Default retirement age: what you need to know

The law on age and retirement is changing. The Government is phasing out the default retirement age (DRA) from April 2011. This guide will help you understand what you need to know. How will the phasing out affect both employers and agencies? From 6 April 2011, subject to Parliamentary procedures, employers will no longer be […]

95% of agency workers have no insurance

Industry sectors subject to high numbers of staff injuries such as waste and logistics are starting to be hit with higher premiums because their temps do not take out personal accident or life insurance.  A survey undertaken by temp recruitment consultancy de Poel revealed that a huge 95% of agency workers across all industries have […]

Jobcentres should be privatised, says Association of Learning Providers

The Association of Learning Providers, which represents almost three quarters of the organisations awarded contracts to deliver the coalition government’s Work Programme, has now called for the nation’s jobcentres to be privatised.  The payment-by-results contracts, which are worth up to £5 billion over the next seven years and are intended to try and get the […]

Exclusive: Alan Sugar to star in next ‘Undercover Boss’ TV series

After a barrage of criticism from leading HR thinkers and bloggers, HRzone can today reveal that Alan Sugar is swapping his dictatorial style of ‘You’re fired’ in The Apprentice for the approach taken by the bosses in the UK and US TV series and has gone ‘undercover’ at Amstrad. HRzone.co.uk was able to gain this […]

Councils to take part in mentoring scheme

Five councils have been selected to take part in ‘work pairing’ trials, in which young people are teamed up with mentors in local small-to-medium businesses in order to gain work experience.  The work placements will last up to 10 weeks and, if successful, the coalition government plans to extend the scheme to 50,000 trainees nationally. […]

Training budgets continue to be squeezed

The trend towards shifting increasing amounts of training provision in-house to cope with budget cuts seems unlikely to change over the year ahead, with two out of five organisations anticipating further squeezes.  According to a survey among 600 private and public sector organisations undertaken by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, some 43% saw […]

Vocational training scheme to help jobless

At the same time as the coalition government revealed that Jobseekers who fail to take up compulsory training will lose their benefits, the business community has warned against sidelining vocational education in favour of more academic subjects.  As part of the government’s new ‘claimant contract’, Employment Minister Chris Grayling indicated that people who were unable […]

Delayed Bribery act to be enforced despite scarce resources

Although the UK’s anti-corruption watchdog has branded official guidance to the Bribery Act as a “deplorable” handbook for evasion, the head of the Serious Fraud Office has pledged to take a tough stance on enforcement.  The Act, which passed into law last April, is now due to come into force in July. The delay of […]

Paternity leave additions explained

Parents of children born on or after 3 April this year will have more flexibility in relation to their childcare arrangements as the father will be able to take more time off work as additional paternity leave. This will give fathers more opportunity to share the responsibility of childcare with mothers. The new right to […]

Bonus and salary review season

…is upon us and it’s time to consider retention, as well as the cost – where does HR stand and what should we do? Charlie Waters offers this advice. Old news!In the turmoil of the past three years, financial markets chaos has made employees more cautious and therefore less likely to leave their current employer. […]

Taskforce set up to increase employee engagement

A government-sponsored taskforce has been set up to try and tackle the staff engagement issues identified in the MacLeod Review in order to boost the productivity and competitiveness of UK organisations.       The taskforce, which includes representatives from both the public and private sector, will be chaired by David MacLeod himself, who wrote […]

Skills Active funding cut despite employer satisfaction

The sport and active leisure Skills Sector Council has reacted angrily to the coalition government’s decision to axe its apprenticeship funding despite pledges to create 100,000 new on-the-job training places over the next two years.       The Young Apprenticeship scheme in Sports Management, Leadership and Coaching, which is led by Skills Active, the […]

‘Mansion tax’ to return?

The Deputy Prime Minister has intimated that plans to axe the 50p rate of income tax will be funded by a modified version of the Liberal Democrats’ controversial ‘mansion tax’.       Chancellor George Osborne had already made it clear that he intends to scrap the 50p top rate of income tax, which is […]

Ask the expert: Pay grade – has this employee got a case?

This time the experts, Esther Smith and Adam Partington advise on whether an employee could take action against the employer for effectively down-grading them. The question: Pay grade – has this employee got a case? Last year (May 2010) we went into consultation where the role was split into two roles where the current employee […]

Mediation and wellbeing: An all-weather strategy

Conflict in the workplace is as common as a rainy day in the UK. And, like a miserable wet day, workplace disputes have a negative effect on our wellbeing in the workplace. Whilst we can prepare for rain, with stylish wellies and colourful umbrellas, most HR professionals and line managers feel ill-equipped and lack the […]

How will EMA cuts affect the nation’s workforce?

The coalition government has slashed the £560m Education Maintenance Allowance to £180m, while backing a ‘StartUp Britain’ initiative that some industry experts are skeptical will make the necessary impact.       Michael Gove, the Education Secretary announced yesterday that EMA, which provided 650,000 16- to 19-year-olds with grants of between £10-30 per week to […]

Gender issues: Effective workplace communication

Gender is one of the most obvious differences in any group of employees, and an undeniable one: men and women aren’t just physically different, but grow up influenced by (and largely endure) different social conditioning. But while each of us has a gender, we also have a nationality and/or race, a set of personal beliefs, […]

Will the new paternity leave rights benefit you?

Two out of five new fathers will not take advantage of new paternity leave rights because they cannot afford it, they fear that their career will suffer or they are afraid of losing their jobs.       The coalition government introduced new regulations yesterday enabling new fathers to take up to six months paternity […]

Report: Average take-home pay is lower than in 2004

The average UK worker has seen their salary drop in real-terms by an average of 5% compared to less than two years ago, with staff in the financial services and construction sectors hardest hit.       According to research for the BBC’s Panorama programme, which is due to be screened on BBC1 tonight, the […]

Encouragement from managers increases staff engagement

There is a direct correlation between staff engagement and the amount of guidance, feedback and autonomy that managers are willing to provide workers, according to research. In general terms, employees feel more supported if their bosses focus on what they do, feel good about themselves in their role and act in a way that demonstrates commitment […]