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UK Edition
14th March 2022
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THE HOT STORY
Top UK employers open doors to refugees fleeing Ukraine
Over 40 large UK businesses have formed a coalition to press the government to arrange jobs and accommodation for thousands of Ukrainian refugees. Businesses including Marks & Spencer, recruitment giants Robert Walters and FDM, as well as jobs firm Impellam have created a consortium, co-ordinated by entrepreneur Emma Sinclair, to ensure Ukrainians secure visas, suitable accommodation and even language training. The coalition has told the government it has up to 10,000 jobs available for refugees from Ukraine. Morrisons said it has contacted the Home Office to offer its assistance while the Co-op said it would welcome applications for 3,300 vacancies. Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asos and Greene King are among other businesses to have also offered assistance.
TALENT ATTRACTION & RETENTION
Attraction Plus: Five Talent Tactics to Help You Navigate the New World of Work

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WORKFORCE
Barristers vote to take industrial action over funding
Barristers have voted to take industrial action by a 94% majority in a dispute with the Government over demands for a cash injection into legal aid. Some 1,800 criminal barristers voted in favour of the work to rule from April 11th.  It is only the second time the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) has taken action in its history after a strike in 2013. Jo Sidhu QC, chair of the CBA, said: “We have sustained a chronically underfunded criminal justice system on behalf of the public while suffering substantial reductions in our real incomes. We have already lost too many of our colleagues who can no longer afford to maintain their commitment to criminal work. Every day we are losing more. We have shrunk to a mere 2,400 full-time criminal barristers. The future viability and diversity of the Criminal Bar is already imperilled. It is a recognition of the scale of this crisis that has driven so many to vote in favour of action.”
TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT
Accountants trawl colleges for digital talent
The Times reports on how the Big Four accountancy firms are forming tie-ups with colleges around the country as they believe universities are no longer offering qualifications that are fit for purpose. PwC will team up with the National College for Digital Skills rather than a university to improve "entry-level tech talent" and appeal to students "who want to get practical work experience straight away". Kevin Ellis, chairman of PwC UK, said: "There is no one-size-fits-all approach to starting a career and we want to give people a choice, whether via university or straight from school." EY's school-leaver programme has quadrupled in less than ten years, the paper adds, and KPMG is one of the biggest graduate employers, taking on 900 graduates a year and 200 apprentices.
MANAGEMENT
Smart single women experience career damage
Single women with analytical skills are more likely to be overlooked for leadership roles at their jobs than male or female married co-workers or single men, according to researchers at George Washington University and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School who undertook studies that examined perceptions of single people. One of the studies found that single women who demonstrated analytical talent experienced more career setbacks than married and single men, married women, and single women who did not display skills perceived as “masculine.” Both men and women viewed such single women with a similar lens, the researchers found. “To see it just come out that both men and women were doing this — it wasn't just men that were analyzing women and penalizing them, everyone was doing it — that was surprising and not surprising at the same time,” said Jennifer Merluzzi, one of the authors of the research.
Vadera under fire over messy succession process
The Times reports that the chairwoman of the Prudential, Shriti Vadera, is coming under pressure after plans to replace departing CEO Mike Wells failed to produce a successor. The group will be left with an acting CEO in the form of finance director Mark FitzPatrick when Wells retires later this month. FitzPatrick has also said he wants to leave the company. Vadera fended off bullying claims last year when an independent inquiry held by QC Aileen McColgan cleared her of misconduct following an employee complaint. A source close to the Pru board put complaints about bullying down to a core of old-school men who “did not like having a woman shaking the place up.”
DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION
City holds 'amazing opportunities' for ethnically diverse
Shami Iqbal, UK managing partner at executive search firm Spencer Stuart, talks to the Times about his experiences of racism and advances in workplace diversity. When he joined the top UK team at Spencer Stuart in 2014, it was made up of eight men and he was the only person from an ethnic minority. Now the 12-strong team has a 50-50 gender split and four of its members are from ethnically diverse backgrounds. His advice for companies trying to achieve a similar transformation is to hire externally and to ensure there is an inclusive culture into which people from under-represented groups will fit. He adds that a student from an ethnically diverse background seeking a career in the City should be “really positive . . . there are so many amazing opportunities. I don't think people are going to be held back because of their ethnicity anymore."
CULTURE
SRA: Solicitors will have to ‘challenge' misbehaving colleagues
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) wants to introduce a new requirement on firms and solicitors to step in and deal with anyone mistreating colleagues in the workplace. Proposed changes to SRA rules aim to give the regulator greater scope for clamping down on anyone who perpetrates or facilitates bullying, harassment or discrimination. An explicit obligation on individuals and firms to treat colleagues "fairly and with respect" would be added to the code of conduct. Firms and solicitors will also have to "challenge behaviour which does not meet this standard, with the aim of fostering a collegiate approach and a culture in which poor behaviours are not tolerated". The SRA's proposal is that the obligation should go beyond staff in a formal employment relationship, to include others with whom solicitors and firms regularly work closely, such as contractors, consultants, barristers and experts who may be instructed by the firm.
REMUNERATION
Gender pay gap at UBS is twice the UK average
UBS has revealed that its mean pay gap for base pay came in at 29% for 2021, with the pay gap for bonuses rising to 56%. An internal report shows the bank’s gender pay gap was almost double the UK average last year. UBS blamed the disparity on a lack of women in senior roles, adding: "Our pay gap will only be narrowed by increasing the number of women in leadership and higher-paying roles and a continued focus on creating and leveraging the opportunities to do this whilst maintaining our culture of meritocracy and pay for performance."
LEGAL
Worker wins case for not coming in on Jewish holiday
An employment tribunal has ordered that a firm pay around £26,500 to a Jewish employee who was fired after he did not come to work on Passover. Litigation executive Philip Bialick had booked time in April 2020 as holiday with his firm, Manchester-based NNE Law Limited, but was told to attend the office anyway. Bialick had been absent because of illness and the need to self-isolate, but the firm said it did not allow case handlers to be away from the office for more than two weeks. Employment judge Mark Leach accepted that the firm had a policy of cancelling leave where an employee had been off sick, but he said Bialick suffered as a result compared to non-Jewish colleagues. The firm's objective justification defence failed.
HIRING
Squeeze on hiring in financial services sector
New research from Talent.com reveals that the financial services labour market has experienced an increased shortage of candidates and will continue on this trajectory throughout the year as a result of both COVID-19 and Brexit. The research revealed that, in March of last year, financial occupations experienced a 40% increase in tightness. With a large number of foreign workers in financial service jobs, and the effects of Brexit still yet to fully unfold, analysts are expecting that the tightness in hiring these high-skilled occupations is likely to continue throughout 2022.
HEALTH & SAFETY
Diabetes support moves into the workplace
Employers in the United States are starting to offer coaching to staff in an effort to manage Type 2 diabetes. In 2017, diabetes in the US cost $327bn, according to The American Diabetes Association.
INTERNATIONAL
US companies enlist experts to help workers escape
US corporations, from big banks and law firms to technology companies and nonprofits, are hiring former military and law enforcement professionals to help their workers escape war-torn Ukraine. Bloomberg says “The secretive and often dangerous work, supported by a phalanx of de facto travel agents working phones and PCs, highlights the efforts by employers worldwide . . . to get their people out of a war zone.” Most companies have not said much publicly about their efforts to bring staff to safety, and the security firms which undertake the work have declined to name their clients, citing privacy concerns and the risk to employees. Citigroup said last week that it is helping some of its workers seek refuge in Poland, and Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a staff memo that “in Ukraine, we have been in contact with every employee, assisting them and their families in any way we can.” Others companies are offering to continue paying their workers.
Singapore seeks higher-calibre expats
Singapore is seeking to attract foreign workers with “super skill sets” under a new points-based visa system. Manpower Minister Tan See Leng said: “What we are trying to do is to be able to differentiate the high talent, the really super skill sets talent that can come to our country to work to complement our existing workforce.” The move is part of the government's broader effort to boost local employment. Singapore earlier this month announced one of the biggest overhauls ever to visa rules, set to take effect from September next year, that allows entry of typically highly-paid workers, who will be scored on factors such as education, skills and how their nationality contributes to the diversity of their employer’s workforce. The revised scoring system seeks to address concern about a perceived bias around hiring foreigners. Tan said such resentment against foreigners is not a widespread sentiment. “Rather than open the door and let every single one in, what we are trying to say is . . . let's have a little bit more differentiation,” said Tan, adding that the endgame is one where “the ones that leave get replaced by higher-calibre [Employment Pass holders]” over the next few years.
 


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