As many of us swelter and watch the football and dream of holidays, some are planning Christmas parties. Meanwhile, a new World Cup hero is hailed, thanks to LinkedIn LinkedIn is a bit like a Facebook for business. Some use it to genuinely network; others to find work. Some use it … well, just to
Reports about high youth unemployment sit alongside surveys showing persistent skills shortages. Robin Adda looks at how we can solve the conundrum where young people can’t find work and employers can’t find talent. The latest report from Skills England paints a worrying picture of the UK labour market. Employers continue to report persistent skills shortages across
The UK jobs market showed signs of resilience in May despite continuing economic and political uncertainty, with the number of active job vacancies rising modestly. According to the latest Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) Labour Market Tracker, there were 1.62 million active job postings across the UK in May, up 0.8% from April and 8%
With the World Cup finals in the USA now well under way, HR experts are continuing to warn organisations over the potential for workplace disruption because of absences and ‘banter’. Lisa Patmore, employment partner at Dorsey & Whitney, warned that many employees were now shaping their schedules according to the football schedule rather than by
Major changes in how C-suite roles are structured are needed in response to the rise of AI, the chief executive of Accenture UK and Ireland has said, with HR directors taking the lead. Matt Prebble said HR directors will have to take responsibility for managing AI agents alongside human staff in future. He told the
Businesses continue to be more cautious in recruiting new staff as official labour market figures continue to show a falling number of vacancies. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) found that early job vacancy estimates for March to May suggest a decrease of 19,000 (2.6%) vacancies to 707,000, compared with December to February. This is
Online electrical retailer AO World is offshoring up to 200 UK call centre roles to South Africa despite an increase in profits. The retailer said the move was “in response to ongoing inflationary cost pressures, and particularly rising employment costs”. It said it expected to save about £4m a year as a result of the
UK chief executives still tend to be over-50 and male, research has suggested, with British boardrooms continuing to fall short when it comes to promoting youth and diversity compared with their European counterparts. The Route to the Top Europe 2026 report, by executive search company Heidrick & Struggles, concluded just 8% of UK chief executive
Usage of HMRC’s Check Employment Status for Tax (Cest) tool fell by a further 43% during the 2025-26 tax year, continuing a dramatic downward trend that has seen overall usage collapse by 71% in just two years. A freedom of information request by off-payroll compliance specialist IR35 Shield revealed that the latest figures show total
Over a quarter of workers think managers and unions are failing to prevent conflict, according to a new survey by Acas. The conciliation service polled a sample of businesses and employees ahead of expanded rights for trade unions at work through the Employment Rights Act 2025. Twenty-six per cent of employees thought that managers and
