‘Don’t strike’ Cameron plea to public sector
David Cameron will make a last ditch appeal to public sector workers today not to go on strike on Thursday after talks between the coalition government and the unions broke down last night. The Prime Minister is to address the Local Government Association’s annual conference two days before a walkout of an expected 750,000 teachers, […]
Coming full circle – the four levels of performance appraisal
Despite widespread usage of annual staff appraisals within all sizes and types of organisations, in the vast majority of cases the process is time-consuming and unpopular because in most people’s experience appraisals deliver little value, to the employee or the organisation itself. Peter McHugh, CEO of Covalent Software suggests that the employee performance review processes […]
Ask the expert: Am I really redundant?
This week the experts, Adam Partington and Esther Smith advise on whether this HR practitioner is being made redundant fairly. The question: Am I really redundant? I have worked for my current employer for 19 years as their HR/Payroll & Benefits Manager. Four weeks ago I was called into a meeting with the […]
Older workers neglected in training and performance
If employers fail to tackle the current widespread neglect of older workers’ training and performance management requirements, they will leave themselves open to discrimination claims when the default retirement age is phased out in October. This is the warning issued by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development after publishing a survey of 2,000 respondents, […]
UK at risk of brain drain
The UK is at risk of suffering a ‘brain drain’, with just over a quarter of both blue and white collar workers saying that they would prepared to move overseas in order to improve their job prospects. According to a survey of 30,556 working adults in 29 countries undertaken by employment engagement researchers GfK NOP […]
BeKnown – Facebook just got a Monster recruiting face
BeKnown and beware. Monster has built a platform on Facebook bringing social recruiting to the masses. It might just change the face of Facebook. When we think about social media, we tend to consider Facebook for family and social groups. LinkedIn is the career site – jobs, resumes and professional connections, and Twitter is a […]
Transparent top pay catches out 10% rise union leader
The ongoing controversy over executive salaries took a new twist this week after a union leader was criticised for taking a 10% pay rise and top mandarins lost their battle to keep their wage details secret. Christine Blower, head of the National Union of Teachers which is taking part in a national strike next week […]
Police officer sacked after Facebook comments
A Metropolitan police officer has been sacked for acting like a “nasty schoolyard bully” after posting offensive messages about a fellow officer on Facebook and abusing a female colleague both verbally and by text. The 35-year old constable, who was based in Islington, posted “deeply offensive” comments on the social networking site on 18 June […]
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 […]
