Business News Round Up (23/09/2021)
All workers allowed to request flexible working
Every employee in Britain will have the right to request flexible working – regardless of time served – under Government plans to modernise the way people work. The consultation looks at a range of flexible working methods such as job-sharing, flexitime, compressed, annualised, and staggered hours, as well as phased retirement – not just working from home. It aims to allow employees to balance their work and home life, including those who are carers, new parents, or disabled people to give them greater access to work. If an employer cannot accommodate a request they would need to think about what alternatives they could offer. The government argues that the proposals are good for British business, drawing on research which shows companies embracing flexible working can attract more talent, improve staff motivation, and reduce staff turnover – boosting their business’s productivity and competitiveness.
Preston UK’s fastest growing tech hub with 53% increase in digital tech roles since 2018
Preston is the fastest-growing UK city for tech jobs, with the number of IT-related roles in the city increasing by 53% between 2018 and 2020, according to data analysed by smarter job search engine Adzuna for the Digital Economy Council and industry championTech Nation. Three years ago, tech jobs made up 11% of all available roles in the city, however, this has since increased to 17% in 2020, with more than 2,000 IT-related job vacancies in Preston throughout 2020. This increase in demand for skilled tech workers has also led to an increase in advertised salaries. The median digital tech salary in Preston is now £33,500, up from £32,500 in 2018, and compared with the median salary across all roles which is £23,156. The proportion of advertised digital tech roles across all UK cities has been increasing year on year, up from 19% in 2018 to 23% in 2020. This uplift in available roles isn’t just confined to the tech industry, too – open job opportunities in the North West have been increasing 12% month on month throughout 2021 to 106,197 in June.
UK pivot to hybrid tech could add £76bn to GDP
Study shows rise in hybrid working could boost GDP by £48bn annually as part-time workers increase hours and investment in hybrid technologies could add nearly £80bn over next four years. Hybrid working will likely be the default mode of operation for firms in the post-Covid environment and could likely bring back nearly four million people currently seen as “locked out” from work, according to a study by Virgin Media O2 Business and the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr). This could add £48.3bn to the UK economy each year, with investment in technologies that enable hybrid working and digital innovation potentially adding £76bn in GDP to the UK economy by 2025. The study, which examined how Covid-accelerated digital transformation will reshape the British economy, was designed by Cebr in collaboration with VMB and undertaken by Opinium, which surveyed 502 decision-makers between 1 and 10 July. A separate survey of 2,000 consumers weighted to be nationally representative was conducted between 13 and 17 July 2021.
https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252507038/UK-pivot-to-hybrid-tech-could-add-76bn-to-GDP
Scottish tech is ‘booming’, says new digital secretary
The Scottish technology sector is “booming” according to the UK government’s digital secretary, who has pledged to continue to invest in tech skills north of the border. Nadine Dorries, the new secretary of state for digital, culture, media, and sport, made the comment as new research shows Edinburgh has the highest proportion of tech vacancies – 30% – of any UK city. New figures released today that show tech roles in Glasgow and Edinburgh have increased by more than a quarter in the past two years, demonstrating some of the highest growth in the whole of the UK. According to data analysed by smarter job search engine Adzuna for the UK’s Digital Economy Council and Tech Nation, IT-related vacancies now make up 13% of all UK job vacancies. In Edinburgh and Glasgow, tech jobs make up an even higher proportion of roles – up 30% and 28% respectively – as companies seek to find talented staff to help them expand and grow following the Covid-19 pandemic. Strong employee demand for jobs isn’t only confined to the tech sector, with general vacancies increasing by 11.2% on average in Scotland month on month throughout 2021 to 46,990 in June.