NWM increase: Employer opinion is split
Opinion is split on the impact of increases to the National Minimum Wage, with some employers branding it as “moderate” and others the “wrong increase at the wrong time”. After accepting the recommendations of the independent Low Pay Commission, the coalition government decided that, as of 1 October this year, the rate for adults would […]
The naked office is recruiting
A software company in Amersham has shown naked ambition by advertising jobs for “attractive, young” sales people and web programmers who are happy to work in the buff. Nude House, which was set up in 1977 by naturist Chris Taylor and is a division of a larger firm Songbird, sells a promotional ecommerce application called […]
Paternity leave and payroll
With changes to Statutory Paternity Pay due to take effect in April 2011, Mike Bull, Customer Support Manager at Sage UK investigates the impact this will have both for British businesses and individual taxpayers. Nick Clegg’s plans to make parental leave more flexible by allowing mothers and fathers to share time off after a baby’s […]
IT workers preferring contracts over permanent roles
Employers are facing increasingly stiff competition in hiring IT professionals over the year ahead as many are opting to leave permanent employment and move to better paid contracting roles. According to a survey undertaken by recruitment consultancy Hays IT, skills shortages will be particularly marked in areas such as information security, business intelligence and […]
HR needs to adapt to older workforce
With a third of the workforce expected to comprise workers over 50 by 2020, HR departments will need to hone their recruitment and engagement strategies in order to get the best out of them. According to a survey among 1,004 employees, of which 190 were aged 55 and over, undertaken by talent consultancy Chiumento, […]
Report: Paedophile materials being distributed through work networks
Paedophiles are increasingly bringing unlawful images and videos into the workplace on mobile storage devices such as USBs and using corporate computers to distribute them online, a report has claimed. The warning was given in a white paper entitled ‘Cleaning up Britain’, which was written by NetClean, a company that develops software to track, flag […]
Work placements should be more accessible, says Clegg
Nick Clegg will urge employers to sign up to a “business compact” today in order to open up work placements beyond those young people who are “sharp-elbowed and well connected”. The Deputy Prime Minister will make the call as part of his social mobility strategy, which is due to be published this morning. The national […]
Finding new roles for existing staff within your organisation
In spite of many economies being under pressure to grow and the problem of high unemployment levels, acquiring and retaining good people is a constant challenge. Simon North explains. Why is the issue of finding new roles for individuals who are already within your organisation worth discussing? Clearly the issue of keeping what we typically […]
The question: What are the pro-rata company sick pay waiting periods for part-time employees?
This time the experts, Esther Smith and Martin Brewer explain what to do about pro-rata sick pay for part time employeees. The question: What are the pro-rata company sick pay waiting periods for part-time employees? Our company operates an organisational sick pay scheme that entitles workers to full pay after they have been off sick […]
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 […]
