businessinfomag.uk magazine 34 MONTH IN NUMBERS 81 MEETINGS HELL The average meeting lasted 81 minutes in 2021 and involved three people, according to analysis of meeting habits by meeting notes app Otter.ai. The most popular day of the week for meetings was Wednesday, and the most popular time was 10am. In a recent survey of UK adults by Otter.ai, 61% of Brits said they would rather go to the dentist than attend back-to-back work meetings (virtual or in-person). www.Otter.ai 1,500 SIDE HUSTLES MOVE CENTRE STAGE In a survey conducted for the British Business Excellence Awards, 85% of respondents said they expect to see a spike in the number of entrepreneurs adopting a side hustle as an additional source of income in 2022. Around 60% of respondents already have a side hustle, with three in 10 making more than £1,500 per month from it. 76,000 FROM THE EDGE OF SPACE Global technology company Thales is helping the Airbus Perlan Mission II project to stream climate, atmospheric and aeronautical research from the stratosphere. The zero emission Perlan 2 Research Glider, which achieved a record flying height of 76,000 feet in 2018, will use a FlytLink Thales Iridium Certusbased satellite communications system to broadcast live climate-change research from the edge of space to scientists around the world. The Nevada-based Airbus Perlan Mission II team is planning a possible return to flight this year in the U.S. and El Calafate, Argentina. £172,897 BONUS BONANZA Chief executives received an average bonus of £172,897 in 2021 – an increase of £9,000 on the previous year – compared to an average bonus of £643 for ‘routine task providers’ and £642 for entry-level employees.Workers in Inner London received by far the highest average bonus of £8,236. The next highest paying region was Northern Ireland, with average bonuses of £3,266. https://www.cendex.co.uk/ Category Av. Bonus Chief executive £172,897 Senior director £76,650 Director £49,973 Senior function head £21,500 Function head £12,070 Department manager £12,280 Section manager £5,959 Professional level 4 £4,079 Professional level 3 £2,727 Professional level 2 £1,561 Professional level 1 £910 Entry level professional £642 Routine task provider £643 Source: Bonus payments by narrow job level, Cendex, October 2021 750,000 DIGITAL DIVIDE Businesses outside London are 20% less likely to receive funding for digital projects, claims Gain Line, with businesses in the North-East, Wales and Scotland hardest hit. The digital consultancy firm analysed the distribution of Innovate UK Smart Grants for digital projects and found that more than one third of grants awarded in the last year went to organisations in London, with another one sixth going to organisations in the South-East. In contrast, just 2% of grants went toWales and the North-East and 3% to Scotland. Collectively, these regions received just £750,000 of available funding, whereas London alone received almost £9 million of the £25 million available. Gain Line The Month in Numbers warns that this ‘digital postcode lottery’ is creating a digital divide in the UK that is already limiting young people’s career opportunities. Analysis of digital apprenticeship vacancies in England over the last 12 months shows that 21.91% of the vacancies listed on Apprenticeships. org were located in London, 17.29% in the South East and just 4.57% in the North East. gainline.co.uk/the-digitalpostcode-lottery 500,000,000 FREELANCER MILESTONE UK freelancer platformYunoJuno reached £500 million in professional freelancer bookings in December 2021, following growth of 100% over the previous year. YunoJuno’s all-inclusive suite of services enables companies of any size to find, manage and pay vetted freelancers through a single platform. YunoJuno Founder & Executive Chairman Shib Mathew said: “We are extremely proud of reaching this milestone. Our vision of connecting the world’s best freelance talent with the world’s most innovative companies in a direct, transparent and efficient way was validated from the moment we launched the platform. It’s great to see that validation continually gain steam as the world discovers the strategic advantage an agile workforce can have to any organisation.” https://yunojuno.com 1,000,000,000 TIKTOK JOINS ONE BILLION CLUB In the second half of 2021, TikTok became the second-fastest social media platform to reach one billion active users, passing the milestone in just 5.1 years, compared to 4.9 years for Facebook Messenger. TikTok is the international version of the Douyin app, which was founded in mainland China in September 2016. Other platforms with more than one billion users include WeChat (within 7 years), Facebook (7.7 years), Youtube (8 years), Instagram (8.5 years) andWhatsapp (8.7 years). (source: Buyshares. https://buyshares. co.uk) Airbus photo by James Darcy
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