Quick Hits Employer contributions to Maine’s Paid Family and Medical Leave Insurance Fund are set to begin on January 1, 2025. The Maine Department of Labor is expected to begin the rulemaking process in spring 2024. The state has given itself a deadline of January 1, 2025, to adopt final rules implementing the program. Maine’s PFML program, which was established…
In today’s rapidly evolving consumer landscape, marked by disruptive innovations and increasing competition, retail banks are facing a pivotal moment. Digital banking is here to stay – but shockingly, so too is its predecessor – branch banking. The traditional role of the branch is evolving, however, and leaders in the industry need to stay relevant in this dynamic environment by…
If you’re concerned about running out of money during retirement, you’re not alone. In fact, it’s one of the top financial concerns in the UK. Being proactive and working with a financial planner to create a retirement plan could offer you peace of mind. Read on to find out why. In an Aegon survey, 7 in 10 financial advisers said…
18 April 2024By Andrew Kanutin[1]We updated our data on the impact of climate change on the financial system. How green are green bonds and banks’ loan portfolios? How strongly could they be affected by natural hazards? The ECB Blog discusses these and other new insights from the data. The ECB has updated its climate-related indicators. These data provide systemic insights,…
Surveys are a wonderful resource for measuring the success of culture change. Many clients approach us with the awareness of a cultural problem…but an inability to identify the cause. And that’s where we step in, often using survey scores as an identifier. Let’s take “Client A” for example. Client A knew their culture needed adjusting, but didn’t know where the…
In this episode of the McKinsey Global Institute’s Forward Thinking podcast, co-host Janet Bush talks with Ed Glaeser. Glaeser is the Fred and Eleanor Glimp Professor of Economics and the chairman of the Department of Economics at Harvard University, where he has taught since 1992. His latest book, coauthored with health economist David Cutler, is Survival of the City: The…
At the beginning of March 2024, the European Commission adopted and published the European Defence Industrial Strategy (“Strategy”) and the European Defence Industry Programme (“Programme”). These measures were a reaction to Russia’s overall success, both amid its Special Military Operation, as well as in mobilizing the resources of its military-industrial complex. This step towards establishing a common military-industrial complex for…
Peak disease burden for chronic physical health conditions typically occurs in an individual’s 50s and 60s, whereas the prevalence of mental and substance use disorders peaks much earlier—in an individual’s 20s or 30s. About half of all mental disorders appear by age 14, and three-quarters by age 24. When left untreated, these conditions can negatively affect lives and livelihoods. That’s why…
The Colorado River, “the lifeblood of the West,” is in trouble. Decades of overuse and drought have sharply reduced its water supply, threatening an ecosystem that supports 40 million people and 5.5 million acres of farmland in nearby states and parts of northern Mexico. Steep cutbacks in water use are critical. But the seven states that rely on the Colorado…
Politics increasingly drives where your team wants to live. Here’s how leaders can navigate the red and blue tensions inherent in place. Kimberly Merriman April 17, 2024 Reading Time: 9 min Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images The influence of politics on where workers want to live now has key implications for a company’s talent strategy. A survey of 500…
Quick Hits The FTC will hold an Open Commission Meeting on April 23, 2024, on its proposed rule that would ban noncompetes. The proposed rule would prohibit the use of noncompete clauses and preempt all state laws providing lesser protection than the proposed rule. The proposed rule would apply to any contractual term that functions to prevent a worker from…
A lender rejecting your mortgage application can be stressful and time-consuming, and it might even mean you miss out on buying your dream home. A survey has found that most high net worth individuals aren’t securing their preferred mortgage. Read on to find out why and how a mortgage adviser could help you. According to Mortgage Solutions, 90% of corporate…
Professor Steven Barrett has been appointed Regius Professor of Engineering at the University of Cambridge, effective 1 June. He joins the University from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he is head of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AeroAstro).Barrett’s appointment marks his return to Cambridge, where he was an undergraduate at Pembroke College, and received his PhD. He…
The clinical knowledge and reasoning skills of GPT-4 are approaching the level of specialist eye doctors, a study led by the University of Cambridge has found.GPT-4 - a ‘large language model’ - was tested against doctors at different stages in their careers, including unspecialised junior doctors, and trainee and expert eye doctors. Each was presented with a series of 87…
In this episode of Talking Banking Matters, payments industry expert and McKinsey partner Roshan Varadarajan talks with Johnny Ayers, the founder and CEO of the digital identity verification and fraud prevention company Socure. As digital payments and commerce continue to expand throughout every facet of the economy, digital identity verification and fraud prevention are increasingly critical safeguards. The following edited…
Since this season of the podcast is all about the HOW of learning through experience, I wanted to talk to Annie Murphy Paul who basically wrote the book on learning outside the brain. She’s the author of several books, and I love to talk with people after they have had a chance to learn through the experience of their book…
Never in history have the issues surrounding privacy of data and code been more urgently debated than in the present era of cloud computing and artificial intelligence. As quantum computers become more capable, people will seek to use them with complete security and privacy over networks, and our new results mark a step change in capability in this respect. Quantum…
Quick Hits Minnesota lawmakers are working on bills addressing drug testing, earned sick and safe time, pay transparency in job postings, restrictive employment covenants in service contracts, and unemployment benefits for striking workers. The legislative session adjourns on May 20, 2024. In our March 27, 2024, legislative update article, several key bills were previewed, many of which have made it…
This latest update invites Microsoft Flight Simulator aviators to experience the allure of the cities of southwest Germany’s Baden-Württemberg state.Southwest Germany is the latest exciting enhancement to Microsoft Flight Simulator’s immersive global experience with City Update 06. This update focuses on the Southwest German state of Baden-Württemberg, the nation’s third largest state in both population and area. The Microsoft Flight…
It’s often said that Brits are obsessed with buying their own homes. But it doesn’t end with our property. The popularity of TV shows like Grand Designs and Location, Location, Location proves we can’t get enough of the property market. As well as showing off the latest interior design trends or bargains you can find at auctions, there are some…
The researchers, from the University of Cambridge, designed and used an AI-based strategy to identify compounds that block the clumping, or aggregation, of alpha-synuclein, the protein that characterises Parkinson’s.The team used machine learning techniques to quickly screen a chemical library containing millions of entries, and identified five highly potent compounds for further investigation. Parkinson’s affects more than six million people…
Legislative changes are helping to set the pace of the switch to EV production. In particular, the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate requires that more than one in five cars manufactured in the UK in 2024 must be zero carbon emitting, and this proportion increases in the run-up to 2035. By default, these net-zero-carbon vehicles must be battery electric, as…
US healthcare leaders are actively pursuing innovative business models, including both vertical integration and pure-play specialization (Exhibit 1). However, the growth rates of these business models have diverged in the past few years. While no organization focuses on just one of them, business models that emphasize vertical integration have produced the strongest growth in the past few years, our research…
Climate has long been held responsible for the emergence and extinction of hominin species. In most vertebrates, however, interspecies competition is known to play an important role.Now, research shows for the first time that competition was fundamental to 'speciation' – the rate at which new species emerge – across five million years of hominin evolution. The study, published today in…
This year marks the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Moscow and Beijing. Russia and China are organising various commemorative events. The healthy development of Sino-Russian relations amid today's complex and constantly changing international environment is attracting the attention of the whole world.Both sides have emphasised that China-Russia relations are currently better than at any other time…
Canada’s financial-services industry seems to be a textbook case of an industry primed for disruption by fintech. First, its banking industry is large compared with other G-7 countries. Banking revenues of $180 billion accounted for 7.9 percent of GDP in 2023, compared with 5.8 percent in the United States and an average of 5.6 percent among other developed economies. Canadian…
Many companies develop AI models without a solid foundation on which to base predictions — leading to mistrust and failures. Here’s how statistics can help improve results. Thomas C. Redman and Roger W. Hoerl April 16, 2024 Reading Time: 9 min Carolyn Geason-Beissel/MIT SMR | Getty Images People are often unsure why artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms work. More…
LOS ANGELES (April 16, 2024) - Seyfarth Shaw LLP announced today the addition of a three-lawyer team to its labor and employment department further expanding its service offerings nationally and internationally. The trio of prominent employment litigators joins Seyfarth from Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP. Clifford “Seth” Sethness has built a formidable reputation over the past two decades as a…
How We Did It “Every company will have a slightly different approach,” says Nathalie D’Hers, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Digital, who oversaw the internal rollout to our more than 200,000 employees. “In our case, we zeroed in first on the roles that we knew would gain a lot of benefit.”It made sense for sales to get first access: After…
While inflation continues to be a challenge for many economies, there are positive signs in the UK and around the world. Read on to find out what may have affected stock markets and your investment portfolio in March 2024. Remember, volatility is part of investing and most people should invest with a long-term outlook. If you have any questions about…
September 2022 had the highest value of construction output (£15,125m) since 2010. While inflation has no doubt played its part, the prospect of rising order books has to be set against employment figures for the sector, which, as shown in the graph, have yet to return to anything near their 2019 levels. The Construction Industry Training Board’s (CITB’s) latest Construction…
Q: Nanoracks was founded in 2009. What was it like to launch a space startup at that point? There were very few space startups and credibility was low. Nanoracks was one of the first, if not the first company, knocking on the door at NASA saying, “Hey, if you give us some room on the International Space Station (ISS), we'll…
It was a historic moment for humanity. It was also an emotional moment for us at YC because we’ve been hoping this day would come since Blake was in the W16 batch, walking around with a plastic model of the plane he hoped to build. Most people know YC for funding software companies. But some of our most successful companies…
Many companies turn to transformation because their leaders seek to capture untapped potential or realize growth or efficiency gains. Yet transformations take work to get right. Our research shows less than a third of transformations reach their goals to improve organizational performance and sustain these improvements over time. In this episode of the Inside the Strategy Room podcast, we talk…
I am pleased to announce that we have just raised $7.2B for the following venture strategies: American Dynamism ($600M), Apps ($1B), Games ($600M), Infrastructure ($1.25B), and Growth ($3.75B). This marks an important milestone for us. When Marc and I started the firm in 2009, the conventional wisdom in Venture Capital was that in any given year, only 15 companies would…
The government and businesses must work in tandem to avoid missing out on enticing opportunities in Southeast Asia, says Antony Shaw. Economic insights International connectivity
In recent years, the focus on personal wellness has been a growing trend. Indeed, data reported by Statista reveals that the forecasted size of the wellness market could reach as much as $8.47 trillion by 2027. While it may seem as though embracing mindfulness and striving to live a healthy life are modern trends, this isn’t the case. In fact,…
In this edition of Author Talks, McKinsey Global Publishing’s Roberta Fusaro chats with Cass Sunstein, the Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard Law School. They discuss Sunstein’s book Look Again: The Power of Noticing What Was Always There (Atria/One Signal Publishers, February 2024), cowritten with neuroscientist and professor Tali Sharot. It explores people’s propensity to habituate to both the good…
When Amazon went public in 1997, founder and then CEO Jeff Bezos’ message to shareholders was clear: His focus was on creating long-term value through bold operational investment. The following year, as promised, Amazon doubled its distribution capacity and more than tripled its inventory.And the rest, as we know it, is history. However, not many companies managed to follow in the…
Every company understands how crucial return on investment is. But how many view return on talent the same way?Employees represent both an organization’s largest investment and its deepest source of value. In a world where businesses are navigating economic uncertainty, rapid technological change, and upheaval in the working model, it’s important that their talent systems emphasize both productivity and value…