11 October 2021
On 7 October, employees of Spanish fashion company Desigual voted in favour of working only four days per week. The firm’s staff will transition from 39.5 hours per week to 34 and will either have Fridays or Mondays off. With this 13% reduction in working hours, Desigual employees will be paid 6.5% less, after the management announced that it woulds cover half the shortfall.
8 October 2021
Starting in February 2022, Irish employers will introduce a four-day working week on a trial basis for a period of six months. The pilot programme was devised by the lobby group Four Day Week Ireland.* The group announced on 06 October that 17 companies had already decided to take part in the pilot. The Irish government has supported the concept by providing €150,000 to fund a research study on the social, economic and ecological impact of a reduced working week.
6 October 2021
On 01 October the UK consulting giant announced it would be allowing all its 40,000 US client-facing staff to work 100% remotely, and from anywhere within continental USA. Prior to this launch the group had implemented full-time remote working for 7,000 of its US staff, who were working primarily in the HR and legal departments. Only employees who cannot work outside the office, such as those in the IT department, will be excluded from this ground-breaking policy for the time being.
5 October 2021
In order to help employees with young children reconcile work and family life, the Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche has set up a new programme in Germany called ‘Das Elternplus’ (The Parents’ Plus). Going forward Roche will provide financial support to parents who decide to work part-time for at least 12 months during the first four years of their child’s life. They will receive a one-off bonus of between €10,000 and €15,000. This offer also applies if only one parent is employed by Roche in...
4 October 2021
Unveiled on 27 September, the Remote Alliance is aiming to develop a new model for the way people work in Ireland. The four companies that make up the alliance – telecommunications giant Vodafone, electricity company ESB as well as eBay and Liberty Insurance – have committed to making remote working a long-term fixture across their respective businesses. They are also hoping to encourage other Irish businesses to follow suit.
1 October 2021
Saur, the French company specialising in water and waste treatment, was handed an annual prize for human resources innovation on 23 September, after it abolished probation periods for new hires. The measure comes at a time of notable growth at the company, which has significant needs on the recruitment front. Six months on from the move, Saur is positive on the almost 700 hires it has made, to take its workforce in France to over 12,000, and says that the number of departures during what would have ordinarily been...
1 October 2021
The Research Centre for Women in Senior Management (Centro de Investigación de la Mujer en la Alta Dirección – CIMAD) has launched a platform that aims to increase the number of women in management positions as well as on company boards. Launched in partnership with several universities and three Mexican companies, the initiative is named the “network of female directors and experts in Mexico”. It comes at a time when Mexico ranks second-last among OECD countries for the number of women on boards of...
30 September 2021
Unveiled on 27 September, Grow Remote’s initiative Remote Alliance, comprising telecoms company Vodafone, online marketplace eBay, electricity group ESB, and insurer Liberty Insurance, aims to develop a new working model in Ireland. All four companies are committed to embedding long-term remote working within their organizations. Their second ambition is to convince other Irish employers to voluntarily move towards this HR practice, which has been receiving a boost due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
27 September 2021
Spain’s largest banking groups have organised a gradual return to the office for staff working in core services but are maintaining remote work to a significant extent. Asked by Planet Labor about their approach, the five largest lenders in the country say the new working arrangements – under which staff can work remotely as much as 50% of the time in some cases – are only temporary and will be adjusted depending on how the pandemic evolves and the health-related measures that are in place. Nonetheless,...
16 September 2021
‘From 1 October, following UK government confirmation that all adults have had the opportunity to get double vaccinated, we will no longer be paying full sick pay for pinged colleagues who have chosen not to be vaccinated,’ the Morrisons supermarket chain announced. This lowering of sick pay will only affect employees who are not fully vaccinated and have to quarantine. Employees suffering Covid-19 symptoms and those who have not yet had the opportunity to be vaccinated and need to isolate will still be able...
