INDUSTRY NEWS - FUTURE OF WORK

THE HOT STORY 

Some tech workers without children resent pandemic benefits for parents The New York Times reports that some staff at U.S. technology companies are unhappy about new benefits offered to help co-workers take care of their children. Facebook employees at a recent companywide virtual meeting argued that work policies created in response to the pandemic “have primarily benefited parents,” and it is reported that some Salesforce employees without children complained that a newly-announced policy seemed to put parents’ needs ahead of theirs. New York Times

EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE 

Case Management: The Key to a Better Employee (and HR) Experience As companies look at new processes, programs and technologies to manage the rapidly changing workforce, one thing keeps coming to the forefront: employee experience. On September 29th at 12pm ET, Sarah Brennan, Founder, Accelir Insights, will share how HR case management solutions can support organizations' employee experience strategies — and improve the HR experience, too. Register here

LEGAL 

JPMorgan alerts staff to stimulus fraud JPMorgan has revealed in a memo to staff that the investment bank has uncovered evidence of employees and customers misusing the U.S. government’s Paycheck Protection Program, unemployment benefits and other programs aimed at easing the pandemic’s economic effects. The lender said it had discovered “conduct that does not live up to our business and ethical principles - and may even be illegal . . . This includes instances of customers misusing Paycheck Protection Program loans, unemployment benefits and other government programmes. Some employees have fallen short, too,” the bank’s operating committee wrote in the memo. Wall Street Journal, The Times, Financial Times, CNBC, Bloomberg

WORKFORCE 

Q2 productivity rises a record 10.1% U.S. productivity rose at a 10.1% rate in the second quarter as the number of hours worked declined by the largest amount since the government started compiling the data more than 70 years ago. The Labor Department said that hours worked fell by 42.9%, contributing to a 37.1% decline in output as the coronavirus pandemic ripped through nearly every corner of the U.S. economy. The decline in output was also the biggest drop-off since the government began tracking the data in 1947. In its second and final estimate for the second quarter, the government said labor costs rose 9%, slightly less than last month’s first estimate of 12.2.%. The original estimate for productivity was a 7.3% increase. Productivity, the amount of output per hour of work, is the key to rising living standards, and the slow pace of growth in recent years has contributed to sluggish wage increases. Washington Post, CNBC

Fed chair says economy will need more federal support Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said Friday’s report showing 1.4m Americans found or resumed work in August was good news, but the economy likely will require more government spending and low interest rates for years. Speaking to NPR, he said “We do think it will get harder from here.” Employment in service sectors, especially those that tend to support entry-level and lower-paid workers, “may be some of the harder jobs to find because there are some parts of the economy that will take longer to recover,” he added. Wall Street Journal, NPR

Bloomberg offers workers $75 a day to return to offices Bloomberg staff are now able to claim as much as $75 a day to cover the cost of returning to their office. The offer has been made to the company’s 20,000 global staff as part of an attempt to address health and safety fears associated with working in offices. Meanwhile, the FT reports that private equity groups Blackstone and Advent International are both providing staff with coronavirus tests and asking employees not to use public transport as they prepare to return to their desks after months of remote working. Sunday Times, Financial Times

CULTURE 

American Airlines approves BLM pins for staff American Airlines is to let staff wear Black Lives Matter pins on their uniforms, joins Starbucks, Delta Air Lines and other big U.S. employers that let workers wear items supporting the movement that protests police violence against black people. “Fundamentally, we believe Black Lives Matter is an expression of equality, not a political statement,” said American Airlines spokeswoman Sarah Jantz. “It doesn’t mean other lives don’t matter, rather that in our society Black lives should matter and be valued the same as others.” Houston Chronicle

REMOTE WORKING 

Remote-work tech fuels M&A activity during pandemic Technology ventures that are developing software for videoconferencing, collaboration and e-commerce tools are becoming hot acquisition targets for large companies and investors during the pandemic. Miro Parizek, principal partner for technology at M&A advisory firm Hampleton Partners, said COVID-19 is reshaping workplace practices, following lockdowns and travel restrictions. He said the shift to remote work over the past few months - in some cases marking a permanent change - has refocused the sights of many corporate and private equity buyers to acquisitions that help build capabilities in digital communications and e-commerce, such as online payments and financial services, supply chain logistics and last-mile fulfillment software. Despite the global economic disruption sparked by the outbreak, Hampleton recorded 602 enterprise-software M&A deals in the first half of the year, down just 5% from the same period in 2019. Total disclosed deal value was $34bn, down from $71bn, the report said. Wall Street Journal

INTERNATIONAL 

All eyes on U.K. as it gambles on ending furlough scheme The Wall Street Journal considers the risks involved in ending the furlough scheme in the UK at the end of October. Economists fear unemployment will soar when the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme is brought to a close, with the knock-on effects rippling through the economy just as companies are starting to recover from the pandemic. Other European countries have similar schemes, with measures in Spain and the Netherlands also scheduled to come to an end soon. Germany will extend wage subsidies for furloughed workers by 12 months to the end of 2021, while France is set to offer reduced support beyond October. Laurence Boone, chief economist at the OECD, sympathizes with the U.K. government’s reasoning that keeping support in place for too long can be counterproductive for businesses. “They need to evolve, or they could further decrease the capacity of our economies to reallocate capital and labor,” he said. Andy Haldane, the Bank of England’s chief economist has also warned the U.K. government against extending the furlough scheme, arguing that it would interrupt the “necessary process of adjustment” that was already underway. Rejecting concerns about a spike in redundancies, Mr Haldane said it was the central bank and government’s job to support the transition to new ways of working. In a City AM podcast, he said the pandemic has caused “lasting structural damage” to the economy and that “regrettably, some business will not make it through.” Wall Street Journal, City AM, Daily Mail, The Guardian 

Spain moves to protect remote workers Legislation to protect the rights of remote workers is being pushed through in Spain. More than 30% of workers in Spain now put in shifts from home, and the new charter is designed to offer them legal protection, including the right to set a working day and equal career development opportunities. Employees must work from home more than one day a week to qualify as remote workers, according to the latest draft of the charter, and remote working must be agreed on by both sides. An employee can request a return to the office if their circumstances change. “There is very little culture of remote working in Spain. Up to now, companies and employees have believed there is a connection between facetime and productivity,” said David, an employee at a marketing company in Madrid. “This has to be regulated properly, because with the levels of unemployment in Spain today, employers have all the power on their side.” Meanwhile, the Washington Post observes that Greece has also drafted remote work legislation and the Republic of Ireland is in the middle of a public consultation process to draft guidelines for remote working. The newspaper notes that such efforts in Europe to ensure work-life balance "contrast with the United States, where there has been much griping about the work-at-home challenges posed by the pandemic, but not much of a policy response." Washington Post, The Daily Telegraph

Mexico sees most health care worker deaths Mexico leads the world in coronavirus deaths among health care workers, according to a report from Amnesty International. The Central American country earlier this week reported 1,320 confirmed deaths among health workers, surpassing the United States at 1,077, the United Kingdom at 649, and Brazil at 634. "Many months into the pandemic, health workers are still dying at horrific rates in countries such as Mexico, Brazil and the USA," said Steve Cockburn, Head of Economic and Social Justice at Amnesty International. "There must be global cooperation to ensure all health workers are provided with adequate protective equipment, so they can continue their vital work without risking their own lives." Reuters 

OTHER 

Jeff Bezos tops Forbes 400 richest list Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos has retained top spot on the Forbes 400 list of the richest people in America for the third consecutive year. His fortune as of July 24th was worth $179bn, up 57% on last year. Microsoft founder Bill Gates was second in the list with a fortune of $111bn. The collective wealth of the Forbes list grew 8% to a record $3.2 trillion over the past year. Eric Yuan, the CEO of remote work video app Zoom Video Communications, was one of 18 newcomers on the list with a net worth of $11bn. Kerry Dolan, assistant managing editor of wealth at Forbes, said the ranking was a way to keep tabs on the wealthiest people in the U.S. who hold the most power. “As a society, we all should know who is behind the biggest companies and what they’re doing with their money,” she said. Mercury News, Forbes