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BP has appointed Ian Tyler as its permanent board chair. The former Balfour Beatty chief takes the role as BP reshapes its board, portfolio, investment discipline, and balance sheet under chief executive Meg O’Neill.
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UK director confidence improved in August but remained deeply negative. The IoD index rose from -63 to -49, while investment intentions remained below zero and businesses continued to report high costs and significant policy uncertainty.
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Government plans would give regions greater control over investment strategy. Local industrial plans, grid connections, skills, and consolidated funding are being placed within a wider devolution programme led through the new Number 10 North operation.
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E.ON’s UK chief has left potential OVO job cuts open. The companies employ about 12,000 people between them as competition scrutiny continues ahead of a proposed 9.6-million-customer combination.
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Government has launched a new forum to expand creative exports. The Creative Trade Forum is accompanied by £10m of Innovate UK funding aimed at helping creative-technology companies scale and reach overseas markets.
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Matt Huntly is scaling Sampl through sharper product sampling measurement. The founder and CEO discusses customer intent, data discipline, founder transition, and international growth across 35 markets.
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Sainsbury’s plans 10,000 work experience opportunities for young people nationwide. The programme combines school engagement, employability workshops, and practical workplace exposure as youth employment conditions remain difficult.
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Zero-hours reforms could raise employer costs and alter staffing models. CIPD research finds two-thirds of employers using the contracts expect higher HR and management costs, while around a third anticipate redundancies or greater reliance on alternative workers.
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Entry-level opportunities are shrinking as employers adopt more workplace automation. Work Foundation research finds more than a third of employers have cut junior roles, with the reduction particularly pronounced among medium-sized and large organisations.
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UK marketers report losing substantial working time to administration. Optimizely research finds 45% spend at least a quarter of their week on low-value tasks amid growing workflow complexity.