Top Stories
HR DEPARTMENTS HEAD FOR THE CLOUD

-Appogee launches HR management solution-
Appogee, has launched Appogee HR, a new cloud-based online HR management system (HRMS). Appogee HR helps customers to be compliant with their employee records management obligations and gives employees the ability to self-serve, updating their own personal information.
Appogee HR simplifies HR management for both businesses and staff. It securely stores employee data, records and company documents online, eliminating the need to secure file-servers or store paper records. Access to data is controlled through Employee, Manager, HR Manager and Admin roles. Appogee HR is simple to set-up with templates provided and flexible customisation. As a fully cloud-based application, accessed through the browser, no software installation is required.
HR processes can be managed more effectively as Appogee HR’s workflow automation provides alerts, notifications and checklists for activities such as new joiner processes, performance reviews, training activities and acknowledgements that employees have read company policies. These help ensure that company specific procedures and policies are adhered to across every team.
Appogee HR incorporates a comprehensive online and mobile absence management application, also available as a standalone service, Appogee Leave. This existing service from Appogee consistently ranks as the number one absence and time off management solution for Google Apps users in the Google Apps Marketplace.
“We’ve found that getting that balance right, ensuring staff are provided with all of the support required, whilst maintaining compliance and control over HR can be a challenge for organizations,” commented David McLeman CEO of Appogee. “We’re therefore delighted to be able to launch Appogee HR into the market, and help companies better manage their HR information. It’s an easy to use and intuitive application giving employees control over their profile, and providing managers and HR with that all important oversight and access to key information.”
“The launch of Appogee HR was a natural progression for us,” explains McLeman. “Appogee Leave has 700 customers, and over 50,000 users in more than 45 different countries. The new product expands our original Leave offering and enables greater flexibility, transparency and control of HR management for businesses.”
Appogee HR and Appogee Leave include integration capabilities with other applications: currently providing single sign on for Google Apps users; holiday and leave calendar support for Google Calendars and Microsoft Outlook; an optional API for enterprise customers and with other enhanced cloud application integrations to follow.
Top Stories
Bitcoin, ether hit fresh highs

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Bitcoin hit a fresh high in Asian trading on Saturday, extending a two-month rally that saw its market capitalisation cross $1 trillion a day earlier.
The world’s most popular cryptocurrency rose to an record $56,620, taking its weekly gain to 18%. It has surged more than 92% this year.
Bitcoin’s gains have been fuelled by evidence it is gaining acceptance among mainstream investors and companies, such as Tesla Inc, Mastercard Inc and BNY Mellon.
Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization and daily volume, hit a record $2,040.62, for a weekly gain of about 12%.
Ether is the digital currency or token that facilitates transactions on the ethereum blockchain. In the crypto world, the terms ether and ethereum have become interchangeable.
Ether futures contracts launched on derivatives exchange CME earlier this month.
(Reporting by Vidya Ranganathan; Editing by William Mallard)
Top Stories
World Bank pushing for standard vaccine contracts, more disclosure from makers

By Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The World Bank is working to standardize COVID-19 vaccine contracts that countries are signing with drug makers, and is pushing manufacturers to be more open about where doses are headed, as it races to get more vaccines to poor countries, the bank’s president said on Friday.
World Bank President David Malpass told Reuters he expected the bank’s board to have approved $1.6 billion in vaccine funding for 12 countries, including the Philippines, Bangladesh, Tunisia and Ethiopia, by the end of March, with 30 more to follow shortly thereafter.
The bank is working with local governments to identify and fill gaps in distribution capacity, after they purchase vaccines under a $12 billion World Bank program, and also to standardize the contracts they are signing with manufacturers, he said.
The bank’s International Finance Corp, its private financing arm, has $4 billion to invest in expanding existing production plants or building new ones, including in developed countries, but needs more data on where current production is headed, he said.
“We are eager to be investing in new capacity, but it’s hard to do because you don’t know how much of the existing capacity is already committed to the various off-takers,” Malpass said in an interview with Reuters. New or expanded plants could be used to produce other types of vaccinations in the future, he said.
The bank’s funds could be used to expand plants in advanced economies, if the production was earmarked for developing nations, he said.
Malpass welcomed Friday’s pledge by the Group of Seven rich countries to intensify cooperation on the pandemic, saying it could help jump-start deliveries of vaccines to poorer countries, which are lagging far behind rich countries in getting shots in arms.
Data compiled by Our World In Data, a scientific online publication, showed Israel was leading the world in COVID-19 vaccinations, with nearly 82 of 100 people vaccinated, while India and Bangladesh reported less than one person per 100, Many African countries have not started at all.
Malpass said he was heartened by news about new vaccines coming down the road, and about Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE seeking permission to store their vaccine at higher temperatures, which would ease another obstacle to deliveries in lower-income countries.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Heather Timmons and Leslie Adler)
Top Stories
Google to evaluate executive performance on diversity, inclusion

By Paresh Dave
(Reuters) – Alphabet Inc’s Google will evaluate the performance of its vice presidents and above on team diversity and inclusion starting this year, the company said on Friday in one of several responses to concerns about its treatment of a Black scientist.
Timnit Gebru, co-leader of Google’s ethical artificial intelligence research team, said in December that Google abruptly fired her after she criticized its diversity efforts and threatened to resign.
Alphabet and Google Chief Executive Sundar Pichai ordered a review of the situation. While Google declined to share specific findings, the company announced on Friday it will engage human resources specialists during sensitive employee departures.
Pichai in June said that by 2025, Google aims to have 30% more of its leaders come from underrepresented groups, with a focus on Black, Latinx and Native American leaders in the United States and female technical leaders globally. About 96% of Google’s U.S. leaders at the time were white or Asian, and 73% globally were men.
As a result of the investigation, the company also expanded a commitment announced in June to devote more resources to retaining and promoting existing employees, including by expanding a team addressing disputes among workers and their managers.
The diversity component of executive performance reviews was not previously announced, and the company did not immediately share details about what would be measured and how pay would be affected.
Alphabet for years had rejected proposals from shareholders and employees to set diversity goals and tie executive pay to them.
Irene Knapp, a former Google employee who advocated for one such proposal at a 2018 shareholder meeting, said on Friday, “I am pleased that they met our demand from 2018, which was a bare minimum that should have been easy to do immediately.”
Evaluating managers on diversity goals is becoming more commonplace. McDonald’s Corp on Thursday tied executive bonuses to diversity.
(Reporting by Paresh Dave; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)