Editors Blog

So the rugby World Cup is expected to eat into employee productivity costing British businesses more than £461m, according to email and Web content security firm Marshal?

What a load of tripe! TV rights have gone through the roof for the 2007 tournament. ITV, alone, has paid £30m for the rights to broadcast the event — three times more than it paid for the 2003 tournament.

The fallout from last month's unveiling of the Equality Bill continues apace. The suggestion that employers should, in effect, be paid to hire more women and black and minority ethnic (BME) workers will undoubtedly provoke controversy.

As this is a view expressed by the managing director of one of the leading names on the high street, does it truly indicate the way the wind is blowing in boardrooms across the UK?

The idea put forward by Boots' managing director Alex Gourlay suggests that top employers have yet to be fully convinced of the business case for diversity ­ if they were, surely there would be no need for financial incentives in the form of tax breaks to operate a more diverse workforce?

Following news that pickings in the finance sector are growing slimmer by the day, an online job ad is causing quite a stir around the web.

A hedge fund in Palo Alto, one of the USA's most expensive cities in which to live, is on the hunt for software developers. The desired applicant will have degree (undergraduate, Masters or PhD) in computer science or mathematics, and experience in programming & software development.

But job seekers are asked to send in more than just a CV and cover letter - they're also expected to toss a coin 50 times, record the results, and send them along as well.