufficient local capabilities to manage their business in the region, people familiar with the process said, adding that part of the reason for the staff shortfall is a reluctance among senior executives to move from London to cities including Dublin, Frankfurt and Paris. The ECB’s review included US lenders such as Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley, and also Barclays, HSBC and UBS, the people said. It is noted that the number of professionals leaving the City post-Brexit has been much smaller than initially predicted. EY estimates that around 7,000 roles have moved since 2016, far fewer than the 200,000 job losses that were forecast before the Brexit vote.
Full Issue
Human Times
Europe
The European Central Bank (ECB) has told eight unnamed banks to shift staff out of London, saying it has identified 56 groups of traders who should be doing their jobs from within the EU following an investigation into whether the institutions are seeking to dodge post-Brexit rules. An ECB exercise known as “desk mapping” found that the banks, which all have headquarters outside the EU, haven’t boosted sufficient local capabilities to manage their business in the region, people familiar with the process said, adding that part of the reason for the staff shortfall is a reluctance among senior executives to move from London to cities including Dublin, Frankfurt and Paris. The ECB’s review included US lenders such as Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley, and also Barclays, HSBC and UBS, the people said. It is noted that the number of professionals leaving the City post-Brexit has been much smaller than initially predicted. EY estimates that around 7,000 roles have moved since 2016, far fewer than the 200,000 job losses that were forecast before the Brexit vote.
Full Issue
Human Times
Middle East
The Taliban has ordered female Afghan TV presenters and other women on screen to cover their faces while on air. The ruling comes two weeks after all women were ordered to wear a face veil in public, or risk punishment. One female Afghan journalist working for a local TV station in Kabul, who did not want to be named, said she'd been shocked to hear about the decree. "They are putting indirect pressure on us to stop us presenting on TV," she told the BBC. "How can I read the news with my mouth covered? I don't know what to do now - I must work, I am the breadwinner of my family." The ruling will take effect from May 21st, Reuters news agency reported, quoting a spokesman for the Taliban's Ministry for the Prevention of Vice and Promotion of Virtue.
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Human Times
Social
Twitter bosses have told staff that the $44bn deal to sell the micro-blogging platform to Elon Musk is moving forward as planned, and that the company has no plans to renegotiate the agreed-upon price of $54.20 per share with the Tesla chief executive. Vijaya Gadde, Twitter’s top lawyer and head of policy, also told employees at an all-hands meeting that there is “no such thing as a deal being on hold,” according to people in attendence. Mr. Musk has claimed that he is pausing the deal while he learns more about the number of bots and spam accounts on the social media service.
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