UK payroll employment fell by 109,000 in May, the steepest drop since 2020, bringing total job losses since October 2024 to 276,000 amid tax hikes and rising labour costs. Wage growth slowed to 5.2%, and unemployment rose to 4.6%. The data signals weakening employer confidence and growing workforce strain as businesses curb hiring and focus on cost control.
Camille Chang Gilmore, with over 25 years of HR leadership experience across sectors, joins Avanos Medical as Chief Human Resources Officer and Senior Vice President. Most recently, she served as Global Chief Diversity Officer and Vice President of HR for Boston Scientific’s Interventional Cardiology division. In her new role at Avanos, she will spearhead the company’s global people strategy, overseeing talent acquisition, workforce planning, leadership development, and enhancing the employee experience.
Employers in Asia‑Pacific and the Middle East report a steady 28% growth in Net Employment Outlook for Q3 2025, flat from Q2 but up 7 points year‑on‑year. Tech, finance and industry roles are fueling demand, and 63% of firms are investing more in automation. Businesses cite expansion as their main hiring driver, mitigating global economic uncertainty.
Gensler’s 2025 Global Workplace Survey reveals that UAE workers want offices that go beyond functionality, favouring creative, wellness-driven spaces over traditional formats. While 67% prefer to work mostly onsite, only 31% feel their current workplace supports peak performance. The report urges employers to reimagine offices as hubs of innovation, flexibility, and human connection to align with the UAE’s national goals.
Scarlettabbott’s World Changers 2025 report reveals that poor employee experience is directly linked to weaker business performance, with 79% of HR leaders agreeing. Key challenges include a lack of leadership buy-in, misaligned values, and ineffective reward systems. The report also highlights concerns over rigid return-to-office policies and AI’s impact on employees. It calls for people-focused strategies to improve employee engagement and drive business success.
Despite progress in areas like pay, flexibility, and supportive management, work continues to harm employee wellbeing across the UK, reveals CIPD’s 2025 Good Work Index. Based on a survey of 5,000 workers, the findings highlight a persistent health and retention crisis linked to poor job design, excessive workloads, and inadequate line management support.
BlackRock is laying off roughly 300 employees, over 1% of its staff, in its second round of job cuts this year, even after expanding headcount by 14% through major acquisitions. The decision reflects a broader Wall Street push to control labour costs while accelerating growth in private markets.
Amazon has cut fewer than 100 jobs in its books division, including at Goodreads and Kindle, to improve efficiency and align with its business roadmap. This move is part of CEO Andy Jassy’s broader effort to reduce bureaucracy across the company while continuing to add jobs in other areas. The cuts highlight the need for workforce adaptability amid ongoing corporate restructuring.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai confirmed plans to grow the company’s engineering workforce through 2026, contrasting with major tech firms that are cutting jobs amid AI investments. He emphasised AI as a tool to enhance engineer productivity, not replace jobs, and highlighted growth opportunities in autonomous vehicles, quantum computing, and YouTube’s expansion. This approach marks a shift toward investing in human talent despite recent layoffs at Alphabet.
Africa is on the brink of industrial transformation, but success hinges on closing key workforce gaps. The UNIDO Africa Industrial Development Report stresses urgent reforms in clean energy access, job creation, and industrial infrastructure. With youth unemployment rising and decent jobs lagging behind growth, the report calls for private sector inclusion, coordinated policy delivery, and stronger digital governance to convert potential into employment-driven progress.
Procter & Gamble will cut 7,000 jobs, about 15% of its non-manufacturing workforce, over two years as part of a global restructuring plan aimed at countering weak consumer demand and rising costs from tariff-related uncertainty. The move will streamline operations by reducing team sizes, broadening roles, and possibly exiting select markets and product categories. Executives cited growing geopolitical and economic unpredictability, noting that the changes are an acceleration of ongoing efforts to stay competitive in a challenging business environment.
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