Humanoid called Digit fuelled boosterism at Web Summit, but also raised concerns about jobs, safety and climate
This year’s Web Summit, in Lisbon, was all about artificial intelligence – and a robot sorting laundry.
Digit, a humanoid built by the US firm Agility Robotics, demonstrated how far AI has come in a few years by responding to voice commands – filtered through Google’s Gemini AI model – to sift through a pile of coloured T-shirts and place them in a basket.
Continue reading...Dads say rule change granting both parents equal time off has helped build bond between children and fathers
Paternity leaves in Finland have nearly doubled in length after a 2022 reform of the parental leave system, the social benefits agency has said.
The change granted both parents equal amounts of leave for the first time: 160 days each of paid leave, to be used before the child turns two. Sixty-three of the days can be transferred to the other parent, if desired.
Continue reading...Labour shortage is driving up construction costs and stopping industry from building enough homes to ease housing crisis, Master Builders says
Leading construction bodies are urging the government to change its approach to skilled migration and bring in more migrants to ease the shortage of tradies.
Industry bodies say a chronic shortage of workers across 12 different trades is impacting housing prices and affecting the flow of new homes into the market.
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Continue reading...One in six workers has engaged a firm to hand in notice for them, as younger workers reject traditional work ethic
Mari was just two months into her new job when she decided she had had enough. The position at an online bank in Tokyo, found through a staffing agency, had looked like a perfect fit for the 25-year-old, a member of Japan’s legions of temporary workers.
But she quickly became despondent. “On my first day they gave me a thick manual to read, and when I went to my boss with questions he said: ‘What the hell are you asking me that for?’”
Continue reading...Karen Conaghan brought 40 complaints to tribunal including for sexual harassment and victimisation
A woman who sued her former employer over not being given a leaving card lost her case when it was revealed it had been hidden from her after only three people signed it.
Karen Conaghan claimed that the “failure to acknowledge her existence” at IAG, the parent company of British Airways, was a breach of equality law.
Continue reading...Employment rights legislation has been widely heralded by trade unions despite some commitments being watered down
Rogue employers will be targeted by a beefed-up new enforcement agency to protect sweeping changes to rights at work for millions of Britons, set to be outlined in a “watershed” bill published on Friday.
The Fair Work Agency will be created as part of the government’s employment rights legislation, which will include stronger protections against unfair dismissal and exploitative contracts.
Continue reading...Improvements to workers’ rights to include day-one universal sick pay and an end to zero-hours contracts and fire and rehire
Labour’s employment rights bill is the biggest step towards enacting one of its key election offers: to make sweeping changes to rights at work and improve pay. Here are the main details of the legislation, though much of it will take more than two years to consult on and implement.
Guidance – but not legislation – on the right to switch off, preventing employees from being contacted out of hours, except in exceptional circumstances.
Legislation to end pay discrimination, which is expected to come separately in a draft bill that will include measures to make it mandatory for large employers to report their ethnicity and disability pay gap.
A consultation on a move towards a single status of worker – one of the most important changes that has been left out of the bill, which Labour sources have said needs a much longer consultation period.
Reviews into the parental leave and carers’ leave systems.
Continue reading...Trade union leaders meet ministers for final talks on employment rights bill before unveiling on Thursday
Labour can use its overhaul of workers’ rights to win over disaffected Tory and Reform voters, the TUC has said, as the government prepares to introduce landmark legislation that will grant new rights to 7 million workers.
Trade union leaders met ministers on Tuesday for final discussions on the employment rights bill before its announcement on Thursday.
Continue reading...Leadership contender’s team in damage control mode after she is criticised for saying burden on business is ‘excessive’
Kemi Badenoch’s campaign was in damage control mode on the first day of Conservative party conference, as rival candidates criticised comments she made on maternity pay, saying the burden on business was “excessive” and that people should exercise more “personal responsibility”.
Badenoch, the frontrunner among party members in the four-way contest, was forced to twice clarify the comments and emphasise that she “of course” believed in maternity pay. But the comments were seized upon by other candidates, who distanced themselves from Badenoch’s words.
Continue reading...Labour leader says there should be more support to help people back into jobs, vowing to do ‘everything we can to tackle worklessness’
People who have been on long-term sickness leave and claiming benefits will need get back into the workplace “where they can”, Keir Starmer has said.
The prime minister said he wants more schemes across the country that support people back into work from long-term sickness because he believes in the “basic proposition that you should look for work”.
Continue reading...Amazon has told staff they must return five days a week – but experts don’t all agree that flexible working cuts output
Four years ago when the world of work was upended by the Covid pandemic, confident predictions were made that a permanent shift in remote working would follow the removal of lockdown restrictions.
Much has clearly changed since. Some of the earliest preachers of the brave new teleworking world – including the US tech companies Google and Microsoft – are among the most vocal to repent.
Continue reading...Other perks including nine-day fortnight and more planning time at home offered to attract recruits
Teachers in England are being offered a range of incentives to make the job more appealing, including two free periods a week to give them a lie-in, a nine-day fortnight and more planning time at home to help with work-life balance.
An escalating crisis in teacher recruitment and retention is forcing schools and academy trusts to come up with novel ways to attract new recruits into the profession and keep experienced staff in front of classes.
Continue reading...About 1,000 of those affected work in London and 4,500 at the bank’s new Milton Keynes headquarters
Santander has joined the ranks of employers herding reluctant British workers back to the coalface, telling office staff they must turn up in person for at least three days a week on average.
While the bank’s back-office staff will still be able to work from home more regularly than before the pandemic, the minimum requirement now tips the balance in favour of the traditional workplace rather than home.
Continue reading...Employees have lost out on holiday pay worth £2bn, according to new trade union research
Workers across Britain have lost out on holiday pay worth £2bn, with more than a million people going without a single day of paid time off, according to new research.
With unions gathering in Brighton this weekend for the first TUC conference under a Labour administration for 15 years, the body revealed new research showing the extent to which workers are being denied holiday pay. Workers are entitled to 28 days paid leave for a typical five-day week.
Continue reading...Chris Ellison, of Perth-based mining firm Mineral Resources, has already banned working from home
A billionaire mining boss who has already banned home working has said he does not want staff to step out of the office for coffee either.
Chris Ellison, the managing director of Mineral Resources, said the industry could not afford to continue down the path of flexible working, and that his company was investing in amenities at the firm’s head office in Perth, Western Australia, to keep people from leaving the building.
Continue reading...Research for South Western Railway finds passengers who listened to natural soundscapes reported 35% reduction in stress levels
At the end of summer even adults suffer that “back to school” feeling as they resume stressful commutes on packed trains. But instead of listening to a podcast or music, opting for a nature soundtrack of birdsong or waterfalls could be the key to a “zen” commute, according to a study.
The research, undertaken by South Western Railway (SWR) on one of its trains and analysed by Charles Spence, a professor of experimental psychology at the University of Oxford, measured the impact of listening to nature soundscapes on passengers’ stress levels and relaxation.
Continue reading...Woman claims APM threatened to cut off her jobseeker payment after she refused to sign false time sheet. APM denies any wrongdoing
One of the country’s biggest job providers is accused of pressuring a jobseeker to sign a false description of her employment status, an alleged deception which would have triggered a publicly funded payment to the company.
The Victorian woman, who did not want to be named, claims the employment service provider APM asked her to sign paperwork confirming she had worked four weeks when she had actually spent months on sick leave. APM has strongly denied any wrongdoing.
Continue reading...Rising bill largely result of ‘staggering’ levels of presenteeism causing loss of productivity
The hidden cost of rising workplace sickness in the UK has increased to more than £100bn a year, largely caused by a loss of productivity amid “staggering” levels of presenteeism, a report warns.
Analysis by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) shows the cost of staff sickness has grown by £30bn a year to £103bn in 2023. The annual bill was £73bn in 2018, its study found.
Continue reading...Party’s deputy leader says Fair Work Agency will have the power to inspect workplaces and levy fines
Labour will create a watchdog with “real teeth” that has the power to prosecute and fine companies that breach the rights of their employees as part of its plans to strengthen workers’ rights.
Angela Rayner, the party’s deputy leader, told the Observer that she would create a new body, the Fair Work Agency, to oversee her proposals. She said that millions of workers could be losing out on basic rights as a result of underenforcement.
Continue reading...Some employers emboldened by ruling against FCA manager’s claim over working at home full-time
Lawyers and HR experts expect an increase in employment tribunal cases as companies increasingly clamp down on working from home and staff become resentful that the flexibility they have enjoyed since the pandemic is being slowly rolled back.
A number of companies are now advocating a full five-day return to the office, with others enforcing a minimum number of days in the workplace. Administrative staff at Boots, who previously worked in the office three days a week, will return to the office five days a week from September. Many US banks, such as Goldman Sachs, also expect senior staff to come in for the full week, and its chief executive, David Solomon, labelled remote working an “aberration”.
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