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 […]
Book review: Top Tips for Talented Working Parents by Jo Lyon & Harriet Beveridge
Title: Top Tips for Talented Working ParentsAuthor: Jo Lyon & Harriet BeveridgeISBN: 978-184876-598-6Price: £5.99 This A6 book is something you can pop in your pocket, briefcase or handbag to have to hand for any spare moment. It is a resource you can dip in and out of and you certainly don’t need to have […]
Best practice: Transforming the recruitment breakdown in the AA
Lorraine Lopez, HR resourcing manager, explains how the Automobile Association has changed its recruitment processes and what difference this has made to the organisation. The businessThe Automobile Association (the AA) was founded in 1905 and now has around 8,000 employees across the UK, including 3,000 patrols. Every year it attends around 3.5 million breakdowns and […]
Public sector learning pros brace for budget cuts
Almost two thirds of public sector learning and development professionals are bracing themselves for budget cuts over the year ahead as they find themselves on the front line to make savings. According to a survey of more than 500 IT training specialists undertaken by the Institute of Information Technology Training, some 63% expect to experience […]
UK households squeezed to 1970s levels
Ongoing rises in unemployment combined with a continuing fall in real earnings and house prices will see UK households more squeezed than at any time since 1977, a report has warned. According to the latest issue of Deloitte’s Economic Review, pay growth is unlikely to catch up with inflation any time soon as the latter […]
What’s holding back women in business?
Marion Stewart considers the challenges women have faced and continue to face in business and whether quotas will help create more diversity in sectors such as her own – IT. The government review – challenging the status quoThe subject of getting more women in executive positions in British businesses following Lord Davies’ report, Women on […]
Sweatshop labour claims in Kent
The UK’s largest greenhouse complex, which supplies many of the country’s leading supermarkets, is being investigated following claims that agency workers at its facility in Kent are being treated like “sweatshop labour”. The Gangmasters Licensing Authority, which regulates agency practices, is looking into complaints lodged by Unite against Thanet Earth, which supplies cucumbers, peppers and […]
FairPensions rally calls for living wage by top 100 companies
An advocacy group is writing to chief executives at the top 100 UK companies to demand that they pay workers a “living wage”, after holding a rally in London yesterday. Two and a half thousand investors, philanthropists and religious leaders led by FairPensions, an organisation committed to promoting responsible investment, gathered at Westminster Central Hall […]
Most employers need to work on their CSR targets
Although three quarters of UK workers believe their employer should balance commercial success with effective corporate social responsibility activities and charitable giving, only two out of five feel that they currently do enough in this area. These are the key findings of a survey among 1,007 employees undertaken by researcher Vision Critical […]
London Underground agrees strike action
Only days after proposals were put before Parliament to ban industrial action by transport and emergency workers unless 50% of union members back it, London Underground staff have agreed to strike in support of two sacked colleagues. Tube workers voted by two to one in a ballot undertaken by the RMT union […]
Corporate Manslaughter Act: are you doing enough?
Jim Irving examines new vulnerabilities within businesses when it comes to the legislation and considers how else to best protect staff. As the Corporate Manslaughter Act came into force on 6 April 2008, and with recent new sentencing guidelines recommending appropriate fines to start from £500,000 in the event of a conviction, all companies […]
DRA: frequently asked questions
The law on age and retirement has changed. The Government is phasing out the default retirement age (DRA): how will it affect you? In one of the biggest changes to retirement legislation in recent times, employers are no longer be able to issue notifications of retirement using the DRA procedure. In certain cases it might […]
Chairman of Glencore makes sexist gaffe
The chairman of the world’s largest commodities trader has sparked off a sexism row after indicating his reluctance to hire young women, particularly to the boardroom, because they have a habit of getting married and having babies. Septuagenarian Simon Murray, who was only hired as chairman of Glencore last month to facilitate […]
SuccessFactors purchases Plateau for $290m
SuccessFactors has purchased Software-as-a-Service-based learning management system provider Plateau for $290 million in cash and stock in a bid to build out its talent management system and compete more effectively with on-premise vendors. The acquisition will be integrated with Jambok’s SaaS-based social video learning system, which SuccessFactors acquired in March, as well as its own […]
Absenteeism costs UK business £32bn a year
Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Absenteeism is costing UK business about £32bn per annum, with workers taking an average of 10 unscheduled days off, about twice that of their counterparts in the US and Asia-Pacific. According to a study among 2,000 companies undertaken by management consultants PricewaterhouseCoopers, UK personnel, who are […]
Teachers likely to strike over changes to pensions
Workers with children could be in for a difficult summer and autumn after two teachers’ unions voted to ballot for strike action against the coalition government’s proposed changes to their pensions. The National Union of Teachers voted this weekend for a ballot on a one-day walkout before the end of the summer term, only days after […]
Recruitment ROI in the ‘new normal’
When I talk to HR leaders across the private and public sectors, and even in the not for profit space, it’s quite clear that attitudes towards recruitment have changed significantly in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis. In my opinion, the change is entirely positive for the recruitment industry, which has been greedy and […]
Where will you be on 5 May? We’ll be at the ConnectingHR unconference
The 5/5 ConnectingHR Unconference is only a week away and if you haven’t signed up for this event check it out and give it some serious thought. Here’s why. The ConnectingHR community has grown and evolved since the first Unconference in October 2010 where around 70 people got together and shared a special day where […]
Book review: Winning With a Culture of Recognition by Eric Mosley and Derek Irvine
Title: Winning With a Culture of RecognitionAuthor: Eric Mosley and Derek IrvineISBN 978-0-9566291-0-4 Designing and implementing a recognition programme for any business is difficult, especially in tough times when the ‘cultural’ side of a business can be neglected in favour of ‘commercial’ survival. What Irvine and Mosley have done with this compact volume is to […]
Top tips: how to get involved with the Work Programme
Anton Roe, Operations Director of Alderwood Education gives his top tips for getting involved in the Work Programme. As you will probably know, The Work Programme is aimed at supporting the most vulnerable people and helping them break the cycle of benefit dependency. It represents a big change for Welfare to Work in this country […]
