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Bain Capital has agreed to sell UK payroll software company Zellis Group to Apax Partners for approximately £1.25 billion. Zellis serves about one third of the companies in the FTSE 100 and its payroll software is used to pay or reward about 5 million individuals each month. The deal is being partly funded by a £450 million unitranche loan from private credit funds. Bain Capital acquired Zellis in 2017 and the company has since experienced accelerated growth, including the acquisition of a benefits administration software platform. The private equity deal-making environment is improving, particularly for high-quality assets. [Extracted from the article]

The Federal Reserve's reliance on data to guide its decisions on interest-rate cuts is being called into question due to inconsistent consumer price statistics. The core consumer price index rose 0.4% in February, matching a high reading from January and exceeding economists' expectations. This puts the three-month annualized core inflation at 4.2%, the highest since May 2023. While the Fed is expected to hold rates steady this month, if it remains data-dependent, it may be stuck on hold for months as it waits for more encouraging reports. However, there are indications that inflation will improve in the coming months, and with signs of a potentially vulnerable labor market, it may be time for the Fed to reconsider its data dependency. [Extracted from the article]

The article discusses the recent US jobs report and its implications for President Joe Biden. While the jobless rate increased in February, the overall economy remains strong, with healthy hiring and moderate job and pay gains. This combination allows for the possibility of the Federal Reserve lowering interest rates. However, perception is key in the upcoming 2024 election, and Donald Trump is skilled at creating negative perceptions about the economy. The article also touches on the debate surrounding standardized tests in college admissions and how people's beliefs about the economy can influence their voting decisions. [Extracted from the article]

The US labor market added more jobs than expected in February, but revisions to previous months' data indicate that fewer jobs were created than initially reported. This suggests that the labor market is becoming more vulnerable to economic shocks, such as the Federal Reserve's interest rate policies and potential layoffs. The decrease in workers' hours and the limited hiring in sectors dependent on a strong economy further highlight this vulnerability. Additionally, the declining number of workers quitting their jobs and the over-hiring by employers indicate caution in the labor market. Despite the positive job growth in certain sectors, overall weakness in the labor market has contributed to skepticism about the strength of the economy. [Extracted from the article]

Job vacancies at UK consultancies, including McKinsey and Co., Bain & Co., Boston Consulting Group, and Accenture, dropped by over 80% in 2023 due to weak economic growth, a lack of deals in the City of London, and the prospect of a general election. The Big Four accounting firms also experienced a 60% decrease in job postings. The professional services sector, seen as an indicator of the UK economy, is cutting costs after a post-Covid boom turned into a dearth of deals. The situation is expected to remain bleak this year, with consulting leaders expressing concerns about reduced client spending. [Extracted from the article]

More than 1,400 chief executives have left their positions so far this year through September, according to a report by executive coaching firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. With the rise of labor costs and interest rates, companies are looking to new leaders", Andrew Challenger, a senior vice president at the firm, said in the report. [Extracted from the article]

KPMG is the latest of the so-called Big Four firms to introduce cuts in the UK. The firm is also shifting some employees to more in-demand areas within the company. [Extracted from the article]

The professional services industry is the UK's biggest recruiter of graduates, hiring around 8,000 in 2022 - almost double the number that went into the public sector, according to market research firm High Fliers. EY recently announced plans to cull about 5% of staff from its UK financial services consulting division amid a slowdown in demand, while rival PwC said it's cutting pay increases and bonuses for some of its 25,000 UK employees. She said MHA, Baker Tilly's UK accountancy arm, was seeing fewer staff hand in their notices than normal. [Extracted from the article]

Finance firms are wrestling with rising costs and persistent inflation as Wall Street's war for talent fades. (Bloomberg) -- Bank of America Corp. started telling executives to pause hiring except for the most vital positions, as it tries to keep a lid on costs and prepare for a possible economic downturn. [Extracted from the article]

That many companies conducted exit interviews with employees leaving during that time was a good idea, Grant said, but "I would much rather see employers conducting entry interviews or stay interviews." (Bloomberg) -- It's the responsibility of managers and business leaders to prevent quiet quitting after the pandemic fundamentally changed working conditions, according to a panel of managers and human resources professionals at the World Economic Forum. [Extracted from the article]

Overall, US workers had 11 fewer hours on the job during the pandemic than prior years going back to 2007, according to the paper Where are the Workers? (Bloomberg) -- Young American men and men with college degrees led the "quiet quitting" movement in the US, according to new research that sheds more light on the pandemic-induced phenomenon. Quiet quitting refers to workers scaling back overall effort and time spent on the job, a phenomenon fueled by the pandemic that forced a rethink of work-life balance globally. [Extracted from the article]

At least that's one of the aims of a new manifesto published by more than 30 human resources leaders and employee experience design startup Excellent. (Bloomberg) -- "Customer-first", that age-old business adage, may finally be superseded by another: "Employee-first.". [Extracted from the article]

"When organizations educate employees about how pay is determined, employee trust in the organization increases by 10% and pay equity perceptions increase by 11%", Guadagni said. A Gartner survey in May of over 3,200 employees found that fewer than a third are aware their organization is prioritizing pay equity, and only two in five understand how their pay is determined. (Bloomberg) -- Only 32% of employees think their compensation is fair, according to a new survey by consulting firm Gartner Inc. Employees' perceptions of unfairness can be attributed largely to trust - or lack thereof - in their organizations, according to Gartner, which surveyed more than 3,500 employees. [Extracted from the article]

Pandemic Relief Helped Spur the "Great Resignation" in the US, Study Finds "It appears that pandemic-era policies that were intended to mitigate widespread dislocations in the labor market, and indeed reduced labor market reallocation early on, potentially led to pent-up reallocation later in the recovery." (Bloomberg) -- The surge in people leaving their jobs during the US economic recovery from the Covid-19 recession might have been a by-product in part of a program designed to keep people employed, a new study shows. [Extracted from the article]