PAYE changes: everything you need to know
The Government has announced its intention to introduce a new PAYE scheme, which will go live in 2013. It is a major change to the present situation and will have an impact on all employers. The present scheme was introduced in 1944, following significant growth in the working population during the Second World War, and […]
Analysis: First three UK employers accredited for inclusive recruitment practices
Some 18% of working age people are disabled, yet only 48% of disabled people are employed as opposed to 78% of those without a disability. Despite some really well-intentioned employers working hard to attract and retain disabled people, research has revealed that, among the 220 or organisations questioned, there were still barriers to inclusion, primarily […]
Blog: Lessons from Yahoo – where was HR?
“I am very sad to tell you that I’ve just been fired over the phone by Yahoo’s Chairman of the Board,” Carol Bartz wrote to her company’s workforce. “These people f***** me over.” “Why don’t you have the balls to tell me yourself?” “The board was so spooked by being cast as the worst board […]
The downside of nepotism
Prominent leadership appointments are under more scrutiny than ever before. At the same time as the concept of ‘jobs for the boys’ has become less socially acceptable, today’s sceptical public is taking more and more interest in the appointment of prominent leaders working in both public and private sector organisations. Trust in public figures […]
Strike action will be “long and hard and dirty”, warn unions
Employers have urged the coalition government to stand firm in the face of an estimated two million public servants taking industrial action from 30 November over its proposed pensions revamp. After delegates voted unanimously in favour of coordinated action at the TUC conference in London yesterday, 10 more unions announced that they planned to […]
First five employers sign up to voluntary gender reporting scheme
Five employers have already signed up to a voluntary gender reporting scheme following coalition government claims that more effective use of women’s skills could add £15-23 billion to the UK economy each year. At an event to launch the ‘Think, Act, Report’ initiative yesterday, Home Secretary Theresa May cited Tesco, BT, National Grid, Enterprise Rent-A-Car […]
Case Study: Acas helps HMRC devise social media usage policy
Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs decided to ask Acas for help after it suffered from a couple of high-profile social media-related incidents but authorised the roll-out of blanket internet access to all of its staff for the first time. The findings of the consultation, published in the form of a Workings and social networking report, […]
Analysis: Private sector fails to offset public sector jobs cull as unemployment soars
Unemployment has experienced the largest quarterly hike since August 2009, driven by a faster than expected public sector jobs cull that a slowing private sector is failing to offset. According to official labour market figures published by the Office for National Statistics, unemployment stood at 7.9% or 2.51 million for the three months to July, […]
Blog: How HR can speak the language of the top table
I’m taking Derek Irvine up on his offer to respond to his blog (What are you bringing to the top table? 01.09.11), which I read with great interest. This is certainly a question that the HR community has been and should continue to ask themselves. The question is how do they get and keep the […]
Update: Intern name-and-shame campaign avoids media companies
A campaign to name and shame large companies that fail to pay interns a proper wage is steering clear of media companies – which are among the worst offenders – due to fears over lack of publicity. The news came to light as the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills published guidance for employers that […]
Talent Spot: Michael Stirrup, head of HR at Waterstons
Stepping into an HR director’s shoes for the first time is a steep learning curve for anyone, but for Michael Stirrup, it has been more precipitous than most. For this is his first HR position and it supplements his usual day job of finance director. Over the five years that Stirrup has been employed […]
Age discrimination awards three times higher than average, warns expert
Employers must be particularly careful to guard against age discrimination claims as average awards last year were three times higher than any other, experts have warned. The ‘Employment Tribunals and Employment Appeal Tribunals Statistics 2010-11’ report published by the Ministry of Justice and Her Majesty’s Courts & Tribunals Service revealed that the average age discrimination […]
Blog: Three ways to deal with employee lateness
Employees’ lateness, when not measured and managed properly, can cause businesses thousands of pounds each year in lost productivity and profits. In order to understand how lateness can affect organisation’s bottom line, let’s look at the example below: Company X has 150 employees. 10% of their workforce (15 employees) is persistently late to work by […]
How to create a sustainable L&D strategy
The business environment in many of today’s organisations is more complex, fluid and ambiguous than it was in the second half of the 20th century. Our world is changing so fast that the traditional methods employed in learning and development no longer have the traction and impact they once had – or some may argue […]
Cap is not damaging economy, says immigration advisor
Although there is “no evidence” that the immigration cap is damaging the UK economy, it is creating an employment “dilemma” in the public sector, the government’s chief advisor has warned. Professor David Metcalf, who chairs the Migration Advisory Committee, pointed to the fact that, although the cap on skilled migrants from outside of the European […]
Women may not be able to ‘have it all’, warns female chief exec
The head of a network that seeks to boost the number of women in senior corporate positions has warned that females need to accept that ‘having it all’ may be unachievable. Heather Jackson, chief executive of An Inspirational Journey, said that, as female graduates enter the workplace, they quickly realise that their career expectations are […]
Learndirect launches ‘Make It Count Week’ to boost workplace skills profile
Learndirect launched ‘Make It Count Week’ today to help raise the profile of learning and skills issues among employers and individuals across the UK. The workplace and basic skills provider’s aim is to urge employers to take action so that they help support and encourage their employees to exploit the training opportunities available. Sarah Jones, […]
Skills shortages and unemployment to remain endemic, warns study
The UK’s education system is not fit to meet the changing needs of industry and, as a result, skills shortages and unemployment seem set to remain endemic issues for UK Plc into the foreseeable future. This is the stark warning of a joint study between the Daily Telegraph and think tank The Work Foundation, which […]
DWP reverses decision to offshore 200 UK jobs
A union is claiming that pressure from its members led to IT supplier HP reversing a decision to offshore 200 UK jobs to India. The move would have resulted in a government contractor sending the live records of millions of UK citizens overseas for the first time, in the initial step of a process known as ‘knowledge transfer’. […]
Blog: I was a vampire HR manager – does it matter?
A while ago I recorded some webinars for a training company, for their YouTube page. When they posted the videos, they told me that they were unable to use my name on the clips, because YouTube automatically puts related video clips on the same page. Why was this a problem? Well, mainly because the majority […]