British recruiters expect widespread job losses for temporary staff in the retail, hospitality and travel sectors and reduced hiring for permanent jobs across the economy as the coronavirus hits the country.
"At the start of the year ... there was massive optimism. Now the crisis has come and kiboshed that," Tom Hadley, policy director at the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, told Reuters.
He held an online meeting with more than 200 of the trade association's members on Friday. Some 80 percent of them expected the crisis to hurt hiring in the short term, with 35% predicting a major impact.
For certain sectors the prospects are darker.
"Some of our members, in sectors like hospitality, office admin are really struggling," Hadley said. "Demand is not going to be there, especially for hospitality. Events are being cancelled. People are not going out."
Some retailers were struggling too, he added, highlighting the Bicester Village designer fashion outlet north of London, which had previously been very popular with Chinese tourists.
The Bank of England cited anecdotal evidence of a slowdown in retail as one reason for its emergency interest rate cut on Wednesday. The government has promised help for businesses hurt by sick pay bills.
Until now, Britain's job market has been robust with a record proportion of people in work in the final quarter of 2019.
But the economy as a whole has remained in a fragile state, with zero economic growth in the three months to January.
Some workers, however, are in increased demand.
Adverts for delivery drivers on job site Indeed were 35 percent higher over the past week than in late January, according to Pawel Adrjan, the site's head of research for Europe.
This was "probably in the expectation that home deliveries of food and necessities will rise," he said.
Adverts for roles in the travel and hotel sector were down by 8%, and food and beverage industry job adverts also declined.
The REC's Hadley predicted continued appetite for temporary staff, other than in hospitality and retail, due to a shortage of health and social care workers and a need to cover staff absence due to sickness.
But he saw a hiatus in permanent recruitment on the way.
"The freeze might be more on the perm side, putting things on hold. You're not sure what is going to happen."
Retailers will be able to accept digital proof of age to sell alcohol later this year, a chief of convenience store body has said, after the UK government announced this week that it will introduce digital driving licenses.
According to ACS chief executive James Lowman, convenience retailers can accept digital proof of age and from later this year they will be able to do this for alcohol as well.
Lowman represents ACS on the board of PASS, and has chaired working groups developing digital proof of age standards and acceptance systems over the past five years.
PASS is not-for-profit body formed in 2001 to set standards for proof of age, the security features of that proof of age and the process for accepting it.
Writing in his blog, Lowman informs retailers, "With a physical proof of age card, all the security features are there to inspect, notably the PASS hologram and thermally-integrated picture (no edges or bumps).
"It’s more complex with digital proof of age because what you could be shown on the screen could have been doctored in any number of ways; there needs to be a digital “handshake” between the retailer and the customer to verify its validity.
"Thankfully PASS now has a system ready to go to do exactly this job.
"Two quick scans and the proof of age can be verified with minimal data transfer – you only need to know if that person is old enough to buy the product they want, you don’t need to see their address much less get into the ramifications of holding customer information."
Lowman also pointed out how getting the use of digital proof of age right and combining it with effective use of age estimation technology would bring huge savings to retailers using self-service checkouts.
"Customers over 25 could breeze through without age checks, those under could prove their age to the till, with colleagues playing an oversight role," he wrote.
"Technology playing a greater role in determining customers’ age will reduce the number of times a colleague challenges a customer, something we know causes friction, conflict and even violence on a daily basis.
Digital proof of age, including a digital driving licence, offers real benefits for local shops.
"We need to stay at the centre of discussions on how this is used in stores so that we can fully realise these", stated Lowman.
Around £24,000 worth of illegal cigarettes, tobacco and disposable vapes have been seized from traders across Walsall as part of a crackdown on the illicit tobacco trade.
As informed by Walsall Council on Thursday (23), illegal goods including approximately 22,000 cigarettes, 3kg of illegal hand rolling tobacco, and 400 illegal disposable vapes were found in four of the six shops visited during the operation.
The activity took place on last week and was part of Operation CeCe, a National Trading Standards initiative aimed at tackling illegal tobacco.
Highly trained sniffer dogs were on hand to assist with the operation. Specialising in detecting tobacco and vape products, one of the dogs helped unearth bags of vapes and cigarettes hidden amongst rubbish at the rear of the shop.
In one store, a purpose-built wall concealment was found high up in the storeroom. Illegal goods were also found behind shop counters, on storeroom floors and in bins.
Councillor Garry Perry, Leader of Walsall Council, said, "We carry operations like this out frequently, and traders need to realise we are not going to allow them to sell illegal goods in our borough.
"I want to thank the Trading Standards team, West Midlands Police and of course Billy and Ziggy for their hard work to get these products off our streets.
"Many of these dodgy traders are prepared to sell to children, which is unacceptable and dangerous.
"We have adopted a strong approach to these matters and will use every enforcement technique at our disposal to disrupt this type of activity and keep our residents safe.
“This work is also vital in delivering our Tobacco Control Plan, a key aspect of which focuses on tackling the trade of illicit tobacco and vaping products. “
Lord Michael Bichard, Chair of National Trading Standards, stated, “ The trade in illegal tobacco harms local communities and affects honest businesses operating within the law.
"Having removed 27 million illegal cigarettes, 7,500kg of hand rolling tobacco and almost 175kg of shisha products from sale, the National Trading Standards initiative in partnership with HMRC continues to successfully disrupt this illicit trade."
Lidl GB has become the first UK supermarket to announce a fibre strategy that spans its entire product offering, setting out two key targets.
By 2026, it plans to increase the tonnage of total fibre sold by 20 per cent, and by 2030, boost the volume of wholegrains it sells to 25 per cent of total grains.
With nearly a quarter (23%) of shoppers actively seeking high-fibre products for their weekly groceries [Kantar, March 2023], the discounter said the new initiative is set to make it easier and more affordable for customers to improve their diets. Currently, only 9 per cent of UK adults meet the recommended daily intake of 30g of fibre, with lower-income households consuming even less, highlighting the need for this initiative.
As part of its new targets, Lidl is working with suppliers to enhance existing recipes by incorporating more plant-based, fibre-rich ingredients like lentils, beans, and grains, whilst reducing fats and sugars. It will also seek to introduce new high-fibre products.
Lidl also became the first retailer to sign up to the Food and Drink Federation (FDF) Action on Fibre initiative to help make higher-fibre diets more appealing for households. It has also turned to its rewards app, Lidl Plus, to offer monthly promotions on these products.
Building on its new fibre focus, Lidl has also become the first retailer to implement WWF’s ‘Planet-Based Diets’ methodology internationally across all 31 countries in which it operates. The WWF methodology will be used to measure and report on its product assortments and sales as it seeks to identify clear routes towards offering customers healthier and more environmentally conscious products, including vegetables, wholegrains, and plant-based protein foods such as beans and pulses.
With its ambition to align with the Planetary Health Diet by 2050, Lidl’s new overarching commitment is first-to-market and sets out to increase the proportion of plant-based foods sold, including plant-based protein sources, wholegrains, fruits, and vegetables, by 20 per cent by 2030.
“As the first UK retailer to align its strategy with the science of the Planetary Health Diet, Lidl is committed to supporting healthy and sustainable diets and setting ambitious targets to ensure our food is good for both people and the planet,” Richard Bourns, chief commercial officer at Lidl GB, said.
“We stand firmly behind the need for sustainable consumption as part of the net-zero transition and are committed to offering our customers an ever-expanding range of healthy, sustainable products at affordable prices.”
There is a strong positive correlation between how frequently employees attend their workplace and their overall wellbeing, a new study has revealed.
An independent, nationally representative survey of 1,210 UK employees, commissioned by infinitSpace, quizzed remote, hybrid and fully in-office workers about their wellbeing.
In the same week that Lord Rose, the former boss of Marks and Spencer and Asda, said that working from home is producing a generation who are "not doing proper work", infinitSpace's research found that hybrid workers who attend the office one or two days per week were least likely to self-report “great” or “good” wellbeing, with 50 per cent saying they had a positive physical wellbeing and the same number (50 per cent) a positive mental wellbeing.
By contrast, those who go to their workplace on average three or four days per week report the highest levels of wellbeing, with 60 per cent experiencing great or good physical wellbeing and 61 per cent saying the same about their mental wellbeing.
Those attending the office every day report slightly lower but comparable wellbeing levels to those attending three or four days a week, with 59 per cent indicating good physical wellbeing and 57 per cent experiencing good mental wellbeing.
The type of workspace also plays a role in wellbeing outcomes. Employees working in flexible workspaces report higher levels of wellbeing, with 60 per cent experiencing good physical and mental wellbeing. In comparison, employees in traditional private or serviced offices report slightly lower levels, with 56 per cent indicating good physical wellbeing and 55 per cent reporting good mental wellbeing.
“While attendance policies should remain flexible to meet diverse business and employee needs, it’s important that we don’t overlook the relationship between going to a workplace and one’s wellbeing," said Wybo Wijnbergen, CEO of infinitSpace. "The research shows that opportunities for social interaction, a sense of community, and regular access to thoughtfully designed spaces can profoundly impact our overall wellbeing.
“More than just somewhere to collaborate or be productive, by having the workplaces, organisations can play a meaningful role in boosting the overall health and happiness of their employees. And if smart leaders want engaged, productive teams, fostering wellbeing and providing a workspace their staff want to visit must remain a key focus.”
Convenience store body Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) has launched new guidance for retailers in England detailing what they have to do to stay on the right side of the law when new rules on separating waste come into force in March.
From March 31st 2025, businesses (meaning the entire business, not just one store) with more than 10 full time equivalent employees will be required to separate their waste into four different streams. Those with fewer than 10 FTE employees will have until March 2027 to comply.
The four waste streams that will need to be segregated are:
Dry recycling (glass, metal and plastic)
Paper and card*
Food waste
Black bin waste (to be sent to landfill)
Some waste collectors will take dry recycling and paper/card together, but retailers will need to confirm this with their collector.
In the guidance, ACS outlines the steps that retailers should take to make sure that they’re prepared for the rules coming in.
Retailers affected by the rules in March this year need to contact their waste collector to understand their responsibilities and any additional costs that they may occur as a result of the new regulations.
It is also important that retailers consider the bins that they are responsible for, especially outside of the store, where there is a higher risk of waste streams being contaminated.
ACS chief executive James Lowman said, “Retailers need to take a practical approach to the bins that they provide and assess the risk of recyclable waste being contaminated or requiring further separation, especially in places like petrol forecourts where more retailers will have bins that they are responsible for outside of the store.
"This is a significant change to waste separation and collection that retailers need to prepare for sooner rather than later.”
Businesses who do not comply with these requirements by 31 March 2025 (or 31 March 2027 for those with fewer than 10 FTE employees) are at risk of receiving a compliance notice from the Environment Agency.
Compliance notices can also be issued against anyone who is not separating waste in agreement with their waste collector.
It is an offence to fail to comply with a compliance notice and enforcement action may be taken against the business in line with the Environment Agency Enforcement and Sanctions Policy.