Category: Financial

Research has estimated that 393,000 jobs have been lost across the night-time economy due to Covid-19, including 86,000 in the “night-time cultural economy” (NTCE), which includes nightclubs and theatres.

The research, commissioned by the Night Time Industries Association (NTIA) and conducted by leisure consultants CGA and night-time economy researchers Make, found that the sector in the UK – encompassing restaurants, bars, casinos, cultural venues and more – had been steadily growing over the last decade, reaching a peak in 2019. Within that broader sector, the NTCE employed 425,000 people that year, a 12.2% increase since 2010, with the sector valued at £36.4bn.

The NTCE had been projected to continue growing, along with the wider night-time industries, at 9% over the period 2020-2024, but has instead suffered job losses as venues were forced to close during the coronavirus crisis.

Michael Kill, head of NTIA, called on the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, to … Read more

Are you thinking about getting into investing and specifically about investing in the stock market? It’s never been easier, thanks to the internet, for the average person to do so, but easier doesn’t mean easy, and you’ll still need to get up to speed on the world of stocks. Fortunately, the internet has made this a lot less difficult as well.

How Much Involvement?

The first thing you’ll need to do is decide how hands-on you want to be. Maybe you enjoy working with numbers, and you have a lot of time to devote to learning about the stock market or the different companies you might invest in. Maybe you want to spend the least amount of time possible on your investments. Perhaps you’re somewhere in between. Fortunately, investing can accommodate approaches all along this continuum. A roboadvisor can allow you to be as hands-off as you wish to be. … Read more

As organisations return to the workplace, many are looking to break bad habits that have been formed during the Covid-19 pandemic, new research from has revealed. 

The AI-powered corporate learning platform commissioned an independent survey among 4,000 UK adults, of which 666 are decision-makers within UK businesses. Over two fifths said their company became a less appealing place to work when in-person interactions stopped during the pandemic.  

Over a third of business leaders said their company has invested in digital communication tools to handle enquiries during the pandemic. However, 39% stated that this has resulted in poorer customer support.  

More generally, 35% said the quality of their product or service has worsened as a result of relying more heavily on technology during the pandemic.  

Soffos.ai’s research shows that the sudden shift to digital communication has hindered many businesses, with 38% of decision-makers believing that their organisation now utilises “too many” … Read more

Inflation is rising faster than expected and will last for longer than anticipated, the Bank of England’s new chief economist has said.

Huw Pill told the Commons Treasury select committee that the recent rise in prices would prove to be temporary but the “magnitude and duration of the transient inflation spike is proving greater than expected”.

The Bank of England has already had to raise its forecasts for inflation several times this year in the face of widespread supply chain problems and staff shortages, which are affecting economies around the world as they emerge from lockdown.

Rising energy costs are compounding the problem, and the Bank now believes that inflation will peak above 4 per cent. It says it will start to fall back towards the 2 per cent target only in the second half of next year.

Pill, 53, a former Goldman Sachs chief economist, took over from Andy … Read more

When your business needs some new ideas or fresh solutions to tricky problems, there’s nothing quite like a brainstorming session to make things happen. When you get all of your team members together in the right environment, and in a creative frame of mind, magic can happen.

But productive brainstorming sessions often aren’t as spontaneous as they may appear. For the best chance of a successful session, you’ll need to plan everything down to the smallest detail. Who to invite, what problem you want to solve, and how you’ll get the conversation started are all important factors to consider. But before you can worry about that, finding the right meeting space for your brainstorm is crucial.

Keep reading for five simple tips on choosing a venue for your next brainstorming session.

Go off-site

The idea of a brainstorming session is to generate a whole lot of new ideas in a … Read more