Harrison on Tuesday claimed Whitbread's 40,000 staff were among the most satisfied on the high street and in the hotel industry, with recent workforce surveys suggesting "employee engagement" was at record levels.
When sector leaders gather on Thursday at the annual conference of Skills for Care, the workforce development body for adult social care, the talk is likely to be about an even stiffer potential bill, however.
The British-built medical centre will be run by a Canberra-based company, Aspen Medical, which predicts 10% to 20% of the workforce will be Australians.
Barclays will announce on Thursday that it is cutting up to 8,000 investment banking roles – almost a third of the division's workforce – as it retreats from one of the most controversial parts of its business.
Jenkins has already let it be known that he expects the 140,000 global workforce of Barclays – which includes high street banking, investment banking and fund management – to fall to 100,000 over the years as new technology replaces jobs.
The force is down by more than 3,300 nurses, including 2,000 district nurses who provide care for people in their own homes or residential institutions – a 28% cut to what the RCN says is an integral part of the community workforce.
Related: Women in Labour: Miliband promises midwife for every mother giving birth In a report – The Fragile Frontline – published on Sunday, the college calls on the next government to increase resources for community health care, so that psychiatric and physical care can be safely provided outside of hospitals by a skilled workforce.
Peter Carter, chief executive and general secretary of the RCN, said: "Whoever forms the next government must learn from this report and take immediate action to grow the nursing workforce and ensure it can keep up with demand with a sustainable and long-term plan.
"This will enable the aggregation of data across and within industries and will be invaluable to employers to assist them understand the characteristics of their workforce, including occupational segregation, the position of women and men in management and patterns of potentially insecure employment," the WGEA says on its website.
"[Social services minister] Scott Morrison's claims around the impact of his child care changes to workforce participation are dubious at best," acting shadow early childhood minister Jenny Macklin said.
We need to help build the capability of our next generation of leaders so a diverse and inclusive workforce can be achieved.
