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Global Business Veteran Sir Eric Peacock on his recruitment of Senior personnel

emma — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 10:08:45 +0100

Sir Eric Peacock is an experienced international businessman with an outstanding track record of taking businesses to full and AIM stock market exits as well as trade sales.
He is a Non-Executive with the DTI, a Board Member of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Public Diplomacy Board and has been Chairman of 'What If' since 2001 - rated by the FT as the No. 1 company to work for in the UK. He was also Executive Chairman of Rotary Watches International and NXD Rotary Watches Group between "1998 - 2002".
This breadth and depth of experience makes Sir Eric Peacock an extraordinary Speaker.

This is an extract taken from the HSBC forum in London recently.

He (Sir Eric) outlines a particular example of cost saving he learnt from a business colleague, Steve Jobs. "He showed me a process for managing relationships with people they thought they might employ in the next few years," Sir Eric explains, happy to pass on the wisdom. "I've got a version of it. We build up relationships with people. We hear when they've got itchy feet. We make sure we have a few beers with them or a lunch. As a result, I've cut my recruitment costs by 80 per cent."

A record number forced to work into late 60s - Reports Becky Barrow - Daily Mail

emma — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 12:26:43 +0000

Record numbers of older people fear they will have to work beyond the official retirement age, research has revealed.

More than 70 per cent of workers aged 55 and above said the financial crisis had left them with no option but to shelve their retirement plans. The figure was just 40 per cent in the same survey two years ago.

A cruel combination of shrinking pension pots, low interest on savings and the fall in property prices is forcing them to stay at work. The research, from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), reveals that private sector workers are the biggest losers.

Only 36 per cent of workers in the private sector have a company pension, compared to 90 per cent of public sector workers.

The research will fuel the debate about 'pensions apartheid', with public sector workers enjoying gold-plated pensions-but almost nobody else.

By comparison few private sector workers even get a company pension and even fewer get one that will pay for a decent retirement.

Without an adequate company pension, they have no alternative but to keep working beyond state pension age, currently 60 for women and 65 for men.

Charles Cotton, an adviser from the CIPD, warned of a 'ticking time bomb' for the UK economy and society. Mr Cotton said many workers do not realise the financial mess that they are in until they are just a few years off retirement. In their early 50s, he said 'reality bites' and they realise that they cannot possibly retire when they had been hoping to.

Private sector workers represent around 80 per cent of the work force but more and more are being left to face a financially tough retirement.

The survey, which interviewed around 2,000 people of working age, shows how the recession has escalated the financial crisis facing older workers. When the same question was asked two years ago 40 per cent of workers aged 55 and above said they would have to work beyond state pension age. But just 24 months later, nearly three-quarters of workers are planning to stay in their jobs at an age when most of their parents and grandparents had retired.

Tom McPhail, head of pensions research at the financial advisors Hargreaves Lansdown, said: 'The reality is that most people simply cannot afford to retire.' He urged people to 'save as much as you can as soon as you can'.

Overall the report found less than 46 per cent of people actually have a pension with their current employer.

The pensions crisis is even worse for women, who often do part-time jobs with no pension. Only 39 per cent of women have a pension compared to 52 per cent of men.

There have been growing calls for the gold-plated pensions to be curbed. John Cridland, deputy director-general of the business lobby group, the Confederation of British Industry recently called for an independent commission to investigate public sector pensions. He said: 'Taxpayers who are struggling to build up their own personal pension will be lumbered for decades by the cost of covering public sector workers who retire years earlier on risk-free pensions.'

Rise in 'hidden jobless' paints a different picture of unemployment - reports The Sunday Times

emma — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 11:33:59 +0100

Actual jobless figures are over 4.5 million despite the Office of National Statistics (ONS) finding that 2.44 million people are unemployed, according to the Chartered institute of Personnel and development (CIPD).

The official labour market figures released last Thursday (13 August 2009) by the ONS show a slight deceleration in the speed at which unemployment is rising, with the latest headline stating that unemployment figures having increased by 220,000 to 2.44 million. However, Dr JOhn Philpott, Chief Economist at the CIPD, claims that the unemployment figures are not fully reflected, due to a rise of 127,000 in the number of people classed as "economically inactive" i.e. jobless but not seeking work. Philpott claims that this would have taken the figures to above 2.5 million.

Philpott comments: "More than 2.1 million of these 'hidden jobless' say that they want to work, which points to a labour market in deepening distress, continuing to shed jobs at an alarming rate and with the genuine level of joblessness already above 4.5 million.

"The situation would be less depressing if we could comfort ourselves with the prospect of a swift return to strong economic growth. But if the Bank of England is correct this is not on the cards. The best our week jobs market can look forward to in the near term is an anaemic recovery. And at worst, as the CIPD warned earlier this week, an anaemic recovery might well trigger a further avalanche of redundancies later this year."

Older Unemployed People Risk Never Working Again - Reports The Sunday Times

emma — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 10:37:45 +0100

Long-term unemployed older people may be forced into early retirement unless they are given the support to help them back into work according to a new report by the TUC. the report draws on research by the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) that unemployed peopleover 50 are ten times as likely to still be out of work than back in work after two years.

Furthermore, the report warns that a period of long-term unemployment for an older person can significantly increase their chances of never working again. This particularly affects men, with every year of unemployment making it 24.3% less likely that they will find work again. In addition, almost half of all unemployed people over 50 have been out of work for over a year.

The TUC calls for the Government's job guarantee, delivered by the Future Jobs Fund to be better funded and extended to benefit older people. They believe that the job guarantee, where employers receive subsidies for taking on an unemployed person for at least six months, is a better way to deal with long-term unemployment.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber, comments: "The idea of forcing older workers out of the labour market is morally offensive and would cause economic chaos. The UK would instantly lose vital skills and experience and young people would not necessarily be in a position to take up their jobs.

"Older people have the skills and experience needed to get us through this recession; the government must introduce tailored support to prevent them being forced into retirement against their will and face old age in poverty"

33% of working mothers would like to quit their jobs in order to care for their children

emma — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:35:36 +0100

33% of mothers would like to quit their jobs in order to care for their children; another 60% would like to reduce their hours for the same reason; 66% say they cant afford to give up work.

Reports The Mail