Wal-Mart sex discrimination women vow to fight on

The women involved in the biggest sex discrimination case in history have said they will use alternative routes to continue their fight against Wal-Mart Stores after the US Supreme Court blocked their claim.  The country’s highest court overturned an earlier ruling that would have allowed as many as 1.6 million female Wal-Mart employees to sue […]

Government must join up their jobs policies

If the UK is to create a sustainable jobs market, the coalition government must develop joined up policies around welfare-to-work and apprenticeship-focused skills provision, learning providers have warned.  Martin Dunford, chairman of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, formerly known as the Association of Learning Providers, told the organisation’s annual conference in London yesterday […]

Head of HR in NHS to be replaced by interim

The head of HR for the NHS and Social Care is leaving the post at a time of unprecedented change and uncertainty for both sectors to take up a senior role at BT.  Clare Chapman, director general of workforce for the NHS and Social Care – the country’s biggest HR job – will leave the […]

Women to wait for pension in fast track age change plans

The coalition government has refused to amend plans to fast-track changes to the pension age, which mean that 500,000 women in their 50s will have to wait up to two years to collect their state pension.  But in the second reading of the Pension Bill yesterday, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Iain Duncan […]

Social media in recruitment: so what?

Every time I hear about a company which has used social media for recruiting, I think: ‘So what?’ Often the companies are so well known that they could have put a message in a bottle and recruited someone. On a recent trip to Hawaii I did exactly that, casting the bottle out to sea with […]

What your CEO is thinking and may not be telling you

How well do you know your customers? How well do you know the competition? The answers to those questions can have a significant impact on how your CEO perceives you and your department and how much stock he/she puts into your recommendations.  According to a recent CareerBuilder.co.uk survey of 194 UK business leaders, 30% of […]

Pensions ‘car crash’ predicted

The pensions market is heading for a “car crash” because the UK’s largest employers are grossly underestimating the amount of time required to prepare for automatically enrolling staff into workplace schemes, a consultancy has warned.  According to a survey undertaken among finance and HR director by pension and benefits consultants Hymans Robertson, a huge 68% […]

Long service staff may actually be biggest cheats

Although senior managers or board members who have worked with a company for more than 10 years may appear the most trustworthy of personnel on the surface, they are in fact the biggest corporate crooks.  According to a report entitled ‘Who is the typical fraudster?’ published by auditors KPMG after analysing 348 cases of white […]

MP says National Minimum Wage a ‘hindrance’ to disabled jobseekers

Philip Davies, a conservative backbencher has claimed in the House of Commons that ‘vulnerable’ jobseekers such as the disabled should be able to offer to work for less that NMW. The MP for Shipley claimed that people with mental health difficulties and learning disabilities should be able to offer to work for less than the […]

Charity alliance to push Government over forced labour convention

An alliance of charities and unions is to launch a high profile campaign to try and persuade the coalition government to change its mind about backing an international convention on domestic workers rights.  The UK was one of only a handful of member countries at the International Labour Organization’s conference in Geneva yesterday to refuse […]

Lowest paid in public sector to lose out on pension contributions

Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE While the retirement age for public sector workers will be linked to the state pension age in future, the lowest paid will be exempt from extra pension contributions, a government minister will say today. In a speech to the Institute for Public Policy Research in London, Chief […]

The HR Headmistress: Workplace investigations – get them right

When workplace disputes arise, many managers shoot first and ask questions later (HR are always having to deal with the metaphorical ‘bodies’.) Needless to say, this is likely to seriously flaw the disciplinary process and put the final outcome in doubt. It is vitally important to collect and consider all the facts before taking any […]

‘Sticky’ skilled workers create talent gaps

Despite high levels of unemployment, shortages of managerial, specialist and technical skills are resulting in a renewed talent war as individuals remain reluctant to change jobs due to the ongoing economic uncertainty.  These are the findings of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s annual Resourcing and Talent Planning survey, which is produced in conjunction […]

Britain’s recovery ‘fragile’

Despite positive headline labour market figures, the overall picture is of a “fragile, weak recovery” that could be tipped into reverse as public sector job cuts really start to bite, experts have warned.  According to official figures from the Office for National Statistics, unemployment fell significantly by 88,000 to 2.43 million or 7.7% in the […]

The psychological contract 101

A recent piece of research carried out by Right Management with MDs of SMEs across the UK rather alarmingly revealed that over half (52 percent) thought it was better to motivate staff through incentives rather than career development. This rose to 62 percent in London and the South East. This flags up a major problem […]

Surprise drop in movement in the City

Uncertainty over the pace of economic recovery led to a 19% drop in new vacancies in the City last month compared with April, a move deemed to be unusual at this time of year.  The figures produced by Square Mile recruiter Morgan McKinley are significant given that financial services was the first sector to go […]

Teaching unions vote to strike

Up to 750,000 public sector workers could take co-ordinated industrial action on 30 June after two teaching unions voted to strike yesterday and a third union is expected to follow suit today.  The Public and Commercial Services Union has said it anticipates that the vote will come down overwhelmingly in favour of strike action when […]

Internal, informal hires left with no training or support

Despite the benefits that coaching can bring, all too many organisations select internal candidates on an informal basis and then fail to provide them with adequate training or support, a study has revealed.  According to a survey among learning and development managers at 250 large companies undertaken by QA Research on behalf of the Institute […]

Leadership forecast gloomy – development needed

Employers must employ a mix of development techniques if they are to improve leadership quality levels that have changed little over the last six years despite an estimated £14 billion in annual investment worldwide.  According to a survey among 12,000 leaders and 1,800 HR professionals working in 2,600 organisations across 74 countries undertaken by talent […]

Work smarter: Welcome to the office of the future

You probably didn’t think the office of the future would be in Wootton Bassett, but one tech company have made themselves a workspace that would leave Marty McFly in a spin…  Plantronics have all the gadgets. They make headsets and other work-related electronics which turn workplaces into mobile work-anywhere spaces, and help mobile workers stay […]