EDITION 921
30 MAY 2022

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 develop your emotional agility. Everyone has felt critical, doubtful, or scared, even at work - and attempting to minimise or ignore such emotions can amplify them. Effective leaders neither buy into nor try to suppress their inner experiences - instead, they develop "emotional agility," a skill which enables them to approach their inner experiences in a mindful and productive way. READ MORE

2. Paris reaction compared to Hillsborough. Liverpool fans have compared their “terrifying” treatment at the Champions League final to the Hillsborough disaster. Some described seeing people scared for their lives, with children “trembling with fear”, as French police fired tear gas into crowds including pregnant women and children outside the Stade de France in Paris on Saturday night. Uefa, European football’s governing body, initially blamed the late arrival of Liverpool supporters for the kick-off delay. However, this was a blatant lie, and the French authorities should be ashamed of themselves. Editor

3. PM changes code ‘to save skin’. Boris Johnson amended the ministerial code to help “save his skin,” said Labour. With a new “partygate” inquiry that could publish more photos and subject him to a public grilling by MPs expected, the PM changed the rules on Friday so ministers will not always be expected to resign for breaching the code of conduct. He also rewrote the foreword to the ministerial code, removing all references to honesty, integrity, transparency and accountability. Labour and the Liberal Democrats said Johnson rigged the system to “get himself off the hook”. The Times

4. Boss, employee pay gap widens again. New research shows that the pay gap between bosses and their employees will widen again in 2022, after briefly falling during the pandemic. The Higher Pay Centre thinktank reports that within the 69 companies it surveyed, the pay ratio is 63:1 – almost double what it was in 2021. Ratios were widest in retail and lowest in media and financial service. Luke Hildyard, the thinktank's director, said: "With the dire outlook for the UK economy, how we share existing resource will become increasingly important." The TUC also called for maximum pay ratios to "bring some fairness back". The Observer

5. Is it really urgent? A word we often see and hear at the beginning of work correspondences and conversations. But are all the tasks labelled as ‘urgent’ really urgent? The pressure of constantly having to deal with urgent requests and issues is one of the main triggers of burnout among professionals. But are all the tasks labelled as ‘urgent’ really urgent? The overwhelming urgency of requests that's causing high levels of stress might be a result of weak planning and strategy. Do you feel the corporate world misuses the status ‘urgent’? Have your say in our latest poll. VOTE HERE

6. Children’s mental health crisis soars. A record 400,000 children and young people are being treated for mental health problems every month. NHS data shows “open referrals” – troubled children and young people in England undergoing treatment or waiting to start care – reached 420,314 in February, the highest number since records began in 2016. The Covid pandemic has intensified issues such as anxiety, depression and self-harm among school-age children and experts believe that the “relentless and unsustainable” demand for help could overwhelm already stretched NHS services. The Guardian

7. Workers globally resist office return. Around the world, workers are dragging their feet on returning to the office. Global analytics firm Basking almost half of office visits this year have been for just one day a week. That's up from 21% in the four months before the pandemic hit. A growing number of workers are also spending less time there: 37% of visits were for six hours this year, compared with 20% before the virus. Office occupancy worldwide has peaked at 40% this year, with the lowest rate in Latin America at 11%. Tuesday has emerged as the most popular day to be at the office, accounting for 23% of visits. The Independent

8. Best places for work-life balance. If you seek work-life balance, consider relocating to a Nordic country, as a new report ranked three such cities – Oslo (#1), Helsinki (#3) and Copenhagen (#5) – in its top five. The 2022 Work-Life Balance Index, conducted by US firm Kisi, looked at health care, hard work, cost of living and time off. European cities dominated the list, with only Ottawa, Canada and Sydney, Australia making the top 10 from outside the continent. Singapore is the best city to work from home, according to the report, with Zurich, Stockholm and Liverpool also making the top 10. Dubai is the most overworked metropolis, followed by Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur. Daily Mail

9. House prices rise despite crisis. Average asking prices for UK properties have jumped by £55,000 since the start of the pandemic, despite the cost-of-living crisis. Rightmove said asking prices rose by £7,400 (2.1%) between April and May, taking the average house price to a new record high of £367,501. “What the data is showing us right now is that those who have the ability to do so are prioritising their home and moving, and the imbalance between supply and demand is supporting rising prices,” said a spokesperson from the property site. Evening Standard

10. The bottom line. Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, became the first frontline politician to feature in The Sunday Times Rich List. He and his wife, Akshata Murty, came 222nd on the UK list with an estimated combined fortune of £730m. The Sunday Times