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5th May 2021

THE HOT STORY

Pandemic creates jobs risk for working women

Analysis by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) shows that working women in the UK are facing a significant risk in the labour market, with far greater numbers of female staff being made redundant as a result of the pandemic than during previous recessions, including the 2007 financial crisis. Female redundancies in the UK hit 178,000 between September and November 2020, with this 76% higher than the peak reached during the height of the financial crisis when female redundancy levels hit 100,000. The TUC report shows that 217,000 men were made redundant over the same period last year - just 3% up on job losses amid the financial crisis. TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Women are more likely to be on furlough than men and to work in sectors hit hardest by Covid, like retail and hospitality,” and she noted that women also bore the brunt of childcare while schools and nurseries were closed. “Without ongoing support from ministers, many more women face losing their jobs,” she added.

The Guardian

WORKFORCE

Goldman to bring US and UK bankers back to the office in June

Goldman Sachs has told its bankers in the US and UK that they should be ready to return to the office next month in a move that makes the New York lender one of Wall Street’s first major banks to recall employees. “We know from experience that our culture of collaboration, innovation and apprenticeship thrives when our people come together, and we look forward to having more of our colleagues back in the office so that they can experience that once again on a regular basis,” said a staff memo signed by the bank’s three most senior executives, including chief executive David Solomon. The message said that, “in the US, we ask those who have not yet done so to make plans to be in a position to return to the office by Monday, June 14.” The bank wants its British employees to be prepared to return to physical locations by June 21.

CNBC

Financial Times

Bloomberg

Norwegian wealth fund rethinks working week

Employees at Norway’s sovereign wealth fund will only be asked to come to work at the office on Tuesdays and Thursdays once the pandemic is over, according to CEO Nicolai Tangen. He said Norges Bank Investment Management, the central bank unit that manages the $1.3 trillion fund, would offer flexible working to its 520 employees in Oslo, London, Singapore, Shanghai, Tokyo and Luxembourg. He told a parliamentary hearing in Oslo: “We are thinking that after the pandemic we will allow up to two days a week of home office and we have two fixed days in the office for everyone for meetings,” adding that this arrangement was a way of attracting and retaining the best workers. He said the policy would also apply to the rest of the central bank, adding “You need to offer flexibility in a different way than before. It is just not acceptable to require people to be in the office all the time. I think it shows that you don’t trust people.”

Reuters

Clifford Chance to work minimum of 50% in the office

Staff at law firm Clifford Chance will be expected to return to the office for at least 50% of the week post-pandemic. The firm is hoping to make the changes by June 21st, in line with the easing of lockdown restrictions. Regional managing partner Michael Bates said: “In listening to feedback from our people and considering how to support high performance, productivity and wellbeing, we believe we should work in a more agile and flexible way than we have historically.”

City AM

EMPLOYEE ONBOARDING

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STRATEGY

Businesses seek out smaller, connected offices

Digital connectivity, rather than physical location, is likely to be the main driver for the workspace of the future, according to a survey of Scottish businesses for the Addleshaw Goddard Scottish Business Monitor. More than 500 businesses were asked during the first quarter of the year about their future workspace priorities. Nearly all who responded (95%) said internet and digital connectivity would be the top priority, compared to only 15% who preferred a city centre location, and 40% who named strong public transport links as the determining factors. More than a quarter of businesses (27%) expect to permanently reduce their office footprint, even though nearly two-thirds (61%) say that homeworking has had an impact on workplace innovation and culture, and nearly half (49%) say it has had an impact on productivity. To counter this, 42% of organisations have invested in new technology to aid productivity in the last year. Virtually the same proportion (41%) say that flexible and collaborative space will be key to their new physical place of work.

The Journal of the Law Society of Scotland

Brexit freedoms let BoE cut red tape

The Bank of England is set to use its newfound Brexit freedoms to scrap red tape, enabling small lenders to grow and compete more successfully. Officials are looking at how they can liberate smaller banks and building societies that operate only in the UK from regulation designed to control the world's largest financial institutions. The Telegraph says the BoE is “taking inspiration from the US,” where there are separate rules for small lenders so they can avoid unnecessary compliance costs – an approach banned within the EU. Victoria Saporta, executive director of prudential policy at the Bank, said it is beginning a post-Brexit “move from ‘rule taker’ to ‘rule maker’” for the City. David Postings, chief executive of UK Finance, said: “An efficient, innovative and competitive financial services industry is critical to the future growth and prosperity of the UK economy.”

The Daily Telegraph

MANAGEMENT

Merck now has a woman at the top

Deutsche Welle profiles new Merck CEO Belen Garijo. She is only the second woman to reach the top of a DAX company and the only one to be at the helm alone. Being the first sole female CEO of a DAX company will bring extra pressure and scrutiny for Garijo, says Monika Schnitzer, an economist at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich and a member of the German Council of Economic Experts, "because she . . . knows, of course, that her success will be measured against whether women are up to the job of being CEOs." Schnitzer adds: "This is a long-overdue step. Unfortunately, we are still a long way from this being a matter of course. But hopefully it will help us eventually reach the point where the appointment of a woman to such a board position is no longer headline-worthy." Germany's Merck KGaA is a pharmaceuticals multinational that has 57,000 employees in 66 countries.

Deutsche Welle (EN)

Horta-Osório pledges Credit Suisse review

New Credit Suisse chairman António Horta-Osório has vowed to deliver an urgent review of risk management, strategy and culture at the Zurich-based bank. Mr Horta-Osório, who left Lloyds Banking Group last week after a decade as chief executive at the UK lender, said Credit Suisse's present and potential risks "need to be a matter of immediate and close scrutiny."

The Times

Linklaters on brink of electing first female senior partner

Law firm Linklaters is set to elect a female senior partner for the first time in its history, in the latest example of more women breaking into the sector’s top ranks.

Financial Times

HIRING

Corporate job hunts increase

Staff in corporates, consultancies and start-ups are increasingly seeking new jobs, according to figures from Movemeon. A third of those working in management consultancies are looking for a new role, alongside nearly a quarter of those in private equity and venture capital. Movemeon’s 2021 Work and Pay Report shows that around a fifth of corporates, consultancies and start-ups have taken government support, and nearly half have given salary increases to employees. The report, which used data from sister company Payspective, also revealed that Deloitte, KPMG, PwC and Deloitte offer some of the best salaries among strategy houses, while Deloitte and PwC are among the highest paying management consultancies.

City AM

INTERNATIONAL

BlackRock strikes aggressive stance on ESG proxy votes

BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, is increasing its support for shareholder-led environmental, social and governance (ESG) proposals. For the roughly 170 ESG shareholder proposals it voted on during the first half of the proxy year, BlackRock backed 91% of environmental proposals, 23% of social proposals and 26% of corporate governance proposals. “BlackRock has strongly signaled that quiet diplomacy is not the only tool in its toolbox,” said Rich Fields, a partner at law firm King & Spalding who focuses on corporate governance issues. “We expect more votes for shareholder proposals and against directors in this and future years.” BlackRock’s initiatives are part of a broader push by Wall Street—institutional investors, money managers and banks—to wield influence through their investments. The FT nevertheless reports this morning that BlackRock has been accused of inconsistency in its approach to sustainable investing over its backing of a shareholder protest against Procter & Gamble’s sourcing of palm oil.

Financial Times

Wall Street Journal

Bank of Israel urges more incentives to get people back to work

Bank of Israel wants the government to do more to get people back to work amid concerns among policymakers about the slow recovery of the labour market from the pandemic. The monetary policy committee (MPC) observed that employers are finding it difficult to recruit workers, notably in sectors like restaurants that were closed during lockdowns. "An adjustment process is expected between demand for work and the supply of work, which can last for some time. At the same time, the committee noted the concern that government policy does not create enough incentives for workers to return to the labour market," the minutes of Monday’s MPC meeting said.

Reuters

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