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Recent Editions
Human Times
North America
Matt Garman, the CEO of Amazon's AWS unit, has defended the company's new 5-day-per-week in-office policy and suggested those who do not wish to work in-office five days per week can quit. "If there are people who just don't work well in that environment and don't want to, that's okay, there are other companies around," said Garman. "By the way, I don't mean that in a bad way," he said, adding "we want to be in an environment where we're working together." Garman said nine out of 10 workers he has spoken with support the new policy, which takes effect in January. "When we want to really, really innovate on interesting products, I have not seen an ability for us to do that when we're not in-person," he said at an all-hands meeting. The company has been enforcing a three-day in-office policy, but CEO Andy Jassy said last month that Amazon would move to five days to "invent, collaborate and be connected."
Full Issue
Human Times
UK
The number of internships available for students and college leavers has dropped by 30% this year. Traditionally, October is peak internship application season, but there are only 3,817 internship opportunities currently advertised, compared to almost 5,500 a year ago. Growing sectors include defence, energy, and engineering, but IT, finance, and legal firms have seen a significant drop. UK internship rates are under half of those in the US, leaving British students disadvantaged in an increasingly global market. Internships provide insight into different parts of the business and exposure to different teams, but obtaining a place is harder for students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds or without networks in their chosen sector. Leading organisations are gradually widening access to internships, offering options such as one- to three-day 'insight days,' winter internships, and spring courses.
Full Issue
Human Times
Europe
The meat industry in the Netherlands is under scrutiny for its treatment of foreign workers, who are said to be disproportionately affected by unfair dismissals. According to data from the employee insurance agency UWV, in 2023, 83% of the 4,237 agency workers summarily dismissed were foreign nationals, a significant increase from two-thirds in 2020. The Socialist Party (SP) has highlighted these alarming statistics, revealing that some agencies have dismissed over 20% of their workers in multiple years. In one instance, more than 80% of migrant workers were sacked on the spot in 2021, compared to a national average of just 0.56%. The Dutch labour inspectorate has raised concerns that agencies are systematically firing workers to evade compensation costs, saving between €1m and €5m over four years.
Full Issue
Human Times
Middle East
A global survey by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) has found that most accountants see ethical challenges growing more complex throughout their profession as technology speeds the expansion of businesses worldwide. Nearly one in four accountants (24%) have faced pressure to act unethically during the past three years, while 55% of finance executives have witnessed unethical behaviour during their careers. Respondents identified a full range of unethical practices, including tax avoidance, pressure to manipulate financial statements, bribery, and weak governance and accountability. “These insights underscore the need for robust ethical leadership and culture in organisations, and ongoing learning and development to support professional accountants in navigating these challenges,” Sarah Lane, ACCA head of ethics and assurance, said.
Full Issue
Read the latest HR highlights
How HR is Tackling Long Covid?
Fingers remain tightly crossed around the world that the rampant hospitalization and fatality stage of the Covid-19 pandemic has generally peaked. Vaccination programmes are accelerating, and restrictions are gradually being lifted...
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ESG Is Not Just Another Name For CSR
Back in the distant 1980s if you wanted to demonstrate your environmental and ethical credentials it was sufficient to shop at or purchase shares in retailer The Body Shop. The charismatic Anita Roddick, founder of the “hippy” tinged retail chain, heralded a new age of environmental concern, caring capitalism and corporate awareness that evolved into what became known as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). CSR was much talked about and lauded, but in reality often ended up being a lot of a hot air (excuse the pun) and often never progressed much beyond a footnote in the annual report.
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Have Older Workers Paid The Highest COVID-19 Price?
Across the world the pandemic is slowly but surely moving into its next phase. Recovery beckons. As furlough schemes across the U.S. and U.K. are being wound down, restrictions eased or lifted, and workforces moving back up the gears, early signs indicate that older employees are more likely to be casualties of the pandemic aftermath than their younger colleagues. Here at the we have witnessed an increasing number of stories supporting the growing belief that older workers are disproportionately paying the highest Covid-19 price.
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Bosses. What's not to like? Plenty, say employees
“You’ll never have another boss like me, someone who’s basically a chilled-out entertainer”
So said, David Brent, the fictional manager of Slough-based paper merchant Wernham Hogg in the seminal TV comedy The Office. Ricky Gervais’s portrayal of Brent as a flawed, narcissistic, incompetent, and deluded manager was so well observed that many (including me) believed it was a genuine fly-on-the-wall documentary when they alighted accidentally on the first ever episode.
Rolling with the Payroll
To mark National Payroll Week the team at the Human Times has provided some insight into the industry that we hope you’ll find useful.
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