5 must reads for your weekend

We keep our ear to the ground for the interesting stats, insights and discussion points you need to feel in the know.

1. Preventing homelessness before it even happens

Homelessness has long been a challenge of epidemic proportions throughout the world, even before it was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. We see technology disrupting and transforming other sectors all around us. What if technology could be applied to help agencies apply a more hopeful, sustainable and strategic approach, that’s focused sharply on early intervention and prevention?

When homelessness in Maidstone, England, soared by 58% over just five years, the borough council sought to shift its focus from crisis response to building early intervention and prevention capacity. Working with EY teams and our UK technology partner, Xantura, the council created and implemented a data-focused tool that enabled the council to tackle their challenges in a new way. Specifically, predictive analytic and natural language generation capabilities enabled participating agencies in Maidstone to bring together their data to identify residents who were at risk of homelessness and then to intervene before they were actually living on the street. In the initial pilot year, almost 100 households were prevented from becoming homeless, even as the COVID-19 pandemic took hold and grew. And, overall, the rate of homelessness fell by 40%.

How can data stop homelessness before it starts?

2. Electric cars are the stars

45% of consumers say they intend to buy a car within the next 24 months, up 12% from 2020. And consumer confidence in electric vehicles is rising fast. For the first time, over half of consumers — 52% — who intend to buy a car in the next 24 months say they will choose an EV or hybrid vehicle. That’s up 22% from 2020.

As the preference for EVs grows, the motivations for choosing one are shifting. Green “early adopters,” whose main drivers are environmental, are now being joined by mainstream buyers with more prosaic financial concerns. But as consumers are becoming more comfortable with the EVs themselves, charging infrastructure remains a barrier. Access to, and speed of, charging is emerging as the key inhibitor for would-be buyers. Are there many EV charging points in your area? Have you or could you make the move to an EV?

Why consumers are charging toward electric vehicles

3. Digital detox?

1 in 3 homes are interested in downsizing their exposure to the online world. 34% say they plan to reduce the amount of time they spend online as society returns to normal in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. 33% are planning to transfer spend away from connectivity and content and toward other categories and more than 25% are interested in reducing the number of music and video streaming platforms they use, as well as the number of connected devices they have in their homes. Count your subscriptions up let us know if you are surprised to see how many you’re signed up to and if you are considering unsubscribing from any!

Decoding the digital home study

4. The right to know the gender pay gap

20% of employees say that addressing pay equity is the single most important action a company can take to improve diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I). Now is the time to make that change as wide-ranging gender pay gap reporting obligations are expected to pass into EU law as early as 2024. Companies across the trading bloc face a race against time to achieve compliance and tackle pay inequality.

Under the terms of the draft European Commission (EC) directive, female employees will have the right to request detailed data revealing how their pay compares with the pay of male colleagues who are engaged in the same work, or work of equal value. With men earning an average of 13% more than their female counterparts in the EU, 17% more in the US and an estimated 23% more globally, companies face challenges identifying pockets of pay inequality buried within their organizations and either addressing them or proving they are not the result of gender-based discrimination.

How companies can prepare for gender pay gap reporting

5. Keeping production moving – despite the cost

Significant decoupling of existing supply chains is underway: 53% of respondents to the EY Industrial Supply Chain Survey say they have already near- or re-shored some of their operations in the last 24 months and 44% say they are planning new or additional near-shoring activities in the next 24 months.

A clear example is automotive companies shortening their supply chains by sourcing from local suppliers and building battery plants closer to US and European markets. Many automotive manufacturers have also shifted some production and raw material sourcing out of China in favor of North America, Europe and other parts of Asia to keep production lines moving, despite higher costs.

Why global industrial supply chains are decoupling

If you do one thing:

Use the data. Do your research. Apply the findings to solve the issue at hand.

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