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19th October 2021
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THE HOT STORY
Amazon looks to hire 150,000 seasonal U.S. workers
Amazon is aiming to hire 150,000 seasonal workers in the U.S., above the 100,000 it announced last year, and matching the number that Walmart says it will add this year. Amazon said on Monday that the average starting pay of jobs in the U.S. was $18 an hour. Facing fierce competition for entry-level workers, the company has also been offering signing bonuses of as much as $3,000, depending on location, and as much as an additional $3 per hour for workers willing to work overnight or weekend shifts. Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia and Illinois are among the states that will have the highest number of seasonal jobs, the retailer said. Separately, Amazon has been accused by five members of the U.S. House Judiciary committee of either misleading Congress or possibly lying to it about Amazon’s business practices. Addressed to Amazon chief executive Andy Jassy, the committee members' letter followed a Reuters investigation last week that showed that the company had conducted a systematic campaign of copying products and rigging search results in India to boost sales of its own brands - practices Amazon has denied engaging in.
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CORPORATE
Payroll firm Deel raises $425m
Global payroll solution company Deel has completed a $425m Series D financing round which values the business at $5.5bn. The Times of Israel notes that Deel was founded three years ago by CEO Alex Bouaziz, a French Jew who immigrated to Israel, and chief revenue officer Shuo Wang. The company’s platform enables employers to draft contracts for workers in over 150 countries and pay salaried staff and freelancers in local currency and according to local laws. Customers worldwide include Coinbase and Shopify. Bouaziz said: "The way people work is fundamentally changing. And it's never going back. We founded Deel because we didn't want hiring or payments to prevent businesses from building the best global teams and finding the best global talent. We're going to keep challenging the norms of how companies operate and continue building tools that shape the future of work." The company’s rapidly growing value comes amid fast-increasing salaries for human resources, notes The Times.
CYBERSECURITY
Alphabet CEO says U.S. government should take a more active role on cybersecurity and innovation
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai wants the U.S. government to assume a more active role in cybersecurity initiatives and in encouraging innovation. He is urging governments to draft the equivalent of a Geneva Convention for technology to detail international legal standards in an increasingly connected world. “Governments on a multilateral basis . . . need to put it up higher on the agenda,” Mr. Pichai said, adding “If not, you're going to see more [cybersecurity breaches] because countries would resort to those things.” He also petitioned the U.S. government to do more to encourage innovation amid growing competition from China. Alphabet-owned Google’s eponymous search engine doesn't operate in China, but the company is investing in quantum computing and artificial intelligence to stay ahead of Chinese companies that compete to provide services in markets around the world, including Southeast Asia, Mr. Pichai said.
WORKFORCE
AmEx employees offered flexibility
American Express will allow employees to work from anywhere they want for up to four weeks a year. A memo from CEO Stephen Squeri said this would include the 15 days when employees are allowed to work outside their country. AmEx has divided employees into hybrid, onsite and fully virtual categories. Most of the hybrid model staff must work from the office two days a week, while onsite workers will attend for four to five days. Employees in the fully virtual category can work from home. For employees in the U.S., the U.K. and Germany, AmEx’s new model won’t go into effect until January 24th at the earliest, notes Bloomberg.
Workers return to time capsules of pre-pandemic life
The Wall Street Journal reports on the experiences of workers who are returning to office life for the first time for over a year, and their encounters with vending machines and desk drawers that contain long-expired snacks, 18-month-old research notes on office whiteboards that cannot now be erased without the aid of solvent – and critter sightings. Susan Arango, a workplace experience manager for a call tracking and analytics platform in Santa Barbara, called in a bee removal company to investigate after she kept finding dead bees on the floor of her company's office. The hired technician found a hive between the walls with more than 20,000 bees in it.
STRATEGY
Goldman Sachs cleared to take control of China unit
Chinese regulators have approved Goldman Sachs' application to take full ownership of a key local unit, another step in China’s gradual opening of its financial system to major players from the U.S. and elsewhere. Goldman in December 2020 sought approval to increase its stake in a domestic Chinese business that it has co-owned since 2004. The New York-based bank said Sunday that China’s financial markets regulator, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, had given its assent. A wholly owned subsidiary will house most of the bank’s operations in China, including investment-banking functions such as merger advice and securities underwriting, and other business lines including trading and wealth management.
LEGAL
World Bank mishandled sexual misconduct charges, report says
The Washington-based World Bank mishandled sexual misconduct complaints brought by several women against a senior official, according to the organization's labor tribunal. The World Bank Administrative Tribunal, which is the last resort for staff who lodge grievances against the institution, observed that Rodrigo Chaves was demoted but not dismissed despite numerous allegations of sexual harassment brought by multiple plaintiffs. "This case has brought visibility to shortcomings in the Bank's approach to accountability for sexual harassment and protection for staff," said the tribunal's report, which identified the official only as "Mr C." Chaves had denied any misconduct or else said incidents were the result of cultural differences. Annette Dixon, the World Bank's vice president of human resources, said the development lender is "strongly committed to fostering a safe working environment that is free from harassment and abuse and where staff feel empowered to report allegations of wrongdoing," adding "Like many large organizations, we know we can always do better."
CULTURE
Microsoft leaders warned Bill Gates over ‘inappropriate' emails
Bill Gates was asked by Microsoft executives to stop sending “flirtatious” and “inappropriate” emails to a female employee before the company founder left the business a decade ago, it has been claimed. Microsoft was aware that Gates had sent messages to the employee in 2007, Microsoft spokesman Frank Shaw told the Wall Street Journal. In the “flirtatious” emails, which Shaw described as “not overtly sexual, but were deemed to be inappropriate,” Gates proposed meeting the woman outside work and away from the Microsoft campus. She did not file a complaint. Bridgitt Arnold, a spokeswoman for Gates, said in a written statement: “These claims are false, recycled rumors from sources who have no direct knowledge, and in some cases have significant conflicts of interest.”
HIRING
Survey identifies widespread hiring plans in Canada
Employers in Canada are planning to hire staff even as they deal with continued supply chain disruptions and labor shortages, according to the Bank of Canada’s quarterly business outlook survey. The central bank found businesses’ domestic and foreign sales prospects remained strong in the late summer, as companies that offer in-person services benefited from the relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions and pent-up consumer demand.
PSYCHOLOGY
Esther Perel: how to navigate the ‘next normal’ at work
Understanding more about human relationships will help business leaders minimize the pandemic’s after-effects on employees, writes psychotherapist Esther Perel, who notes “understanding relational intelligence is the tide that lifts all boats.”
INTERNATIONAL
Miss France contest is sued over selection criteria
A French feminist organization is suing the promoters of the Miss France beauty contest in an employment court. The "Osez le feminisme" (Dare to be a Feminist) group, along with three unsuccessful contestants, claim the promoters use discriminatory criteria to select participants. Endemol Production, which makes the annual TV program screened on the TF1 channel, is also being sued by the plaintiffs, who say the companies are in breach of French labor law by obliging contestants to be more than 1.70 metres tall, single, and "representative of beauty." France’s labor code forbids companies from discriminating on the basis of "morals, age, family status or physical appearance," observed Violaine De Filippis-Abate, a lawyer for Osez le feminisme. The case, which has been filed in the Paris suburb of Bobigny, will hinge on whether magistrates recognize contestants as being de facto employees of the competition’s organizers and the television company.
Africa can become the world’s digital talent outsource powerhouse
Attendees at the Gitex Global Leaders Vision Summit in Dubai have heard how Africa’s young talent base is set to power the world’s digital transformation. Dr. Amr S. Talaat, Egypt’s Minister of Communications and IT, revealed how his country’s ITC Vision 2030 programme aims to transform Egypt into a world-leading digital services exporter, and was already producing results with 3,000 software engineers now exporting services to Europe’s automotive industry, with more to come. He told the audience that 2,500 electronic engineers were now working in government design hubs which are partnering with 50 companies using the hub labs as talent incubators. “By 2030 Egypt will be a digital services export centre backed by available talent,” he said.  
Nurses in Portugal call strike
Nurses working for Portugal’s National Health Service (SNS) have announced that they will go on strike on November 3rd and 4th. Pedro Costa, president of the Nurses Union, said the decision was based on the “complete lack of dialog on the part of the Ministry of Health in wanting to hear the demands” of health professionals. Union leader Costa said Portuguese nurses "were praised throughout" the pandemic, being "considered key players in the vaccination process," but "are not valued" in their career.
‘We’ve woken up’: attitudes change as Saudi Arabia kick-starts job market
In just four years, the participation of women in the Saudi labor force has almost doubled to 33%, reports the FT.  Tackling women’s employment is vital to reducing overall joblessness.
OTHER
AFS survey underlines pandemic impact on student learning and grades
The latest American Family Survey, conducted jointly by the Deseret News and Brigham Young University's Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy, found that more than half of respondents whose children did not attend school in person chose not to return to the classroom when they had the option. Parents surveyed said their children’s grades and learning suffered during the pandemic’s aftermath with nearly 20% of parents revealing that their children’s grades worsened and nearly one-third reporting declines in learning. Separately, the consulting firm McKinsey & Co. predicted more significant learning losses for Black, Hispanic and low-income students. Access to technology is a significant factor as well as access to a quiet space to participate in remote learning with minimal distractions, access to high-speed internet and parental academic supervision.

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