NEWS
Landmark review of parental leave launched
Millions of families could benefit from a better start for their children as the UK government launches a major review of the parental leave and pay system – the first of its kind in Britain.
As part of the Government’ s Plan for Change, this review will look at how to modernise parental leave to support today’ s families and help grow the economy.
Research shows that better parental leave can help close the gender pay gap and boost the economy by billions of pounds.
The review will gather views from parents, employers and experts across the country and will end with a roadmap for possible reforms.
The review will look at the whole system – from maternity and paternity leave to shared parental leave – to see how it can work better for parents and employers.
Right now, the system is complicated and doesn’ t always give families the support they need. One in three dads don’ t take paternity leave because they can’ t afford to and take-up of shared parental leave remains very low.
This is a unique moment in family life – the arrival of a child is joyful, but also physically and emotionally demanding. It’ s a time when new mothers need rest and recovery and when both parents need space to bond with their baby and adjust to a new way of life.
That’ s why it’ s so important that fathers and partners are able to be present – not just to support their partner’ s recovery, but to play an active role in caring for their child from day one.
AI causes fall in new UK entry-level jobs
AUK job market report from Adzuna showed that entry-level Graduate hiring weakened, with advertised vacancies falling a jobs – including graduate jobs, apprenticeships, internships further-4.2% in May, now sitting at-28.4% below the same time and junior jobs with no degree requirement – fell-31.89% since the last year and at the lowest level since July 2020. ChatGPT commercial breakthrough in November, 2022. Russell Attwood, Founder and CEO, of Route 101, said:“ It’ s been undeniable for a while that AI has the potential to remove much of the work done by entry-level employees and these numbers make clear that organisations are starting to take advantage of that fact.
“ AI can offload repetitive, low-value, high-contact tasks like automated FAQs or simple data verification, freeing workers to focus on what truly matters: handling complex queries with human empathy. This can both improve customer outcomes and substantially enhance the work experience for contact centre agents, giving them more meaningful and engaging responsibilities.“ However, that empathy is vital, and I firmly believe that the human element will remain crucial in the workforce even as AI advances.”
He added:“ What we will see is the calibre of workers rise, with agents needing stronger analytical skills, emotional intelligence and adaptability in order to handle the complex cases that require the human touch. With those base level roles disappearing, organisations will need to invest more in training and smarter onboarding strategies in order to retain a talent pipeline as entrylevel roles dry up.”
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