EDITION 977
10 JULY 2023

There is no escaping it: too much news is bad for you. It should come with a government health warning: “This intellectual diet is fine taken in small doses, and preferably in weekly instalments, via a well-balanced newsletter, such as 10 things from William Montgomery."

So, as another week slips by, here are 10 things which caught my attention and may have escaped yours. Please feel free to share on social media and forward to your colleagues and friends so they can also subscribe, learn and engage. I would be very grateful if you did.

William Montgomery
Editor and CEO of TEN

1. How to help your team be themselves at work. Many employees downplay their differences from each other at work to avoid drawing unwanted attention or making others uncomfortable. If you help your team feel comfortable being themselves in the office, they can focus on work rather than on hiding parts of their identities. READ MORE

2. What do workers think about AI? Almost 75% of companies are expected to adopt generative AI, but what does this mean for workers and their jobs? Employers estimate 44% of workers’ skills will be disrupted in the next five years, but despite this churn, workers are largely positive about AI, according to a PwC report which surveyed more than 54,000 workers in 46 countries. More than half of workers chose at least one positive statement about the impact of AI on their career. 1 in 3 workers said AI would boost their productivity and/or efficiency. 27% said it would create opportunities to learn new skills. Half of those whose jobs require specialist training said the skills they need would change significantly, compared with only 15% of those whose jobs don’t require specialist training; meaning the latter group could be particularly vulnerable to job losses. World Economic Forum

3. An unhappy birthday. Our beloved NHS turned 75 last week, but there’s not much to celebrate. There are a record 7.4 million people on waiting lists. One in ten NHS posts are vacant, morale is at rock bottom, public satisfaction is at its lowest for 40 years, and doctors are striking again over pay this month. A recent King’s Fund report that measured the NHS against 18 comparable systems found that, on many critical measures, the UK is falling short. It has fewer doctors than most of its peers; the second-fewest general hospital beds; the lowest number of CT and MRI scanners. The Times

4. Women expect to end careers early. A survey commissioned by the British Standards Institution (BSI) has found that close to a third of UK women expect to stop working before they reach retirement age. A fifth cite health or wellbeing considerations for the menopause as a barrier to continuing to work. The research comes from BSI's report looking at the "second glass ceiling", which refers to when women leave the workforce early for reasons other than personal choice. Reuters

5. ‘Twitter killer’ launches. Meta has launched an app to rival Twitter. Experts believe that the Threads app could attract Twitter users unhappy with recent changes to the platform. The app allows users to post up to 500 characters, and has many features in common with Twitter. It passed five million sign-ups in its first four hours, said Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg. It is a “shockingly viable Twitter killer”, said Slate, while Mac Rumours said it is “unmistakable as a Twitter clone”. The Guardian

6. Are Brits too wary of stocks? The UK has been grappling with an underinvestment problem as there seems to be significant shortfall in investments into the country's assets from businesses, government and even the average Britons. Research reveals that around £1.8 trillion is sitting idle in savings accounts, equivalent to the entire value of the FTSE 100. Beyond retail, UK business investment also ranks lowest among G7 nations and 27th out of 30 OECD countries. Policymakers are hoping to get the UK's pension funds to tackle this problem. Efforts are reportedly underway to establish a £50 billion "future growth fund" to incentivise major pension funds to invest in promising unlisted UK companies, including start-ups and growth firms. CityAM

7. Hottest June on record. All four nations of the UK had their hottest June since records began in 1884, the Met Office confirmed last week. The average temperature of 15.8°C exceeded the previous joint record for the month (set in 1940 and 1976) by 0.9°C. On Monday, the world had its hottest-ever day, with an average global temperature of over 17°C for the first time, according to initial readings by US meteorologists. BBC

8. UK homes worth more than £10.7 trillion. The combined value of all 29 million UK homes is now £10.7 trillion. 2 in 3 properties are worth more than they were a year ago. The number of homes seeing price falls has increased over the last 6 months, with 11.1 million homes (or 38%) worth less by an average of 2.6%. More than half of home values are still growing in the North and Midlands, while cost-of-living challenges and higher mortgage rates mean there are more price falls in the South of England. Larger detached homes and bungalows are recording more price falls, along with coastal areas. Zoopla

9. Some good news for you. Demand is growing for “swift bricks”, which can be laid alongside normal bricks in new buildings to provide nesting spaces for the endangered birds. One manufacturer based in Derbyshire makes bricks that – in a design co-created with the RSPB – have a small hole in the front, a grippy entrance to help swifts land, a concave dish to make nest building easier, internal channels for drainage and tabs to aid bricklaying. A petition to make the bricks compulsory in all new housing in the UK will be debated in Parliament. The Guardian

10. The bottom line. 81% of voters believe that the Government should accept pay review bodies’ recommendations of a 6%or more pay rise for public sector workers. BBC