Business News Round Up (10/06/2021)
UK skills lag behind Europe in business and tech
The UK is lagging behind in important business skills compared with other European countries. According to US online skills company Coursera, the UK is the lowest performing country in Europe for business skills, at 29% overall proficiency, placing it at 77th in global rankings. Drawing on performance data since the onset of Covid-19 the firm’s global skills report gauged the skills of 77 million learners on its platform to benchmark skills in more than 100 countries. HR and communications skills – which KPMG has identified as the most important for formulating and implementing successful hybrid working strategies – were rated at 13% and 21% respectively. Finance was the area the UK was most proficient in with an 85% rating. Sales and marketing skills were also relatively highly rated (50% and 58%) but leadership and management, and strategy and operations skills lagged behind (33% and 21%).
Key Northern cities beginning to bounce back from pandemic
According to the latest data from Avison Young’s UK Cities Recovery index, multiple sectors in Northern cities including Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester are performing at the highest levels since initial lockdown measures were put in place. Avison Young created the UK Cities Recovery Index to help monitor the way in which the coronavirus pandemic impacted the UK’s major cities. It enables up-to-date assessments and analysis of the rate and trajectory of the recovery and identifies trends that will determine the future of the property sector, and of society as a whole. The Sector Indices are combined into an overall Recovery Index score, which illustrates the evolution of urban impact and recovery over time since February 29, 2020, before COVID-19 hit the UK. Northern cities were some of the hardest hit during the lockdown periods, with Leeds, Liverpool and Manchester all experiencing some of the strictest social distancing measures during the final quarter of the year. Now, more than 12 months on since the first lockdown began, and following weeks of eased restrictions, these Northern Powerhouse cities are showing signs of recovery.
UK-EU tensions cast a cloud over recovery in cross-channel trade
UK-EU trade flows have recovered from January’s collapse, albeit it’s less clear by how much. However, simmering political tensions stemming from the Northern Ireland protocol risk injecting further uncertainty if a deal on food standards isn’t agreed upon, and we instead head towards retaliatory tariffs. Five months into the UK’s new economic relationship with the EU, and Brexit is back in the headlines as tensions rise ahead of the G7 meeting in Cornwall, UK. The latest disagreements aren’t new. Both sides are attempting to reach a political agreement on the implementation of the Northern Ireland protocol – the part of the withdrawal agreement that’s designed to avoid a return of a hard border on the island of Ireland. That agreement – originally struck back in October 2019 – essentially keeps Northern Ireland (NI) aligned with the EU’s single market rules for goods and requires customs processes for shipments ‘at risk’ of moving from NI into the Republic of Ireland.
https://think.ing.com/articles/uk-eu-tensions-cast-cloud-over-recovery-in-trade
Researchers to investigate impact of ‘flexible furlough’ on employers’ attitudes to part-time working
A research project by Cranfield School of Management will seek to determine to what extent so-called ‘flexible furlough’ during the coronavirus pandemic has increased employer openness to part-time working. Over 18 months, academics will investigate to what degree the ‘survival strategy’ adopted by many businesses during COVID-19 may influence the availability of part-time work going forwards. They hope their findings will influence Government policy relating to the role of part-time working in the UK’s economic recovery, as well as the encouragement and support that may need to be provided for employers. The research is being funded by a £300,000 grant from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), as part of UK Research and Innovation’s rapid response to Covid-19. Launched in July 2020, ‘flexible furlough’ provision under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS), allowing employees to work part-time and be part-time furloughed, has effectively been an experiment in part-time working for many employers.