COVID-19 Business News

Man with dog working from home

Straddling the fence: will hybrid working be middle ground in home-or-office?

By ROSS SEYCHELL IT’S BEEN a year since the UK entered the biggest — and longest — remote-working experiment in history. But with the vaccine rollout...
People meeting around table in office with biophilic design

Boutique offices are the new trend

By JOHN DROVER THE JLL Future of Work survey found that 75 percent of commercial real estate leaders believe that flexible working patterns are critical...
SBA Paycheck Protection Program

Covid relief programme ‘looted by fraudsters’

UNITED States prosecutors are investigating “the largest fraud in US history” — billions of taxpayer dollars for coronavirus aid stolen and used to buy...
Zara shop

Online push from Inditex as up to 1,200 stores to close

INDITEX, the Spanish owner of fashion and clothing stores Zara, Bershka, Pull & Bear and Massimo Dutti, will close up to 1,200 outlets around...
wages, salary, furlough

Employers welcome UK government decision to extend furlough scheme

By Hal Williams A DECISION to extend the British government’s furlough programme has been met with relief by UK employers. The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi...
Stock Market Charts Coronavirus

Markets catch a cold as virus fears infect stock exchanges

THE Nikkei Index for the Tokyo Stock Exchange has taken a tumble over fears at the spread of coronavirus. The 4.5 percent slump — which...
An empty office

Covid hits workplace relationships — and productivity takes a knock

COVID-19’S impact on employer-employee relationships is hampering productivity, a report claims. MetLife UK found that 72 percent of employers and 62 percent of employees have...
Roaring Twenties

Roaring ’20s, take two: Life returns to the high street

AS THE pandemic’s disruption fades, new patterns in consumer behaviour are taking shape. Increases in spending at the start of this year, coupled with the...
Spanish property market, €3m plus house

Dream is alive, but the landscape has changed for UK second-home...

The pandemic pain in Spain falls mainly on the lower end of the property market — but, as HAL WILLIAMS discovers, international second-home owners...
Working from home, working in office

Home or office? Future is hybrid, say HR heads

MOST HR professionals — 65 percent of them — believe workers will divide their time between office and home after pandemic restrictions have been...