Business

Employee expectations have shifted over the past decade, particularly among the younger generations now entering the workforce.

Since the pandemic, boards across the UK have spent the years weighing incentives against mandates, trying to coax people back into the office without making it feel like a penalty. What employers want from the workplace, and what employees want from it, are still not always aligned. Around four in ten UK workers now spend at least part of their week working from home, while absence has climbed to its highest level in over a decade, exceeding nine working days per employee per year according to the CIPD. Building somewhere people genuinely want to be has moved beyond salary, benefits and policies alone. Companies serious about attracting and retaining talent are now competing across a broader set of expectations, and food has become part of that equation. Now, workplace corporate catering sits firmly within conversations that keep HR leaders awake at night: employee experience, culture, recruitment and the golden goose: retention. In response to changing employee behaviours and expectations, a growing number of organisations have stopped treating food as a perk and started treating it as a performance lever.

On the face of it, the logic is straightforward. Good nutrition supports energy, focus and productivity. Dig a little deeper, however, and food is doing what it has always done best: bringing people together to connect, collaborate and build relationships. The wider food industry has recognised this shift and responded accordingly, with fresh examples of what workplace dining can look like when approached strategically. This thinking underpins the way two businesses approach workplace dining from different angles: Fooditude and The Good Eating Company.

Fooditude provides delivered catering for offices without on-site kitchens, while GEC operates a fully staffed workplace onsite catering service for larger sites. Farzana Miah, Head of Marketing, shared why an innovative approach to corporate catering matters in today’s climate, at a time when employers are placing greater emphasis on authentic culture and employee wellbeing: “Employees today have genuinely high expectations when it comes to dining, and rightly so,” she says. “With the incredible restaurants, street food markets and culinary experiences on their doorstep, especially in London, the workplace also needs to compete.”

The Good Eating Company and Fooditude recently celebrated the launch of the TASTE Spring Summer Food Innovation Forum at London’s Business Design Centre, where eight new food and drink concepts were presented exactly as they would be served in the workplace as part of onsite catering services. “For us, it was a showcase of what’s possible when brands are genuinely led by customer insight, allowing that insight to drive innovation that can raise the bar for workplace hospitality moving forward,” says Miah.

Among the concepts showcased was Smoking Barrel, featuring premium cuts of meat, cornbread and house-made sides; the kind of meal people actively look forward to rather than simply tolerate. Fooditude introduced three concepts of its own: Galli Social, inspired by Indian street food; Bun Cho, influenced by Vietnamese market cooking; and Function, which builds dishes around ingredients selected for energy and focus as much as flavour. The latter reflects the growing trend towards functional nutrition, where food is increasingly judged not only by how it tastes, but by how it makes people feel hours later. Alongside the new launches, GEC also highlighted its Sustainable Diets initiative. Rather than removing options or relying on messaging alone, the programme uses menu design and placement to make lower-impact choices easier for employees. The goal is simple: make the preferred option the easiest option. Those commitments, however, are only as strong as the supply chain behind them. The forum brought together more than 20 local suppliers, highlighting the growing importance of sourcing transparency as employees become increasingly interested in provenance and environmental impact. Sustainability messaging quickly falls apart if organisations cannot demonstrate where their food comes from.

After the lunch rush, what remains is the realisation that workplace food innovation is about far more than food. The environment people work in shapes how engaged, connected and supported they feel, and food is one of the parts of that environment employees interact with most often. The employee dining experience, particularly through shared meals and communal spaces, creates opportunities for the spontaneous conversations that help strengthen workplace culture. As organisations continue to rethink the purpose of the office, food has become one of the simplest and most effective ways to create genuine connection rather than simply bringing people into the same building. Forward-thinking employers have already started to recognise that reality. The organisations leading the way are no longer asking what food they should serve, but what role delicious, healthy and seasonal food can play in creating a workplace people genuinely want to be part of.

UK businesses lost an estimated £11.8 billion in profits to sickness absence in 2025, with around 148.9 million working days lost across the workforce, according to 2025 Office for National Statistics (ONS) data.

Each sick day is estimated to cost businesses an average of £120 in lost profits, according to the government-commissioned Keep Britain Working report. Those figures alone are enough to prompt action – but the way most employers respond tends to make things worse, not better.

Tightening attendance policies, issuing formal warnings, or increasing monitoring rarely resolves the underlying problem. The organisations that genuinely manage to reduce employee absenteeism tend to share one approach: they treat absence as a signal from workplace conditions, not a behaviour to be disciplined away.

Why Absenteeism Keeps Rising in UK Workplaces

The causes are clearer than many employers want to admit. Mental ill health is now the leading cause of long-term absence and the second most common cause of short-term absence in the UK, cited by 41% of HR respondents in the 2025 CIPD report. Meanwhile, 64% of organisations reported stress-related absence in the past year, with high workloads identified as the primary driver.

That matters because stress-related absence doesn’t respond to disciplinary processes. It responds to workload reviews, better management, and genuine support systems. In the civil service alone, mental ill health accounted for 47.1% of all long-term sickness absence in the year to March 2025, according to gov.uk data.

The key takeaway: when absence is closely tied to workplace conditions, changing those conditions is the only lever that actually works.

What Does the Absenteeism Rate Formula Look Like?

To manage the problem, it first needs to be measured. The standard formula is:

(Total absence hours ÷ Total scheduled hours) × 100 = Absenteeism rate (%)

Track this figure consistently – monthly or quarterly – and compare it across teams. When one department’s rate is significantly higher than others, that’s rarely a coincidence. It usually points to workload distribution, management style, or team dynamics worth examining.

How to Reduce Employee Absenteeism: Practical Strategies

To reduce employee absenteeism without adding pressure it is required to move away from punitive attendance policies and move towards preventative ones. The strategies below reflect what the evidence – not opinion – actually supports.

1. Offer Genuine Schedule Flexibility

Flexible working is one of the most consistently supported interventions in the research. In a study of 125 North American and European companies, 92% reported benefits from flexible working, with 66% citing greater productivity and 60% noting improved work-life balance. Employees who can manage a GP appointment or a school pickup without sacrificing a full day are simply less likely to call in absent.

This doesn’t require wholesale structural change. Even modest adjustments help:

Allowing start and finish times to shift within a defined window
Offering compressed four-day weeks for eligible roles
Removing friction from the leave-request process with a straightforward digital system

The point is that when employees have control over their time, they tend to use it more responsibly – not less.

2. Build Actual Wellbeing Support, Not Just Policy Documents

While 57% of UK employers now have a standalone wellbeing strategy – up 13% since 2020 – only 29% of organisations train line managers to support staff with mental ill health. That gap is significant. Strategy documents don’t reduce absence; what line managers do on a Tuesday afternoon does.

Employee Assistance Programmes (EAPs) are among the most underused resources available to UK employers. These typically provide confidential counselling, financial guidance, and legal support at no cost to the employee. The problem is awareness – many employees don’t know what their EAP covers, or assume it’s not relevant to them. Regular, specific communication about what’s available (rather than a buried link in an onboarding email) changes uptake significantly.

Designating some personal leave specifically as mental wellness days also helps. Burnout that’s addressed early – with a day off – rarely becomes the two-week stress-related absence it might otherwise turn into.

3. Train Line Managers to Spot Early Warning Signs

Most attendance problems are visible before they become patterns. A previously reliable employee going quiet in meetings, slipping on deadlines, or becoming less engaged – these are signals. Managers who know how to notice them, and how to respond without triggering defensiveness, are an organisation’s most effective absenteeism intervention.

This includes how return-to-work conversations are handled. A brief, genuinely supportive check-in when someone returns – not an interrogation – achieves two things: it ensures the employee is ready to work, and it signals that the organisation pays attention in a human way. The CIPD’s report cautions that hybrid and remote working, while beneficial for reducing absence overall, requires managers to develop new skills to identify wellbeing concerns among dispersed teams.

What supportive management actually looks like in practice:

One-to-one conversations that include workload, not just task progress
Normalising the use of annual leave – actively encouraging it, not just tolerating it
Leadership that models working hours; if senior staff send emails at 11pm, the culture follows

Does Incentivising Attendance Help?

Yes – when done carefully. Positive attendance incentives (team perks, additional floating holidays, small bonuses for consistent attendance over a quarter) are more effective motivators than formal warnings or absence trigger policies. The critical distinction is that incentives should reward consistency over time, not penalise anyone who took legitimate leave for illness or caring responsibilities.

Regular salary reviews also matter more than most organisations acknowledge. Employees who feel their pay doesn’t reflect their contribution are more disengaged, and disengaged employees are more likely to call in absent. This point links directly to why helping an organisation reduce employee turnover and absenteeism are often the same goal – the root causes overlap almost entirely.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the most common cause of employee absenteeism in the UK?

Mental ill health. According to the CIPD’s 2025 report, it is the leading cause of long-term absence and the second most common cause of short-term absence across UK organisations.

How do you reduce employee absenteeism without disciplinary action?

Focus on preventative measures: flexible scheduling, accessible wellbeing support, trained line managers, and return-to-work conversations that are empathetic rather than punitive. Addressing the conditions that produce absence is consistently more effective than penalising it.

What is a good absenteeism rate in the UK?

The ONS considers an acceptable sickness absence rate to be around 1.5–2%. The UK average stood at 2.0% in 2024, though CIPD data – which captures a broader picture – puts the figure at 9.4 days per employee annually.

How does absenteeism affect the rest of the team?

Unplanned absences increase pressure on colleagues who cover additional duties, which raises stress levels, reduces morale, and – if left unmanaged – creates a cascade where covering employees begin calling out themselves.

Can flexible working genuinely help reduce employee absenteeism?

The evidence says yes. Multiple studies show that employees with greater schedule control are less likely to take unplanned days off, report higher job satisfaction, and are more likely to stay with their employer long-term – which is why flexible working helps organisations reduce employee absenteeism and retain staff at the same time.

For centuries, the British horse racing industry has traded on tradition. It is a commercial heavyweight, operating as the UK’s second largest spectator sport and contributing a massive £4.1 billion annually to the national economy.

However, underneath the historic grandstands and the legacy of the formbook, a quiet digital revolution is fundamentally changing how this multi-billion-pound sector operates.

For the small and medium sized businesses that keep this sport running, everyone from family-owned training yards and local bloodstock agents to regional marketing agencies, technology has quickly changed from a luxury into a survival tool. Data analytics firms, corporate operations managers, and tech savvy investment syndicates now rely completely on automated data pipelines to track health metrics, streamline logistics, and evaluate investments. In a fast-moving ecosystem like this, having instant access to live data feeds is essential for any modern business calculating the long-term potential of today’s horse racing assets or investing heavily in live regional entertainment properties.

Data Driven Asset Management on the Gallops

At its core, horse racing is powered by high value, high risk biological assets. A single elite thoroughbred can easily command a price tag stretching into hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of pounds. Historically, looking after these sensitive athletes relied almost entirely on a trainer’s raw intuition, their eye, their gut, and decades of passed down wisdom. Today, however, stepping into a modern British racing yard feels a lot closer to walking into an elite Formula 1 telemetry center.

Rather than just relying on guesswork, independent trainers across the UK are now strapping advanced biometric IoT (Internet of Things) wearables onto their horses. During morning gallops, stables use synchronized sensors and smart girths to track critical internal health metrics, like how hard the horse is breathing, its stride power, and how quickly its heart rate recovers, all in real-time. It blends the timeless art of horsemanship with the precision of data science.

Furthermore, the integration of artificial intelligence is altering preventative equine healthcare. Stables are deploying high speed AI cameras within yards capable of detecting micro deviations in a horse’s stride symmetry. By spotting a two percent irregularity that remains invisible to the human eye, these systems can flag potential muscle inflammation or joint stress up to 48 hours before a physical injury manifests. For an SME training yard, this predictive capability drastically reduces the commercial blow of late race withdrawals, protecting both the trainer’s strike rate and the owner’s investment.

Democratizing Ownership via Fractional Platforms

The business model of racehorse ownership is also undergoing a profound structural shift. Traditionally, the sport was funded by ultra-high net worth individuals or massive international breeding operations. However, a combination of changing consumer habits and rising overheads has forced the industry to democratize.

Enter the digital fractional ownership platform. Micro share syndicates and specialized apps have lowered the barrier to entry, allowing regular business professionals and syndicates to purchase a fraction of a racehorse for a double-digit fee. This isn’t just a novelty, it is a vital injection of capital into rural economies where the majority of the UK’s racing related jobs are based.

These platforms treat racing fans like micro investors. Shareholders receive regular push notifications containing veterinary updates, video clips of workouts and detailed financial breakdowns. This transparency builds a deeper, stickier relationship between the consumer and the sport, turning casual fans into long term stakeholders who actively fund the bloodstock market.

Navigating the Landscape of Modern Spectatorship

The commercial success of the UK’s 59 racecourses relies heavily on their ability to blend live hospitality with digital engagement. According to recent industrial updates from the British Horseracing Authority, annual racecourse attendances have climbed back over the 5 million mark, driven largely by targeted digital marketing initiatives and a notable surge in younger attendees.

To keep this momentum going, tracks are completely overhauling their digital setups. The reality is that today’s racegoers expect a smooth, stress-free digital experience from the second they buy a ticket on their phones to the moment they leave the grounds. Having fast on-course Wi-Fi, mobile apps to order drinks directly to a hospitality lounge, and interactive, augmented reality (AR) digital racecards are quickly becoming the new baseline, not a luxury.

At the same time, the industry is learning to navigate a moving regulatory landscape. Recent economic curveballs, including a massive overhaul of local business rates and changing tax duties, have forced operators to think outside the box. Venues can no longer rely on old school revenue streams, they must get smarter with how they use data just to keep their margins healthy and remain financially viable.

As noted in recent analysis regarding the horse racing business rates overhaul, operating margins for smaller training operations are under immense pressure. Stables and tracks are increasingly focusing on international media rights and global syndications to diversify revenue streams. The BHA’s recent restructuring initiatives, which consolidated the fixture list to create high value, globally appealing Premier Raceday’s, reflect a broader corporate strategy to secure international broadcast capital and attract elite overseas competitors to British turf.

The New Formbook is Digital

As British horse racing marches further into the decade, the divide between tech forward businesses and traditionalists will only widen. For bloodstock investors calculating the potential return on investment of a yearling, or for trainers looking to optimize their yard’s operating margins, data transparency has become a distinct competitive advantage.

By trading old world guesswork for verifiable, real-time analytics, horse racing is successfully repositioning itself as a modern, agile sector. For the thousands of businesses operating within this historic ecosystem, the future of the sport relies entirely on a willing embrace of the digital frontier.

UK household energy bills remain a top concern in 2026. Even after price cap adjustments, the average dual-fuel home pays £1,700+ annually for electricity and gas — and that’s before peak-time surcharges that can double daytime tariffs.

Combined with the government’s Smart Export Guarantee and zero-rated VAT on battery storage (since 2024), solar plus battery has become the most practical way for homeowners to take direct control of energy costs.

But “going off-grid” or even “adding backup” intimidates most homeowners. How big a battery? Which solar size? What’s it actually going to save? This article walks through the practical sizing questions and where to find honest, free tools to plan your setup.

Why battery storage suddenly makes sense

Five years ago, a 5 kWh home battery cost £6,000+ and the math rarely worked. Today, the same capacity is £2,500–£3,500, with LiFePO4 chemistry lasting 10–15 years (vs 3–5 for older lithium-ion variants). Add Smart Export Guarantee payments of 5–15p per kWh exported, and a battery often pays back in 6–9 years on a typical UK home — well within its working life.

For homes with solar, the case is even simpler: instead of exporting daytime generation at low SEG rates and buying back evening electricity at 28p+, you store your own solar for your own use. The price arbitrage alone justifies the storage.

How to size your battery bank

Sizing isn’t guesswork. It’s a calculation: daily energy use (kWh) × number of days you want autonomy ÷ usable depth of discharge.

A typical UK semi-detached home uses 8–12 kWh per day. To cover one day of evening loads (4–6 kWh between 4 PM and midnight), most homeowners install a 5–10 kWh LiFePO4 bank. Full off-grid setups need 20–40 kWh and a dedicated solar array.

For accurate sizing without spreadsheets, try this free LiFePO4 battery sizer — enter your daily kWh, system voltage, and autonomy days, and it returns the exact bank size and cell configuration.

Drop-in batteries vs DIY: choose your path

There are two routes to battery storage:

Drop-in LiFePO4 batteries — ready-made 12V, 24V, or 48V units with built-in BMS. Brands like Renogy, Battle Born, and EcoFlow ship in plug-and-play form. Cost: roughly £200–£350 per usable kWh. Best for homeowners who want to install once and forget.

For comparing models by capacity, cycle life, and price, this drop-in lithium battery banks for UK homes listing is a good starting point.

DIY 18650 packs — building your own from individual lithium cells. Cost: roughly £80–£120 per usable kWh — a third of drop-in pricing. But requires spot welding, cell matching, BMS wiring, and ongoing maintenance.

If you’re considering the DIY route, this DIY 18650 powerwall builder calculates pack voltage, capacity, and state-of-charge for any series/parallel configuration. Essential before you start ordering cells.

What it actually costs to install

A complete 10 kWh home battery system (storage only, paired with existing solar) typically runs:

10 kWh drop-in LiFePO4 bank: £2,500–£3,500
Hybrid inverter (Victron, GroWatt, Sungrow): £1,200–£2,500
Installation by MCS-certified electrician: £1,500–£2,500
Total: £5,200–£8,500 installed

DIY route (same capacity, self-installed): roughly £2,000–£3,500 in components. Bigger savings but longer commissioning time, and your insurance may not cover self-built lithium installations.

The hidden incentives

UK homeowners often miss these:

VAT 0% on residential battery storage since February 2024 — saves £1,000+ on a typical install.

Smart Export Guarantee — most major suppliers pay 5–15p per exported kWh. Combined with storage, you arbitrage daytime solar to peak evening rates.

ECO4 grants for low-income households can cover solar+storage almost entirely, though waiting lists are long.

Common pitfalls to avoid

Oversizing the inverter. Bigger isn’t better — match continuous wattage to your actual peak draw plus 25% headroom.
Skipping the BMS spec. Cheap battery banks ship with weak BMS units that fail in cold weather. Confirm low-temperature protection.
Going for cheap lithium-ion drop-ins. LiFePO4 is the only chemistry that consistently lasts 4,000+ cycles. Other lithium variants degrade in 5 years.
Forgetting export limits. Some DNOs cap export to 3.68 kW per phase — your inverter setup needs to respect this.

Where to start

Don’t buy components until you’ve sized your system. Use a free calculator to work out exact kWh storage and panel wattage for your usage, then compare drop-in vs DIY costs honestly.

Most UK homeowners overestimate what they need and underestimate the savings. A correctly sized 8 kWh battery often pays for itself within 7 years and provides backup during winter blackouts that have become increasingly common during peak demand. Whether you go drop-in or DIY, planning with real numbers is the difference between a system that saves you money and one that sits underused in the garage.

Cyber attacks used to feel distant. They were something that happened to big banks or government agencies. Not anymore. Ransomware hits hospitals. Phishing emails slip into small business inboxes. Even home networks are vulnerable.

Behind the scenes, a handful of companies spend their days (and nights) trying to stay one step ahead. Here are ten cybersecurity firms that are shaping how we defend ourselves against modern threats.

1. Check Point Software Technologies

Check Point has been a leader in security for many years. That experience shows. Its firewalls and threat prevention tools sit quietly in the background of many large networks, just doing the work.

What makes Check Point different is its focus on deep, layered protection. It brings together network security, cloud security, and endpoint tools under a single management roof. That helps security teams see patterns they would otherwise miss. If you had to pick one cyber security company that understands long‑term, policy‑driven defense, Check Point would be high on the list.

2. Palo Alto Networks

Palo Alto is the name you keep hearing in serious security discussions. They helped push the idea that firewalls should understand applications and users, not just ports and IP addresses.

Today, their reach goes far beyond the data center. Cloud security, secure access for remote workers, automated response—it’s all there. Many teams like Palo Alto because its tools don’t just alert. They try to reduce noise and highlight what really matters in a messy environment.

3. CrowdStrike

If you talk to incident responders, CrowdStrike comes up quickly. Its Falcon platform lives on endpoints, laptops, servers, and cloud workloads and watches for signs of attack in real time.

CrowdStrike’s strength lies in speed. It’s built to see suspicious behavior early and shut it down fast. The company also invests heavily in threat intelligence. That research often shapes how the rest of the industry talks about new attack groups and campaigns.

4. Fortinet

Fortinet is known for blending strong security features with serious performance. Its FortiGate firewalls use custom hardware to push a lot of traffic, even when deep inspection and SSL decryption are switched on.

But Fortinet does more than perimeter firewalls. The “security fabric” idea ties together switches, access points, endpoints, and more. For organizations that want one vendor to cover a big chunk of their stack, Fortinet is a regular contender.

5. Cisco Secure

Cisco may be famous for routers and switches, but its security arm is big in its own right. Firewalls, email security, DNS protection, zero trust access—these all contribute.

The real win for Cisco customers is integration. If your network is already Cisco, the security tools can plug into the same identity and policy sources. That can make complex things like segmentation and access control a bit less painful. Not easy. Just less painful.

6. Microsoft (Defender and beyond)

For a long time, people laughed at the idea of Microsoft as a security leader. That’s changed. Completely.

Microsoft has quietly turned Windows Defender into a serious endpoint platform. It pairs that with identity protection in Entra, cloud security in Defender for Cloud, and a huge amount of telemetry from Office, Azure, and more. Because attackers often exploit Microsoft services, having the vendor itself monitoring for patterns at that scale is significant.

7. SentinelOne

SentinelOne is one of the newer endpoint security players. It focuses on using behavior and automation rather than just signatures and static rules.

The charm here is autonomy. The agent is built to make quick decisions on the device itself, even if it’s offline. It can roll back changes, isolate systems, and block processes in seconds. For understaffed teams, that kind of automation can be the difference between a small incident and a disastrous week.

8. Zscaler

Zscaler came at security from a different angle. Instead of defending a central office, it assumes people work from anywhere. Rather than pushing all traffic back to a head office, Zscaler runs a huge cloud service that sits between users and the internet.

In practice, that means secure web gateways, zero trust access to internal apps, and strong inspection without the old “VPN hairpin” headaches. As more companies go hybrid or fully remote, this model looks less like an experiment and more like the default.

9. Okta

Okta doesn’t scan packets or endpoints. Its job is identity. Who are you, and what should you be allowed to touch?

In a world full of SaaS apps, cloud consoles, and remote sign‑ins, identity has become the new perimeter. Okta’s single sign‑on and multi‑factor authentication tools help companies tighten that perimeter without tormenting users too much. When attackers steal passwords or try to move laterally inside a network, a strong identity layer makes life harder for them.

10. Cloudflare

Most people know Cloudflare for speeding up websites. It also plays a major role in security.

Cloudflare runs one of the largest global networks on the planet. It uses that to absorb DDoS attacks, filter malicious traffic, and provide secure access to internal apps without clunky VPNs. It also offers DNS filtering and email security. Because so much web traffic already flows through Cloudflare, it has a broad view of emerging attacks in the wild.

Final Words

Modern threats don’t stay still. Ransomware groups rebrand. Phishing lures get sharper. Attackers learn from each other. The companies above are in a constant race to keep up and sometimes to get ahead.

No single vendor can solve every problem. But the right mix of tools, backed by knowledgeable people, can improve your chances. In the end, that’s what matters: making it just hard enough and expensive enough that attackers decide to move on to an easier target.

A recent article in The Shift placed renewed scrutiny on International Hotel Investments (IHI), owner of the Corinthia Hotels brand, after it revealed the scale of debt now carried by one of Malta’s best-known hospitality groups.

The Maltese investigative outlet reported on 11 June that IHI had returned to the bond market while holding almost €790 million in debt. That’s a significant debt burden for any company, but for a hotel group that has spent a decade struggling to turn expansion into consistent profits, it is a clear warning sign.

These figures contradict Corinthia Group’s expansion story. Despite the company’s best efforts to maintain the appearance of continued international growth and present positive numbers in its annual financial reports, recent figures point to severe financial difficulties that cast doubt on the company’s financial health.

 Corinthia’s financial annual reports: a closer examination

A closer reading of Corinthia’s public accounts suggests that the nearly €800 million debt reported on the Shift is just the tip of the iceberg. The company has reported net losses every year since at least 2014. By 2024, accumulated losses had reached €46 million. Persistent losses weaken a company’s ability to fund growth from its own operations and make it increasingly reliant on lenders, investors, and refinancing.

Corinthia’s own actions suggest those pressures were understood internally. Dividends have not been paid since 2019, an apparent recognition of the company’s financial struggles. Then in 2022, Corinthia underwent bruising cuts to staffing when the Board instructed a deliberate reduction to staffing targeted at keeping headcount at least 15% below 2019 levels.

In spite of the apparent financial reality, Corinthia’s expansion continued. New Corinthia-branded projects have been promoted all the way from Rome in Europe, through Asia, and most notably entered the market in the Middle East’s tourism capital – Dubai. Corinthia’s international expansion story is difficult to reconcile with its clear financial difficulties, raising serious questions over the financial prudence of the company’s expansion strategy.

In fact, Corinthia’s latest financial annual report shows that net debt was more than 11 times EBITDA, a level widely regarded as high by international lending standards. Put simply, the company’s borrowings appear far larger than the earnings available to support them.

Borrowing can be sensible when it funds growth that later pays for itself. But when a company is already facing consistent financial losses, every new refinancing begins to look less like confidence and more like survival. As of 2024, interest costs consumed much of the operating profit needed to service the debt, leaving Corinthia with less room for error and even fewer ways to absorb another shock.

 Auditing Corinthia’s finances: cause for concern?

EU Reporter has previously reported that PwC’s auditors’ report does not appear to flag the near ~€800 million debt or the latest bond market return as a specific audit concern, leaving open whether investors were alerted to the scale of the risk.

The picture is therefore not simply of an ambitious hotel group temporarily carrying high debt. It is of a company that has spent years losing money, cutting dividends and staff, borrowing to keep expanding, and relying on asset revaluations to help its financial reports stay afloat. With more bonds due in 2026 and debt forecast to approach €880 million, the question is no longer whether Corinthia is expanding. It is how much longer can its financial model withstand the weight of deception

In business, the people who make the biggest impact are not always the loudest voices in the room. Often, they are the ones quietly solving problems, connecting teams, and helping organizations run better every day.

That description fits Arshad Sadikeen.

Based in Chicago, Sadikeen has spent nearly two decades working at the intersection of technology, operations, and business strategy. Today, he serves as a Senior Business Systems Manager in the logistics industry, helping organizations improve the systems that keep people, products, and information moving.

His career has been built on a simple belief: technology works best when it works for people.

“If people don’t adopt the system, the system is broken—not the people,” Sadikeen says.

That mindset has shaped every stage of his professional journey.

How Arshad Sadikeen Started His Career in Technology

Sadikeen grew up on Chicago’s North Side during a time of rapid change across the city. He remembers being fascinated by both technology and people from an early age.

As a child, he often took apart old electronics just to understand how they worked.

“Sometimes they went back together better than before,” he jokes. “Sometimes they didn’t.”

But while he enjoyed understanding machines, he was equally interested in understanding people. He spent time listening to stories from neighbors who had watched Chicago evolve over the decades.

Looking back, he sees a connection between those early interests and the work he does today.

“Systems tell a story,” he says. “Whether it’s a computer network or a business process, there are people behind every part of it.”

After graduating from high school in 2002, Sadikeen studied Information Systems and Business Management at a Chicago-area university. During college, he worked with small businesses throughout the city, helping owners create websites, manage inventory systems, and adopt new technology.

Many were intimidated by digital tools.

“My job wasn’t to make technology sound impressive,” he says. “It was to make it useful.”

That ability to simplify complex ideas would become one of his greatest strengths.

Why Business Systems Leadership Is About People

After graduating in 2006, Sadikeen joined a manufacturing company as a technical support specialist.

The work was demanding. Production schedules often depended on systems running correctly, and downtime could create immediate problems.

It taught him how to solve issues under pressure.

More importantly, it taught him that most organizational challenges are rarely just technical.

“People think technology problems are about software,” he says. “Most of the time they’re really communication problems.”

Over the following years, he moved into IT operations, business systems analysis, project management, and program leadership roles.

What made him effective was his ability to speak multiple professional languages.

Executives wanted strategic outcomes. Engineers focused on technical details. Frontline employees needed practical solutions that fit into their daily work.

Sadikeen learned how to connect all three groups.

“You can’t improve a process from a conference room alone,” he says. “You have to understand what the work looks like on the ground.”

Leading Digital Transformation in Logistics

By 2018, Sadikeen had joined a Chicago-based logistics and supply chain company as a Senior Business Systems Manager.

The role placed him in one of the Midwest’s most important industries.

Chicago has long been a transportation hub, connecting rail, trucking, warehousing, and distribution networks across North America. In that environment, even small process improvements can create meaningful operational benefits.

Rather than relying solely on reports and dashboards, Sadikeen made a habit of visiting warehouse floors, talking with dispatch teams, and meeting directly with customer service employees before recommending changes.

Those conversations often revealed issues that data alone could not explain.

“The people closest to the work usually have the best insights,” he says.

His projects have focused on improving internal systems, strengthening information flow between departments, and making customer tracking processes more efficient.

The goal, he says, is not simply to implement new technology.

“The real goal is helping people do their jobs better.”

Beyond Technology: Mentorship and Community Impact

While his professional career has centered on business systems, Sadikeen’s impact extends beyond the workplace.

Throughout the past decade, he has volunteered with workforce development programs, mentored young professionals, and supported educational initiatives across Chicago.

His efforts have earned several community recognitions, including the Neighborhood Impact Champion Award and the Humanitarian Excellence in Service Award.

Among those honors, the Neighborhood Impact Champion Award stands out.

“That one meant a lot because it came from the community,” he says. “Titles are temporary. Impact lasts.”

Much of his volunteer work focuses on helping students and early-career professionals explore opportunities in technology and business.

He believes many talented young people simply need exposure to possibilities they may not have considered.

“Sometimes one conversation can change how someone sees their future,” he says.

What’s Next for Arshad Sadikeen?

Today, Sadikeen continues to lead business systems initiatives while exploring new ways to expand access to technical education.

His long-term vision is creating stronger pathways that connect underserved students with careers in technology, data systems, and operations.

The mission reflects a lesson he learned growing up in Chicago: success is most meaningful when it creates opportunities for others.

For Sadikeen, leadership is not about recognition. It is about consistency.

It’s about improving a process, mentoring a student, solving a problem, or helping a team communicate more effectively.

And after a long day of meetings and problem-solving?

He returns to another Chicago tradition.

“There are a lot of debates about pizza in this city,” he says with a laugh. “I’ve learned it’s better to appreciate all of it.”

That perspective may explain his success.

Whether he’s evaluating a business system, leading a project, or supporting his community, Arshad Sadikeen focuses less on proving a point and more on understanding the bigger picture.

In an era driven by technology, that human-centered approach remains one of his most valuable leadership traits.

Britain’s largest trade union has thrown its weight behind Ed Miliband to become the next chancellor, a move that sharpens an increasingly bitter contest for control of the Treasury under a prospective Andy Burnham government.

Andrea Egan, general secretary of Unison, has backed the energy secretary as one of two frontrunners to replace Rachel Reeves in No 11. Her endorsement matters: Unison is the largest union in the country, with more than 1.3 million members concentrated in the public sector. Yet the support is far from unanimous across the movement, with two other big unions, GMB and Unite, lining up against him.

The jockeying between supporters of Miliband and his most likely rival, Wes Streeting, comes as Burnham prepares to deliver his first major policy speech since being elected as the MP for Makerfield. The former Greater Manchester mayor will set out his thinking on devolution and the economy in Manchester on Monday, but he is under mounting pressure to name his chancellor, a choice that investors, MPs, unions and business groups all regard as the single most consequential decision he will make in office. For business owners watching from the sidelines, the identity of the next occupant of No 11 will shape everything from the autumn Budget to the future ownership of Britain’s utilities. We have set out the runners and riders for the Treasury here.

Egan did not mince her words. “Andy Burnham has a historic opportunity to rebuild our country in the interests of workers and communities, but that chance will be squandered if his government is made up of politicians determined to continue the same failed approach,” she said.

“We need a chancellor who will rewire the economy and properly invest to improve the lives of the majority. Of those reported to be in the running, only Ed Miliband could enact the kinds of policies trade unions and our members urgently need.”

Burnham is assembling his inner circle of advisers and ministers, having entered the Commons only a week ago. Sir Keir Starmer’s announcement on Monday that he intends to resign as prime minister, swiftly followed by Streeting’s endorsement of Burnham, has made it overwhelmingly likely that the outgoing Manchester mayor will walk into No 10 as soon as next month.

Labour’s ruling national executive committee confirmed on Thursday that a new leader would be named on 17 July if only one candidate comes forward. Should a rival secure the backing of 81 Labour MPs and force a contest, the party will hold a full leadership election and declare the result on 29 August.

The new prime minister’s first appointment is already drawing fire. Burnham has chosen his former cabinet colleague and long-standing friend James Purnell as chief of staff, a decision that has irritated parts of the Labour left, who are wary of Purnell’s Blairite pedigree.

Attention has now turned squarely to who will run the Treasury, a brief that extends well beyond setting tax policy in this autumn’s Budget. The next chancellor will be charged with reigniting growth and overseeing the de-privatisation of some of Britain’s largest utilities, an agenda with direct consequences for investors and the wider business community.

The two leading contenders, Streeting and Miliband, hail from different wings of the party and would almost certainly pursue different priorities. Streeting, like Purnell, is a Blairite who, as health secretary, welcomed private sector involvement in the NHS. He is regarded as the more business-friendly option and the candidate most likely to reassure international investors, though some on the left worry he would be lukewarm on returning water and energy companies to public ownership.

Miliband, by contrast, is seen as more ideologically aligned with Burnham’s programme. But he has drawn anger from sections of both the unions and the business community over his approach to net zero. Some investors believe he would prove anti-business, pointing back to his time as Labour leader, when he drew a sharp line between companies he cast as “producers” and those he branded “predators”.

Unions with a strong presence in the North Sea oil industry have been exasperated by Miliband’s refusal to soften his pledge not to issue new exploration licences. They also fear he will decline to approve the Jackdaw and Rosebank megafields, even though waving them through would not technically breach that promise, since both already hold licences. The two projects, analysed in detail by the Institute for Government, have become a lightning rod in the wider argument over energy security and the pace of the transition.

One senior union official told the Financial Times on Thursday: “There are ongoing discussions to try to stop Ed Miliband. There is a GMB-Unite axis on this.”

Unison’s endorsement will strengthen Miliband’s standing within the labour movement, and he is not without other backers. Smaller unions, including the TSSA, are expected to issue similar messages of support in the coming days, while the National Education Union came out for him earlier on Thursday.

Even so, Miliband and Streeting are not the only names in the frame. Other possible candidates include Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary, Pat McFadden, the work and pensions secretary, John Healey, the former defence secretary, and Jonathan Reynolds, the chief whip.

Allies of Reeves insist she would like to stay put, arguing she is best placed to keep markets calm while giving Burnham’s platform her full support. Her own appetite for the job has not gone unnoticed in the City, and her position has fed into a broader debate about fiscal devolution as Burnham eyes No 10.

Asked by the BBC on Wednesday about her chances of remaining in cabinet, Reeves said: “I’m not going to pre-empt the decisions that the new prime minister will make. I’m backing Andy and I think he’d be a great prime minister, but those are his decisions, not mine to make.”

She later told the British Chambers of Commerce annual conference: “I hope that whoever is chancellor in the future, whenever that future may be, sticks to what I’m doing. Because it is beginning to bear fruit, and we are seeing that investment return to the economy, that growth return to the economy, and crucially, that stability, so that businesses can plan and invest in the future.”

Allies of Burnham, however, are adamant that he will not keep her in place. For Britain’s businesses, the only certainty is that the answer is coming, and soon.

Alona Shevtsova, CEO of Sends, will lead an industry discussion at The Blockchain Show Riyadh, bringing together experts from cybersecurity, banking, blockchain infrastructure, and digital asset innovation to explore how artificial intelligence, risk management frameworks, and distributed ledger technologies are shaping the future of digital banking.

The panel, titled “AI, Risk & Blockchain: Building the Next Generation of Digital Banking,” will examine the opportunities and challenges facing financial institutions as emerging technologies become increasingly integrated into global financial infrastructure.

The discussion will focus on four key themes: the foundations of secure and resilient digital banking; the role of blockchain in financial infrastructure and digital trust; responsible AI governance and innovation; and the future of digital finance across the Middle East and global markets.

As moderator, Alona Shevtsova will guide the conversation around one of the most pressing questions facing the financial sector today: how financial institutions can continue to innovate while maintaining trust, security, transparency, and regulatory compliance in an increasingly digital environment.

Commenting ahead of the event, Alona Shevtsova, CEO of Sends, said: “The future of banking will be defined by the ability to balance innovation with trust. AI, blockchain and digital infrastructure are creating new opportunities for financial institutions, but long-term success will depend on building secure, transparent and resilient systems that inspire confidence among customers, businesses and regulators alike.”

The panel is also expected to explore the growing role of blockchain technology in institutional finance, the evolution of digital assets and decentralised financial systems, and the opportunities emerging from the convergence of AI, digital identity, and automated decision-making.

Particular attention will be given to developments across the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia’s growing position as a regional hub for digital innovation, financial technology, and blockchain adoption.

The Blockchain Show Riyadh brings together industry leaders, innovators, regulators, and technology experts to discuss the trends and technologies shaping the future of digital finance and blockchain adoption worldwide.

Earlier this month, Alona Shevtsova was shortlisted for the 2026 Great British Entrepreneur Awards in the Established Business of the Year category. Her team is also preparing for the Fintech Connect conference in London later this year. Sends will be a leading sponsor of this event.

In July 2025, Alona Shevtsova announced the first stage of the project in collaboration with Sends Messenger. Teams plan to integrate payment functionality directly into the messaging app. The initiative, developed in partnership with Sends Messenger, aims to redefine how users across the UK, Europe, Ukraine, and beyond interact with digital payments in everyday conversations.

During the Q1 2026, Sends introduced customisable digital cards for personal accounts available in Apple Wallet and Google Wallet. Giving customers more flexibility and available control over their experience with Sends is one of teams priority.

In June 2026, Sends announced the launch of Samsung Pay as a supported payment method, giving merchants access to millions of Samsung users.

With over 15 years of experience in payments and financial and technology Alona Shevtsova drives Sends’ growth into the scalable, secure, and globally, accessible financial platform.

*Sends is a trade name of SMARTFLOW PAYMENTS LIMITED, registered in England and Wales (Company No.11070048). For more information, visit sends.co .

Revolut, the fintech that has long worn its remote-first credentials as a badge of difference, has confirmed that its newest recruits will no longer enjoy the same freedom.

From 2027, graduates and interns joining the company will be required to spend at least three days a week in the office, a notable shift for a business that has spent years arguing that results matter more than location.

The change applies only to those at the very start of their careers. Explaining the decision, the company said “the early stages of a career benefit from in-person collaboration and mentoring”, a line of reasoning that will sound familiar to anyone who has followed the steady retreat from fully remote working across the City. For everyone else, Revolut was at pains to stress, “our remote-first policy is unchanged”.

It is a carefully drawn distinction. Until now, graduates were free to choose whether they worked from home or came into the office, and the company’s headline-grabbing perks remain firmly in place. Chief among them is the 120-day “workation”, which lets staff work remotely from abroad, “exploring new cultures while staying productive and connected”. Chief executive Nik Storonsky, who co-founded Revolut in 2015 with Vlad Yatsenko, told staff last year that the firm cared “more about what you do than where you do it”, and insisted the flexible approach would survive as long as productivity held up.

The recalibration arrives at a moment of considerable momentum for the group. Revolut became a fully licensed UK bank earlier this year after a long wait for regulatory approval, and was valued at 75 billion dollars in November 2025, eclipsing several of Britain’s established high street lenders. Founded as an app that let people in the UK and Europe spend abroad at interbank exchange rates, it now serves more than 70 million customers and supports transfers across roughly 160 countries and regions. The company has also signalled that about 40 per cent of its 12,000-strong global workforce, spread across more than 30 countries, will be based in India by the end of this year.

For all the talk of disruption, the policy itself looks rather conventional. Hybrid working is now firmly the British norm: the Office for National Statistics reported in June 2025 that around 28 per cent of workers split their week between home and the office, with the figure rising to nearly half in information and communications businesses. The debate over whether younger staff in particular should be in the room has been running for some time, with voices ranging from JP Morgan’s leadership to Lord Sugar urging young people to get their “bums back into the office”.

Employment lawyers see little to quarrel with. Jo Mackie, employment law partner at national firm Michelmores, said Revolut was “falling into line with most other major employers in making hybrid working the norm, when practical”, adding that “working alongside colleagues is particularly important for junior staff to learn and be mentored”. The sentiment is echoed across the sector, where HR specialists have noted a growing consensus that early-career development is hard to replicate over video calls.

The wider message for Revolut watchers is one of maturation. A company built on doing things differently is, in this corner at least, beginning to look a little more like the institutions it set out to challenge.