UK – Businesses lose up to 7 weeks a year of productivity due to worker procrastination, study finds

Nearly a quarter, or 23%, of UK professionals, admit to spending up to 21 hours each month on personal activities such as texting and internet shopping during their work time, according to survey data from job site CV-Library. This is the equivalent of 2.8 full working days lost every month, or seven...

Germany – Government to look at easing immigration laws to fill skilled labour gaps (Reuters)

Germany’s cabinet will soon decide on a proposal to make it easier for skilled workers from outside the European Union to move to Germany to take a job as the country seeks to ease chronic labour shortages, Reuters reports. The new proposal mainly addresses relaxing migration policy for professionals...

Netherlands – Growth in permanent jobs outpaces flexible jobs in Q2, ABU finds

In the second quarter of 2018, the number of employees with a permanent contract rose faster than the number of those in flexible jobs, according to the latest Flex Barometer from the Dutch Federation of Private Employment Agencies (ABU). 

The barometer showed that in the second quarter, the number...

France – Unemployment rate falls 0.3% in Q2, fixed-term and temp employment fall slightly

France’s unemployment rate stood at 9.2% in the second quarter of 2018. Over the year, the unemployment rate decreased by 0.3%, according to data from INSEE (National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies).

INSEE’s Q2 data also covered fixed-term and temporary employment, showing a decrease...

UK – Number of EU nationals working in the UK sees biggest drop since 1997

The number of EU nationals employed in the UK between April and June 2018 stood at 2.28 million, a decline of 86,000 when compared to a year earlier and the largest annual fall since records began in 1997, according to data published earlier this week by the Office of National Statistics.

The ONS broke...

UK – Google Jobs UK announces partnership with CV-Library

UK-based job board CV-Library announced that it has partnered with Google on the company’s job search service ‘Google Jobs’.

Last month, Google launched its job search service in the UK. The artificial intelligence job search tool shows job postings from across the web, whether they're on websites...

World – Staffing 360 revenue up 42% in Q2 with acquisitions, but falls on organic basis

Staffing 360 Solutions Inc. (NASD: STAF), a staffing provider operating in the US and UK, reported second-quarter revenue rose 41.8%, which includes $20.1 million from acquisitions completed in September 2017; the June 2018 acquisition Clement May, completed in June 2018; and $400,000 from favorable...

Spain – Overtime hours increase 9.8% in 2017, the highest since 2009, according to Randstad

Spanish employees worked nearly 147 million overtime hours in 2017, an increase of 9.8% compared to the previous year, and the highest figure since 2009, according to data from Randstad Spain.

Randstad added that the volume of overtime is directly related to the number of employed as well as the workload....

UK – Recruiter awarded £17k over unfair dismissal (People Management)

A recruiter who resigned after refusing to accept a pay cut was awarded £17,000 for unfair constructive dismissal at an employment tribunal, reports People Management. The recruiter, named as C Decker, worked for Extra Personnel Logistics, a Liverpool-based recruitment agency, since 2008. Decker initially...

Italy – Temporary workers protest in front of Gi Group office over backpay (Il Tirreno)

A group of approximately 15 temporary workers staged a protest last week in front of the Lucca office of Italian staffing firm Gi Group, reports Il Tirreno. The protesters said they have been waiting for a year to receive back pay owed to them. The temporary workers were originally sent by Gi Group to...