EDITION 860
15 MARCH 2021

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 at 10am. Please share on social media and forward to your colleagues and friends so they can subscribe, learn and engage. I would be very grateful if you did.

1. How to write an engaging cover letter. First impressions are important. While CVs give employers the facts about your career and education, cover letters are a way to expand on these facts and convey personality. If you’re not hearing back from recruiters, the letters accompanying your resume may need a little more work. Not sure how to write an engaging letter? READ MORE

2. UK SME borrowing at record levels. Almost half of the UK’s small and medium-sized businesses sought external financing in 2020 as a result of the pandemic, lifting total outstanding bank debt to £213b. British Business Bank’s annual SME finance report found 43% of companies received funding from financial institutions as well as government-backed emergency loans and grants, compared to 13% in 2019. An accompanying survey revealed a third of business owners expected to shrink over the next 12 months echoing Bank of England predictions that £22b may never be repaid. The Times

3. Has the pandemic changed us. After a year of changed working habits, enforced remote work for many and reduced social contact, how have people adapted and changed? On the work front, many people have switched video for phone calls to combat “Zoom fatigue”, and readers of this newsletter say they've discovered how vital regular check-ins with colleagues are. Several global leaders said they didn’t realise how sweeping and long-term changes would be, but lessons learned include finding new ways to connect with colleagues and clients and understanding that often a message works as well as face-to-face conversation. Financial Times

4. He who hesitates. Who is ‘vaccine hesitant’? 9% of all adults, according to the ONS. It is slightly higher among women, at 10%. 17% of 16- to 29-year-olds, falling to 1% of the over-70s. 44% of people who are black or black British. 16% of parents with young children. 7% of people in the least deprived areas. 16% in the most deprived areas. The Spectator

5. Making great leaders. With International Woman’s Day being in focus last week, it is worth noting that nearly 120 nations have never had a woman head of state or government, with gender parity in politics some 130 years away, according to research. But it's not only the ministerial office where women are scarce. Look a little closer at the professional landscape and you’ll find a dearth of women in leadership roles. We suggest employers develop support networks where potential leaders can look for assistance and advice, although we believe the work should start much earlier: mentor inexperienced women and help them visualise how they can be successful. Editor

6. Hybrid work will have its challenges. It's been about a year since the world shut down and many of us were reassigned new desks; in our homes. There have been many bumps in the road, from maintaining work-life boundaries to helping children with distance learning and home schooling. Experts warn that we can expect even more challenges as we adjust to the "next phase of this grand work experiment," which is the return to the office. One expert says offering remote work was the easy part, now businesses have to offer "organisational support" so workers can succeed out of the office. In addition, hybrid workforces, where staff will split days between going to the office and working remotely, could be rampant with inequality. CNN

7. Phone addiction impacts sleep. Almost 40% of university students are so addicted to their smartphones that they suffer from bad sleep, according to new research. A study of 1,043 students aged 18 to 30 at King’s College London found that 406 had symptoms of smartphone addiction and more than two-thirds of the addicts had trouble sleeping, compared with 57.1% of those who were not addicted to their device. The youngest participants in the study were the most likely to show signs of addiction. Daily Express

8. The new expectation of business leaders. The global pandemic has required a new leadership style for corporate leaders. Among the shifts is a surging expectation that executives are more accessible, transparent and connected with stakeholders such as employees, customers and investors, according to our research. Researchers found that 60% of prospective hires now study a CEO's social media accounts before joining a company, and once hired, employees prefer by more than a 5:1 ratio to work for a leader who's active on social media. Daily Mail

9. Sussexes lose popularity in UK. Harry and Meghan have fallen out of favour with the public, according to a new poll. YouGov found that 45% of Britons have a positive opinion of Harry, while 48% regard him negatively - the first time that attitudes towards the duke have been negative overall. Only 31% of people have a positive opinion of Meghan, while 58% have a negative opinion, a fall in her net rating to minus 27, from minus 14. BBC

10. The bottom line. Of the 54 million adults in Britain, only 31 million, or 56%, earn enough to pay any income tax at all. Daily Telegraph