Human Times
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UK Edition
7th September 2026
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THE HOT STORY

Gen Z graduates prefer office life

Phillippa O'Connor, UK chief people officer at PwC, says graduates are more enthusiastic about office working than older employees, particularly parents and carers who became accustomed to remote work during the pandemic. She says younger staff value being in the office for networking, learning from colleagues and gaining exposure to senior employees and clients. PwC expects staff to work in the office at least three days a week, while offering parents and carers greater flexibility. Research from PwC and the Social Market Foundation think-tank also found that the quality of a person’s first job can have a major impact on their career. Those starting in roles offering strong training, support and progression opportunities earned an average of £55,000 by age 35, compared with £27,000 for those entering lower-mobility roles.
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HR & LEADERSHIP

Is your retention data lying to you?

Employee intent to stay in EMEA has dropped from 66% to 62% in a year, and voluntary turnover now costs the global economy $2.9 trillion annually. Most organisations treat this as a culture problem or a headcount problem but they're rarely looking in the right place. BAFTA-winning writer Adam Kay spent years inside a system that couldn't see its own people clearly, and he's joining Rippling's Wendy Harris and Eric Greenwood to make the case that your people aren't the problem. Your blind spots are. Join the free 45-minute session to find out what AI means for the headcount you can't yet see.

Save your seat

 
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WORKFORCE

Reynolds to meet JLR bosses over job cuts

Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds is set to meet with Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) leadership over its plans to cut 4,000 jobs as part of a voluntary redundancy programme aimed at reducing costs. However, he has ruled out financial support to protect jobs. JLR, which employs 34,000 people in the UK, saw revenue fell by nearly 10% in the three months to June, while its pre-tax profit was down by more than two thirds to £109m.
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HIRING

Hiring picks up in sign of improving confidence

Analysis from KPMG and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation shows that hiring improved in August, with an index of permanent job placements rising to 50.5 from 50 in July.
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TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT

Milburn demands overhaul of apprenticeships

Former Health Secretary Alan Milburn has called for a comprehensive reform of England's apprenticeship system, highlighting its failure to support young people. Department for Education data shows that fewer than one in four apprenticeship starts in 2023/24 were by under-19s, with 78,930 young people beginning an apprenticeship. This was down from 119,800 in 2013/14. The DfE data shows that 48.4% of apprentices were aged 25 or over. Mr Milburn said: "The system really isn't working," as he emphasised the need to refocus the apprenticeship levy on helping youth enter the labour market.

Early intervention could tackle disengagement

School attendance and youth disengagement have worsened sharply since the pandemic, with nearly 166,000 pupils in England now missing more than half of school and almost one million 16- to 24-year-olds not in employment, education or training. Researchers warn that current policy is too reactive and are calling for earlier intervention and systemic changes to prevent disengagement developing into long-term economic inactivity. Research from the University of Bath suggests that policy focuses too heavily on factors such as deprivation and special educational needs while overlooking pupils’ relationships, experiences and engagement with school. 
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LEGAL

Global watchdog identifies increasing misuse of informal money-transfer networks

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the global ​money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog, has said the misuse of informal banking networks, including hawala and other similar service ​providers (HOSSPs), which move payments through agents rather than ​regulated financial institutions, is a growing worldwide problem. FATF President Giles Thomson warned that sophisticated, commercially run networks now act as a “serious risk multiplier,” and make it easier for criminals to hide activities that harm people and communities around the world. FATF ​said in its report that professional service providers, including lawyers, accountants, auditors, consultants and real ​estate agents, are increasingly involved in facilitating the schemes.
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TECHNOLOGY

AI boosts Bank data accuracy

The Bank of England is leveraging AI to enhance economic data accuracy amid growing concerns over official statistics: the Office for National Statistics has faced scrutiny amid declining survey response rates and recent data revisions. Huw Pill, the Bank's chief economist, noted that the pandemic highlighted the need for alternative data sources and said it has been using AI models "to draw more quantitative signals from the qualitative data." The Bank's strategy includes web scraping and agent conversations to inform policy decisions. He added: "Using web-scraping and other more modern technologies to build new sources of information for policy decisions lies at the heart of our strategy and we are making good progress in pursuit of this ambition."
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CYBERSECURITY

OpenAI commits $1bn to cyberdefence effort

OpenAI has said it would commit $1bn in subsidised access to its AI cybersecurity tools, training and technical ​support for organisations that protect critical services, amid growing concern over increasingly sophisticated AI-enabled cyberattacks. The "Daybreak for Frontline Defenders" programme will initially focus on US operators of essential ​services including water utilities, electric grid operators, and state and local ​governments. There are plans to soon expand to partner countries, OpenAI said. "In the ⁠coming months, AI-enabled cyber attacks will become far more widespread and sophisticated as models around ​the world become increasingly capable," the company said, adding: "Our goal ⁠is to use frontier AI to make the systems Americans depend on harder to attack and easier to repair."
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INTERNATIONAL

Trump’s new bid to curb birthright citizenship is blocked

A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from carrying out the president's latest effort to impose new limits on automatic birthright citizenship, granting a preliminary injunction against an executive order that the White House said would target so-called “birth tourism,” whereby women travel to the United States to give birth. U.S. District Judge Deborah L. Boardman in Maryland issued the injunction until a class-action lawsuit brought by immigrant families and advocacy groups is resolved. “The Supreme Court has spoken: Children in the certified class are ‘citizens at birth,’” Boardman, appointed by President Joe Biden, wrote. Shana Khader, legal director at We Are CASA, one of the groups that brought the case in Maryland, said that “the White House must recognize it will not succeed in stripping children of their right to citizenship, evading binding court decisions or placing the president’s anti-immigrant agenda above the Constitution.”

Germany approves €10bn income tax reform

Germany has approved tax cuts worth about €10bn ($11.6bn) aimed at boosting disposable income ‌for low- and middle-income households. Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil said a middle-income family with ​two children would have more than €600 a year extra available from 2028. Meanwhile, the existing 45% top income tax rate will apply from taxable income of €250,000, and a new ​47% rate will be levied on annual income above €280,000. Klingbeil's party, the Social Democrats, call the measure ​a "super-rich tax." He told reporters in Greenville, South Carolina, following a ‌meeting ⁠of G20 finance ministers: "We have . . . decided to make the tax system fairer," adding: "Those with the very highest incomes must make a somewhat greater contribution."

Most UAE professionals are not networking effectively

New LinkedIn research reveals that while 91% of UAE professionals plan to stay in the country, many struggle to build professional connections. Despite recognising the importance of networks, 74% browse work-related content without engaging. Barriers include fear of judgment and lack of guidance, with 58% feeling they lack support in developing relationships. “The UAE continues to be a place where people come to build ambitious, long-term careers. But in a fast-moving labour market, skills alone are not always enough. Visibility and relationships also matter, especially for people who are new to the country, early in their careers, or looking to move into a new sector,” said Najat Abdelhadi, Mena career expert at LinkedIn. “Building a network does not need to start with a big request or a perfectly written message. Small interactions add up,” she added.

Finns helped to decide what a job is worth

A new model from Finland's Ministry of Social Affairs and Health, linked to the EU's pay transparency rules, assesses jobs using six criteria - skills, responsibility and impact, interaction, problem solving and independence, psychosocial demands and physical demands - to make it easier to identify jobs that are equally demanding, even when their day-to-day work looks very different, and then compares how they are remunerated. The new guidance could help challenge some old assumptions about "men's work" and "women's work," Yle reports.

 
Yle
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OTHER

Half-term length debate continues

A growing number of state schools are adopting a two-week October half-term - traditionally more common in private schools - but the policy is proving controversial. Surrey introduced a fortnight this year but will revert to one week in 2027 after school leaders said a shorter break was better for learning, attendance and wellbeing. West Berkshire is consulting on a longer break, while Bromley and Nottinghamshire have adopted one. Leicestershire rejected the idea after 51.1% of parents backed a one-week holiday. A National Parent survey shows that half of parents support shortening the summer holiday from six to five weeks and reallocating the week elsewhere.
 
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