Business

The professional recruitment market has continued to perform exceptionally well with increases in year-on-year vacancy and placement figures, while monthly data points towards a recruitment sector recovering exceptionally well from the pandemic. However, employers must be more creative at attracting top talent amid chronic skills shortages. That’s according to the latest Recruitment Trends Snapshot report from The Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSCo).

The data, provided by growth analytics experts cube19, revealed perhaps unsurprisingly that year-on-year metrics for permanent vacancies and placements showed marked increases – up 39% and 91% respectively – which is entirely reflective of the easing of restrictions over the summer of 2020 which was quickly followed by the Government reintroducing working from home and a 10pm curfew for the hospitality sector in the latter part of September.

However, the fact that both permanent and contract vacancies increased between August and September 2021 – up 13% and 7% respectively – is indicative of the widely reported skills shortages across the professional sector which continue to drive demand for talent. This is in line with the latest data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which shows vacancies hit record highs between July and September.

APSCo’s data continues to reveal the ongoing reliance placed on professional staffing firms by employers as demand for talent drives hiring activity with sales revenue for both permanent and contract placements up 2% and 16% month-on-month. With widespread reports of skills shortages, coupled with the UKs post Brexit immigration policy exacerbating this issue, employers are having to be more creative in their talent attraction strategies in a post Covid environment where talent is demanding more from companies than salary alone. This is in keeping with the latest research from APSCo member Reed.co.uk which suggests that businesses need to adapt their offerings in accordance with new priorities shaped by the pandemic.

Commenting on the data Ann Swain, Chief Executive of APSCo said:

“We’re seeing a continued demand for new skills across the professional staffing sector that is both positive and concerning. While it’s encouraging to see vacancy and placement numbers increasing, we’re all too aware that skills shortages are rife across every industry. Where there’s a limited availability of skills – and an unattractive visa route that fails to encourage non-UK nationals into employment in the country – employers are going to have to be more creative at attracting top talent. Salary is obviously a major draw but increasingly, benefits that facilitate flexible working and a work life balance are becoming increasingly sought after. While the staffing sector is equipped to support UK employers as the economy continues to bounce back, in the current environment, securing the best skills is going to require the appropriate investment – and that’s not always just about money.”

Joe McGuire, Chief Revenue Office at cube19 says:

“After seeing the growth numbers revised up, it is encouraging but maybe not surprising to see these stats rising again. There is a significantly growing demand for contractors and in spite of perm vacancies still trending behind pre-pandemic levels, perm placements are at an all-time high, which is indicative of a candidate short market. There are some clear challenges in front of us but we remain positive that the professional recruitment market will remain buoyant for some time.”

BENGALURU (Reuters) – Shares of India’s Tata Motors rose nearly 20% on Wednesday, a day after the Jaguar and Land Rover owner raised funds from private equity firm TPG and said it would invest over $2 billion in its electric vehicle (EV) business over the next five years.

Tata Motors said on Tuesday TPG’s Rise Climate Fund and Abu Dhabi state holding company ADQ had agreed to invest about $1 billion to expand the company’s EV business for which it would form a separate unit.

The fundraising is the first major one by an Indian carmaker in the EV space when global automakers such as General Motors, Volkswagen and Toyota Motor are spending heavily to speed up EV adoption.

The move to set up a separate EV subsidiary and get funding from leading private equity players like TPG would give Tata Motors access to TPG’s network of world-class EV capabilities to further fine-tune its strategy, Ambit Capital analysts said in a note.

India intends for EVs to make up 30% of total car sales by 2030 from less than 1% at present to reduce its oil dependence and cut pollution. To achieve the target, the government has launched several incentive schemes including one for setting up local battery manufacturing.

Large investments, more product options and favourable government policies will accelerate the pace of EV adoption in India, Emkay Global analysts said in a note.

Tata Motors is India’s top electric car seller with sports utility vehicle Nexon and Tigor compact EV, and plans to launch 10 new electric models by 2025. But several companies, including India’s top carmaker Maruti Suzuki, have yet to enter the space.

Tata’s move also comes at a time when Tesla Inc, the world’s biggest electric carmaker, is preparing to launch its cars in India.

Shares of Tata Motors have gained about 48% so far this month, hitting an over 4-1/2-year high on Wednesday. With a 168% year-to-date surge, the stock has outperformed the broader Nifty auto index, which has gained about 28%.

(Reporting by Nallur Sethuraman in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)

By Jamie Freed and Aradhana Aravindan

SYDNEY/SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Asia-Pacific airlines have lost billions of dollars this year, with jets grounded in COVID-19 transportation freezes. Now, as some of the world’s strictest pandemic-related travel rules begin to ease, they’re ramping up flights and ticket offers.

Asian travel agencies and carriers told Reuters they’re seeing a surge in bookings and travel enquiries as countries like Malaysia and Vietnam allow domestic flights to resume from this week after months of strict lockdowns.

India is lifting a domestic capacity cap, while Singapore, Thailand and Fiji are opening without quarantine to vaccinated international travellers from select countries.

While airline industry group IATA does not expect a significant improvement in Asia-Pacific international travel until “later in 2022 https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/iata-sees-sharp-fall-airline-losses-2022-2021-10-04/#:~:text=The%20losses%20for%202021%20were,from%20%24126.4%20billion%20estimated%20earlier.&text=%22We%20are%20past%20the%20deepest,told%20the%20group’s%20annual%20meeting” – predicting cumulative losses of $11.2 billion this year, narrowing to $2.4 billion next year – carriers from AirAsia Group to VietJet Aviation, Singapore Airlines, Fiji Airways and Qantas are already increasing capacity.

“The most important thing is practically all governments in the Asia-Pacific region with maybe one or two exceptions are abandoning their COVID-zero strategies and moving to a sort of COVID-normal framework,” said Association of Asia Pacific Airlines Director General Subhas Menon.

“Vaccination rates are also beginning to ramp up.”

While curbs are easing, a full return to normal operations is a long way off. IATA estimates global aviation industry losses from the pandemic will be a towering $200 billion for 2020-2022, and losses in Asia alone were close to $50 billion in 2020. International travel in the Asia-Pacific region was at around 4% of 2019 levels in August.

And though the relaxation of restrictions will open the way for some tourism, initially it will mean a comparative trickle: Thailand expects only around 100,000 foreign visitors this year, down from nearly 40 million in 2019.

Still, there’s pent-up demand from those who have longed to be able to take a break overseas.

Dickson Ng, a 24-year-old consultant based in Singapore, said he plans to travel to Europe in January.

“We don’t know if these VTLs (vaccinated travel lanes) could be rescinded, right now there’s opportunity and there’s COVID fatigue, so I think getting out of the country will be a good thing,” he said.

Meanwhile Fiji Airways has had thousands of bookings since the country on Sunday announced it would open borders to vaccinated travellers from some destinations on Dec. 1, the vast majority from Australians, an airline spokesperson said.

BARGAINS VS. PRICE HIKES

Some carriers are already promoting bargain fares.

Vietnamese low-cost carrier VietJet is offering some free domestic one-way tickets, excluding taxes and fees, while Malaysia’s AirAsia has fares as low as 12 ringgit ($2.88) as it ramps up flights.

AirAsia said traffic to its mobile app had surged by more than 140% since the government relaxed domestic travel rules.

But Singapore has capped the number of arrivals under its VTL programme at 3,000 a day in total, a tiny fraction of pre-pandemic traffic – a move that has kept ticket prices higher.

Singapore tour agency Chan Brothers Travel said enquiries had increased 50-fold in the last week since VTLs were added to more countries including South Korea, the United States and Britain.

Return economy-class fares from Singapore to South Korea have nearly doubled to around S$1500 ($1,107.50) from S$800 previously, a spokesperson at Singapore’s Dynasty Travel said.

“Some travellers may wait for the initial price surge for flights to pass, but we can expect quite a number of travellers taking to the skies by the first half of 2022,” she said.

($1 = 4.1630 ringgit)

($1 = 1.3544 Singapore dollars)

(Reporting by Jamie Freed and Aradhana Aravindan; Additional reporting by Liz Lee in Kuala Lumpur and Chen Lin in Singapore; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)

(Reuters) – Pub operator Marston’s said on Wednesday that sales were above pre-pandemic levels in the fourth quarter, as people filled up its bars after lockdowns were eased to watch football tournaments and enjoy the warm weather.

The nearly 200-year old brewer said total pub sales were 402 million pounds ($547.08 million) for the year.

($1 = 0.7348 pounds)

(Reporting by Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru; Editing by Amy Caren Daniel)

By Stephen Nellis

(Reuters) -Apple Inc is likely to slash production of its iPhone 13 by as many as 10 million units due to the global chip shortage, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

The company was expected to produce 90 million units of the new iPhone models by the end of this year, according to Bloomberg. The report https://bit.ly/3iUWcQ3 said Apple told its manufacturers that the number of units would be lower because chip suppliers including Broadcom Inc and Texas Instruments are struggling to deliver components.

Shares of Apple fell 1.2% in after-hours trading, while Texas Instruments and Broadcom were both down about 1%.

Apple declined to comment. Broadcom and Texas Instruments did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

In July, Apple forecast slowing revenue growth and said the chip shortage, which had started hitting its ability to sell Macs and iPads, would also crimp iPhone production. Texas Instruments also gave a soft revenue outlook that month, hinting on chip supply concerns for the rest of the year.

The chip crunch has put immense pressure on industries from automobiles to electronics, leading many automakers to temporarily suspend production.

With its massive purchasing power and long-term supply agreements with chip vendors, Apple has weathered the supply crunch better than many other companies, leading some analysts to forecast that iPhone 13 models released in September would have a strong sales year as consumers looked to upgrade devices for 5G networks.

Jeff Fieldhack, research director for Counterpoint Research, said the reported Apple production cut could also be part of the iPhone maker’s normal launch process of over-ordering devices to be prepared for an initial customer rush and then trimming orders as sales trends become clearer.

Fieldhack said iPhone 13 sales appear to be healthy and higher than last year’s iPhone 12, and Counterpoint is not changing its estimate of 85 million to 90 million iPhone 13 sales for the fourth quarter.

(Reporting by Chavi Mehta in Bengaluru and Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Bill Berkrot and Leslie Adler)

The government’s move towards an economy with high-skill, high-wage and high productivity will likely cause economic disruptions and job losses if the government is not preparing and organizing the transition, according to an expert from Durham University Business School.

Professor Bernd Brandl, who for years has researched the governance of wages, skills, and productivity in different countries, and what the role of interest organizations is in the governance has examined the consequences of the government’s transition on the economy, businesses and workers.

Professor Brandl says that this move may be highly beneficial for businesses and workers in the long run, however, without planning, it will cause painful disruptions over the next few years as the change will not be quick, and could take years or even decades for some businesses. In the short run, many existing companies will not be able to afford higher wages and go bust, causing job losses and industrial conflict. In the long-run the economy could benefit because more productive, skill-driven and innovative companies would be able to succeed on the market.

However, the success of a successful transition is not be taken for granted but needs to be accompanied by policies that support business and workers. A smooth transition will be costly for the government due to the need to invest in infrastructure and training facilities

Professor Brandl says “many British businesses have been previously running on a low-wage, low-skill, low-productivity business model, due to two main reasons; in the past decades there was a constant influx of migrant worker who were willing to accept low(er) wages, and second, apart from the minimum wage, there was almost nothing in place that prevented companies from keeping wages low.” Therefore, many businesses competed with each other by keeping wages and working conditions low and they had little incentives to invest in skills of their employees in order to gain a competitive advantage.

Now the new economic vision of the PM looks to replace mass immigration with higher wages and better working conditions to encourage people into key sectors under the guise of moving the British economy “towards a high-wage, high-skill, high-productivity economy”, in which “everyone can take pride in their work and the quality of their work”.

Professor Brandl says there are three key elements to make the transition work. The first is patience, the transition could take years for some sectors, and even decades for others, it’s not a quick change. Secondly, the transition is costly and the government must be prepared to invest in infrastructure and training facilities. Thirdly, the process is likely to be painful for many business and workers since there will likely be job losses and social disruptions in the years ahead.

However, in order to accelerate and facilitate the transition the government should manage and coordinate the transition process. Preferably together with representatives from employers and employees so that no one is left out and the expertise of everyone is taken on board. The way how the government manages the transition will also show how conflictual the years ahead will be since the transition could be socially and economically cushioned.

Therefore, Professor Brandl states that the transition of the British economy “towards a high-wage, high-skill, high-productivity economy” is not as easy as it looks and might lead to substantial disruptions and conflicts in the years ahead. The transition process can be expected to be time-consuming, costly and likely to cause some damage in the short-term. However, in the long-run it could be highly beneficial for businesses and workers.

Professor Brandl says “it takes a lot of “guts” for the government to initiate this move since voters in the next election might go to the ballots on basis of the short-term pain they already see instead of considering the long-term gains.”

This research was carried out through Professor Brandl’s investigation of how and why countries operate in different skilled models, and the effects of collective wage bargaining on wages, skills and productivity in a country.

Previous research from Professor Brandl on this topic was published in the Journal “The Effects of Collective Bargaining Systems on the Productivity Function of Firms: An Analysis of Bargaining Structures and Processes and the Implications for Policy Making. Industrial Relations Journal”

By: Joanna Rawbone, founder of Flourishing Introverts

With the draw to return of the workplace increasing, and hybrid working becoming the norm for many, ensuring that everyone gets the same opportunities is the new challenge. Anyone serious about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion will have their finger on this pulse and it’s always worth checking that your Equity & Inclusion toolkit is up to date. With the focus traditionally on race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, age, socioeconomic class, gender and gender identity, where there is still much work to be done, neurodiversity is often further down the agenda.

This in itself is a broad subject and I’m focusing on a specific element of neurodiversity here, the area I have personal experience of. And I know I’m not alone because it impacts up to 50% of any population. It’s the extraversion bias.

The head of communications in one of my clients says that it seems to be “the last acceptable prejudice in the workplace!”

Wherever my work as a trainer, coach and facilitator has taken me throughout the world, one thing has always been consistent; the quiet delegates are more likely to be overlooked and undervalued. Am I noticing this because I’m looking out for it you may ask? Of course, that’s what we do when we become aware of potential bias.

Hybrid working is in danger of exacerbating the proximity bias, which is our tendency to show preference to those close by or in our line of sight. Think out of sight, out of mind. Many of us will recognise instances where we build stronger working relationships with those we sit closer to, which then introduces the possibility of favouritism of opportunities.

This bias was recognised long before the pandemic of course, but it has the potential to become a real problem for those employees who exercise their right to spend more time working somewhere other than the office.

Extraversion bias coinciding with proximity bias

What we could well be looking at here is the extraversion bias coinciding with proximity bias. If you’ve not heard of the extraversion bias before, allow me to elaborate. It’s when the everyday practice and processes favour the natural behaviours of extraverts. It occurs in our society at large, in familial settings, in our education system and in our world of business. It is so prevalent that left unaddressed, it makes equitable inclusion almost impossible.

What do we mean by extraversion and introversion though? Our perception can be that extraverts are outgoing social butterflies, the life & soul of the party, whilst introverts are tongue-tied loners who keep their heads down. Contrary to many articles in business journals or course outlines, introverts are not broken or in need of fixing. Nor is introversion the same as shyness, social anxiety, or depression.  I know extraverts who experience those things too!  It’s simply neurodiversity.

The Swiss psychologist Carl Jung explained that the difference between introversion and extraversion is what drains and what charges our mental batteries.

Functional neuroimaging studies confirm how the brains of introverts and extraverts light up differently when stimulated in the same way. Introverts are not weird, they’re wired differently.

According to Jung, Extraverts are constantly seeking interaction, active experiences and change in order to be energised. Extravert literally means ‘outward focus’. They tend to have a say-think-say communication process and are therefore good at shooting from the hip.

Introverts are already over-stimulated mentally which is why being in busy, loud and disorganised environments is so draining for them. They are sustained by their rich world of thoughts, ideas and personal reflection and as a result, generate a peaceful and calm energy from their internal world. Their communication process is think-say-think, so their contributions are measured and considered.

This extraversion bias is at play then when recruitment, assessment centres, career progression, promotion boards and meetings favour that extravert ideal.

So common is this bias, introverts are constantly compromising their true nature in order to fit in & get on. Years and decades of being told to be different, push yourself forward, speak up more, get out of your comfort zone, in other words, be more extraverted, results in many introverts feeling ‘not enough’ being who they are. This is in part because there are so many myths and misconceptions about the true nature of introversion.

Because of their quiet nature, we mistakenly think of Introverts as socially inept, lacking ambition and low in confidence. This can result in the assumption that introverts are not leadership material. We only have to look at the likes of Marissa Meyer, Elon Musk, Larry Page, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Warren Buffett and Barack Obama to know that assumption is untrue. But where are the famous British introverted leaders? Maybe we’re lagging behind in our perception of what makes a good leader. Fortunately, we can include the well-respected thought leader Simon Sinek in the introvert camp, but who are the others?

If we think about a typical workplace with the open plan offices and back-to-back meetings, introverts can struggle to hang on the last shreds of charge in their mental batteries to do their best work. So, unsurprisingly, many will choose to work from home or somewhere else that’s quiet when hybrid working is introduced.

But, does this mean that introverts will lose out on opportunities? It’s highly likely that are already missing out because of the misconceptions and when we add in the proximity bias associated with hybrid working, the answer is very possibly. Unless that is the managers and leaders are mindful of both of these biases and consciously create a level playing field.

I have already heard and seen comment about those who come into the office being more committed than those who don’t.

Research conducted by the ONS (Office of National Statistics) during the pandemic regarding the impact on promotion prospects showed that employees who chose to work from home were less than half as likely to have received a promotion compared to their colleagues who went into the office. This is alarming in terms of future diversity and equitable inclusion.

So, what needs to change?

• Raise awareness of and educate around the extraversion bias. Considering this aspect of neurodiversity involves up to 50% of any population, that’s a lot of talent that may be untapped.
• Raise awareness of and educate about the proximity bias, especially if you are implementing hybrid working. Check the working of your policy so that people don’t feel pressured into coming into the office.
• Continue to develop the depth of psychological safety in the organisation so that people are able to speak up when they witness or experience these, or any other bias.
• Consider the wasted talent if the quieter ones are not given the opportunity to play to their authentic strengths. It impacts health, wellbeing and productivity. Is that a price you’re willing to pay?
• Ensure that all employees, wherever they choose to work from, are included in communications, offered opportunities and treated as valuable members of the team.

It’s down to senior leadership to show the way here. To model how effective hybrid working can be. To shift the culture to one that values productivity and wellbeing, not presenteeism. And wherever people choose to work from, ensure that the opportunities are unbiased.

About Joanna Rawbone, founder of Flourishing Introverts:
Joanna has spent more than 24 years working with 000’s of international clients through her own training & coaching consultancy, Scintillo Ltd. During this time, and through her own earlier experiences, she has seen just how problematic the Extraversion bias in organisations is. It negatively impacts employee engagement, retention and productivity. It also impairs the physical and mental health & well-being of employees with the obvious consequences.

Recognising that it was time for action, Joanna founded Flourishing Introverts, a platform to:

• support those who want to fulfil their potential without pretending to be something they’re not.
• educate and inform organisations about the true cost of overlooking their introverts
• promote positive action and balance the extraversion bias

Joanna has a real passion for helping her clients make the small but sustainable changes that really make a difference. Being a functioning introvert, her clients value her ability to listen to more than the words, understand things from their perspective and co-create robust, pragmatic solutions.https://www.flourishingintroverts.com/

(Reuters) – Textron Inc on Monday launched two Cessna business jets as it looks to tap the corporate travel demand that has rebounded strongly from pandemic lows.

The jet maker said it would take orders for both the models, with deliveries for the Citation M2 Gen2 expected to begin by the end of first quarter 2022, and for the Citation XLS Gen2 by the second quarter.

The company lifted its full-year adjusted profit forecast for the second time this year in July, as business jet traffic saw a sharper post-COVID rebound than commercial flights.

(Reporting by Ruhi Soni in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)

SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australia’s Westpac Banking Corp said on Tuesday it will take a one-off charge of A$1.3 billion ($956 million) against its second-half profit after its institutional banking unit quit energy trading, among other reasons.

The country’s second-largest lender by market capitalisation also lowered its earnings outlook, citing “subdued” financial markets.

Westpac said the one-off charge included provisions to pay out customers seeking remediation for wrongly charged fees, and costs associated with the sale of its life insurance unit.

The company cut the value of its Westpac Institutional Banking (WIB) unit by nearly A$1 billion after “reducing risk in the division through the exit of energy trading, consolidating our Asian operations and reducing our correspondent banking relationships which have all impacted earnings”, it said in a securities filing.

“At the same time, medium term expectations of a prolonged low interest rate environment, subdued financial markets income and elevated compliance expenses have impacted WIB’s earnings outlook,” the bank added.

Payouts and other costs associated with settling customer lawsuits would add another A$172 million to the one-off charges, while selling costs and tax adjustments linked to the sale of its life insurance unit would add A$267 million to the one-off items.

The bank is scheduled to report annual results on Nov. 1, and was expected to post a cash profit of A$6.5 billion, according to the average forecast of 13 analysts polled by Refinitiv before the charges were announced, nearly triple the previous year’s result which was impacted by COVID-19 loan repayment freezes and other macroeconomic shocks.

Westpac shares were trading down 0.5% in early trading on Tuesday, against a flat overall stock market.

($1 = 1.3602 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Byron Kaye;Editing by Chris Reese and Muralikumar Anantharaman)