Ask the expert: Sickness and pay increases
This week the experts, Adam Partington and Esther Smith advise on whether to give a pay increase to an employee on sick pay. The question: Sickness and pay increases I have an employee on long term sick, the SSP has long ended and we are approaching our financial end of year. The other […]
Deja vu – the back to work interview
Back-to-work interviews help to reintegrate staff returning to the workplace. This can include planned absences such as maternity leave or a sabbatical. The aim is to welcome employees back, brief them on any relevant matters and ensure they are fully prepared to take up their duties again. The most frequent use of return-to-work (RTW) interviews […]
Could you tweet your job application?
Digital marketing executives keen to work for a Brighton-based publisher are being asked to tweet as to why they should be considered for the post. As a result, applicants for the job at the Friday Media Group, which owns about 70 classified ad and recruitment websites as well as various print titles, […]
50p tax rate could be scrapped
Chancellor George Osborne is believed to want to scrap the 50p rate of tax in his 2013 Budget following claims that it does not make money for the Exchequer. Although a review is just about to start into how much the higher rate – which came into force in April last year […]
‘Private cloud’ provides best of both worlds for recruitment firm
Putting sensitive data ‘into the cloud’ is a step too far for many organisations. However a ‘private cloud’ can provide a solution which fits, like this example. A Scottish recruitment consultancy chose to migrate its IT infrastructure to a private rather than public cloud environment because the level of control and accessibility that the model […]
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 […]
