See our at-a-glance round-up of all the latest HR news including pay deals back in the doldrums, Blair urged to make ‘poverty history’, why the carriage clock is losing favour and why working with a woman and living with a man is the best recipe for success.

Blair urged to make ‘poverty history’
Ahead of next week’s G8 summit in Gleneagles, TUC head Brendan Barber pressed for the Prime Minister to make decent work for all a reality.

Marching on Downing Street this week, Barber led a delegation of world trade union leaders representing 170 million workers.

The unions have told Blair that over 550 million adults worldwide are trapped in a cycle of poor work and poverty, earning less than $1 a day.

To see a list of key demands go to:
www.tuc.org.uk

Mentors to help young back on track
Secretary of State for Work and Pensions David Blunkett has said positive role models in the workplace could provide the path back into education and training for young people who would otherwise fall into a life of anti-social behaviour or drugs.

Speaking in London as the Government launched its action plan Together We Can, Mr Blunkett said for alienated 16 to 17-year-olds who had dropped out of school or college, workplace mentors would provide the leadership and direction needed to get back on the path to skills and better careers.

Adrian Snook, Operations Director for The Training Foundation said that workplace mentors, in this context, could face some very significant challenges.

“Effective coaching and mentoring skills are by no means ubiquitous within British business and some form of specialist training for workplace mentors is likely to be required in order to address the special needs of alienated young people,” he said.

“The Secretary of State should also remember that employers are hedged in by a forest of employment related legislation which could hamper workplace mentoring. There are also some potential risks and liabilities associated with confusing the conflicting roles of mentor, supervisor and employer.”

See more on this story at: www.trainingzone.co.uk

CMI survey highlights need for management development
Nearly half of organisations have problems recruiting managers due to skills shortages, according to the 2005 National Management Salary Survey.

The survey of 20,989, by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) and Remuneration Economics, shows shortages of skilled managers across the board, with 43% of respondents experiencing recruitment difficulties, up from 30.9% last year.

The CMI has warned that companies need to get serious about management development if organisations are to recruit and retain staff.

Of those companies facing recruitment problems, more than two-thirds (69%) put them down to a lack of candidates with specialised skills, especially those in IT management, engineers and salespeople.

In an effort to tackle the recruitment and retention problems, organisations are boosting their incentive schemes, with most (91%) now giving cash alternatives to traditional perks. The popular benefits are pension schemes, life assurance cover of up to four times salary and private medical insurance.

Salaries for all executives rose by 4.3% in 2005 to £46,054, against 4.4% in 2004. However, recruitment problems mean that bonuses, and combined earnings, are higher than last year.

Almost 70% of executives received a bonus in the year to January 2005, compared to just over half, five years ago. But in spite of the escalation of bonus payments, 45% of companies are reporting retention problems – the highest level for 15 years.

Mary Chapman, chief executive of the Chartered Management Institute, said that the shortage of managers with relevant skills could affect companies’ competitive advantage.

See more on this story at: www.trainingzone.co.uk

Employers should invest more in recruitment – CIPD
Employers need to invest in selection and induction to help manage staff turn-over, according to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).

The CIPD says that one in eight employees leave within the first six months, so recruiting the right person in the first place, retaining them and revising existing selection techniques should be a priority for employers.

It argues that good induction programmes manage employees’ expectations and give them a realistic understanding of the organisation and their role in it.

The CIPD said that low unemployment combined with a stable and growing economy, has left employers fighting over a small number of potential recruits and facing real difficulties getting the right people into the right jobs.

Its latest research shows over four-fifths of employers experienced recruitment difficulties in the last year, and staff turnover remains high.

For more on this story see: www.trainingzone.co.uk

TUC make plea for gay equality
Union body the TUC are calling for an end to discrimination against gay people in every aspect of their lives.

Applauding the Government for work to date on outlawing gay discrimination at work, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said that the law needed further reform to ensure lesbians and gay men are no longer turned away or refused services by companies that don’t want gay people as customers.

Barber said: “The law change has not made homophobia and prejudice disappear from UK workplaces. Many gay employees are still terrified to come out, fearful of the taunts and bullying that might ensue if their sexuality becomes known to their workmates or supervisors.”

Urging employers to stamp out this kind of behaviour, Barber said bosses should be developing equal opportunities to cover sexual orientation.

“Where homophobic bullying occurs, the perpetrators must be dealt with so that everyone at work realises that prejudice of any kind will not be tolerated.”

Avoid conflict – work with a woman and live with a man
The key to a less stressful life may be to work with women and live with men according to a new study from the British Association of Anger Management(BAAM).

Both men and women agree that women get angrier than men in the home and that men are more prone to being assertive and aggressive in the workplace.

Of the 502 people who responded to the BAAM survey women were most likely to indicate their predilection to anger in the home – male opinion on the issue was more evenly split. Male respondents, however, appeared equally honest about their temper tantrums in the workplace.

Only a quarter of men questioned believed women were angrier than them at their place of work, the rest were prepared to admit they were far more likely to fly into a rage than a woman.

For more on this story see: www.trainingzone.co.uk

Women’s job satisfaction dips
Levels of job satisfaction amongst women have been falling for the past 15 years, according to research conducted on 25,000 women by Michael Rose, Research Professor at the University of Bath and Editor of Work, Employment & Society.

While men’s satisfaction levels have remained constant over the period, women who used to have significantly higher levels of job satisfaction than men in Britain, now enjoy almost the same levels as male workers.

Professor Rose denies the results are a sign of a drop in the general sense of well-being amongst women.

Part-timers have also found to be more down in the dumps when it comes to job satisfaction then full-timers.

Commenting on the new trend, Rose said:

“OK, these are not career builders like many of the women full-timers. But more and more see themselves as sharing the role of breadwinner, helping to pay the grocery bill and – increasingly for the younger ones – the mortgage. They’re more critical of their jobs because they share the provider role.”

Cars no longer the popular perk
The popularity of company cars as an employee benefit has dipped since the taxation governing them changed.

In 2000 eight in ten employers offered them as a benefit today that figure has fallen to just six in ten employers.

Five in ten organisations have opted to offer a cash allowance in place of the traditional company car.

Researchers, IRS Employment Review also say that few employers now extend the offer of a company car to their entire workforce. The most popular basis for allocating cars and car leasing schemes is now job grade.

Other key findings include:

• Almost nine in 10 (86%) organisations operate set mileage allowances for staff travelling by car on company business.





• Three in 10 (31%) organisations offer employees interest-free season ticket loans to help with the cost of using public transport to travel to work.





• Almost two-thirds (64%) of organisations limit the subsistence allowance for employees on company business. Breakfast allowances range from £2 to £15, while the median is £5 for staff to spend on their morning meal while working away from home and the workplace.





• Lunch payments range from £1.80 to £15, while the median is £6.50. Staff who have to take an evening meal away from home while on business are given a median of £12.50 but this ranges from £5 through to £30. Many employers, however, do not put a fixed figure on what employees may spend and reimburse them in full upon presentation of receipts.

Pay deals back in the doldrums at 3%
Following a period of renewed business optimism pay deals broke the 3% ceiling rising to 3.2% at the start of the year. But with slowing consumer spending settlements have fallen to their 3% benchmark.

These are the findings of number crunchers, IRS. Pay and Benefits Editor, Sheila Attwood said the results were an indication that bosses are shying away from pay deals that are in excess of inflation.

“For the three months to the end of March 2005, the IRS pay databank indicated that 80% of pay awards were worth 3% or more. In our latest round up, for the three months to the end of May, this has now fallen to 68%. UK pay settlements also remain tightly bunched with few deals at the far reaches of the pay range.”

As the economy enters a more subdued period, Attwood says that hopes of returning to the 3.2% median pay deal have all but disappeared.

Key findings include:

• The upper quartile pay award had dipped from 3.5% in the previous quarter to 3.4% in the three months to May.




• The lower quartile pay deal has remained steady at 3% for the fifth consecutive rolling quarter.




• Sixty per cent of bargaining groups received a higher award this year than last time around. An additional 23% saw the same pay increase in both years, and the remaining 17% were paid lower increases.




• Service and manufacturing pay awards remain unchanged at 3% in the quarter to May 2005




• The median basic increase in pay in the 12 months to May 2005 stood at 3% in the public sector.

Carriage clock loses favour
The traditional long-service award used to be a carriage clock or watch and while these still find favour with some employers, more then half of bosses quizzed prefer cash awards or gifts.

These are the findings of IRS Employment Review who say that staff are more likely to receive long service awards or be trained as first aiders at work than they are to receive childcare vouchers.

Just under half of the survey’s respondents (46%) pay an additional allowance to staff who train as first-aiders.

This is in recognition of the training time and of the extra responsibility once the employee has qualified. Typical payments tend to range between £50 and £250 per year.

Meanwhile just 16% of surveyed organisations offer employees tax-friendly childcare vouchers. However, a fifth (21%) of respondents were considering introduced them over the next 12 months.

Other key findings:

• Half of organisations make deputising payments to staff standing in for senior colleagues.




• One-third provide a subsidised staff canteen andoffer a staff discount on their own goods or services, or those of external providers.




• Just 7% of organisations have implemented flexible benefits.




• Nearly a quarter of respondents have made changes to benefits and allowances in the past year, while almost a third (32%) are planning to do so in the next 12 months.




• Just three of the respondent organisations offer subsidised mortgages.

Of the findings, IRS pay and benefits editor, Sheila Attwood said:

“Despite the buzz that continues to surround the concept of flexible benefits, this IRS research indicates that the implementation of flex schemes is not the phenomenon that was widely predicted. It will be interesting to see whether those employers considering flex actually go ahead and implement the scheme over the next 12 months.”

SME leaders act as ‘makeshift’ HR directors
Latest findings reveal that 64% of SME bosses are reluctant to give up HR control to professionals.

This is despite admissions by 88% who said they find it hard to get the right staff and keep up with legislative changes.

The ‘Small Business Recruitment and Retention’ survey, conducted in April 2005 by the Institute of Directors and recruitment outfit, Adecco found that 55% of MDs were acting as makeshift HR directors, spending up to one day a week resolving HR issues and struggling to manage the HR burden of those employed by small businesses in the UK.
Key findings include:

• 90% of businesses had to reform their HR policy due to legislative change in the past 12 months – 64% in the last six months while 73% believe existing legislation unfairly favours the employee.
• 67% cite ‘keeping staff happy’ as their number one HR priority with 53% finding this the hardest part of the job. Diminishing employee loyalty is considered a major problem by 60% of respondents .
• 64% of smaller businesses prefer to keep HR and recruitment in-house, but 88% see recruitment as a major challenge.

Although most companies believe their HR policies are clear, 41% admit to not having a formal recruitment policy in place to find the right staff.

Richard Wilson, Head of Business Policy, IoD, said: “HR issues take a significant portion of directors’ time but it’s typically done on a reactive basis. Small businesses also struggle to keep up with the increasing amount of legislative red tape which, if not properly administered, can end up costing businesses a lot of money.”

Increased red-tape continues to be a bone of contention for SMEs, 73% of whom say that the law currently unfairly treats them as employers.

Police trainer named Britain’s Best Boss
North Wales Police Sergeant Iwan Owen has beaten off stiff competition from across the UK to win the Lloyds TSB and Working Families “Britain’s Best Boss” competition.

Sgt Owen manages the Western Division Professional Development Unit and is responsible for six tutors who train student police officers in law enforcement, coaching them through the everyday incidents that happen out on the streets.

He was nominated by his entire team for his practical, supportive and consultative approach to work-life balance practices and says that the key to being a good boss is simply to “trust your staff”.

See more on this story at: www.trainingzone.co.uk