EDITION 807
2 MARCH 2020

As another week slips by, here are 10 things which caught my attention and may have escaped yours. This newsletter is sent to 50,000+ subscribers each Monday. Please share on social media and forward to your colleagues and friends so they can subscribe, learn and engage. I'd be very grateful if you did.

1.  How to recruit top talent to your team. Whether you’re a founder of a startup, a young CEO, or a veteran leader, if you have big plans, you have one job: Put together the strongest team possible. Here are three concrete ways to attract new top talent. READ MORE >>

2.  Cupid’s arrow flies into No. 10. During a radio interview in 2019, Boris Johnson declined to say how many children he had. But he did wax enthusiastically about the beneficial effects that leaving the European Union would have on Britain’s birthrate. He predicted that Brexit would bring a surge in births similar to what he claimed happened when London hosted the Olympics in 2012, when he was City’s mayor. It would seem his prophesy has been realised after he and his partner Carrie Symonds announce that they are engaged and are expecting a baby in early summer. Editor

3.  The rise of the part-time boss. Part-time work is on the rise among senior-level staff, with more than 1 million managers now choosing to cut down their hours at work. Figures from the ONS show part-time work among the top 25% of earners has risen rapidly - and for many, work-life balance is the reason. The news comes as consultancy firm Timewise unveils its Power 50 – a list of senior business figures who work part-time. With one in six manager and senior-level executives working less than five full days a week, it seems flexible working has hit its stride. BBC

4.  Is rudeness at work on the rise? With Priti Patel under pressure to quit after a senior civil servant quits, the vast majority of people say they’ve experienced rudeness at work, from being interrupted to outright belittled, and our studies show that low-level negativity can be contagious. However, more often than not, workers feel they're treated with respect. While a majority of employees reported experiencing incivility, most indicated that these experiences came from just a few co-workers. Patel’s conduct allegedly includes swearing, belittling people, making unreasonable and repeated demands. Editor

5.  One-fifth of students lose money by going to university. One in five students lose money by going to university, a study for the Institute for Fiscal Studies has found. Researchers say that around 20% of students earned less than those with similar school results who did not attend. Certain subjects, such as creative arts, offer negative financial returns, they concluded. The Guardian

6.  Dozens of top companies warned over gender failure. An investor group has warned 63 publicly listed companies over their failure to increase the number of women on their leadership teams ahead of a year-end deadline. The companies in the firing line include Stagecoach Group and the Ladbrokes owner GVC. The Investment Association said: “Diversity results in better decision-making and plays an essential role in a company’s long-term success.” The Telegraph

7.  The truth about the rich-poor divide. The gap between the country’s rich and poor is greater than previously thought, according to revised government figures. Britain’s richest 10% earned an average of £97,600 in the 2017-18 financial year, almost £10,000 more than previous estimates, as the ONS turns to tax records rather than traditional surveys to assess the income gap. It comes as forecasts from accountancy firm EY reveal the economic fortunes of Britain’s smaller towns, and those who live there, are set to fall further behind those of the biggest cities over the next three years. The Guardian

8.  Daily portion of fruit and veg ‘cuts stroke risk’. Eating 200g of fruit and vegetables every day may reduce the risk of suffering the most common type of stroke by 13%, according to a new study by an international team. Conversely, a daily portion of 50g of red meat - equivalent to two slices of roast beef - was associated with a 14% increase in the risk of an ischaemic stroke, while consuming 20g of eggs per day raised the risk by 25%. The Times

9.  Starmer tops latest poll for Labour leadership. Keir Starmer is comfortably in the lead in the Labour Party leadership race, according to a new poll for Sky News by YouGov. The survey - the first to include trade unionists and registered supporters as well as party members - put centrist candidate Starmer on 53%, ahead of Rebecca Long-Bailey, on 31% and Lisa Nandy, on 16%. Sky

10. The bottom line. The average price for a house in Cambridge is £470,933, making it the least-affordable place in Britain in which to buy a house, relative to the average local salary of £39,434. Oxford, where the average house costs £431,647, and the average salary is £36,194, comes in at second place. Daily Express