Health and safety spot checks could be reduced: good or bad for business?

The British Safety Council has called for public debate on the implications of proposals by the Health and Safety Executive to reduce unannounced workplace inspections by a third following deep budget cuts.  The move follows the leaking of a letter signed by HSE’s chief executive Geoffrey Podger to the BBC’s File on 4 programme on […]

Social media – the new learning diet pill?

With any area of dissatisfaction there’s a natural human desire for the one stop cure – the silver bullet. Take the slimming pill. Now, intellectually and rationally we all know that losing weight is tricky but there’s only one sure way of achieving success – eat less, do more. It’s not a secret which is […]

Recruiters suggest NI holiday to boost job creation

Recruiters have called for a year-long national insurance holiday to support hiring by small businesses in order to tackle rising youth joblessness as the TUC warned of an imminent female employment crisis.   The Report on Jobs published by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation and management consultancy KPMG revealed that, even though demand for staff […]

Mum mentoring and menopause guidance for women in work

To coincide with International Women’s Day yesterday, Asda unveiled its Mum2Mum maternity leave mentoring scheme, while the TUC also published guidance for employers on how to support female workers going through the menopause.  Asda’s Mum2Mum mentoring initiative is targeted at women going on maternity leave to “help counteract the dips in confidence and motivation mothers […]

Police may ‘take to streets’ over cuts

Police officers could take to the streets over proposed “cataclysmic” cuts to their take-home pay, after accusing the coalition government of bullying tactics and “unfair treatment”.  The furious reaction followed a government-commissioned review by former rail regulator Tom Winsor, which called for the reduction in or abolition of a series of allowances and overtime payments […]

Redeploying employees – how to develop a successful strategy

Restructuring has been an increasingly necessary tool for HR to help organisations survive in the recession. However the trend is not over: how do you do this effectively? Cameron Bird, HR Operations director at Santander, explains.  The challenging economic circumstances that we have experienced in recent times have forced many organisations to re-structure. According to […]

28,000 Police jobs to go

Police forces across England and Wales will lose a total of 28,000 jobs, including 12,000 officers, over the next four years due to budget cuts, a confidential memo to the coalition government has revealed.  The Association of Chief Police Officers predicts that the number of officers will drop by 8%, while one in six civilian […]

Tribunal system broken: time for overhaul says CIPD

The employment tribunal systems must be radically overhauled as it is now “broken” and no longer offers value for money, according to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.  A survey undertaken by the HR body revealed that just under seven out of 10 employers believe they have no effective protection against employees taking unjustifiable […]

Ask the expert: Redundancy of backfilled post

This time the experts, Esther Smith and Martin Brewer give their advice on what to do in the case of making this backfilled post redundant. The question: Redundancy of backfilled post We have a seconded employee whose post may be made redundant – given that he has been in this post for 11 months and […]

International Women’s Day: The equality debate – how far have we come?

If you didn’t know already, today is International Women’s Day – a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future. In places like China, Russia, Vietnam and Bulgaria, International Women’s Day is a national holiday. However seeing as though it’s business as usual for us in the UK, […]

£50 million to stop skills shortages holding back economy

The coalition government has unveiled a £50 million training pot in a bid to encourage employers to “take collective action” on tackling skills shortages that are acting as a brake on economic growth.  Business Secretary Vince Cable said that the new Growth and Innovation Fund, which will initially cover the years 2011/2012 and 2012/2013, was […]

Axe 50p tax, says CBI

The CBI has called on the coalition government to axe the 50p tax rate and to dismantle employment protection introduced by the last government in a bid to “get the UK working again”.  The employers’ lobby group outlined its priorities for the government’s Growth Review in a letter to Chancellor George Osborne, demanding that he […]

Unemployment: ‘poor job matching’ is the problem

Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith has claimed that unemployment is less of a problem that some are suggesting and would be significantly lower if jobless workers were better matched to vacancies.  He told the Conservative spring conference in Cardiff yesterday that the Labour Party was wrong to say that the coalition government’s welfare […]

Public sector pension reform may spark action

The UK faces a wave of industrial unrest if the recommendations of a report on public sector pension reform due to be published later this week are adopted.  A Treasury review, conducted by former Labour Cabinet minister Lord Hutton, is expected to propose sweeping changes to the pension system, which include axing ‘gold-plated’ financial salary […]

Overworked employees napping in the office

One in ten office workers have slept overnight at their desks over the past year, with a further 10% calling it a day between 12pm-3am as they try to tackle ever-growing workloads.  According to a poll undertaken by officebrokers.com, which helps companies find office space, some three out of five also regularly started work ahead […]

Employers should train youngsters to develop business skills

Employers should be given subsidies to train young apprentices and provide internships to 16 to 19 year-olds so that they can “develop the general skills which the labour market demonstrably values”, a report has recommended.  The findings were revealed in an independent review commissioned by Education Secretary Michael Gove and undertaken by Alison Wolf, the […]

Pay increases still lag behind inflation

Although average pay rises have jumped to the highest level for two years, they are still little more than half that of retail price inflation, the traditional benchmark for wage deals.  Figures from Incomes Data Service revealed that the median pay award for the three months to January had jumped to 2.8% from 2.2% in […]

Succession planning, skills and performance top priorities for HR

The identification and development of future management candidates, boosting internal skills levels and the creation of a performance-driven culture are the top three challenges facing HR professionals over the year ahead.  According to a study undertaken by HR research and consultancy firm Bersin & Associates, as the economy starts to improve, organisations are turning their […]

Sustainability: Megatrend? Mega-opportunity for HR…

A crisis changes everything. Before the financial upheavals and corporate collapses of the past three years, the word ‘sustainability’ was probably linked in most business minds to well-meaning campaigns by environmental charity groups. With the sudden demise of Lehman Brothers, and the recognition that dozens of other huge banking names would have disappeared without state […]

Employee engagement – align organisational aims with employee desires

Tim Casserley explores employee engagement and finds it is not as simple as some make out…     The steady rise of ‘engagement’ as a way of capturing the hearts and minds not just of employees but of customers, local communities and other stakeholders has been mirrored by ever-decreasing levels of public trust in organisations. […]