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International Business Times
3 days ago
- International Business Times
Swain County Sheriff Arrested, Suspended from Force for Sexually Battering Women After Offering Them Help
Swain County Sheriff Curtis Cochran was arrested Friday for multiple charges, including sexual battery. According to the district attorney's office, Cochran was arrested by agents with the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) and officers with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians for charges of felonious restraint, assault on a female, sexual battery and solicitation to commit prostitution. The 72-year-old has also been charged with violating the Cherokee Code, including two counts of oppression in office and one count of abusive sexual contact. Cochran, who has been sheriff since December 2006, was suspended from his role as sheriff by Superior Court Judge Tessa Sellers following District Attorney Ashley Welch's request for his permanent removal and disqualification from the sheriff's office. Cochran Offered to Help a Woman, Then Touched Her Inappropriately, Asked Her for Oral Sex and Masturbated in Front of Her The charges stem from two recent incidents. On June 22, a woman filed a report with the Cherokee Indian Police Department (CIPD), alleging that Cochran had assaulted her on the Qualla Boundary. An investigation was then initiated by the CIPD, SBI and FBI. The woman said she flagged down the sheriff's vehicle after walking away from a home on June 22 after fighting with her boyfriend. Cochran offered to let the woman sit in the vehicle because she was upset and crying. She accepted the offer, "believing it was intended to help diffuse the situation," according to court documents. The woman told officials that Cochran touched her and asked her for oral sex repeatedly, attempted to solicit sex for money, rubbed his crotch, began to masturbate while she was in the car with him and asked her if she could keep a secret. According to documents, Cochran allegedly told the woman that all she would have to do is say his name if she got into trouble and that he would help her. CIPD Asst. Chief Caught Cochran with Woman Released from Jail in His Car, She Alleged He Offered Her a Ride and Then 'Touched Her All Over' As the investigation into the alleged assault continued on June 23, CIPD Assistant Chief Josh Taylor saw a car matching the description of Cochran's vehicle on the Boundary. Officials said Cochran's car was "driving suspiciously" near the Cherokee Indian Police Department building. Taylor continued to pursue Cochran's car and stopped him in a nearby driveway. Inside the car, Taylor found a woman who had just been released from the CIPD jail. Documents reported that the woman appeared upset. Cochran told Taylor that the woman had called him from jail to give her a ride home. Taylor continued to follow Cochran's car to a nearby travel center where the woman left the car. Taylor spoke with the woman at the center, who said she was scared of that "sick, perverted old man." She told police that Cochran had "touched her all over" and tried to get her to do things she did not want to do. The woman told officers that she was offered a ride while she was walking on the side of the road after being released from jail. She said she recognized Cochran and agreed to the ride. When they started driving, she said Cochran immediately began touching her hand and arm. She said he later rubbed her leg and breast, and "when she tried to move away, he continued to reach further to touch her." Documents said she went to get out of the vehicle, Cochran asked if "she was sure she wanted to get out." A hearing has been set in Graham County for July 7 to review Cochran's suspension, with a final decision to be made on his removal on July 21 in Swain County.
Times
19-06-2025
- Business
- Times
What's the answer to all these engagement surveys?
We live in a feedback economy. I am bombarded with endless emails and alerts asking me to rate Uber drivers, shoe shops and even short rail journeys. 'We'd love two minutes of your time to hear your feedback on your recent booking to Watford Junction,' was a recent one. But for many, there is one feedback request that has become as a regular feature of office life as the stressy emails about dirty mugs in the kitchen: the employee engagement survey. Last week, I attended The Festival of Work, which you may think is oxymoronic, but there were taco stalls, selfie booths, a 'wellbeing village' and lots of bunting. It was the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development's annual conference, a shindig for HR executives, held in Excel London; 13,000 people attended and I don't think all of them were there for the free biros and Cadbury Heroes, which — and surely a sign of an impending recession — appear to have replaced Tony's Chocolonely as the free confectionery of choice at conferences. HR used to be about recruiting and firing workers, sorting out their pay and benefits. Now? In the words of Hi Bob, the main sponsor of the Festival of Work, it's all about 'powering productivity, engagement, and retention'. The Holy Grail of all HR managers: engage your workers and they'll be more productive. Or that's the theory. 'Absolutely, you can see that connection between a highly engaged workforce and a higher performance,' says Steph Kukoyi, senior people scientist at Culture Amp, another sponsor. How do you know if your workers are engaged? Well, you survey them. As both Hi Bob and Culture Amp design and undertake employee engagement surveys for companies it is understandable they emphasise the relationship between productivity and engagement — a rather woolly term that can mean anything from 'highly-motivated' to 'not resentful about turning up to work'. The biggest of all these survey companies is Gallup, which claims 'measuring and managing engagement in your organisation is critical to the success of your employees and organization as a whole'. Could there be a link between this statement and the fact Gallup charges thousands of pounds to companies to survey their workers? I couldn't possibly say. What I can say is that the employee engagement industry has become a huge one, supported by company directors. At Lloyds Bank, Charlie Nunn, the chief executive, last year received a £1.27 million bonus, some of which was decided on a 'culture and colleague engagement' score — one of many CEOs rewarded in this way. This, of course, may explain why workers are endlessly pestered to fill in forms saying how happy they are. But is it making any difference? Is asking millions of workers how strongly they agree or disagree with the statement 'my manager genuinely cares about my wellbeing' improving productivity? Looking at Gallup's data, the answer is: no. Its most recent data prompted the slightly hysterical headline from Gallup itself: 'Employee Engagement on the Brink'. This was because the global percentage of engaged employees fell from 23 per cent to 21 per cent. But, if you go back to 2011 it was 12 per cent and had steadily increased since, before reversing slightly in the last couple of years. Engagement has slowly improved over time but we know from the economic data, productivity has stalled. The link between the two is shaky at best, and even companies that can prove a correlation — from their own data — struggle to prove a causal link. Paul Sweeney, author of Magnetic Nonsense: a short history of bullshit at work and how to make it go away, categorises engagement surveys as: 'Let's ask the children how they're feeling, and then we can give them a playdate to cheer them up.' They tackle the symptoms of problems in the workplace, not the root causes. Also, he says, the surveys create 'an unhealthy dynamic where employees think the way to solve problems is to complain about them in the survey, with no responsibility on their part to help resolve the issues'. There are some solutions. One is to forget a big, cumbersome annual survey with 57 different questions to which most people answer 'neither agree nor disagree', with so-called pulse surveys asking just a couple of focused questions once a month. Another route is the AI one. I met an interesting company at the Festival of Work called Inpulse, which instead of asking workers to 'agree or disagree' with rote statements, asks them how they feel by getting them to write a sentence or two into a text box. It then asks them why they feel that way. 'It is super open-ended. It lets them direct the conversation,' says Andrew Nguyen, co-ceo at Inpulse. 'By asking the employee how they're feeling and why, you get a much richer data set.' The company then uses AI to scan the language and categorise the comments so the company can work out how proud, committed or stressed and unappreciated they are. Inpulse is already working with the likes of Balfour Beatty, and Arriva. It is very clever and I can see this approach might get more useful results than asking people to score everything on a five-point scale. But the method doesn't matter if the management uses the data to prove what it wanted to hear in the first place or uses it as a way to ignore having difficult conversations with its staff. As Nguyen himself says, the survey only works if workers can see that 'their input is heard and valued and acted on'. Did anything change as a result of the last employee engagement survey? Were the nightmare rotas sorted? Did someone stop leaving dirty mugs in the kitchen? Because if nothing changes, these surveys are as pointless and as annoying as asking me about my trip to Watford Junction.
Khaleej Times
19-06-2025
- Business
- Khaleej Times
Informa Connect Academy and CIPD join forces to deliver CIPD learning programmes to the MENA market
Informa Connect Academy has partnered with the CIPD, the world's leading professional body for people development, to provide access to globally recognised HR and L&D professional development opportunities to the MENA region. The collaboration comes at a crucial time when organisations worldwide are navigating complex workplace transformations, from AI integration to evolving employee expectations. The CIPD, with its impressive network of over 160,000 members globally, brings its century-long expertise in championing better work and working lives to this partnership. "This partnership represents a significant milestone in professional development across our region. By combining Informa Connect Academy's extensive reach with CIPD's prestigious learning programmes, we're creating unprecedented access to world-class HR education. Our comprehensive course portfolio will empower professionals to drive organisational success through effective people management," states Shabnam Rawal, managing director, Informa Connect Middle East. Stuart Dunlop, market director, CIPD, added: "We are thrilled to partner with Informa Connect Academy to deliver the CIPD's learning portfolio to the MENA market. This collaboration significantly expands our ability to deliver market-leading professional development across key markets in the MENA region. In today's rapidly evolving workplace, HR professionals need both theoretical knowledge and practical skills to lead their organisations through change. This partnership ensures they have access to the highest quality learning and development opportunities provided by a globally recognised HR professional body." Professionals enrolling in these CIPD programmes will unlock a wealth of career-enhancing opportunities. These comprehensive programmes will boost career prospects whilst providing invaluable access to CIPD's extensive global network and resources. Participants will acquire practical, immediately applicable skills that make a real difference in their daily work, supported by flexible learning options designed to fit around busy professional schedules. The programmes not only enhance earning potential through globally recognised learning but also offer direct access to cutting-edge HR practices and research, ensuring participants stay at the forefront of industry developments. This combination of practical knowledge, professional recognition, and networking opportunities creates a powerful foundation for career advancement in the dynamic field of HR and people management. The partnership launches with an innovative suite of courses designed to address current market demands: Each course has been carefully curated to provide practical, applicable knowledge that meets the evolving needs of modern organisations. The programmes combine CIPD's world-renowned curriculum with Informa Connect Academy's innovative delivery methods, ensuring an engaging and effective learning experience.
Zawya
18-06-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Informa Connect Academy and CIPD join forces to deliver CIPD learning programmes to the MENA market
Dubai, UAE: Informa Connect Academy has partnered with the CIPD, the world's leading professional body for people development, to provide access to globally recognised HR and L&D professional development opportunities to the MENA region. The collaboration comes at a crucial time when organisations worldwide are navigating complex workplace transformations, from AI integration to evolving employee expectations. The CIPD, with its impressive network of over 160,000 members globally, brings its century-long expertise in championing better work and working lives to this partnership. "This partnership represents a significant milestone in professional development across our region. By combining Informa Connect Academy's extensive reach with CIPD's prestigious learning programmes, we're creating unprecedented access to world-class HR education. Our comprehensive course portfolio will empower professionals to drive organisational success through effective people management," states Shabnam Rawal, Managing Director, Informa Connect Middle East. Stuart Dunlop, Market Director, CIPD, adds: "We are thrilled to partner with Informa Connect Academy to deliver the CIPD's learning portfolio to the MENA market. This collaboration significantly expands our ability to deliver market-leading professional development across key markets in the MENA region. In today's rapidly evolving workplace, HR professionals need both theoretical knowledge and practical skills to lead their organisations through change. This partnership ensures they have access to the highest quality learning and development opportunities provided by a globally recognised HR professional body' Professional Benefits Professionals enrolling in these CIPD programmes will unlock a wealth of career-enhancing opportunities. These comprehensive programmes will boost career prospects whilst providing invaluable access to CIPD's extensive global network and resources. Participants will acquire practical, immediately applicable skills that make a real difference in their daily work, supported by flexible learning options designed to fit around busy professional schedules. The programmes not only enhance earning potential through globally recognised learning but also offer direct access to cutting-edge HR practices and research, ensuring participants stay at the forefront of industry developments. This combination of practical knowledge, professional recognition, and networking opportunities creates a powerful foundation for career advancement in the dynamic field of HR and people management. Comprehensive Course Portfolio The partnership launches with an innovative suite of courses designed to address current market demands: Learning & Development (L&D) Fundamentals Essential People Skills for Line Managers (for Non-HR) Organisation Design in the GCC Artificial Intelligence (AI) for HR Professionals + Leveraging HR Analytics Strategic Workforce Planning + Talent Management Strategies that Drive Performance Employee Experience Fundamentals of HR (Arabic) UAE Labour Law Learning & Development (L&D) as a Business Partner Recruitment, Selection and Resourcing Talent Each course has been carefully curated to provide practical, applicable knowledge that meets the evolving needs of modern organisations. The programmes combine CIPD's world-renowned curriculum with Informa Connect Academy's innovative delivery methods, ensuring an engaging and effective learning experience. About Informa Connect Academy: Informa Connect Academy is part of Informa, a global FTSE 100 business with a network of trusted brands in specialist markets and more than 11,000 colleagues working in over 30 countries. Informa Connect Academy leverages the expertise of Informa Connect to meet the needs and aspirations of students, industry professionals, and educational partners. Their purpose is to connect customers to information and people, enabling them to know more, do more, and be more. Informa is unmatched in helping people share professional knowledge worldwide. About CIPD The CIPD has been championing better work and working lives for over 100 years. It helps organisations thrive by focusing on their people, supporting our economies and societies. It's the professional body for HR, L&D, OD and all people professionals – experts in people, work and change. With over 160,000 members globally – and a growing community using its research, insights and learning – it gives trusted advice and offers independent thought leadership. CIPD is a leading voice in the call for good work that creates value for everyone.
Irish Times
12-06-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
‘This latest generation of AI could change every job': are fears of a slash and burn of white-collar roles well founded?
During Ocado's most recent earnings call, chief executive Tim Steiner said the group's advances in artificial intelligence and robotics had allowed it to fulfil online grocery shops at an ever faster pace. In 2012 it took 25 minutes of human labour to pick a 50-item order. That is now down to 10. But Ocado's technological progress means the company requires 500 fewer workers this year, after it already announced 2,300 jobs would be at risk in 2023. The UK company's move over many years to phase down human labour where feasible exemplifies workers' fears about generative AI: it may boost productivity, efficiency and profitability but it can also displace staff. Some businesses are yet to embrace the shift but many have spent more than a year experimenting and engaging in workplace pilots. READ MORE 'Companies are moving from asking, 'What is our AI strategy?' to experimenting ... implementing generative AI into processes,' says Karin Kimbrough, chief economist at LinkedIn. 'It is starting to change the landscape of work.' Now employees, bosses and policymakers are trying to decipher what exactly the benefits of generative AI look like. 'This latest generation of AI could change every job. I don't think that is too much of an exaggeration,' says Peter Cheese, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, the UK's professional body for HR and people development. 'Of course you can see examples where AI in different forms is already making a difference to their workforce, but it's still early days for many companies.' [ Job numbers in occupations exposed to AI up 94% in Ireland since 2019 Opens in new window ] It is primarily changing roles, not eliminating them, enabling humans to focus on more value-add elements of their jobs. Many employers are cutting jobs under the guise of economic and political uncertainty. But high-profile examples of AI-driven lay-offs in recent months, from technology company IBM to language learning app Duolingo, are fuelling questions about whether a slash and burn of white-collar roles is under way. The 42-year-old billionaire Dario Amodei, who runs AI developer Anthropic, has warned the technology he and peers such as OpenAI are building could wipe out half of all entry-level office jobs in the next five years. Already, graduates account for just 7 per cent of hires across the 15 biggest technology companies, with the number of new recruits down a quarter compared with 2023, according to SignalFire, a venture capital firm. 'AI is starting to get better than humans at almost all intellectual tasks, and we're going to collectively, as a society, grapple with it,' Amodei told television network CNN last month. 'AI is going to get better at what everyone does, including what I do, including what other CEOs do.' Academics, recruiters and management consultants are split on whether talk of a bloodbath is just scaremongering or a clear-eyed view of AI's potential to shake up the labour market. But even if AI is not destroying jobs at scale today, it is certainly redesigning them and changing the equation between work, output and headcount. 'No sector is immune [to the impact of AI],' says Peter Brown, a global workforce expert at PwC. 'But it is primarily changing roles, not eliminating them, enabling humans to focus on more value-add elements of their jobs.' For now, Mike Clancy, general secretary of the Prospect trade union, which represents some 160,000 members across the public and private sectors in the UK, largely agrees. He says it is important to differentiate between industries. 'If you work in air traffic control, on transmission and distribution networks, run infrastructure or manufacturing processes, you have been shifting your talents to align with new technology for years and years. AI can help, but the human aspect will have to be retained for systems resilience.' By contrast, says Clancy, 'email jobs' – those reliant on text responses, from solicitors to customer service agents – would undergo 'spectacular shorter-term change' even if there was a 'long lead time to realising the benefits'. [ Challenge of AI is to bridge the culture gap between its creators and custodians Opens in new window ] Since the launch of ChatGPT in late 2022, workplace experts have been trying to ascertain whether companies will opt to amplify their capacity by empowering staff to do more work alongside AI or seek to keep the same output while reducing hiring. Schroders is one example of the former. 'We don't see a short-term revolution and mass displacement of roles but we do anticipate these trends will drive an evolution over the next five to 10 years that will reshape workforces,' says Meagen Burnett, chief financial officer at the fund manager. Using AI to run analytics of the company's data, create reports and provide support with queries are examples of uses that could be 'transformative'. Having a more 'AI literate' workforce would make staff more productive, give them an edge and help them to deliver higher-value work, adds Burnett. Biotechnology company Moderna's recent move to combine its human resources and technology functions – opening the door to more automation – is another sign of how companies are beginning to think about workplace planning. Lots of traditional sectors are still grappling with the basics of governance and data protection policies in a world of generative AI IBM has gone further, using AI agents to take on the work of hundreds of HR staff. Klarna, the Swedish fintech, says its AI assistant now manage two-thirds of customer service queries, drastically cutting volumes handled by humans (the chief executive later admits such stark cost cuts lower quality). At Google and Meta, AI is reshaping engineering, recruiting and marketing, contributing to reorganisations and headcount cuts. Other companies are 'at the start of the journey', says James Milligan, the global head of technology at recruiter Hays. 'Lots of traditional sectors outside of tech – large private-sector companies, FTSE 250, Fortune 500 – are still grappling with some of the basics of good governance and data protection policies in a world of generative AI.' [ Can AI make my life easier? I spent a week living and working with chatbots to find out Opens in new window ] AI is already shifting the skills workers need. Those fluent in the new tools or who have experience deploying them in workplaces are being promoted, paid more and recruited aggressively. LinkedIn data shows a rise in hiring for roles including prompt engineer, head of AI and responsible AI use architect. A new PwC report, which analysed almost a billion job advertisements across six continents, found AI-skilled workers were being paid 56 per cent more in 2024 than those without knowledge of the technology, compared with 25 per cent more the previous year. It also found industries deemed 'most exposed' to AI experienced three times higher growth in revenue per employee than those considered 'least exposed'. For optimists, this is proof AI is making individual workers more valuable. 'Contrary to fears about job losses, job numbers – and wages – are growing in virtually every AI-exposed occupation, including the most highly automatable jobs,' the PwC report said. Yet there is a big question over how long this will last. PwC says AI-exposed jobs are growing more slowly (at a rate of 38 per cent) than less-exposed jobs (at 65 per cent). The number of roles such as financial analyst, legal associate or market researcher is increasing at a more sluggish pace than before. There is also a risk that workers get left behind. According to PwC, the mix of capabilities sought by employers is changing 66 per cent faster in occupations most exposed to AI, such as financial analysts, than in those least exposed, such as physical therapists. This acceleration makes it harder to keep up with demands for new skills, especially for mid-career workers who may not be AI natives, and those not working for large companies. In all analysed countries, women hold a higher share of AI-exposed jobs than men. Workers who see their responsibilities absorbed into new technologies are 'rotating towards skills generative AI can't do', says Kimbrough at LinkedIn. These individuals are 'disrupted' rather than 'displaced', she adds, meaning they are prioritising human-centric skills. Claudia Harris, chief executive of Makers, a tech talent and training platform, said 'a two-speed economy is emerging' between the companies investing in AI and those that are not. 'The dividing lines are not traditional. This is not about innovative industries versus not. This is about companies and cultures that are able to make this huge and decisive shift.' – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2025
