Go woke or go broke, CBI warns

BRITISH businesses must embrace “progressive” values such as net zero and adopt “active diversity and inclusion strategies” if they want to attract Gen Z staff, according to the head of the UK’S biggest business group.

Tony Danker, director general of the Confederation of British Industry, will tell a Future of Work conference that young people are increasingly making career choices based on a company’s social values, insisting: “It’s no longer just they work for us – we have to work for them.”

In a speech in London, Mr Danker will urge business to be “progressive – with a small p”, adding that: “Without strong societal values, a central sense of purpose, a commitment to better employee lives, and active diversity and inclusion strategies, you will lose the talent war.” He will say that “younger workers especially are looking for value and purpose in their jobs” and are willing to “challenge” senior leaders on “net-zero credentials, commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion, or public advocacy”.

Mr Danker will say: “More than ever, it is a competition about values: the values a company holds and the values of work it promotes.”