THE HUB RETAIL RECRUITMENT’S RETAIL RECRUITMENT WEEKLY NEWS SNIPPETS
- Date: 2 February 2017
- Posted By: admin
Welcome to the first day of February. The weather is dank – but don’t despair, spring is definitely on its way: the afternoons are starting to stretch out; snowdrops are appearing; and there’s Easter eggs in the shops. Oh yes, they’ve been there since 1st January!
To brighten up your day, we’re bringing you some top stories of the week: Tesco closing in on Booker; Ken Morrison dies; Consumer confidence holding up; London pay down by 3.9%; and Flexible working is Number One.
Tesco closing in on Booker: in the wake of its continued renaissance under the leadership of Dave Lewis, Tesco has plans for expansion – cash and carry Bookers, which includes Londis and Budgens, in a deal costing £3.7b! Although this expansion amounts to only 2% of the grocery market, the acquisition is likely to be referred to the Competition and Markets Authority as Tesco is already the biggest grocer in the UK with a market share of 30%.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/01/29/tescos-one-stop-scrutinised-booker-deal/
Sir Ken Morrison dies: we can’t mention Morrison’s without sending our sympathies to the family of Sir Ken, who died today at the age of 85. Sir Ken’s father started the company back in 1899, with Sir Ken taking over in 1956 what was then a few shops in Yorkshire. He turned the company into the national supermarket we know today stepping down as chairman in 2008 – that’s 52 years of service. Wow.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/feb/01/sir-ken-morrison-dies-morrisons-supermarket-tycoon
Consumer confidence holding up: whilst our exit from the EU starts its passage through Parliament this week, with MPs voting for the requisite legislation this evening, the effect on consumer spending has yet to hit. This article reports on Deloitte’s consumer confidence indicators which show that, because we’re feeling more confident about the job market as employment is so high, and many of us have seen our real pay increase, and business confidence is also more positive, our confidence as consumers is higher, so we’re spending more than we were a year ago. Read this article and see what you think – note the health warning about our use of credit climbing again.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/01/30/consumer-confidence-remains-high-households-keep-spending/
London pay down by 3.9%: according to a report by Adzuna, advertised salaries has dropped by 3.9%. It also said that the number of jobs advertised were down by 4.8%. However, outside London, advertised salaries were holding up better, so that overall they rose by 0.3%. Whilst advertised salaries dropped in London, it is of course where most of the jobs are, with 25% of those advertised being in the capital, although there is a shift of moving jobs to other parts of the country, as explained in this article.
Flexible working is Number One: another report says that 67% of those surveyed would move to a new business for flexible working. The report also contains other statistics which demonstrate the fact that whilst good pay is always a must in deciding on a job, it’s the other benefits that determine which business we join – in other words, if we were offered 2 jobs, both on the same pay, we’d go for the one that has the best total package and benefits. Which is obvious. But it means that if your business is serious about talent management, you’re going to have to go that extra mile on employee benefits to attract the best people. This article sets out more details from Equiniti’s report.
https://www.employeebenefits.co.uk/issues/february-online-2017/67-employee-benefits-impact-decision-move-employer/
Another Wednesday News Snippets comes to an end. We hope you found something of interest – please do let us know if you did, or not. Your feedback is important to us. We’ll be back here again next Wednesday, 8th February, and look forward to you joining us then.