Friday 13th – feeling lucky?
If you’re reading this from the safety of your bed, having decided that this is one day that the risk of going out to work is just too great then maybe you have a point. The dangers of Friday 13th may be down to superstition but some people would rather not take any chances.
British insurance company Churchill reports that some drivers believe that new cars are at greater risk of accident than older ones; as nothing has yet happened to the vehicle, the balance of probability means it will; to counter this they will damage the car themselves in an inconspicuous area to affect the odds.
Interestingly, a study by insurers in the Netherlands found there were fewer road accidents on Friday 13th due to a lower volume of vehicles on the road on the date. "I find it hard to believe that it is because people are preventatively more careful or just stay home, but statistically speaking, driving is a little bit safer on Friday 13th," statistician Alex Hoen told the Verzekerd insurance magazine.
The Stress Management Center and Phobia Institute in North Carolina calculated that the cost to business in the US from Friday 13th is up to $900 million due to lost productivity from employees staying at home and the general population taking fewer risks.
Cyber threats increase, confidence falls
As incidents of cyber attacks continue to soar, the confidence of businesses in their ability to stave off such threats is falling. The Cyberthreat Defense Report from CyberEdge Group found that even though firms are spending more on their cybersecurity most respondents expect to suffer a breach within the next 12 months. Many of the businesses polled were no stranger to the danger; 71 per cent had been targeted in the previous 12 months and 22 per cent had been hit multiple times. Although the threats are rising firms are doing more to combat them and using analytics rather than purely defensive products. One of the big areas of caution though is in the use of portable devices: “A key takeaway from this year’s Cyberthreat Defense Report is the dramatic rise in mobile device threats,” said Kurt Roemer, chief security strategist at Citrix who are working with the report authors. “With workforce mobility skyrocketing, mobile device and application management technologies are critical for maintaining the confidentiality and integrity of sensitive data.”
Businesses risk backlash over high pay
High paid business owners and executives may need to hold back on bonuses and pay rises if they are to avoid a backlash from customers. A study by the UK’s Institute of Directors found that 52 per cent of respondents believe that “anger over senior levels of executive pay” is a serious risk to public trust in business. That tops the 51 per cent that are concerned over negative media reports or product mis-selling. In recent years the high pay and bonuses in the banking sector have added to public awareness of the issue of high wages. The study also reveals that 48 per cent of respondents believe that public trust in businesses is at risk.
