Cable announces C-suite pay crackdown
Vince Cable pledged to crack down on the “outrageous” renumeration packages offered to some senior business managers just as it emerged that Network Rail is to hand its former chief executive a £1 million payoff. Speaking at the Association of British Insurer’s biennial conference yesterday, the Business Secretary said that, over the next few weeks, […]
Ask the expert: Employee with two jobs
This time the experts, Esther Smith and Martin Brewer give their advice on an employee working two jobs. The question: Working time directive and two jobs If one of my employees has requested to work in secondary employment, if they are likely to exceed working 48 hours per week over both jobs, are they required […]
Case in point: The importance of pay in lieu of notice clauses
The recent case of Societe General v Geys [2011] EWCA Civ 307 has highlighted the need for companies to check the existence of ‘pay in lieu of notice clauses’ (‘PILON’) in employment contracts and the effects they have on both the employer and employee on termination of a contract – the effects can be substantial. […]
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 […]