BIG VARIANCE IN HOLIDAYS ACROSS EUROPE
London — Despite attempts to harmonize employment practices in Europe, wide discrepancies exist in vacation and public holiday entitlements across the European Union. On the low end, workers in Ireland receive 29 days off and employees in Belgium and the U.K. get 31 days, while Austria, Germany and Sweden provide the most generous time-off entitlements with 43, 42 and 41 days off respectively, a report by consulting firm William M. Mercer shows.
STOCK OPTIONS POPULAR
New York — Nearly 75 per cent of 200 large U.S. companies surveyed by consulting firm Towers Perrin give stock options to newly hired senior managers. Twenty per cent of the companies include “recruitment grants” routinely, with the remainder doing so on a case-by-case basis. As well, 44 per cent of firms surveyed gave options to attract professionals in high demand. The survey noted stock options, once considered to be a practice heavily concentrated in tech firms, are being used by companies across a broad spectrum of sectors.
WORLD UNEMPLOYMENT
Geneva — One-third of the world’s workforce of three billion people are unemployed, the United Nations’ International Labour Organization reports. And population growth means approximately 500 million new jobs will have to be created in the next decade just to accommodate new entrants to the labour force.
JANUARY A BIG MONTH FOR U.S. LAYOFFS
New York — Companies in the U.S. announced an eight-year record of 142,000 job cuts last month, outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reports. While the auto sector led the way, significant cuts also came in tech-related industries. Combined with the previous high set the month before, nearly 275,000 cuts were announced in 60 days. To put the figures in perspective, in just two months, job cuts hit 41 per cent of all cuts recorded in 1998 — the year that holds the record for most layoffs in the 1990s.
London — Despite attempts to harmonize employment practices in Europe, wide discrepancies exist in vacation and public holiday entitlements across the European Union. On the low end, workers in Ireland receive 29 days off and employees in Belgium and the U.K. get 31 days, while Austria, Germany and Sweden provide the most generous time-off entitlements with 43, 42 and 41 days off respectively, a report by consulting firm William M. Mercer shows.
STOCK OPTIONS POPULAR
New York — Nearly 75 per cent of 200 large U.S. companies surveyed by consulting firm Towers Perrin give stock options to newly hired senior managers. Twenty per cent of the companies include “recruitment grants” routinely, with the remainder doing so on a case-by-case basis. As well, 44 per cent of firms surveyed gave options to attract professionals in high demand. The survey noted stock options, once considered to be a practice heavily concentrated in tech firms, are being used by companies across a broad spectrum of sectors.
WORLD UNEMPLOYMENT
Geneva — One-third of the world’s workforce of three billion people are unemployed, the United Nations’ International Labour Organization reports. And population growth means approximately 500 million new jobs will have to be created in the next decade just to accommodate new entrants to the labour force.
JANUARY A BIG MONTH FOR U.S. LAYOFFS
New York — Companies in the U.S. announced an eight-year record of 142,000 job cuts last month, outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas reports. While the auto sector led the way, significant cuts also came in tech-related industries. Combined with the previous high set the month before, nearly 275,000 cuts were announced in 60 days. To put the figures in perspective, in just two months, job cuts hit 41 per cent of all cuts recorded in 1998 — the year that holds the record for most layoffs in the 1990s.
