Catch up on the week in HR including Britain’s most dangerous jobs revealed, UK workers lack job confidence, NHS makes further skills cuts, science skills threatened and much more.
W/C 8/5/06
Britain’s most dangerous jobs revealed
Nurses, health workers, teachers, transport workers, security guards and even shop workers are affected by violence or threatening behaviour putting them on Britain’s most dangerous career list.
These are the findings of Skyguard Technologies who say that a pattern of rising assaults and physical abuse, make up the 655,000 incidents reported each year.
- Around 40% of nurses have reported abuse and threats from patients.
- Ninety per cent of traffic wardens and parking attendants have suffered from some form of violence in the past twelve months with a one in three chance of physical assault while one in ten teachers have suffered from violence from pupils or parents.
- Transport workers such as railway staff are increasingly at risk with 9,890 reported assaults in 2004, up 7% from 2003.
“There are over five million people employed in these sectors alone, representing one sixth of the UK’s 30 million workforce,” commented Sir Geoffrey Dear, formerly Chief Constable of the West Midlands Police Force and HM Inspector of Constabulary and now chairman of Skyguard.
“Taken together, the figures show a disturbing culture of violence in the workplace which needs to be tackled urgently,” he said.
“The results can be profoundly damaging: apart from the physical damage, which can be serious, these situations can cause anxiety and stress amongst staff, creating low morale and high staff turnover. Litigation and claims for compensation are on the rise and this can have dramatic consequences for organisations where awards can rise beyond half a million pounds,” he warned.
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UK workers lack job confidence
Workers in the UK are amongst the least confident in Europe when it comes to job security.
This is despite, worker confidence levels reaching an all time high across the globe.
The survey by Right Management shows that workers in Norway, Japan and Denmark are the most confident when it comes to job security. In Norway only 3.4% of workers say there is a possibility they could lose their job in the coming year, while only five per cent of Japanese and Danish workers say the same.
The world's most pessimistic workers are located in Germany, where nine out of ten workers say it would be difficult to find another job.
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NHS makes further skills cuts
The NHS will lose more skilled workers. A leading Trust has announced it will cut 800 posts.
Royal Oldham Hospital, Rochdale Infirmary and the Pennine Acute Trust will slash posts in an attempt to tackle a £21 million deficit.
NHS Acting Chief Executive, Bob Chadwick said this would impact upon recruiting new skills into the organisation.
"Our current estimates are that up to 800 posts may have to be lost … we have to consider what other measures we can take first, such as freezes on unnecessary recruitment, and reviewing the use of temporary staff."
The Trust said it had a £21.3 million deficit and an underlying recurrent deficit of £28.3 million. It employs 9,000 staff.
Unison attacked the announcement saying it was a ‘disgrace’.
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Science skills threatened
The UK is facing a science skills shortage as universities close courses, a government report claims.
The criticism by the science and technology select committee comes after proposals by Sussex University to close its highly regarded chemistry department.
The move threatens to weaken the UK’s pool of science skills.
The body has called upon the government to put in place national guidelines to avoid further ‘inevitable’ closures.
“It is extremely unfortunate that in an area of higher education so crucial to the nation’s future industrial strength there is now an acknowledged policy failure,” it added.
For more on this story see: TrainingZONE
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Samaritans launch training scheme to cut workplace stress
Samaritans has launched a training programme to tackle workplace stress.
WorkLife will add to the existing communications skills courses offered by the Samaritans, providing ‘active listening skills’ for managers and teams.
The programme explores challenging work situations anonymously through a series of fictional characters.
The charity this week launched a series of road shows in Edinburgh to show businesses what training opportunities are available through the scheme.
For more on this story see: TrainingZONE
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UK business wastes £75m on ineffective executive development programmes
Organisations in the UK are wasting up to £75 million a year due to poorly conceived executive education strategies, new research claims.
Inefficient planning and delivery of executive training programmes is costing millions and failing to achieve key goals, the University of Oxford’s Said Business School reports.
Sixty-one per cent of businesses train their senior staff using individually styled programmes, yet only 21% of executives believe they are meeting strategic aims.
The market is worth around £120 million per year, and almost seven out of ten (69%) of senior executives quizzed view executive education as very important or critical to business success.
For more on this story see: TrainingZONE
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