News in brief
Wanted: a room with a view
Half of office workers think that changing where they work would improve their productivity, work/life balance and energy levels, according to a survey by T-Mobile. Twenty-three per cent said they’d prefer to work from home, while 4 per cent want to be sitting on top of a mountain and 3 per cent on a beach. Half of the respondents also said they’d do more exercise if they didn’t have to sit in front of a computer all day.
ABI backs Climate Change Bill
Following the recent floods, the Association of British Insurers has endorsed the government’s Climate Change Bill. A spokeswoman said: “The Climate Change Bill offers a unique opportunity to ensure sustained, government-wide action to tackle the increased incidence of flooding, storm damage, subsidence and heat waves that climate change will bring.” The consultation period for the draft bill closed in June.
Small businessess shying away from
e-commerce
Just 18 per cent of SMEs are selling online, despite the internet being a great way to compete in the marketplace for a relatively low amount of money, says the Federation of Small Businesses. It also found that less than 1 per cent of SMEs receive all their sales revenue through the internet. Nineteen per cent cited the risk of online credit card fraud as the reason behind their reluctance to engage in e-commerce, even though just 6 per cent have actually experienced this.
Fountain of youth
Insurance professionals are getting younger. Since 2003, the average age of those gaining an entry-level qualification for the industry has fallen year on year. The IFS School of Finance has found that, when their Certificate of Regulated Insurance was launched in 2003, the average age of those taking the qualification was 40. Those taking the exam now have an average age of 34. Given the current skills gap in insurance, could this bode well for the future of the industry in terms of recruitment and retainment?