Employers are shunning staff with traditional IT skills in favour of Internet and web programming skills, research has revealed. According to the survey by Computer Weekly demand for staff with Java, HTML and XML skills rose dramatically during the first three months of the year, with the number of traditional IT jobs dropping from 59,000 to 32,000.
Legislative burden
Employment legislation is imposing a heavy burden on recruitment agencies across the UK, according to industry body Recruitment and Employment Conference. REC external relations director Christine Little, said, “Getting to grips with the new rules is a major headache, leading to increased operating costs and an ever-increasing administrative burden.”
E-consultancy launch
Specialist e-learning firm IQdos has announced what it claims to be the world’s first on-line e-learning consultancy. The service assesses a business’s awareness of e-commerce and will be launched at an e-learning conference at the Business Design Centre, London next week.
Speech stress
Public speaking is considered the most nerve-racking business activity facing company directors, research has shown.
According to this year’s Aziz Management Communications Index, 74 per cent of directors are more daunted by public speaking than any other business activity.
Directors found TV interviews and conference speaking (82 per cent) especially worrying.
HSC action plan
The Health and Safety Commission has published an action plan to implement all 93 recommendations from Professor John Ulff’s Southall rail accident inquiry report. Ulff recommended installation of on-train data recorders, implementation of emergency evacuation procedures and removal from service of trains with deficient Automatic Warning System (AWS).
www.hse.gov.uk/hsc/southall.htm
