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6th December 2021
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THE HOT STORY
Menopause forces one million women to retire early
The government’s business champion for older workers says almost one million women have retired early because of the menopause - putting the country at risk of a pensions crisis. Andy Briggs, who runs recruiter Phoenix, said that well-paid women who could contribute most to workplace pensions were leaving full-time employment in droves because of the impact of the menopause on their health and wellbeing. “Nearly 4m women in the UK are aged between 45 and 55 and are in employment. And women . . . over the age of 50 are the fastest-growing segment of the workforce,” Briggs told the Mail on Sunday, adding “Yet one in five women end up leaving the workplace as a result of some of the symptoms of menopause.” Briggs co-chairs the 50Plus Choices Employer Taskforce, which has called for more clinical support for women with menopausal symptoms, changes to sick leave policies to take into account the disruption of menopause and a government-backed drive to promote conversations about menopause in the workplace.
PEOPLE ANALYTICS
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  • Diversity, equity and inclusion






 
REGULATION
Banks fined over 'Sterling Lads' forex cartel
Barclays, Credit Suisse, HSBC and NatWest have been fined a total of €344m ($390m) by EU antitrust regulators for foreign exchange market rigging. UBS swerved a €94m fine by alerting the European Commission to the cartel, which was set up via a chatroom known as "Sterling Lads." HSBC was fined €174.3m, Credit Suisse’s fine was set at €83.3m, Barclays at €54.3m and RBS at €32.5m. NatWest said the misconduct took place about a decade ago in a single chatroom and involved a former employee, and since then its culture and controls had fundamentally changed. “Our cartel decisions . . . send a clear message that the Commission remains committed to ensure a sound and competitive financial sector that is essential for investment and growth,” EU competition chief Margrethe Vestager said, adding "The collusive behaviour of the five banks undermined the integrity of the financial sector at the expense of the European economy and consumers.” The information exchanges enabled the traders "to make informed market decisions on whether and when to sell or buy the currencies they had in their portfolios, as opposed to a situation where traders acting independently from each other take an inherent risk in taking these decisions," the Commission said.
STRATEGY
Regulator turns to City spinners
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has enlisted FTI Consulting to provide internal communications support as the watchdog faces a staff revolt over pay reforms. FCA bosses are overhauling pay structures, and staff claim that the changes will lead to three in four employees facing pay cuts of 10%. The Telegraph’s Simon Foy notes that the FCA already has a “sizable communications” team, and paying more than £460,000 to bring in PR experts to handle internal messaging “suggests it is struggling to effectively communicate with its 4,000 employees.” Dominic Hook, Unite national officer, said: “While the FCA is ignoring the union and planning to make cuts to staff pay, it's outrageous that they're also spending nearly half a million pounds on communication consultants.”
LEGAL
Gig employers fight EU plan for workers
Platforms that rely on gig work are pushing back on a draft European Commission proposal that calls for more workers in the sector to be considered employees with enhanced labour rights. Companies that run food delivery and ride-hailing apps say the move could leave drivers and couriers out of work. The commission’s proposal would apply to any company that controls digital workers' performance by determining pay, controlling communication with customers, or offering future work based on previous performance. Workers would enjoy the “rebuttable presumption of employment, ” which would mean there is an employment arrangement no matter how the contract is drafted. “Not only is the commission trying to answer a good issue the wrong way, but also what is being done will have very harmful consequences on the platform workers themselves - that's the most important, job destruction - on the platforms in Europe and the efficiency of the services for the European citizens,” said Aurelien Pozzana, the head of public policy at Estonian delivery and mobility services company Bolt.
IFS report reveals ‘almost no progress’ on gender pay gap
Analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) think-tank shows that the average working-age woman in the UK earned 40% less than her male counterpart in 2019. The researchers said women in paid work earn 19% less per hour on average than men, they do eight hours less paid work on average per week and are 9.5 percentage points less likely to be in paid work. Monica Costa Dias, the deputy research director at the IFS, said: "After accounting for the rapid improvement in women's education, there has been almost no progress on gender gaps in paid work over the past quarter-century.”
WORKFORCE
Tesco warehouse staff could strike
The Unite trade union warns that over 1,000 warehouse workers and drivers employed by Tesco could take part in strikes before Christmas in a pay dispute. Tesco has offered staff a pay rise of 4%, which Unite has said is "offensive" given that the retail price index rate of inflation is 6%. The offer is also below the consumer prices index, which is at a 10-year high, having increased to 4.2%. Unite said if Tesco did not improve its offer warehouse workers and HGV drivers at depots in Doncaster, Didcot, Belfast and Antrim would start rolling strikes from December 16th. A further nine warehouses could be affected depending on the outcome of a separate vote on industrial action by the Usdaw shopworkers' union. Tesco said its pay offer was a "fair reflection" of the work done by staff during the pandemic and said some staff had voted against strike action, adding that it had "contingency plans" to mitigate any impact.
Large numbers of workers 'do not qualify for sick pay'
A report from the Trades Union Congress (TUC) suggests that nearly 650,000 workers in hospitality, retail, arts and entertainment do not qualify for statutory sick pay - leaving them at risk of no income over Christmas. Looking at the impact of new self-isolation rules introduced as a result of the Omicron variant, the TUC said that 336,000 retail workers, 238,000 hospitality staff and 73,000 arts and entertainment employees would receive no sick pay while self-isolating. TUC General secretary Frances O'Grady said: "Every worker should have the security of sick pay if they fall ill or need to isolate, but while we're out celebrating and buying presents, many workers who make that possible get no sick pay protection at all.” The TUC has also highlighted that the UK has the least generous statutory sick pay in Europe at £96.35 a week - and it is only available to employees earning £120 a week or more.
HEALTH & SAFETY
Night workers need rest centres, think-tank says
Think-tank Autonomy has urged employers to work with local authorities to fund all-night city rest centres, saying night workers require safe spaces to visit between shifts and during quiet periods. The report says the rapid rise of the gig economy has left many workers without access to staff rooms, canteens and toilets. It points to concerns over the treatment of drivers, who are often foreign nationals working zero-hour contracts. The report found that one in nine employees in the UK now work at night, the highest proportion since records began. Will Stronge, director of research at Autonomy, said: “The UK has witnessed an explosion of precarious gig economy night-time work but without any infrastructure put in place to cater for these workers."
HIRING
AI interviews may narrow diversity
There is concern that job interviews using artificial intelligence could discriminate against working-class applicants. Becci Newton of the Institute for Employment Studies said: “There are considerable risks for disadvantaged kids because they haven’t got the perfect Eton accent and beautifully compiled grammar and maybe they don’t look you in the eye for the whole interview,” adding “They’re already least likely to know how to perform in an interview.” Ms Newton warned: “If you take these things too far into the process you’re actually narrowing rather than widening diversity.” There has been a 67% increase in video interviews in the past year, with 40% of firms using robots to screen and assess interviewees.
REMUNERATION
FTSE bosses see pay and bonuses linked to ESG targets
A report from Alvarez & Marsal indicates that a third of FTSE 250 bosses must now hit ESG targets or see their pay and bonuses cut. Thirty per cent of firms now use ESG measures on executive pay, up from 19% in 2020. Nicolas Stratford of Alvarez & Marsal said: "ESG performance measures have been spreading fast throughout the FTSE 100, but we're now seeing them becoming increasingly prevalent within the FTSE 250," adding “We expect this trend to continue to accelerate as UK firms respond to increasing stakeholder demands to ensure long-term strategic ESG goals are reflected in incentive targets. "
REMOTE WORKING
Auditors at odds over flexible working
Bosses at Deloitte and BDO say that having auditors in the office more regularly would not necessarily improve audit quality. Their comments come after KPMG announced a four-day-a-week attendance policy.
TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT
Halfords chief warns of electric car market skills gap
Graham Stapleton, the chief executive of Halfords, has called on the government to address a shortage of specialist mechanics able to cope with its plan to rapidly increase the number of electric cars on the roads. Mr Stapleton said there was expected to be a shortfall of about 35,000 technicians across the UK able to deal with such vehicles, and called for state support to rapidly expand this workforce. The retailer has increased recruitment over the past year and grown its number of apprenticeships focusing on the electric vehicle market. Halfords said it would also take on hundreds of extra staff after agreeing a £62m deal to buy Axle Group, the owner of the National tyre-servicing brand. The deal will help Halfords to expand its operations to 1,400 locations and will boost the rapid growth of its services business.
RETENTION
Family-friendly leave policies are key to staff retention
Emma Jacobs reflects on the benefits of family-friendly employment policies and how firms supportive of parental leave are well placed to attract staff, saying companies that are inflexible risk losing talent.
INTERNATIONAL
US edition of French magazine sued for not paying freelancers
A lawsuit has been filed against L'Officiel USA, the American edition of the French fashion magazine L'Officiel, by the City of New York, on behalf of freelance writers, producers, photographers, illustrators and others who say they were not paid for their work, or not paid in a timely manner. Peter Hatch, the commissioner of the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, described the case as “corporate theft from New York City's industrious creatives,” and said the suit is the first large so-called pattern-of-practice case in New York brought forward under a 2017 law called the Freelance Isn't Free Act.

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