Professional May 2021

INDUSTRY NEWS

Trusting robots ACCORDING TO a new study (https://bit.ly/3wNRusq) by Oracle and personal finance expert Farnoosh Torabi, business leaders and consumers have growing confidence that robots can handle finance tasks better than people. The study of more than 9,000 consumers and business leaders in fourteen countries found that the pandemic has increased financial anxiety, sadness, and fear among people around the world and has changed who and what we trust to manage our finances. In addition, people are rethinking the role and focus of corporate finance teams. The study found that of the business leaders who participated: ● 73% trust a robot more than themselves to manage finances, with 77% trusting them over their own finance teams ● 89% believe that robots can improve their work by: detecting fraud (34%); and conducting cost/benefit analysis (23%) ● 56% believe robots will replace corporate finance professionals in the next five years ● 85% want help from robots for finance tasks, including: budgeting and forecasting (39%); reporting (38%); and compliance and risk management (38%) ● 87% say organisations that don’t rethink financial processes face risks, including: falling behind competitors (44%); more stressed workers (36%); inaccurate reporting (36%); and reduced employee productivity (35%). The study notes that events of 2020 have increased the need for organisations to rethink how they use artificial intelligence and other new technologies to manage financial processes. Juergen Lindner, senior vice president, global marketing, Oracle, said “Digital is the new normal and technologies such as artificial intelligence and chatbots play a vital role in managing finance. Organisations that don’t embrace these changes risk falling behind their peers and competitors; hurting employee productivity, morale and well-being; and struggling to attract the next generation of AI-empowered finance talent.” Against office return SOFTWARE FIRM, Personio, has released the findings of a new survey conducted to investigate the impact of the global pandemic on the UK workforce and to find out if companies are prepared for a long-term digital shift. The survey (http://bit.ly/3eHSpEk) reveals that: ● one in four workers would resign from their job if flexible working policies are revoked ● 12% of those surveyed are dissatisfied with the way their employers have looked after them in these uncertain times ● 41% believe their employer is likely to permanently retain the flexible working hours introduced as a response to the pandemic ● 37% feel their company is avoiding implementing new hybrid working paradigms like flexible working schedules, and are persisting with compulsory attendance.

The PortfolioGroup ranks number one SPECIALIST RECRUITMENT agency, The Portfolio Group (‘the Group’), has been ranked on Trustpilot as the number one temp agency and is second placed in the recruitment category. With over 600 reviews, the Group has consistently maintained an excellent 4.9/5-star rating and has most recently gained 378 reviews in 2020. Along with being one of the top ten ranked businesses in HR and recruiting, this accolade showcases the Group’s outstanding service levels and exceptional experiences, as rated by real candidates and clients. Danny Done, managing director at the Group, said: “We pride ourselves on a personal and individual experience for every candidate and client, which proves we do as we say. “We are particularly pleased that we were able to maintain such high levels of service throughout lockdowns and widespread remote- working and have been able to provide key workers such as remote temporary payroll workers continual business support throughout the past twelve months. “Even though the job market remains unsettled, we will keep delivering quality talent to our clients and promoting covid-safe recruitment through remote on-boarding and working, which is now embedded into our recruitment offering, and as a result, many of the reviews and feedback we have received highlights its success.” Councils agree newpartnershipwith Civica A NEW five-year partnership has been agreed between Adur and Worthing Councils and Civica, a global leader in software for public services. The Councils will roll-out Civica’s integrated cloud HR and Payroll software, including self-service for employees and managers, improving reporting and analytics. The new HR and payroll software will create one integrated system with all data and request forms in a single place. It will enable more central collation of data helping with the management, reporting and retention of this data. Keziahh Chandler, digital programme manager at Adur and Worthing Councils, said: “As we continue to work during covid-19, it’s even more important for our staff to have transparent, accessible systems and we take a people-first approach. We are looking forward to working with Civica as our partner to provide an efficient, accurate and secure people system for all our employees and managers.” Kirsty Fowler, HR and payroll managing director at Civica, added: “We’re delighted to collaborate with Adur and Worthing Councils by enabling more agile and resourceful ways of working. “This will allow the Councils to further improve people processes by using better connected ways of working across HR, payroll and workforce management.”

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| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward |

Issue 70 | May 2021

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