THE HOT STORY

Revolut scraps ‘remote-first’ working for graduate hires

London-headquartered fintech Revolut will require its graduate employees to work from the office for the majority of the week in a shift away from a long-championed “remote-first” approach. Meanwhile, The Times reports that, in France, Airbus is facing potential strike action as it plans to increase on-site working days for white-collar staff from three to four per week. Chief Executive Guillaume Faury said the change aims to enhance performance and quality. The CGT union said its concerns include overcrowding in facilities and disruptions to personal lives. A union notice urged those rallying to "voice their anger and debate right under G. Faury's windows!"

Financial Times

The Times

LEGAL

Companies rush to fire high earners before UK ends cap on unfair dismissal payouts

Finance and tech firms are rushing to fire underperforming executives, cut headcount and toughen probation processes for new UK hires before changes to bolster employees’ rights against unfair dismissal.

Financial Times

TECHNOLOGY

Meta to pause internal mouse-tracking tech

Meta is pausing an internal program that tracks employee mouse movements and digital activity for AI training amid reports that sensitive employee data, intended to monitor digital interactions within Meta's internal systems, was accessible to all Meta workers. "We have carefully designed this program with privacy safeguards and while we have no indication at this time that any data was improperly accessed by Meta employees, we're pausing it while we investigate," said Meta spokesperson Tracy Clayton. The tool - Model Capability Initiative (MCI) - was launched in April.

Business Insider

Reuters

WORKFORCE

Minister clashes with Home Secretary over migrant care workers

Writing in The Times, migration and citizenship minister Mike Tapp says it is his "strong belief that those who have come to the United Kingdom on care worker visas who have played by the rules should not be required to wait longer to apply for settlement" - in apparent contradiction to proposals announced by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood. The paper reports that Mahmood "has asked the Prime Minister to sack" Tapp - a demand that was reportedly blocked by Downing Street. Tapp also argues for improvements to the sponsorship system governing those already in the UK in order to "improve standards across the sector, strengthen worker protections, and help to build a more resilient health and social care system."

The Times

TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT

Education and skills programme 'lacks a clear plan'

An Audit Scotland report has criticised the Scottish Government's Post-School Education and Skills Reform (PSESR) programme, launched in 2024, finding that the programme "lacks a clear plan," that risk management is "inadequate," and that key partners have not been told what they are expected to deliver. Auditor General Stephen Boyle said there is "a concerning gap between intent, planning and progress to deliver post-school education and skills reform," and said a "lack of clarity on outcomes, insufficient skills and resourcing, gaps in governance, and uncertainty over the costs and benefits must be addressed."

STV

Herald Scotland

Minister says its ‘not the end of the road' for apprenticeship funding restrictions

Skills minister Jacqui Smith has indicated that further reforms to apprenticeship funding may be on the horizon. She said that the government aims to shift focus towards younger apprentices, as starts for those under 25 have dropped by 40% over the past decade. “We have already made some decisions that have shifted resources around,” Smith told FE Week. “The overarching objective here is to shift the apprenticeship system back towards younger people . . . I don't think this is the end of the road in terms of reforms that we might want to put in place to help that shift to young people.”

FE Week

INTERNATIONAL

Mining giant hit with class action

Women at Fortescue Mining have launched a class action in Melbourne, alleging systemic sexual harassment and gender discrimination at the company's Australian remote worksites. The action, filed by law firm JGA Saddler, follows previous claims against other mining firms. “We were speaking to thousands of women in mining in the Rio Tinto and BHP sex discrimination class actions and Fortescue's worksites kept coming up time and time again as places that were unsafe for women,” JGA Saddler lawyer Paris Hamrey said. “There have been reports of sexual assault, violence and retaliation especially when female staff reject sexual advances. We have heard from women who have lodged complaints about unacceptable behaviour but are then dismissed, demoted, silenced or black-listed from the industry . . . One of the most disturbing regular reports is women on Fortescue worksites being warned against washing their underwear in on-site laundries because theft of female underwear is rife.”

Yahoo News Australia

ABC Online

Workers should get cooling breaks, unions tell EU

The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has said European workers should be allowed "cooling breaks" - just like World Cup footballers - on sweltering summer days. "The cooling breaks being used at the World Cup have put the spotlight on the danger posed to workers by extreme heat and the kind of measures that can be taken to keep people safe," ETUC General Secretary Esther Lynch said. "Builders, fruit pickers or bus drivers need a lot longer than three minutes to recover, but [the World Cup] is a good example of how work can be adapted to the changing climate." The lobby group wants the European Commission to grant workers a "right to breaks without loss of pay" when temperatures are high.

AFP

AI-shy tech workers face triple the layoff risk

Research from Gallup has found that US tech workers who use AI at least monthly have a significantly lower risk of being laid off, with a predicted probability of 6% compared to 18% for infrequent users. The study surveyed over 23,000 workers and found that AI adoption is becoming crucial for job security. The link between AI use and job security held even after accounting for factors including age and education, according to the researchers. Outside the tech sector, infrequent AI users also face a greater layoff risk than their peers, Gallup said, though the gap is smaller.

Straits Times

OTHER

Education secretary says she'll turn PMQs insult into a T-shirt

Education secretary Bridget Phillipson has said she will be turning Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch's attack on her at Prime Minister's Questions into a T-shirt. Badenoch called Phillipson a "spiteful class warrior" for taxing private school fees. Asked about Badenoch's comments on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Phillipson said: "Next time you see me . . . . I'll be wearing a T-shirt saying 'spiteful class warrior' - because if being a spiteful class warrior means lifting half a million children out of poverty I'll be wearing that T-shirt with pride."

BBC News

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