Business

Image copyright James Gill Image caption A team birthday at GoSquared “I was on a call last week and a colleague’s half-naked boyfriend walked behind her,” recalls communications consultant Jason Nisse. His experience illustrates the pitfalls of videoconferencing, a technology that thousands of workers are getting used to as they attempt to work from home. […]

Image copyright Getty Images The videoconferencing app Zoom has come under fresh high-level scrutiny as its popularity soars during the coronavirus pandemic. New York’s attorney general has written to the firm raising concerns over its ability to cope with the rise in users. Zoom is now being used by millions of people for work and

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Eric Xu said the current crisis would “certainly” delay 5G rollouts The rollout of 5G mobile networks in Europe will “certainly be delayed” by the coronavirus outbreak, Huawei says. The Chinese company is one of the major manufacturers of essential equipment for 5G networks. Huawei said continuing the 5G

Image copyright Mike Kemp Nearly a fifth of all small and medium-sized businesses in the UK are unlikely to get the cash they need to survive the next four weeks, in spite of unprecedented government support. That’s according to research published today, which suggests that between 800,000 and a million businesses nationwide may soon have

Image copyright Getty Images A 6.2% increase in the national living wage came into effect on Wednesday. The increase was announced at the end of last year and was heralded by the government as “the biggest cash increase ever”. The rise is more than three times the rate of inflation and takes hourly pay for

Image copyright Getty Images Sainsbury’s has been accused of exploiting a loophole to keep Argos outlets open during the UK lockdown. Under government restrictions, all non-essential shops have been closed for the past week. As supermarkets are an exception, Argos concessions within Sainsbury’s shops remain open. But workers fear health risks and customers said they

Walmart has announced new measures to help slow the spread of COVID-19, including taking employees’ temperatures as they report to work and offering masks and gloves to any associate who wants to wear them. Any Walmart employee who has a temperature of 100 degrees or higher will be sent home and asked to seek medical

Image copyright ANGELA WEISS Image caption The normally-busy Times Square is almost deserted as New Yorkers stay in their homes Stock markets around the world suffered historic losses in the first three months of the year amid a massive sell-off tied to the coronavirus. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and London’s FTSE 100 saw their

Image copyright Getty Images Some of the UK’s biggest banks have agreed to scrap dividend payments and hold on to the cash, which may be needed during the coronavirus crisis. The Bank of England welcomed the decision and encouraged the banks not to pay bonuses to senior staff until the end of the year. The

Image copyright Natalie Greenway Image caption Natalie Greenway said she was not eligible for benefits like jobseeker’s allowance People who started jobs in March have been left “petrified” after discovering thousands are not eligible for government wage grants. Chancellor Rishi Sunak outlined a scheme where companies could apply for a grant worth 80% of their