Podcasts

It's a common scene in offices across the country; a computer that refuses to connect to the internet in one corner, an annoying colleague wittering on about their weekend plans in another and an air conditioning system that blasts icy cold air in the middle of winter. Workplace annoyances might seem insignificant in isolation, but new research released by Samsung Electronics reveals that UK small business workers are losing 5.5 hours' office time a week because of minor irritations. To find out more about this Greg Watt spoke to Sir Cary Cooper Professor of Organisational Psychology and Health at the Manchester Business School and started by asking him what the biggest office pet peeves are.

Should the language of technology be considered as important, if not more so, than learning French, German or Spanish? One man who thinks it is, is Jordan Poulton from coding school, Makers Academy. Earlier today, Olivia Demetriades spoke to Jordan to discuss why it's now becoming one of the most important skills being taught in schools, and she began by asking what coding actually is.

A new report has revealed that hearing loss is costing the UK economy £1bn a year. And with people working for longer an aging workforce means that that figure is set to rise. To find out more about this Jinan Rahma spoke to Professor Les Mayhew of Cass Business School and author of the 'Listen Up! Hearing Loss in an ageing society' report and started by asking about why they carried out the research.

The OPEC nations have agreed their first cut in production since 2008. The alliance of oil production companies have agreed to reduce production by around 1.2 million barrels a day, with Saudi Arabia set to shoulder the biggest portion of the cut, as well as agreeing to accept Iran continuing to produce at its pre-sanction level. Simon Rose was joined live from the OPEC conference in Vienna by energy expert Peter Bild.

Growing fears for the UK economy has caused consumer confidence to fall. It's that time of the month when GfK's consumer confidence barometer is released, and it recorded a 5 point drop this month, with all categories measured experiencing a decline. Among the results was the forecast for personal finances over the coming year, dropping four points, and the general economic situation measure falling six, which is 19 points lower than November last year. As always when we discuss GfK's consumer confidence barometer, Simon was joined live in the studio by Joe Staton, their head of market dynamics.

2017 has been a good year for the small company index AIM, to date up 12% as compared to 8% for the FTSE All-Share. Why have small companies been fairing so well? To find out, Share Radio's Steve Clarke was joined in the studio by David Thornton, Editor of Growth Company Investor.

This is a brand new edition of The Apprentice Investor. Regular listeners to the programme will know that our Apprentices are five members of the Share Radio team who've each been given fifteen thousand pounds of virtual money to build their own share portfolios. They're allowed a minimum of eight stocks from different sectors which they've been buying and selling through the Share Centre. Our Apprentices under the spotlight today are Alexi Phillips and Valsa de Winter. Want to start investing yourself? Check out The Investment Trust Show: https://audioboom.com/channel/shareradio-investmenttrustshow

It seems young women appear to have the magic touch when it comes to starting successful businesses. According to new research, 'young businesses' run by those women under 35 are three times less likely to make a loss than those owned by over 55's. To get the inside story Sue Dougan was joined by Bianca Miller, Apprentice finalist and founder of The BE Group.

Consumer writer Megan French from Money Saving Expert gives some advice for those affected by the collapse of GB Energy as well as discussing the pros and cons of PayPal for online Christmas shopping. Plus we have a roundup of the best deals the team have found this week.

Vulnerable jobseekers are being tricked into losing money in fake job applications or scammed into paying for fake police checks, visas, travel and training, which are not required. That's according to study, which found that scams reported in the last year have risen by a whooping 300 percent. To find out how to avoid the scams Georgie Frost spoke to founder of the CV Centre James Innes.