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European Edition
31st March 2021
 
THE HOT STORY
Drugmaker CEO cleared following bullying claim
The board of Icelandic generic drug company Alvogen has cleared executive chairman and chief executive officer Robert Wessman of inappropriate conduct after a former senior executive made a claim about abusive and bullying behaviour. Bloomberg says the company's investigation of the allegations underscores a growing focus on the conduct of corporate leaders in their dealings with colleagues. Alvogen’s board hired Boston-based law firm White & Case to conduct the review of the matter.
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LEGAL
UK ministers weigh Covid certificates for offices
UK government ministers are drawing up plans to let employers use Covid-19 certificates for staff working in office buildings once most people are vaccinated later in the year, according to industry figures. Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden told the BBC: "We’re looking at the civil liberties concerns about it, we’re looking at the practicality of it. But also we’re looking at the benefits it could bring in the way that you described in order to facilitate further easing of the economy . . . Of course we would never look to do this on a permanent basis, it’s just whether it might be a tool in the short run.”
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Prosecutors want French court to fine Ikea €2m for spying on workers
French prosecutors are urging a Versailles court to fine Ikea €2m for spying on its employees. They are also calling for a jail term for former CEO Jean-Louis Baillot  for his role in an alleged system to illegally monitor workers and job candidates. “What’s at stake here is the protection of our private lives against a threat, the threat of mass surveillance,” prosecutor Pamela Tabardel said on Tuesday. Baillot denies any role in the alleged scheme.
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CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
Shell to link executive pay more closely to climate performance
Shell has proposed linking directors' share remuneration more closely to the energy group’s climate performance and severing the link between bonuses and liquefied natural gas (LNG) production. The move gives the firm's attempts to reduce its carbon emissions equal weight with financial metrics such as free cash flow generation when it comes to executive pay.
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WORKFORCE
Strike at Super Bock factory
Workers at the Super Bock factory in Leça do Balio are to strike on weekends, public holidays and refuse overtime in a challenge to management’s  imposition of adaptability and bank hours. "The plenary of workers took this decision because they do not accept the illegal recourse to adaptability of hours by the company, which is applying scales that are not regulated, trying to maintain continuous labour in a cheaper way," José Eduardo Andrade, leader of the Union of Agricultural Workers and Food, Beverage and Tobacco Industries of Portugal (SINTAB), told Lusa news agency, adding "It's because the company is also trying to impose 42 hours of work a week when it's necessary, when the schedule is 39 hours, creating an illegal bank of hours, and laying off workers when they're not so necessary, given that production has its peak in the summer."
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Volvo will offer six months of paid parental leave
Volvo is to offer six months of parental leave to its 40,000 employees around the world. The offer also applies to male workers. From April 1st, Volvo employees who have worked for the Swedish auto maker for more than a year will be able to take six months' leave and receive 80% of their salary. The leave can be taken at any time during the child's first three years. “The important thing is that we offer the same to both parents, and we encourage men to take this opportunity to get parental leave,” Volvo HR manager Hanna Fager said.
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Stockmann may close stores during lockdown
Finnish department store chain Stockmann is to start codetermination talks that could see stores close and employees in Finland laid off for up to 90 days. Stockmann's online store remains operational but the company said the aim of the negotiations was to reduce the number of in-store workers in expectation of tighter coronavirus restrictions that would prevent customers from shopping in person, as well as offsetting the revenue loss caused by the pandemic
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TECHNOLOGY
Warehouse robot boxes clever Robotics company
Boston Dynamics has introduced Stretch, a robot that is solely devoted to moving boxes.  Michael Perry, vice president of business development for Boston Dynamics, said the robot was built on the basis of requests received from clients around the world. “We heard pretty much universally across warehousing that truck unloading is one of the most physically difficult and unpleasant jobs ... And that’s where Stretch comes into play,” Perry said.
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INTERNATIONAL
China warns companies against politicising actions regarding Xinjiang
Chinese officials have said that Sweden’s H&M and other foreign businesses should not make rash moves or step into politics after the companies raised concerns about forced labour in Xinjiang, sparking a furious online backlash and boycotts. H&M, Burberry, Nike and Adidas and other Western brands have been hit by consumer boycotts in China since last week over comments about their sourcing of cotton in Xinjiang. “I don’t think a company should politicise its economic behaviour,” said Xu Guixiang, a Xinjiang government spokesman at a news conference on Monday morning. “Can H&M continue to make money in the Chinese market? Not any more…To rush into this decision and get involved in the sanctions is not reasonable. It’s like lifting a stone to drop it on one’s own feet”, he said.
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Lawsuit claims Amazon cheats workers out of 30-minute lunch breaks
A lawsuit that accuses Amazon of cheating warehouse workers out of their lunch breaks is moving forward in California, even as ballot-counting begins in a unionization vote at a warehouse in Alabama. Amazon instructed workers to take a break "when they could get it" but because the volume of work was so great, many did not, the complaint alleges. Meal breaks routinely got shortened “due to the time spent listening and responding to work-related obligations on their walkie talkies,” according to the suit.
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New Zealand approves paid leave for miscarriage
Couples in New Zealand who have a miscarriage or stillbirth will be eligible for paid bereavement leave under a new law approved by parliament. MP Ginny Andersen, who put forward the bill, said it would allow mothers and their partners to "come to terms with their loss" without taking sick leave. The bill also applies to those having a child though adoption or surrogacy. New Zealand is reportedly only the second country in the world to introduce the measure, after India. The legislation provides three days of bereavement leave.
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Women make progress in Gulf finance sector
HSBC's Saudi unit has hired Muneera Aldossary as chief investment officer in what Bloomberg reports is another sign that more women are assuming senior roles in the Gulf region's financial sector. Bloomberg details the growing number of women in such leadership roles, including Sarah Al Suhaimi, chairwoman of Saudi Arabia's stock exchange, and Carmen Haddad, vice chairperson of Citigroup's operations in the Middle East and chief country officer for Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, in the United Arab Emirates, Hana Al Rostamani was appointed group chief executive officer of First Abu Dhabi Bank, the country's biggest lender, and Citigroup named Elissar Farah Antonios to run its Middle East & North Africa operations.
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OTHER
Not looking forward to hearing from you
A conversation on Reddit reveals many of the ‘facts’ and ‘attributes’ that front line HR professionals find most annoying on curricula vitae. Blood type, shoe size and eye colour is not key information that is typically required and weightlifting personal bests and proof of childhood cycling proficiency are among the more bizarre offerings from job seekers. One HR manager found the Goals section on résumés tiresome. “Your goal should be to get an interview, that’s it,” she said. An emerging bugbear cited by some is “proficient on Zoom.”
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