4-day work week tried in Japan: What happened next

Tokyo: Microsoft Japan published a report showing how productivity spiked by nearly 40 percent despite observing a four-day workweek. In August, Microsoft Japan closed its offices on Fridays, treating 2,300 employees to a month’s worth of three-day weekends. Results of the August’s experiment were published on Thursday, October 31. The result: a nearly 40% spike […]

Air France-KLM aims for return of dividend, fatter margins

Paris: Air France-KLM plans to improve profitability and pay a dividend as part of a five-year plan to regain ground lost to European rivals. The airline will “increase revenues to significantly improve our operating margin,” Chief Executive Officer Ben Smith said on Tuesday in a statement. Smith’s goals include reaching a medium-term operating margin of […]

Xi zeroes in on Trump trade deal as China acts to steady markets

Hong Kong: President Xi Jinping stressed China’s commitment to the global trading order as his trade negotiators wrangle with the US over rolling back punitive tariffs ahead of a phase one deal. As Xi spoke in Shanghai, the nation’s central bank acted in Beijing to stem a sell-off in the debt market. The People’s Bank […]