THE HUB RETAIL RECRUITMENT’S MONTHLY NEWSROUND
- Date: 31 August 2016
- Posted By: admin
So summer is drawing to a close, with signs that Autumn is on its way. Then let’s celebrate the month of August with The Hub Retail Recruitment’s Monthly Newsround. Despite being ‘the silly season’ for news, we’ve got 5 top stories for you: Consumer confidence riding high; BHS closes its doors; Record foreign investment; The Team GB gold rush; 1000s of pregnant women and mothers being forced out of their jobs; and Employment Tribunal results to be published online.
Consumer confidence riding high: The consumer index jumped by 3.2 points in August, the biggest jump in 3 years. However, the index hasn’t recovered fully from its dip in July in the wake of Brexit. But commentators are starting to say that the predicted doom and gloom after the EU referendum has yet to materialise. That’s not to say it won’t. And certainly sterling has yet to recover – although there are advantages to a lower exchange rate for such things as exports as the Euro is getting more bang for its bucks. But let’s stay optimistic and hope that, as Theressa May today chairs the first Cabinet after its summer recess, and our exit from the EU is high on the agenda, the advantages are established and the negatives addressed.
https://www.retail-week.com/sectors/general-merchandise/consumer-confidence-grows-fastest-since-2013-as-brexit-jitters-ease/7011549.article
BHS closes its doors: Although we all knew it was happening – especially as our local stores closed one by one – it still made headline news when the final doors closed after 88 years trading on our High Streets. All summer long we have tracked the twists and turns of Sir Philip Green’s hand in this sorry tale, his run-ins with the Parliamentary committee, and of course not helping his position when holidaying on his luxury yacht. We hope that, as the retailer is no more, the issues raised by this scandal will not just disappear and only be aired again when there’s another casualty on our High Street.
Record foreign investment: As with our first story today, another good sign of the post-Brexit effect is the record foreign investment made in the UK as the number of projects being funded from abroad hit record levels. Up 11% on the previous year, putting the UK at the top of the EU countries attracting foreign investment. The countries making the biggest investments are the US, China and India. Will this change as/if Brexit bites? Hopefully not as the UK is not only attractive because its a member of the EU, but also because we have good tax rates and a strong legal system. Those two things won’t be changing, so we should be able to count on investment continuing.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-37216175
The Team GB gold rush: Whatever you think about the amount of financial investment in sport, watching the outstanding performance of Team GB in its 67 – 27 of which were gold – medal haul must have given us all some degree of joy. So many great stories and moments of pride. The issue of the money though does go on, as demonstrated in these two articles – one suggests that useful lessons can be learnt for making Brexit as successful as we’ve done with our athletes. Both make interesting reading, but are based on the need for targeting financial investment to improve productivity – if we can do it in sport, why not for our economy?
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/19/investing-olympics-medals-industry-team-gb
1000s of pregnant women and mothers being forced out of their jobs: Right at the top of the news this morning is the shocking report that says the number of women leaving work because they’re pregnant or new mothers has nearly doubled since 2005. Further, the report says this is more prevalent in lower paid groups and those on fixed term or zero hours contracts. Whilst the Parliamentary report is welcomed, experts say it doesn’t go far enough in its recommendations – more protection for pregnant women, such as making it illegal to terminate women whilst pregnant or four months after the birth; removing or reducing the cost of taking a claim to an Employment Tribunal which is currently £1200. They point to Sweden as a great example of how equalising working conditions makes a huge difference to productivity – the 6 hour day has been really successful there, as has the excellent shared paternity conditions both of which make a real difference to parents sharing the care of their children. There is no doubt that we are losing great talent, and in a country that prides itself on being progressive, this just goes to show that for women we are anything but.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-37222674
Tribunal results to be published online: Following hot on the heels of the previous story, perhaps the online publication of all Employment Tribunal (ET) results will make employers stop and think about the reputational damage caused by a claim being bought – even if it isn’t won. But neither are we saying that an employer with a strong defence should fear defending it. It is a matter of looking at the risks – and with an ET claim, the two main factors are: how strong is the case; and how will it damage an organisation to have it made public. With the charge for making a claim now standing at £1200, many prospective applicants are being deterred from doing so – down by 70%. There are differing views about whether this is a good or bad thing, certainly cases being bought have to be strong in order to make the risk of spending £1200 worth it. But then it is also deterring cases that should be bought but which low paid workers just can’t afford to bring. There are calls for it to be reduced or abolished, so another one to watch.
We hope you’ve enjoyed out top August stories. With September round the corner – kids back to school, family holidays over – the next few months are bound to be interesting, particularly as we start to negotiate our terms to leave the EU, and embrace the benefits this could bring whilst mitigating as best as possible the negative effects. We will of course be back here next Wednesday, 7th September with our usual Weekly News Snippets. So enjoy the final days of summer until then.