Local people could decide their own Sunday trading hours
The Government has launched a consultation on plans to give local areas the power to allow large shops to open for longer on Sundays. The reforms would give metro mayors and local authorities the power to determine Sunday trading rules that reflect the needs of local people and allow shops and high streets to stay open longer. Business Minister Anna Soubry said: "Modern Sunday trading laws have the potential to create thousands of jobs across the country and help British businesses to thrive."
Acas launches new equality guides
Acas has published a new series of equality guides to help employers identify, tackle and prevent discrimination in the workplace. Over the past year, the Acas helpline has dealt with nearly 50,000 calls on discrimination and diversity issues at work. Steve Williams, Acas head of equality, said: "Our new guidance suite covers the different types of discrimination, situations where discrimination is lawful as well as practical steps on how to prevent discrimination and dealing with it if it happens."
UK recycling: could do better
Britain could easily hit its 50% waste recycling target overnight if only people, companies and organisations up and down the country could be bothered, according to waste management firm Business Waste. At present, the UK only recycles 45% of all waste, even though other European countries aim for and hit targets of 100%. "We've set a ten year target to reach 70% recycling from homes and businesses," says Business Waste's Mark Hall. "Ten years! What a joke! We could do that tomorrow if we could be bothered."
Employers to hire more full-time staff
At the halfway point in 2015, many British employers and job seekers are feeling positive about their prospects, according to the Midyear Job Forecast from CareerBuilder. It has found that 45% of employers plan to hire full-time, permanent staff over the next six months and 43% plan to hire temporary or contract workers. In addition, 27% of workers plan to change jobs in the next year. The top hiring areas include: customer service (28%); IT (22%); sales (20%); production (20%); HR (17%), finance (15%) and marketing (8%).