Publishing company forced to pay uncontracted intern
In a groundbreaking case, a publishing company has been ordered to pay an intern £1,000 in damages after an employment tribunal ruled that she was classed as a worker under the law, despite having no written contract. Former intern Keri Hudson, 21, who had worked for two months at the My Village web site last […]
Employment law changes ‘creating uncertainty’
Employers groups have warned that the coalition government’s continued “tinkering” with employment legislation is creating “huge uncertainty” and undermining its goal of encouraging businesses to take on new staff. The criticism came following the launch of a “modern workplaces” consultation by Business Secretary Vince Cable and Home Secretary Theresa May yesterday, which outlined four key […]
Fleet life: Tackling the fuel price problem
Despite experiencing “pump shock” from soaring fuel prices, businesses can take practical steps to minimise the pain at the pumps and strengthen the appeal of car benefits, says Paul Hollick of multi-marque car leasing company Alphabet. The sharp increase in pump prices – fuel prices have increased by 40% in real terms over the last […]
Timelords and talent management: 8 reasons your talent is like the Doctor
Why your key talent is as amazing – and annoying – as a Timelord, and how engaging and keeping your talent can be as frustrating as being a Doctor’s assistant. They won’t stay still. Even in a recession, real talent moves. For some, it’s like there was never any recession, they have continued in their […]
Coalition to spend £60 million on private sector apprenticeships
In a bid to deflect criticism over scrapping a £1 billion fund aimed at tackling youth unemployment, the coalition government has pledged to spend £60 million on creating apprenticeships and work placements in private companies. The ‘Supporting Youth Employment’ scheme is intended to fund 250,000 apprenticeship places for 16- to 24-year olds over the next […]
BA strikes peace deal
A peace deal has been reached in the 18-month dispute between British Airways and its cabin crew, only days before the next wave of industrial action was due to take place. The settlement, agreed between the airline and Unite, was backed at a mass meeting near Heathrow airport of nearly 2,000 members of the trade […]
Report reveals engagement more complicated than we thought
The problem with trying to motivate employees and ensure that they remain motivated is that engagement consists of many different facets and is a movable feast, according to a new report. The research undertaken by Kingston University’s Employee Engagement Consortium Project on behalf of the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development revealed that staff engagement […]
Employment law reforms may leave employees unprotected
Employees could have less protection against redundancy and workplace discrimination under coalition government proposals to revamp UK employment law. Chancellor George Osborne told the Institute of Directors’ annual convention in London yesterday that the aim of his “wholesale review” of employment legislation was to support job creation in the private sector. He would do this […]
Self service HR – a cloudy area
Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE Maxwell Systems is consolidating five siloed HR systems and moving them to the cloud in a bid to automate time-consuming manual admin processes and enable employees to undertake self-service activities. The US-based company, which employs 210 staff and sells project management software for construction firms, will see […]
This ain’t a war, it’s a long term talent management strategy
If there is a silver lining to the recession, it is that companies were forced to focus on the issues that really matter. While some thought this would herald a war on talent, this wasn’t the case. Now that economic recovery is underway, businesses have begun investing heavily in long-term strategies to enhance talent and […]
Lord Sugar – good TV but a nightmare coach, says survey
Apprentice boss Lord Alan Sugar has been overwhelmingly voted as the UK’s number one nightmare career coach. According to a poll of 1,370 managers undertaken by the Institute of Leadership & Management in order to mark the launch of its ‘Perform at Your Peak’ campaign to promote the benefits of professional coaching, just under a […]
Secret talks lead to tube strike cancellation
A series of crippling London tube strikes due to start next Monday have been suspended following secret talks between Transport for London boss Mike Brown and union officials. The RMT transport union had threatened to bring the Underground to a standstill in six separate walkouts planned for May and June following the dismissal of two […]
‘You’re hired!’ – what Lord Sugar can teach us about recruitment
Spring – a time of new beginnings – blossom, elections and the start of Series 7 of The Apprentice. However, unlike the democratic process to select political representatives, according to the BBC, Lord Sugar is sole decision maker when it comes to boardroom decisions in The Apprentice. Looking back at six series of the show, […]
Engineering and science skills priced at a premium
A huge 43% of employers are now finding it difficult to recruit workers with science, technology, engineering and maths skills and so are increasingly paying premium rates for such expertise, according to the CBI. But the employer lobby group’s ‘Education and Skills’ survey of 566 organisations undertaken with the national UK qualifications awarding body EDI […]
Apprentice Katie claims three weeks maternity is enough
Katie Hopkins, the ex-Apprentice and reality TV contestant, has sparked another row by appearing on The One Show with a report (which you can view here on iPlayer – it starts at 8.58 minutes) suggesting women should take no more than three weeks off after giving birth. Most people realise being a parent isn’t an […]
Public sector pay ‘better than in private sector’
Public sector hourly wages outstripped those of the private sector for the second year running in 2010 as the bottom 30% of private sector employees suffered “dramatic” pay cuts, a report has revealed. The study undertaken by right-wing think tank the Policy Exchange and based on Office of National Statistics data revealed that, in every […]
US tech giants sued for wage fixing and anti-poaching agreements
A raft of US tech and film giants, including Apple, Google and Pixar, have been sued for anti-competitive behaviour after allegedly undertaking employee wage-fixing and agreeing not to poach each other’s staff. The move follows a probe by the US Department of Justice last year, which resulted in the firms, which also include Lucasfilm, Intel […]
BA employee sacked after YouTube threats to poison ‘scab’ pilot
A British Airways employee was sacked after threatening to poison a strike-breaking pilot’s food and posting a series of other sinister threats on YouTube, an employment tribunal has heard. Bryan Benning, who was based at Heathrow’s Terminal Five, is suing the airline for unfair dismissal, claiming that it was his brother rather than himself who […]
Employers working with managers and GPs see fall in sickness absence
Employers that both train line managers appropriately and introduce tougher targets in relation to staff sickness absence are a third more likely to reduce non-attendance rates than those that fail to take action. These are the key findings of a survey among 454 organisations undertaken by UK manufacturing member body EEF and health insurance provider, […]
New guide to help identify stress risks at work
A new guide to help employers assess and manage the workplace risks that could lead employees to suffer mental and physical stress has been published by the British Standards Institution. The Publicly Available Specification or PAS 1010 ‘Guidance on the management of psychosocial risks in the workplace’ was developed by BSI Standards. But it is […]
