Human Times

UK Edition

11th March 2026

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THE HOT STORY

Study finds pattern of 'AI brain fry'

A study published in Harvard Business Review suggests that instead of making work easier, AI may be giving some workers what researchers are calling "brain fry." As businesses use more multi-agent systems, employees are finding themselves toggling between more tools, and contrary to the promise of having more time to focus on meaningful work, juggling and multitasking could be set to become the definitive features of working with AI. AI brain fry, defined as "mental fatigue that results from excessive use of, interaction with, and/or oversight of AI tools beyond one's cognitive capacity," was most commonly reported by employees in marketing, HR, operations, engineering, finance and IT in the study.

Harvard Business Review

CBS News

PAY COMPLIANCE

Navigating the Pay Transparency and ERA Revolution

British employers are facing a transformative period as the Employment Rights Act 2025 and evolving pay transparency standards redefine the workplace. From the removal of Statutory Sick Pay waiting periods to the shift toward mandatory gender pay gap action plans, the burden of compliance has never been heavier.

Access the ERA Essentials: Statutory Sick Pay eligibility

LEGAL

Harrods still has questions to answer about Fayed abuse

Bloomberg says London luxury department store Harrods is still facing questions related to the serial sexual abuse of women by former owner Mohamed Al Fayed. Harrods' own investigation, using law firm Linklaters and a barrister, into whether staff knew about Fayed’s behaviour is concluding this month - but a separate negotiation with hundreds of women represented by a law firm has no fixed date for conclusion. Meanwhile, a soon-to-be-launched campaign group, Justice For Fayed and Harrods Survivors, will call for more accountability, including potentially a public inquiry.

Bloomberg

Tribunal awards manager £12k over social media snub

A tribunal in Cardiff has awarded £12,000 to a Sainsbury’s manager who said he suffered hurt feelings after being excluded from a social media post celebrating male leaders on International Men’s Day. Darren Cooper, who was on leave for anxiety at the time, said the omission left him feeling excluded, humiliated and violated.

Daily Mail

The Daily Telegraph

The I

WORKPLACE

UK’s Best Employers 2026: ranking

The Financial Times has published the second UK’s Best Employers ranking, which lists 500 companies following a survey from a sample of about 20,000 employees. The University of Cambridge tops the ranking.

Financial Times

WORKFORCE

Asda awards bonuses despite missed targets

Asda is awarding bonuses to around 9,500 salaried employees despite some teams failing to meet performance targets during the retailer’s ongoing turnaround. The payments will go to head office staff and senior store leaders who joined before October 2025. In a memo to employees, Asda chairman Allan Leighton said the bonuses recognise staff efforts during a challenging year. Employees who met targets will receive full bonuses, while others will receive just over a quarter of their potential payout. The move comes after the supermarket previously cancelled manager bonuses and amid declining market share. Asda’s grocery share has fallen to 11.5%, although recent industry data suggests sales declines are beginning to moderate as the turnaround progresses.

The Daily Telegraph

HIRING

Big rise in UK employers losing migrant worker licences after Home Office crackdown

The number of employers losing their licence to sponsor migrant workers tripled at the end of 2025 as the Home Office tightened its enforcement of immigration rules, according to official figures.

Financial Times

ECONOMY

UK consumer spending growth slows in February as inflation concerns weigh on sentiment

UK consumer spending rose 1.1% year-on-year in February, up slightly from 0.8% in January, but overall growth remained subdued as households grew more pessimistic about the economic outlook, according to a Barclays survey. Concerns that escalating conflict in the Middle East could push up fuel prices, energy bills and inflation weighed on confidence, with nearly half of consumers saying they were cutting energy use, saving more or delaying major purchases.

Bloomberg

Reuters

INTERNATIONAL

Wall Street banks offer UAE staff option to relocate temporarily

Wall Street banks including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup are allowing employees in the UAE to work remotely due to the ongoing conflict in the region. “This is an unsettling time for people across the Middle East, and we continue take measures to support our colleagues and our clients,” a spokesperson for Citigroup said. “We are permitting some Middle East-based colleagues to work remotely from other geographies on a temporary basis while also maintaining enough on-the-ground support to service our clients.” But while some firms have offered temporary relocations, one bank said the uptake has been very limited, and employees may not receive compensation for moving.

Business Times SG

Volkswagen to cut 50,000 jobs in Germany by 2030

Volkswagen plans to cut 50,000 jobs in Germany by 2030 amid sliding profits and tough global competition. "In total, around 50,000 jobs are due to be cut by 2030 across the Volkswagen Group in Germany," Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume said in a letter to shareholders in the firm's annual report. The carmaker had already struck a deal with unions at the end of 2024 to cut 35,000 jobs by 2030. Volkswagen was “operating in a fundamentally different environment,” which required “continuing our disciplined work on saving costs,” Blume said.

IOL

Financial Times

Thai government officials told to work from home to save fuel

Thailand's cabinet is telling most government agencies to adopt full work-from-home arrangements to curb energy demand. Ministers have also called on government officials to suspend non-essential overseas travel, and are seeking voluntary cooperation from the private sector to promote energy conservation. Thailand relies heavily on imported crude, particularly from the Middle East. Mandatory steps for the private sector are possible if the situation in the Gulf further deteriorates. The Philippines has also mandated a four-day work week for government offices in an attempt to save on energy.

Bloomberg

Italy 'has not yet achieved equality between the sexes'

Italian President Sergio Mattarella has said that Italy has not yet achieved equality between the sexes, adding that this would only come about when women are no longer expected to behave like men to do their jobs. At a ceremony for International Women's Day, Mattarella said: "How many resources, how much talent we have lost over the years" for failing to give equal opportunities to women. "The challenge concerns millions of women, workers, professionals, mothers. The journey can only be said to be complete when women are no longer asked to adopt male behaviour patterns in various areas of society in order to have their role, abilities, and qualities recognized . . . Until this happens, there will continue to be a loss of values and opportunities for Italian society as a whole."

ANSA.it

OTHER

Brain cells are running data centres in Singapore and Melbourne

Australia-based biotech startup Cortical Labs is working on two small data centres run by human brain cells. The experiment could one day challenge the use of semiconductors from the likes of Nvidia. The company is building facilities in Melbourne and Singapore to house its biological computers, known as CL1 units, which consume a fraction of the power used by conventional AI processors. The computing capacity of Cortical Labs’ systems is modest, but the company has so far taught its brain cells to play the computer game Doom.

Bloomberg

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