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The speed and efficiency of salary processing in Ireland is the biggest challenge in payroll management, according to a recent study by SD Worx Ireland. The research found that eight percent of HR leaders surveyed - indicating a total of more than 29,000 organisations - acknowledge that they experience issues with the timeliness of their salary payments.
The Europe-wide survey across 18 countries found that just three countries - Austria, Belgium and Denmark - show greater dissatisfaction for the punctuality of wages. Despite these challenges, most organisations in Ireland (83%) are satisfied with the overall handling of their payroll processes - versus a 71% average across Europe.
The extensive research from SD Worx, a leading European HR solutions provider, was carried out iVOX among 5,118 HR leaders acrossEurope, including 150 in Ireland. It pinpointed speed and efficiency in payroll processing as the primary challenge for organisations in Ireland, with 51% of HR leaders citing it, significantly surpassing the European average of 41%.
Additionally, the research suggests a potential issue with accuracy in salary payments, as 47% of respondents identify processing accuracy as a top concern.
To handle salary payments, 39% of businesses in Ireland work with a specialist payroll provider. The study found that most (86%) organisations in Ireland combine outsourced functions with their own in-house expertise and software. This leads to many employers taking a hands-off approach, with less than half (45%) reporting to be actively involved in payroll tasks and sub-processes.
Just 10% of businesses handle their payroll payments entirely in-house, while 4% completely outsource the payroll process.
The research also highlights the central role that technology plays in salary payments. It found that more than one-third (35%) of businesses in Ireland have built their own software platforms for processing and administration. Meanwhile, 26% use a payroll solution hosted by their external supplier in the cloud (SaaS model), and the same proportion have external payroll software running on their own servers or in the private cloud.
Eimear Byrne, Country Leader, SD Worx Ireland, said: "Payroll is getting more complex. In particular, legislation is continuously evolving, with new rules being added - sometimes retroactively - both at local and European level. It has become a much bigger job than it was previously, so it is important for everyone involved to stay alert and ensure they have seamless processes in place.
"We continue to live in a cost-of-living crisis. Many people don't have the luxury of having savings that can cover rent, childcare and other expenses if their salary doesn't arrive in time. A delay of just one day can cause undue and unnecessary stress.
"Continuous progress in innovation and digitalisation make the payroll process more efficient. At SD Worx, we help businesses by keeping them up to date on new legislative developments, while also working with them to strike the balance between automated solutions and personal support. With salary payments influencing so many facets of a person's life, every employer has a responsibility to get it right."
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In every work environment, from factories, hospitals, retail shops to elder care homes, the future workforce will include robots. Dr Harry Kloor, the founder and CEO of Beyond Imagination has blazed a trail toward building reliable, strong robots that can operate safely alongside human workers. Harry tells the Futurists how to design a robot for a variety of workplaces at an affordable price, and what type of artificial intelligence is best for autonomous robot workers.
Harry also answers key questions: why insurability for robot co-workers is a challenge; how to create a friendly-looking robot; the best places to put robots to work; why legless robots are superior; robots for elder care; how hydraulic robots compare to electronic systems; and why it's so difficult for a robot to open a bottle of soda.
The Robot Workforce with Harry Kloor
Harry 'Doc' Kloor is an American scientist, film producer, director, writer, and entrepreneur. Kloor was the first to be awarded two PhDs simultaneously in two distinct academic disciplines (i.e. Physics and Chemistry) both earned at Purdue University. In recognition of this achievement, he was named ABC person of the week in August 1994
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The Big River Watch is back this weekend! Starting today, the public are invited to join the only UK and Ireland-wide citizen science survey of river health which attracted more than 5,000 participants in September 2023.
Joining in is easy with our free, easy-to-use app. The results will be made available on an interactive dashboard and will help drive action to improve rivers both on-the-ground and via campaigns and advocacy.
How you can help in the Big River Watch
Emma Brisdion, Marketing Campaigns Lead at The Rivers Trust, said: "Healthy rivers are essential for our wellbeing and for our wildlife. But rivers in the UK and Ireland have been allowed to get into a desperate state, and there are many people who care immensely about them and want to help. The Big River Watch invites communities to get involved.
The simple survey is all about using that connection to rivers to record the good, the bad, and the ugly so we can understand our blue spaces better and make informed decisions about how to revive them."
Tessa Wardley, Director of Communication & Advocacy at The Rivers Trust, said: "With the state of our rivers hitting the headlines time and again this year, the Big River Watch is the perfect way for people to get involved and take action for their local river. Having a large set of data from one weekend will help our experts to understand what's going on in our rivers, and what needs to be done to make them cleaner, healthier, and part of a thriving wider environment.
"In September 2023, 60% of Big River Watch participants were new to citizen science, which shows just how important this tool is to help everyone get involved and showing they care about rivers. As well as learning where pollution and wildlife are spotted, we also want to know how spending time near rivers affects people's wellbeing, so I'd encourage anyone and everyone to spend some time by their river and make their voice heard."
The Big River Watch is open to all, with no experience or training in citizen science required. All people need to do is download the free Big River Watch app, spend 15 minutes by their local river and answer questions as prompted. We want to build a complete picture of river health, and topics covered include the plants and wildlife people can see, as well as visible signs of pollution or observations on flow levels.
The Rivers Trust is the umbrella body for the Rivers Trust network, providing support with fundraising, advocacy and knowledge-sharing. Through our network of over 60 local Trusts in England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and with over 350 dedicated specialists including over 60 farm advisers giving confidential expert advice, we work in partnership at a catchment scale to make our shared vision of wild, healthy, natural rivers, valued by all a reality.
Shareable assets including high-res images can be found in this communications pack.
Results and insights from the first iteration of the Big River Watch are published here.
Data from the first iteration of the Big River Watch shows revealed that 73% of people thought their river looked healthy, whilst The Rivers Trust's recent State of Our Rivers Report 2024 showed that no stretch of river in England or Northern Ireland is in good overall health, with other nations of the UK and Ireland not performing much better.
This apparent disparity points to the complexity of assessing river health, as well as the need for more comprehensive monitoring to be done and made accessible to the public to aid their understanding.
Background information
The Big River Watch has been developed by The Rivers Trust and other partner organisations within CaSTCo (a project creating a national framework for improving river health data, with citizen scientists at the heart). Big River Watch is an important tool to support CaSTCo in introducing new and diverse audiences to river science and to encourage accessible engagement and diverse recruitment of volun

A team of entomologists and naturalists from Northern Ireland and Germany have described a new species of beetle, previously unknown to science. The colourful insect, nicknamed the "Fence-climber Twiglet Weevil" due to its prevalence on wooden fences, was discovered in County Down by Buglife Conservation Officer Joshua Clarke, during a night-time survey in September 2022.
Introducing the Twiglet Weevil
After the initial discovery and additional finds, Joshua partnered with Stewart Rosell, a PhD student based at Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute, to intensively search other sites with similar habitats; their efforts uncovered numerous specimens of the mysterious weevil. It was then discovered leading Irish entomologist, Dr. Roy Anderson, had independently collected specimens as early as 2011 that remained undetermined, which were later confirmed to be the same species.
To formally evaluate and describe the new species, the Northern Irish team collaborated with Dr. Peter Stüben, a leading weevil researcher at the Curculio Institute in Germany. Dr Stüben described the weevil's morphology and provided its DNA barcode, available in the journal Weevil News.
"The distinct features, like the raised reddish-brown structure on its back called the scutellum, along with genetic analysis of its mitochondrial DNA, revealed this weevil was not closely related to any known Western Palearctic species," stated Dr. Stüben.
The new weevil has officially been named Xenosacalles irlandikos, which loosely translates as the Irish stranger weevil, reflecting that this colourful weevil probably arrived in Ireland from somewhere else.
"This discovery highlights our incomplete understanding of global invertebrate biodiversity," said Stewart Rosell. "and the challenges this creates for entomologists identifying and understanding non-native invertebrates."
Joshua Clarke added "The influx of non-native species to Ireland shows no signs of slowing down. Introductions frequently occur through the importation of plants and wood products and factors like climate change may enable introduced species to gain a foothold and proliferate in new regions."
He continues "This includes non-native species being described outside of their native range, such as the flatworm Marionfyfea adventor (Jones & Sluys 2016) with probable introduction from New Zealand, and Anasaitis milesae (Logunov 2024), a jumping spider with speculative origins from the Caribbean."
The authors had speculated the weevil could be an accidental introduction from another part of the world, like Australia. After publication, they had been contacted by a Tasmanian entomologist and weevil enthusiast, Otto Bell, who recognised the species as a possible undescribed weevil specimen he and his twin brother Bruno Bell had collected in Victoria, Australia.
"We only know of several specimens of this previously undetermined species" stated Otto Bell.
Two of those specimens are available in the Tasmanian Museum & Art Gallery collections, with senior curator Dr. Simon Grove on his Facebook page saying, "these specimens were collected by Dick Bashford in 2010 on King Island as by-catch during panel traps for monitoring Ips bark beetles and remained undescribed until now", adding "we agreed Xenosacalles irlandikos is our weevil."
This exciting find by the dedicated Irish entomologists working together with international expertise in Germany, and now Australia, contributes to our knowledge of the varied insects present in Ireland, and provides further insight into global biodiversity. Research is currently ongoing to confirm origins, phylogeny, and ecology.
Buglife is the only organisation in Europe devoted to the conservation of all invertebrates our aim is to halt the extinction of invertebrate species and to achieve sustainable populations of invertebrates. Invertebrates are vitally important to a healthy planet - humans and other life forms could not survive without them. The food we eat, the fish we cat

GlobalLogic Inc., a Hitachi Group Company, announced its position as an industry leader inEverest Group's Software product Engineering Services 2024 PEAK Matrix Assessment. The assessment is a comprehensive evaluation of service providers in the software engineering domain, highlighting key players and their capabilities.
GlobalLogic's achievement in securing a leadership position amplifies its commitment to excellence and innovation in delivering software engineering solutions to clients globally.
"This acknowledgment by Everest group is a recognition of our track record and continued ability to deliver high-quality innovative products and solutions that drive business growth for our clients." said Sumit Sood, Chief Operating Officer and Head of Engineering at GlobalLogic.
"This recognition highlights GlobalLogic's ability to deliver high-quality intelligent digital engineering tailored to meet the unique and complex needs of our global customer base across industries. With a balanced client portfolio across all buyer sizes and industries, we pride ourselves on a comprehensive partner ecosystem across hyperscalers, data & analytics partners, and enterprise technology providers being leveraged for co-innovation."
The Software Product Engineering PEAK Matrix assessment evaluates engineering service providers for their overall and vertical-specific software product engineering capabilities and market impact, and shares insights on enterprise sourcing considerations.
GlobalLogic was recognised for industry-leading capabilities in helping customers design new digital experiences, engineer better digital products, build digital service platforms, and create new revenue streams. Combining cutting-edge solutions with Hitachi's extensive legacy, GlobalLogic partners with the world's biggest businesses and brands to connect people, products, and business opportunities through global digital solutions.
Mayank Maria, Vice President at Everest Group said: "GlobalLogic is among the fastest-growing software product engineering services firms, enabled by its end-to-end services play, balanced spread across verticals, and a strong focus on talent upskilling. It also has a credible inorganic growth strategy, with recent acquisitions such as Hexacta, Fortech, Sidero, Katzion, and Mobiveil, furthering its delivery footprint and competencies around pertinent themes.
"Clients appreciate GlobalLogic for its software engineering expertise, flexibility, and high project ownership. These factors have contributed to GlobalLogic emerging as a Leader in Everest Group's Software Product Engineering Services PEAK Matrix Assessment 2024."
GlobalLogic's leadership position in the Everest Group's Software Engineering Services 2024 PEAK Matrix Assessment validates the expertise and capabilities GlobalLogic provides in integrating experience design, complex engineering, and data expertise to help clients navigate the complexities of intelligent digital transformation and achieve their business objectives.
GlobalLogic's people-first culture - embodied by the commitment to engaging work, continuous learning, and flexibility - translates into client partnerships, helping them accelerate the creation of game-changing solutions to elevate and save lives, creating a better future for each other and the world around us.
Read the full report here
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eviivo, a leading hospitality software company known for its award-winning property management system, eviivo Suite, and eviivo Collective, the world's only collection of unique, notable and luxury independent properties, has announced eviivo Suite's Channel Manager has received "Hotel Channel Management Platform of the Year" in the second annual TravelTech Breakthrough Awards program
The awards program is conducted by TravelTech Breakthrough, a leading independent market intelligence organisation that evaluates and recognises standout travel & hospitality technology companies, products and services around the globe.
eviivo Suite's Channel Manager helps independent hoteliers expand their reach and visibility online. The solution offers deep seamless integrations with leading online travel agencies (OTAs). This results in automated synchronisations of Rates, Availability, Photos, Descriptions, Amenities, Deposit/Cancellation Policies, Promotions, Cleaning, Messages, and more.
Users have access to a unified booking calendar that clearly displays the source of all bookings and the ability to set rules to automatically close inventory and adjust rates on all channels, specific channels, or commission-based channels.
eviivo's Channel Manager software makes it easy to connect with Airbnb, Expedia.com, Booking.com, Google, Tripadvisor and a wide range of regional and specialist channels. The depth of these OTA integrations is unique in that few manual updates are required regardless of growth. An unparalleled number of updates, once made within eviivo Suite, are pushed out to channels automatically.
eviivo Channel Manager also simplifies processes for hoteliers through control of which channels they connect to; notifications of an automatic opt-in to each new channel added to the eviivo portfolio; and helpful information on each channel in the 'opt-ins' page.
The integrated system provides centralised control and visibility, real-time updates to prevent over bookings, extensive automation and granular control of channel updates. With frequent API updates and maintenance, eviivo can also integrate messages from Vrbo, Expedia, Airbnb and Booking.com in one inbox.
eviivo CEO Michele Fitzpatrick said: "Channel management should be completely intuitive for independent hoteliers and seamlessly scalable as their channel business grows.
"We designed our product in response to that, making sure what we offer is cost-effective and properties are put in front of thousands of potential customers,"
"We're pleased to receive this vote of confidence from TravelTech Breakthrough. Our goal is to continue to help independent hoteliers with fully automated, frictionless and advanced technologies.
"Channel Manager helps them to make informed decisions on channel mix so they can overcome the associated challenges with channel management and stay competitive."
The mission of the annual TravelTech Breakthrough Awards program is to conduct the industry's most comprehensive analysis and evaluation of the top technology companies, solutions and products in the travel & hospitality technology industry today. This year's program attracted thousands of nominations from over 12 different countries throughout the world.
Bryan Vaughn, Managing Director of TravelTech Breakthrough Awards said: "In today's super-competitive landscape, hoteliers need to connect to OTAs to advertise their accommodation to a global audience.
"Automation is the gold standard for success in the hospitality industry. Most channel managers update rates and availability across channels, but eviivo's integrations go much further,"
"eviivo Channel Manager empowers property owners to expand their reach, automate processes, and maximise bookings.
"With eviivo, smaller hotels gain visibility into the online distribution of their property in order to become more efficient and drive increased bookings and revenue. eviivo Channel Manager is our 'Hotel Channel Management Platform of the Year.'"
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