EDITION 957
20 FEBRUARY 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 manage meetings involving senior leaders. A meeting of multiple time-starved executives is a massive commitment of resources. Focusing on low-stakes issues, like updates or presentations, often wastes valuable time. Instead, meetings among senior leaders should tackle the organisation’s most critical issues. Whether you’re a top executive or just meeting with fellow managers, try to concentrate on: READ MORE `>>

2. Why 8m Brits are going part-time. A quarter of the British workforce now works part-time. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has warned that although stricter benefits rules have boosted employment, they have also led to people working in jobs with a lower chance of career progression and weakened incentives to work five days a week. While rising childcare and commuting costs put the financial gain of a day's salary into perspective, many also want to reduce their working days to spend more time with family. With the prospect of the UK being the only major economy to shrink in 2023, the government is looking for ways to incentivise full-time work to boost the country's economic output, including getting early retirees back into the workforce. The Guardian

3. How has Brexit affected the economy? Economists try to answer the question by measuring Britain’s performance against comparable countries, or modelling a doppelgänger UK that hasn’t left the EU. Bloomberg Economics concluded that Brexit is costing the UK economy £100bn a year, leaving it 4% smaller than it would have been. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) similarly thinks it will end up 4% smaller than it would have been. In the real world, the UK has underperformed compared with every other G7 nation; it is the only economy yet to return to the size it was in late 2019. Bloomberg

4. Why wages could rise at a record rate. British employers could increase staff wages by around 5% in 2023, the most in at least 11 years, according to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. However, the pay bump would still fall short of inflation, which is around double that figure. A hiring intentions study by the accountancy firm BDO could explain the need to raise wages. According to the report, companies are scaling back recruitment amid weakening business confidence. Hiring freezes, paired with a tight labour market, mean businesses will now have to pay higher salaries to the staff they retain. The Guardian

5. Is it time to retire the term middle-aged? JLo, Paul Rudd, Kylie Minogue, Roger Federer, Jennifer Aniston. If calling these famous faces “middle-aged" feels wrong, why should we use it to describe ourselves? According to a YouGov survey, the term doesn't mean much anymore – it's a life stage that some say begins in your mid-thirties, while others think 65 is the start of "middle age". The Guardian says that the term has become too laden with negative meaning. What do you think? Let us know in our latest poll. VOTE HERE >>

6. The shifting seats of politics. According to YouGov, 24% of UK voters would vote Conservative in a general election held tomorrow. 47% would vote Labour, followed by the Lib Dems (10%), Greens (6%), Reform UK (6%) and the SNP (4%). Labour would win a majority of more than 180, according to an MRP poll (giving results for individual seats) by Find Out Now and Electoral Calculus. The Tories would be left with 45 seats, fewer than the SNP. Daily Telegraph

7. Council tax set to rise in April. Council tax for millions of families will soar above £2,100, with bills set to rise by the maximum amount across three-quarters of England. Three in four of the local authorities that have published their plans so far have said they will increase their rates by 4.99% from April. This is the maximum allowed without a local vote and would add £100 a year to bills for average Band D properties. Low tax campaigners said that the rises are “the last thing hard-pressed households need”, with the cost-of-living crisis biting hard. The Telegraph

8. Fears as food bank demand soars. Food banks fear they may have to turn people away as more people are depending on them than ever before in Britain. NHS staff and teachers are among those seeking the help of food banks, as new research by the Independent Food Aid Network found that almost 90% reported increased demand in December 2022 and January 2023 compared with a year earlier. The Trussell Trust, which operates more than 1,300 food banks, warned last year that food banks were at “breaking point”. The Guardian

9. New Covid Wave’ sweeps UK. A “new wave” of Covid is under way in the UK as levels rise in most parts of the nation. A total of 1.2m people in private households in the UK were likely to have Covid-19 in the week to 7 February, up 20% from the previous week, according to the Office for National Statistics. Most age groups in England have seen a jump in prevalence of Covid, with rates highest among secondary school-age children. The Independent

10. The bottom line. One in six employees are still working from home, figures suggest. According to a recent survey, 16% of adults said they were exclusively working from home between September and January, while 56% were working outside the home. A further 28% were doing a bit of both. Meanwhile, Nearly five million British adults were living with their parents in 2021, a 14.7% increase from 2011. Office for National Statistics