PROFESSOR DYLAN JONES-EVANS

  Today’s businesses thrive on talented individuals at all levels of the workforce. As a result, the attraction and retention of employees with the right skills, experience and aptitudes has become one of the main competitive tools for firms across the globe. In particular, there is increasing evidence of a growing demand for millennials, namely those individuals born between 1980 and 1995 who have grown up with digital technology during the last two decades. There are currently around 14 million millennials in the UK yet many employers still have little understanding of this group despite the fact that they will be the future leaders in many organisations. This lack of knowledge has been examined by a report from the accountants KPMG. “Meet the Millennials” explores the characteristics of those who grew up during a period of rapid change and, more importantly, how companies can attract and retain them. According to the study, millennials are quite different to previous generations...

As students of global economics will attest, the old saying “when America sneezes, the world catches a cold” is as true now as it ever was. However, the same is true of positive developments that happen in the USA with new trends that impact on the economy and society usually crossing the Atlantic Ocean a few years later. That is why a recent report on those who are working for themselves is an important study that could have significant implications for the development of the labour force here in the UK. “Freelancing in America:2018” is the most comprehensive study undertaken on the independent workforce in the USA and shows that, incredibly, more than one in three Americans are involved in freelance work. And this trend is growing with the freelance workforce growing to nearly 57 million over the last five years, a growth 0f 7 per cent as compared to only 2 per cent for the non-freelance workforce. In addition, the proportion of those who are doing well out of being freelan...