DEBATE: Can you truly nurture talent in a virtual office set up? March 19, 2021 Tom Harvey, Managing Director of Spoke says No While our team have done a brilliant job at home, won new clients and delivered great projects, home-working is no substitute for being together in person. As a creative agency that delivers film, animation, design, illustration and photography, all of our work requires collaboration and a range [...]
Hybrid work: flexibility must be at the core of the future of work but not at the expense of culture March 19, 2021 Earlier this week, Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey predicted a “hybrid” model would come to shape the way we work, with employees splitting their time between the home and office. He doesn’t expect working practice to return to pre-Covid. Over the last few years, advances in technology had already made remote working a possibility, [...]
Screenshot: Who’s invited to the UK’s summer of fun? March 19, 2021 This week **Media Moment of the Week: No 10’s power vacuum **Who’s invited to the UK’s summer of fun? **BT gets a broadband boost Media Moment of the Week: No 10’s power vacuum There are two main things to remember when unveiling your grand £2.6m briefing room to the world: make sure it doesn’t look [...]
In a face off against FinTech, traditional face-to-face banks must become more bespoke than ever March 19, 2021 There’s no doubt digital banking is in demand. Last year, $4.1bn was invested into FinTech in the UK, accounting for just under half of Europe’s FinTech investment. Since lockdown began this has continued to grow, with a 72 per cent rise in the use of FinTech apps in Europe as a result of pandemic restrictions. [...]
Sadiq Khan: London’s Covid recovery must fight injustice and promote a greener capital March 19, 2021 London has faced many difficult times before, but there’s no doubt that the last year has been one of the most testing, traumatic and turbulent periods in our city’s history. In 1945, Londoners rebuilt and renewed, working together to forge a more equal society from the ruins of war. They wanted to ensure that our [...]
Vaccine passports for pubs threaten Britain’s crucial libertarian credentials March 18, 2021 To say we live in very strange times is an understatement. While words like unprecedented make less of an impact after a year of living with Coronavirus policies, it’s important that in our eagerness to get society back, we don’t turn ourselves into a nation dominated by security, surveillance and over regulation. Going to prison [...]
Uber’s treatment of workers wasn’t sustainable, but the ruling shouldn’t be the downfall of the gig economy March 18, 2021 This week we saw Uber’s lengthy court battle with regulation come to an end, as the Supreme Court ruled that it must classify its drivers as workers, entitling them to minimum pay, holiday and pensions. The debate around the welfare of gig economy employees has been on the agenda for a good few years now, [...]
There is no defence for air passenger duty; it is a regressive tax which hurts the poor and does nothing for climate change March 18, 2021 Such has been the tax-raising, big-spending nature of the Budget and its aftermath that those who prefer low taxes and a small state have to find the rays of light where we can. The Chancellor’s willingness to cut the domestic rate of air passenger duty should be seen in this light – it is a [...]
Dominic Cummings’ committee hearing shows why he didn’t last in government March 17, 2021 Dominic Cummings’ Westminster committee hearing today was a vintage performance. One for the purists, Cummings hit on some of his favourite topics as he lashed out at the Whitehall blob, name dropped obscure scientific figures and made a case for Aria, the UK’s new science agency. As he spoke of the need for “very odd people” [...]
DEBATE: Should employees be given extra mental health sick days? March 17, 2021 David Collington, Head of Benefits Consultancy at Barnett Waddingham, says NO Mental health has rightly shot to the top of risk registers across the country, and is a core threat to the functioning of our businesses, economy and society if left unattended. But our focus should not be on extra “mental health sick days”. It’s [...]