People

Employment conditions in Europe's central banks are worsening as banking staff increasingly feel they are being kept in the dark by their employers over changes in eurozone banking policy, according to a new report from UNI-Europa.

UK companies are increasingly concerned about the quality of their leadership and their ability to recruit new leaders, says Towers Perrin.

Christmas time sees a significant increase in alcohol-related disciplinary problems, according to a report by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

Just as they wouldn't risk all their senior staff on a single flight, corporates now question the need for highrise headquarters.

Looking at the FTSE, it appears not. Yet a huge increase in the compliance burden means directors are running like mad just to stand still.

The recent dramatic demise of Marconi has tended to overshadow the fact that, in terms of its style of financial management, it was really quite a pioneering company in its heyday. The General Electric Company, as it used to be known, was a ramshackle business when Arnold Weinstock became managing director in 1963, taking up the role on the condition that he was allowed to appoint Kenneth Bond as his finance director.

Our best-ever conference programme is driven by the people who know best what the key issues are – our readers, and some of the country’s leading FDs. You will find them at the Financial Director Summit.

National Grid’s Steve Lucas says it’s hard to get wired about the energy company’s reputation. But a shake-up of the market could be a shock to the monopoly