Category: News

Retail giant Penneys is planning a state-of-the-art logistics centre for its parent company Primark outside Newbridge.

Dozens of jobs could be created with the proposed €75m facility which will span a massive 500,000 square feet and sit on a 38 acre site at Great Connell off the R445.

A planning application on the proposed facility is expected to go before Kildare Co Council soon.

A recent EY survey found that more than 40% of U.S. respondents reported feeling physically and emotionally isolated in the workplace. This group spanned generations, genders and ethnicities. People want more connection with those they work with. So how can companies connect more effectively with employees and help them feel like they belong within their workplace community? The survey points to one simple solution: establish more opportunities for colleagues to check in with one another. 39% of respondents feel the greatest sense of belonging when their colleagues check in with them, both personally and professionally. By reaching out and acknowledging their employees on a personal level, companies and leaders can significantly enhance the employee experience by making their people feel valued and connected.

There are a multitude of effective routines that were lost in the sudden shift to remote work during the pandemic. As many workers prepare for the return to offices, they need to reclaim the routines they lost and manage their time well.

Here are some recommended steps to reduce trepidation. A lot has changed in the past year. Picture your workday and logistical details, from when you wake to what you eat, pack, and wear. Put it on paper, and then check your assumptions. Look at the routines you’ve taken part of during the pandemic — exercise and chores — and identify where they should fall in your new schedule. Consolidate all this information into a single spot. Finally, think about any larger logistics you need to settle before your return to work, like renewing parking passes, planning your transit route, and preparing meals.

Research shows that the hiring process is impartial and unfair. Unconscious racism, ageism, and sexism play a big role in who gets hired. The good news is there are steps you can take to reduce unconscious biases. Here are some strategies: (1) Simplify. Standardize the process by seeking out software and other analytical tools that bring structure to hiring procedures. (2) Rework job descriptions. Experiment with the wording of your job listings by removing adjectives associated with a particular gender. (3) Give a work sample test. Tests that mimic the kinds of tasks the candidate will be doing in the job are the best indicators of future performance. (4) Standardize interviews. Ask each candidate the same set of defined questions, and use an interview scorecard to grade the answers. (5) Set diversity goals. Leaders should track how well they’re doing against targets. This encourages others in the organization to keep equality top of mind.

Demonstrating passion is not the only predictor of a great job candidate, however hiring managers repeatedly reference this trait in their interview feedback — so you need to figure out how to convey what matters most to you. In your responses during interviews, rather than reference what you did, talk about why you chose to do it. Passion often lies in the activities you aren’t required to do, so talk about what you do with your extra time and why. Talk about your hobbies and how this passion flows into side projects. Talk about where you’ve worked for free. Don’t get overlooked during your next job interview because you don’t display the kind of full-throated, table-thumping behaviors companies tend to equate with passion. Show them that passion comes in different forms and yields impressive results

The pandemic tested us in so many ways professionally, challenging us to do our jobs in less-than-ideal circumstances. Not surprisingly, we relied heavily on soft skills to navigate our way through the prolonged uncertainty.

According to Prudential’s latest Pulse of the American Worker survey, the top three soft skills workers gained last year include adaptability, problem-solving, and time management; here’s how to cultivate them

In recent months the number of people who are leaving the workforce or switching jobs has become so great that it has been characterized as the “Great Resignation”. Indeed, a recent survey from Microsoft found that over 40% of workers around the world were considering quitting their job or changing their profession.

Canadian tech company chose Mountrath as home to its European HQ
N’ware, an expert in the field of Enterprise Resource Planning and business applications software, today announced the creation of 25 new roles with the establishment of its European HQ in Mountrath Co Laois.

This project is supported by the Irish Government through IDA Ireland.

Established in 1995 in Quebec, Canada, N’Ware offers feature-loaded software solutions for small to mid-size businesses (SMEs) or subsidiaries of large enterprise corporations. N’ware, with its main customer base located in North America and LATAM, supports clients in more than 25 countries.

Ireland’s domestic economy is set to rebound more quickly in 2021 than anticipated, the Central Bank has said.

Despite the Government’s decision to delay the resumption of indoor dining, domestic activity is now on schedule to return to pre-pandemic levels and above as early as 2022.

Modified domestic demand — a measure of indigenous economic activity that attempts to strip out the activities of multinational companies — is forecast to grow by 3.4% in 2021 and 5.6% in 2022 after collapsing by 5% in 2020.

The Central Bank had pencilled in domestic growth of just 2.8% in its last Quarterly Bulletin in April.