Ikea creating a happy home for workers too as firm embraces living wage July 28, 2015 One of the crucial aspects of the chancellor’s Budget was the commitment to raise the living wage for over 25s to £9 per hour by the year 2020, a rise from the current rate of £7.20. Our immediate post-Budget research showed the policy to be very popular – across supporters of all of the [...]
“Catastrophic failure”: Careworkers’ warning to George Osborne on minimum wage July 27, 2015 The government has been warned that George Osborne’s new minimum wage for carers could prove to be a “catastrophic failure” if all costs are not fully funded. In a letter to parliament, the UK Homecare Association (UHA) said it welcomed the government’s commitment to low-paid workers, but said it estimates that “to address the existing [...]
Tough love: Britain could slash unemployment by time-limiting benefits July 27, 2015 Most talk of welfare is about how much we spend. Far too little is about how we actually spend it, but this is what really determines whether it does what we want or not. Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) is a very small part of the £217bn per year we spend on welfare, costing around £5bn annually. [...]
London rental prices: Renters on living wage priced out of every postcode in the capital July 27, 2015 Exorbitant room rents are pricing low-paid workers out of all parts of London, as new data shows that there is no longer a single postcode in the capital where you can afford to live on the London living wage. On average, renters earning a living wage put more than half of their salary, 56 per [...]
Middle Eastern firm VPS Healthcare makes UK foray with promise to create 2,000 jobs and reopen Royal Masonic Hospital July 26, 2015 A Middle Eastern healthcare giant is making its first foray into the UK after pledging to reopen the Royal Masonic Hospital in Hammersmith as a new cancer centre, creating 2,000 jobs. VPS Healthcare was founded by Indian doctor and entrepreneur Dr Shamsheer Vayalil, who opened his first hospital in Abu Dhabi in 2007. The group [...]
Professional job sector boom is led by finance and engineering July 26, 2015 The finance industry is leading the way in a professional sector jobs boom, new figures show today. Professional recruitment firms now have 12 per cent more vacancies on their books than this time last year, according to survey data from the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (Apsco). The number of permanent jobs available rose the [...]
Flexi-time and compressed hours on the rise as City firms ditch 9 to 5 to compete with fintech July 26, 2015 City employers are loosening their ties and becoming less rigid over staff working hours, according to research that shows a jump in the number of workers being given more flexibility. A third of men working in the City (34 per cent) say they now have some flexibility over the hours they work, either through flexi-time [...]
These are the best British employers for work-life balance: Euromonitor International, Bank of England and MediaMath July 24, 2015 We all know that the 24/7 business cycle, a globalised working environment and technology such as smart phones pushes our workload outside of typical 9-5 hours. But if you're fed up of the blurred line between work and play, then Glassdoor has put together a list of Britain's best employers for work-life balance. A recent [...]
Tony Blair’s obsession with “going to uni” is to blame for the UK’s apprentice problem – but we can’t afford to be sniffy July 23, 2015 Let’s face it, the UK has an apprentice problem. Whether we’re dissecting Lord Sugar’s latest line-up of hopefuls or wringing hands at the thought of our kids becoming one, as a nation we look down on apprentices. How far the government’s commitment to creating three million new apprenticeships by 2020 will change things, is [...]
Cost of London office space set to soar amid supply shortages July 22, 2015 Office space is in short supply, putting upward pressure on prices, a new survey of property surveyors reveals today. In central London, 60 per cent more surveyors are seeing a rise rather than fall in demand across all areas, the research undertaken by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) said. As a [...]