Christophe LANGLOIS (first version)

UK - "Cost" of a mother? £25,000 per year

(UK) Mothers do an average of £25,000 worth of work around the house - double the level of men, research shows. They spend around 66 hours a week on household chores, including childcare, cooking and cleaning. Men put in just 34 hours.

So, who would dare to say that being a mother at home isn't a full-time job?

UK - Internet & Mobile phones have dramatically increased our expectations

Remember, or try to imagine, how we communicated only 15 years ago: regular phones (fixed-line), fax, telex... and no email.

Cellphones and Internet have dramatically increased our productivity at work, and changed our day-to-day lives. Nowadays, you can contact anyone at anytime. And most of the time, you expect people to be reachable, or to get back to you straight away.

UK - Study to better understand the world of cyberspace etiquette
I have recently read an interesting article about a study recently commissioned in the UK. Please find below some "morceaux choisis".
* "Nearly a half of office workers consider it rude not to receive a reply to an e-mail within a morning"
* "5% thinks it is impolite not to get one within 5mn of sending a message"
* "2 in 5 mobile users expect a response to a text message within an hour before taking offence"
* "Nearly 25% expect a response in 5mn"
Impressive, isn't it?

Blackberry
Do you have a blackberry? It is a fantastic device if like me you are traveling a lot and you are managing people: clients are obviously very pleased to easily get hold of you. But now that you follow up emails on the go, wait a minute and think about your colleagues and your expectations... ;)

UK: Pushy sales pitches "cost firms dearly"

Sales people, the cliche
Sales is a highly interesting topic. Most of the time, when they think about Sales, people think: "pushy, biased, products, intrusion"...

Hard-selling: a costly sales strategy for UK businesses
This morning, I was on my way to the office, on the tube, where I read an article from the Metro: Pushy sales pitches "cost firms dearly".

Aggressive sales tactics and pushy staff are leading to a consumer backlash against British businesses. Please find below an extract of the article:
"AGGRESSIVE sales pitches and pushy staff at callcentres are l;eading to a consumer backlash against British businesses, a study suggested yesterday.
Many companiers face losing money because people experienec "customer service rage", according to the National Consumer Council (NCC).
Top hates include "robotic" call centres, hard-selling marketing, missed appointements and poor after-sales service.
Companies in telecoms, the financial services and utility sectors were named among the worst-performing.
Electrical retailers and garages also came off badly in the survey, title The Stupid Company: How British Businesses Throw away Money by Alienating Customers.
NCC deputy chiez executive Philip Cullum siad: "We're seeing more and more service rage, with infuriated customers punishing companies for hopeless performance.
"The scale of company inaptitude must amount to many billions of pounds of lost profits."
Survey responedents criticised some firms for being "sneaky, dishonest, incompetent and ineffectual".
The study said companies could improve by getting one member of staff to deal with a customer from start to finish, to ensure a personal touch.
(...)"

Networking is a passion for me: I like meeting new people and develop excellent long-term relationships.

2006: a demand for tailored services and excellent customer care
The reason I work as a Sales Manager is for the challenge of developing the best relationships with new clients, or enhance the quality of existing relationships. The secret to be a fantastic Sales person is... to listen first. That is the secret. You understand the needs of your contact, you listen. Then you can explain how you could help him and meet His specific demands. It needs to be taylored.

I believe my clients think about quality, relationship, consulting, help, care, responsiveness.

UK - Scary: Half of all women "hit by partner"!

Today, I was reading my Metro, as usual: I was (one more time) amazed by some "statistics" about women in the UK... Half of all women "hit by partner"!

Domestic violence...
More than half of women have been beaten by their boyfriend or husband and a third have been forced to have sex with them, a survey claimed yesterday.

One of five women complained of being hit regulary, and a third said their partner put them in fear of their lives.

But it is the psychological bullying which affects most women, with two-thirds having been subjected to threats and intimidation.

... leads to the worst
Davina James-Hanman, director of the Greater London Domestic Violence Programme, said: "Two women are killed a week by a current or ex-partner. You don't know until you cross the line whether your partner is going to be one of those. And nothing destroys a woman more than sexual abuse."

Women's Aid: Domestic violence charity which deals with 140,000 female victims a year.
They published "The Survivor's Handbook" (access here)

Women bosses hit 'glass cliff'

Please find below an article I read in the metro on Wednesday, August 31st. (It is also available on cnn's website)

Chris

------------------
LONDON, England -- Social psychologists have identified a new obstacle to female success in the workplace.

"Growing numbers of women are smashing through the so-called "glass ceiling" into senior managerial roles, but many are finding themselves in precarious positions with a high risk of failure, according to Professor Alex Haslam of Exeter University.

Professor Haslam's research followed an article last year in The Times newspaper of London, which questioned the performance of FTSE 100 companies that had appointed women to their boards.

But in a study of FTSE 100 companies, Haslam and his team discovered that most appointed women to senior positions only after a downturn in their fortunes, leaving them standing on the edge of a "glass cliff." (...)

(http://edition.cnn.com/2004/BUSINESS/09/08/women.glasscliff/index.html)

Notting Hill Carnival, London

This is the time of the yearly carnival in London: it takes place in trendy Notting Hill, it lasts 2 days, and several hundreds of thousands people are expected.

It is also synonimous of violence: stores & restaurants got ready to face the crowd (I took the pictures on Saturday)   

London, Thursday 21th July: Tube Blasts Confirmed

"Bombers have again targeted London's transport system - with up to four explosions reported." (source: Sky News)

We did not know what to expect in London, since the terrible events two weeks ago. Today, we learned they plan to remain active...

Now, we expect them to keep on bombing, tube, bus or monuments/buildings, again and again: they want to create fear and terrify both londoners and tourists.

Click here for the Sky News Alert
To get the Sky News Alert, click on the link below and follow the simple, step-by-step instructions.
You will need to save the file to your computer and then double-click on the icon to install it.

Get the new look Sky News Alert.
It's free. It's fast and you can download it in seconds.

More picture HERE.

London, Monday 11th July: the show must go on!

"We are encouraging everyone to get back to work and to get back into the capital," said Andy Trotter, senior British Transport Police officer.

It is almost an ordinary Monday in London to some extent that everybody has to go to work.
Nevertheless, I noticed at least 2 things, witnessing what has happened last week.

People go to work... but not by tube
I took the bus at Queensway: there was an unusual very long queue... Then the road was very busy around Holborn... People go to work as usual, but really try their best not to take the tube!

Increased security on the bus: 3 inspections in less than 10mn
When I was on the bus, for the first time ever, 2 policemen came in around Marble Arch to check the 2 floors of the bus. Then, another checking just after Oxford Circus. And 2 other policemen stopped the bus to check it... 50 meters after the 2nd inspection!

Emergency Numbers

* Anti-terrorist hotline: 0800 789 321

* Missing relatives: 0870 156 6344

For more info in English, please visit the BBC website.
For more info in French, please visit the Radio France website.
More picture HERE.

London, Thursday 7th July: from happiness to sadness

I have been living in the fantastic city of London for more than 3 years now: people are great!

9:30am in a bus in Central London: lack of information...
Yesterday, I was one more time impressed with the way people reacted around me. I was in a bus around 9:30am: it was packed and we did not really know why... An electric failure in the tube? A bomb alert? A real explosion!...

...Then people stayed incredibly calm
When we eventually realized what has just happened, and even when the driver started to check the bus to detect any unidentified bags onboard, everybody stayed calm and we were talking to each other in a positive way.
We drove in busy London and we could see many people walking quietly, and we could see and hear the Police and the Medics everywhere. They did a very good job.

In the afternoon: first casualties, the unknown for the future, but still calm londoners and tourists
The shock was huge and the timing extremely cruel, but the end of the day meant a lot of trouble to go back home, especially for commuters: you could see people walking, sharing information and maps... Everybody showed some incredible solidarity in that crisis.

I am convinced Londoners will go through that difficult situation and they will teach the terrorists a real lesson of courage.

Some exceptional events in London in just 5 days

   

 

 

      

For more info in English, please visit the BBC website.
For more info in French, please visit the Radio France website.
More picture HERE.