France – GEL Groupe completes acquisition of PLANETT

French HR services firm GEL Groupe has completed the acquisition of the PLANETT Group, a France-based employment agency.

PLANETT, founded in 1979, specialises in temporary work.

With the acquisition of PLANETT, GEL Groupe confirms its presence in the temporary labour market.

Alain Quentin, President of...

UK – MPs condemn gig economy contracts from Uber, Amazon and Deliveroo

MPs have criticised gig economy contracts during a Commons Work and Pensions Committee, calling contracts from Uber, Amazon and Deliveroo “unintelligible” and have said that the contracts prevent people from challenging their employment status, and even make them liable for court costs...

UK – Accenture acquires automation service provider Genfour

Accenture, a global professional services company, has announced that it has acquired UK-based automation services provider Genfour.

According to Accenture, with this acquisition, Genfour has now become an integral part of the new Accenture Center of Excellence for Intelligent Automation in the UK. Per...

Ireland – Number of registered job vacancies rise in Q1

The number of job vacancies in Ireland has increased by 9% in the first quarter of 2017 when compared to last year, according to Irish recruitment firm Collins McNicholas.

Meanwhile, the number of candidates registering with Collins McNicholas has increased by 1% in the first quarter, compared to last...

UK – Robots could create more jobs rather than steal them

The majority of manufacturing professionals in the UK have never seen job losses as a result of the introduction of robots or automation while more than a third say that robots have often resulted in job creation, according to research from CV-Library.

The research was conducted with more than 1,000 manufacturing...

Iceland – Government presents bill to make equal pay mandatory for all businesses (The Guardian)

Iceland’s Parliament on Tuesday presented a bill that aims to close the gender pay gap, reports The Guardian. The new law will make it mandatory for private and public companies with 25 or more employees to prove that their pay structure is not biased by gender and requires them to undertake a certification...

UK – Hydrogen Group’s full year revenue down 6% due to weakened Energy Sector and Brexit

UK recruitment firm Hydrogen Group (HYDG: AIM) reported revenue yesterday for the full year ending 31 December 2016 of £116.2 million, a decrease of 5.9% compared to £123.6 million during the same period last year.

EU – Euro area unemployment rate declines in February

The euro area (EA19) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 9.5% in February 2017, down from 10.3% the year before, according to figures published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

Data from Eurostat also shows that the EU28 unemployment rate was 8.0% in February, down from...

World – Heidrick and Struggles CEO to take medical leave of absence

International executive search firm Heidrick and Struggles has announced that Chief Executive Officer Tracy R. Wolstencroft will take a three-month leave of absence for treatment of a benign lung condition.

"Tracy is doing the right thing,” Richard Beattie, Chairman of the Board of Heidrick &...

Denmark – Uber ends operations following new taxi law (The Guardian)

The introduction of new taxi laws in Denmark means that Uber, the ride-sharing service, is now set to shut down its operations in the country next month, reports the Guardian. The taxi law sets out new requirements for drivers such as mandatory fare meters and seat occupancy sensors. In a statement,...