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The majority of UK HR & business leaders aren’t actively maintaining their brand
The majority of UK HR & business leaders aren’t actively maintaining their brand
Almost two-thirds of business leaders (60%) don’t regularly re-evaluate or refine their branding and designs, a decision that risks weakening brand relevance in a fast-changing consumer landscape with rapid shifts in digital behaviour and visual trends. New research from Adobe Acrobat surveyed 350 UK leaders to uncover how much attention they are paying to their branding and design, the approach they take when designing brand assets, and how confident they feel in their existing branding.
Despite the lack of attention they are giving to their branding, only 12% believe their designs are strong enough to remain unchanged. The biggest blockers are capability and time. One in six (15%) don’t know how to re-evaluate their branding, and a further 10% say they are too busy or don’t see it as a priority.
Most business leaders know their branding needs improvement but lack the practical tools and confidence to act on it, and two pain points stand out. Almost one in five (18%) admit their biggest branding weakness is social media visuals, and another 18% say consistency across platforms is where their branding weaknesses lie, when inconsistent or outdated visuals can dilute digital performance.
Branding strengths are the same for many businesses, with as few as 5% thinking tone of voice is their biggest weakness, suggesting businesses feel more confident in their verbal identity but struggle to translate that into compelling, consistent visuals. When business leaders s are actively taking a lead in their branding processes, they’re choosing design styles for different strategic reasons: simplicity (33%), differentiation (25%), enigmatic branding (21%), or industry-linked imagery (20%).
Young leaders are the most self-critical, as two in five Gen Z (40%) think their branding needs significant improvement. That’s compared to just 12% of Gen X and 6% of Baby Boomers. But they’re also the least proactive. Only one-fifth of Gen Z (20%) regularly refine their branding, compared to half of Baby Boomers (50%). In fact, two in five (40%) have never reevaluated their branding because they don’t know how. This generational divide suggests younger leaders recognise the importance of strong design but lack the experience and tools to manage it effectively.
Digital-first thinking is also more common amongst Gen Z leaders, with two in five (40%) saying their social media visuals are their biggest design weakness. Millennials take a more holistic approach, as one-fifth (20%) consider consistency across platforms to be their weakness. As social platforms evolve rapidly, young business owners feel greater pressure to maintain fresh and dynamic visuals.
Attitudes to branding vary across the UK, with over half of business owners in Northern Ireland (50%) and almost a third in Scotland (32%) having never reevaluated their branding because they don’t know how. In contrast, confidence in the Northeast is booming, with 17% having never reevaluated their branding because they think it’s already perfect.
Businesses in the Southeast are the most proactive about maintaining their brand identity and regularly refining their branding (54%), while in Yorkshire, almost two-fifths (38%) recognise that their visual branding needs significant improvements.
Creative preferences shift by region too, with cultural trends shaping branding decisions. Two in five business owners in Scotland (41%) prefer simple and product-led branding, compared to over two-fifths in the Northeast (44%) who want branding tied to key industry imagery and a third in the East Midlands (33%) who look for unique, industry-defying branding.
Many businesses recognise their weaknesses but lack the time or resources to address them, and Adobe Acrobat has shared their top tips for mastering and maintaining branding and design:
How to strengthen your visuals: Adobe’s top tips
While an eye-catching visual can draw customers in, a bland graphic can leave them feeling uninspired. So, if your business visuals are feeling a little tired, here are some practical ways to refresh your branding and better connect with audiences.
- Regularly review your visuals: From ensuring consistency across channels to refreshing your marketing materials, even small tweaks can impact how customers engage, interact, and shop. So, take a moment every now and then to review your logo, colour palette, and imagery, asking yourself whether these are aligned with your brand or whether it might be time for an update.
- Listen to your audience: An outside perspective can make all the difference when it comes to avoiding common design mistakes and creating visuals that resonate. You could ask customers, colleagues, or peers for their feedback to get a clearer picture of the designs that blend in and those that capture interest.
- Streamline productivity & workflow automation: Generative AI tools allow you to polish projects with ease, whether that’s creating customised images in seconds or designing ready-to-share content.
- Improve collaboration:Standout branding often stems from strong collaboration between marketing, leadership, and creative teams. Utilise shared documents with people in different areas of the business for multiple perspectives. A streamlined approach can create tunnel vision when signing off branding elements – it’s important to test trial and error, and conduct market research on any assets to see which drives the best responses and engagement.
New research reveals work experience can cut a young person’s risk of becoming NEET by 80% as experts warn Britain faces a ‘lost generation’
New research reveals work experience can cut a young person’s risk of becoming NEET by 80% as experts warn Britain faces a ‘lost generation’
More than one million young people in the UK are currently not in education, employment or training (NEET), while almost half of teenagers say they are uncertain about their future careers. Now a major new study has found that meaningful engagement with employers before the age of 16 can dramatically improve life chances, with young people who experience high levels of employer engagement being 80% less likely to become NEET than their peers.
Published recently by education charity Education and Employers, Work Experience: Past, Present and Future is the most comprehensive review to date of international evidence on employer engagement, work experience and young people’s transitions from education into employment.
The report comes at a critical moment. Former Cabinet Minister Alan Milburn recently warned of a potential “lost generation” of young people, while OECD research shows that 46% of UK teenagers are uncertain about their future career options – almost double the figure recorded in 2018 and among the highest rates in the developed world.
The report argues that while work experience and employer engagement can play a transformative role in improving young people’s prospects, access to these opportunities remains deeply unequal.
New research commissioned for the report found that 81% of work experience placements are currently arranged by young people or their families, meaning access is often determined by personal networks rather than need. More than three-quarters of school staff surveyed said family connections are the primary reason some young people benefit more than others.
The findings raise significant questions about how the Government’s commitment to guarantee every secondary school pupil two weeks of work experience will be delivered fairly and effectively.
While schools and employers overwhelmingly support the ambition, many have serious concerns about the practical challenges involved. The report estimates that delivering the Work Experience Guarantee for under-16s alone would require around six million placement days every year.
At the same time:
- Only 58% of Key Stage 4 students currently complete any work experience
- 94% of teachers say job shadowing would be difficult or very difficult to organise
- 81% say workplace visits are difficult or very difficult to arrange
- Employers cite bureaucracy, limited capacity and competing demands as significant barriers to participation
The report warns that without substantial support and infrastructure, there is a risk the policy could inadvertently widen existing inequalities, with the best opportunities continuing to go to the most well-connected young people.
Nick Chambers, Chief Executive of Education and Employers, said: “Britain cannot afford a system where opportunity depends on who your parents know. We now have compelling evidence that encounters with employers and workplaces can change the trajectory of a young person’s life. Young people who gain meaningful experience of the world of work are more confident, more informed about their futures and significantly less likely to become disengaged from education and employment. Yet access to those opportunities remains deeply unequal. The young people who stand to benefit most are often the least likely to secure high-quality placements because they lack the networks and connections that others take for granted.
“The Government’s commitment to two weeks’ work experience for every young person is absolutely the right ambition. But ambition alone will not deliver outcomes. Without the right infrastructure, support and coordination, there is a real danger that we end up advantaging the advantaged and disadvantaging the disadvantaged.”
Researchers found that current careers information systems are often difficult for young people and parents to navigate and do not reflect how young people search for information about jobs and careers today. It calls for a modern, youth-focused national careers information service, alongside greater investment in employer engagement, work experience brokerage and targeted support for young people most at risk of becoming NEET.
The report sets out four potential options for government, education leaders and employers to consider, ranging from targeted support for disadvantaged young people through to a more ambitious national approach that combines careers education, employer engagement and work experience within a coherent system.
Education and Employers argues that the cost of getting this wrong will far outweigh the investment required to get it right. One of the report’s authors estimates that each young person who becomes NEET costs the public purse approximately £54,000 over their lifetime.
OUT TODAY – July 2026 Issue of Hr NETWORK Magazine
Hr NETWORK Magazine July 2026
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Charisma: The Magic Sauce for Great Leadership
Charisma, which has been described as the magic sauce for great leadership, is essential for building trust, belief and helping teams perform confidently through uncertainty, pressure and high-performance environments. Andy Moore discovers the growing importance of charisma in human-centred leadership.
Also in the latest issue:
- REVIEW of the recent Hr NETWORK National Conference & Exhibition 2026
- SPECIAL FEATURE: The Changing Face of HR
- The regular sections of the magazine include: News, STATS and EXTRA
- The ‘Insights’ section features first class comment from those in the know on a range of subjects including: Successful Young Women; Moonlighting; Future of Work Report
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LATEST NEWS: Amey brings students together for national STEM finale to inspire future female engineers
Amey brings students together for national STEM finale to inspire future female engineers
Amey marked International Women in Engineering Day by bringing together students from across the UK for the final of its We Solve It STEM initiative, aimed at inspiring girls and young women to consider careers in engineering.
The national finale, took place in Birmingham on 23rd June, uniting the winners of a series of regional heats. It forms part of Amey’s wider commitment to developing future skills, showca
sing the breadth of opportunities for women in engineering and supporting a more diverse talent pipeline.
Students from Trinity St Edward’s School in Barnsley, and Oakwood Academy in Nottingham took part in the event, working in teams to tackle a real-world design challenge. Throughout the day, participants collaborated on the theme “a city I’d want to live in”, developing innovative ideas before presenting their concepts to a panel of women in senior engineering and technical roles at Amey.
The event also featured interactive sessions with Amey’s early careers team, including an AI-focused workshop and a panel discussion with female leaders from across the business, offering students valuable insight into career pathways in STEM and engineering. Refecting on the day, Scarlett, a Year 9 pupil, said: “today has inspired me as a girl to go into a male dominated field.”
Emily Davies, ESG Director for Amey, said: “It is fantastic to see young girls developing such creative and innovative ideas, it really highlights both their potential and the importance of programmes like this. Initiatives such as We Solve It play a vital role in engaging the next generation and showcasing the range of opportunities available in engineering.
“By connecting students with real role models and real-world challenges, we can help more young women see engineering as an exciting, collaborative and rewarding career path, while continuing to challenge perceptions and inspire the future talent our industry needs.”
Devon Russell, Teacher at Oakwood Academy, said: “I think it is fantastic that Amey put on these challenges each year to promote careers with women in engineering. The girls get to experience something different from the normal school curriculum and experience real life scenarios and meet people and role models in the industry.”
INSIGHT: Working for Two Employers – The Legal Risks of Moonlighting
Working for Two Employers: The Legal Risks of Moonlighting
By Tilly Stubbs, Solicitor, Winckworth Sherwood LLP
In late 2025, research from the Credit Industry Fraud Avoidance System (Cifas) revealed that 1 in 5 employees had, during their careers, secretly held two competing roles at the same time. Earlier this year, a Croydon Council housing official was convicted of fraud, given a 12-month suspended jail sentence and fined £10,000 after it was found that she had been working a second full time job at another London authority for two years.
This practice, known as ‘moonlighting’, or ‘polygamous working’, involves individuals taking on other (sometimes multiple) full-time roles outside of their primary employment, and often without their employer’s knowledge.
Moonlighting has become increasingly prevalent in recent years, driven by economic pressures, such as rising living costs, alongside the expansion of remote and hybrid working. Greater flexibility of working has enabled employees to more easily take on numerous different roles concurrently, blurring the boundaries between employers.
Cifas also found that 24% of employees considered it ‘justifiable’ to work in this way, including in respect of competing roles, reflecting a growing tolerance towards the practice. However, this presents significant challenges for employers.
The rise of moonlighting introduces an array of legal, wellbeing, performance, and operational risks. These include potential conflicts of interest, breaches of confidentiality, misuse of confidential information, decline in productivity, and employee burnout.
The issue is especially acute in the technology sector, where fully-remote working is the widespread norm, and tasks are often highly automated, making it easier for individuals to manage several roles simultaneously without detection. So called “mouse jigglers” which keep a mouse moving and can avoid lack of use indications to an employer’s systems that the employee is not working, are apparently now easily available for misuse.
It is not inherently unlawful for an employee to take on a second job, provided that the additional work does not place them in competition with their primary employer, or otherwise harm the primary employer’s legitimate business interests or encroach on their normal working time (if full time, for example). However, moonlighting may well give rise to breach of an employee’s contract of employment, where it is expressly prohibited by contractual terms or they have warranted to provide their employer with their “full care and attention during working hours”. Such conduct may also breach the implied duty of trust and confidence in an employment relationship. Depending on the precise nature of the conduct and contractual terms binding the individual, moonlighting may amount to gross misconduct, and also potentially fraud.
Moonlighting also raises issues under the Working Time Regulations 1998 and the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. Employers are under a statutory obligation to take all reasonable steps to protect workers’ health and safety, to ensure compliance with statutory working time limits. Time spent working, irrespective of whether for the same employer, will count towards an employee’s working time, leaving employers open to legal risk where limits are exceeded – even if they were unaware of this.
Beyond legal compliance, there are also practical implications. Secondary employment can give rise to performance issues, particularly where competing commitments begin to affect employee productivity, responsiveness and delivery.
Addressing the risks associated with moonlighting requires employers to take a proactive, rather than reactive approach. In particular, where employees will have access to highly confidential or commercially sensitive information that could be of use to a competitor, employers should consider including express provisions restricting secondary employment in contracts of employment. These provisions are commonly referred to as ‘exclusive service’ clauses and can either prohibit an employee from providing services to another employer altogether, or restrict this without the prior written consent of the main employer. These kinds of provisions will provide clarity on expectations and help mitigate the risk of conflicts of interest, misuse of confidential information and breaches of duty. Any breaches of these contractual terms can then (and should) be viewed as misconduct and investigated according to internal disciplinary processes.
If you have suspicions that a worker is working multiple jobs, you may want to approach this with them. To discharge your duty to take all reasonable steps, you should ask the individual to confirm if they work for anyone else, unless their existing contract already prohibits this. If this is confirmed, you should then consider asking the employee to sign an opt-out agreement if the total time worked exceeds 48 hours a week. If the employee refuses to sign this agreement, then they will need to consider reducing their hours (with you or their alternate employer) to comply with the legal limits.
It is important to note that careful consideration will be required for part time or junior employees where a second job is less likely to cause harm to the business. Moreover, exclusivity clauses in zero hours contracts are unenforceable, as these workers should remain free to undertake other work insofar as possible.
MASTERCLASS – Building Organisational Effectiveness Through Strategic Workforce Planning
MASTERCLASS – Building Organisational Effectiveness Through Strategic Workforce Planning
In today’s rapidly evolving business landscape, the ability to adeptly align your workforce with strategic goals is not just advantageous— it’s essential. We’re excited to host an exclusive opportunity designed specifically for forward-thinking leaders: the Organisational Effectiveness and Strategic Workforce Planning Masterclass. Why This Masterclass is a Must-Attend:
- Drive Transformational Change: Learn how to enhance operational efficiency and implement sustainable change within your organisation.
- Strategic Alignment: Discover actionable strategies to ensure that your workforce is fully aligned with your organisation’s long- term vision and objectives.
- Future-Proof Your Business: Gain insights into future trends and innovations in work and workforce planning to ensure your organisation gains competitive advantage.
- Peer Networking: Meet and exchange ideas with a select group of senior leaders who share your commitment to organisational excellence.
Who Should Attend: This masterclass is designed for mid-range HR professionals to HR leaders who are eager to refine their strategic capabilities and drive impactful organisational outcomes. Don’t miss this chance to empower yourself and your organisation with the knowledge and tools to thrive in today’s competitive environment. Join us for a transformative experience that promises to redefine the way you approach organisational effectiveness and strategic workforce planning.
Date: Wednesday 3rd June 2026
Venue: The Bonham Hotel, 35 Drumsheugh Gardens Edinburgh EH3 7RN
Cost per attendee: £550+VAT
To book your place/s, please email: subscriptions@hrnetworkscotland.co.uk
Visit the brochure for more information and learning outcomes: BROCHURE