SMEs claim coalition bad for business
Just under half of small-to-medium employers believe that the coalition government’s policies to date have had a negative impact on their business, while just less than a third feel that today’s Budget will make things worse. A survey undertaken by pollster YouGov among 523 senior SME decision-makers revealed that 48% were unhappy with the impact […]
IBM settles out of court for bribery campaign
IBM has agreed to pay $10 million to US regulators in order to settle accusations of a decade-long campaign of bribery in China and South Korea out-of-court. The Securities and Exchange Commission alleged that the world’s largest computer company had given cash and gifts, which included travel and entertainment, to Chinese and South Korean officials […]
Health and safety cuts will put employees at risk
Cuts of a third to the number of automatic health and safety inspections from April will put employees at risk and inevitably lead to more workplace injuries and deaths, lawyers have warned. The Work and Pensions Minister Chris Grayling announced yesterday that automatic inspections would now take place only at high risk installations such as […]
Wellbeing at work: Ease employees’ money worries
Financial issues affect all types of employees yet it’s a subject that’s often ignored in the workplace. However when this type of issue gets out of hand it can have serious repercussions for employee performance and productivity, not to mention attendance and engagement. Eugene Farrell, Immediate Past Chair UK Employee Assistance Professionals Association (www.eapa.org.uk), looks […]
Ask the expert: Accusations – how do we handle bad mouthing of the company?
This time the experts, Esther Smith and Martin Brewer give their advice on what to do about an employee bad mouthing the company at social events in front of clients. The question: Accusations – how do we handle bad mouthing of the company? I’m investigating an accusation by one of our senior staff against a […]
Budget Britain: Save money, banish employee rights…
Balancing the rights and responsibilities of employers and employees is a trite phrase in the HR world. Recent political change coupled with the challenging economic backdrop has shifted this balance, generally, in the favour of employers. Whether the latest government proposals go too far in their fight against the “enemies of enterprise”, depends on your […]
Flexible working is for senior staff only, say some
Although 83% of UK employers now offer flexible working options, just under two out of five limit the benefit to senior personnel only. This is despite the fact that 55% find that flexible working costs them less than more traditional office-based activity, boosts staff productivity (40%) and enhances staff motivation levels (36%) The survey undertaken among […]
One in four have no respect for manager
Just over a quarter of UK workers have no respect for their managers, while just under half fail to find them motivational, with staff in the North East of England being most disillusioned. These are the findings of a survey undertaken among 2,031 adults by pollster ICM on behalf of the People 1st Training Company, […]
Crowdsourcing will decide which regulations go
The coalition government is introducing a crowdsourcing initiative to enable employers to pick which of the current 21,000 business regulations should stay or go, starting with the retail sector. The initiative will be announced by Business Secretary Vince Cable later today in a speech at the Federation of Small Business conference in Liverpool along with […]
Concern at only 3.7% of UK SET workforce skilled to technician level
The Skills Commission has launched a parliamentary inquiry to explore how the UK can catch up with the rest of Europe by boosting the availability of technician-level skills in the manufacturing and engineering industries. The UK, which has only 3.7% of its workforce trained up to technician level*, lags behind the rest of the EU, […]
Budget ‘must tackle unemployment’
Employer bodies have called on the coalition government to focus on delivering a “meaningful Budget for jobs” next week in order to tackle steadily rising unemployment, which is now at a 17 year high. UK unemployment increased by 27,000 in the three months to the end of January, hitting 2.53 million or 8%, the highest […]
Businesses relying on temps
The nature of the UK labour market is changing as a result of the ongoing difficult economic circumstances, with the use of temps and those working in “unsustainable, unconventional” ways on the increase. According to research from temp recruitment agency de Poel, the number of temporary staff hired by employers increased by 65% last month […]
HR: prepare for pensions tax legislation now
HR managers need to be aware of new legislation affecting pension contributions which is coming into force in April this year. At the moment if someone’s total earnings for the current and previous two tax years is less than £130k per annum, then an individual or company can make pension contributions of up to […]
Prepare for childcare tax changes
How is your organisation going to be affected by changes to the tax system in regards to childcare? Expert Rebecca Benneyworth gives her advice. Employers operating childcare voucher and similar schemes will have their work cut out after 5 April if new employees join the scheme. Changes brought forward to reduce the cost of the […]
Budget blag: Pubs want beer duty frozen to ‘protect jobs’
A pub association has called on the coalition government to protect nearly a million jobs in an industry worth more than £21 billion by freezing beer duty in next week’s Budget. A study by economic forecasting consultancy Oxford Economics, commissioned by the British Beer & Pub Association, pointed to the “vital role” the sector played, […]
Government plans to drop maternity for SMEs and weaken bribery act revealed
Controversial proposals by the coalition government to exempt some foreign companies from prosecution under the Bribery Act and drop maternity and paternity regulations for small businesses could bring it into conflict with other administrations. Draft guidance being drawn up by the Minister of Justice and seen by the Guardian appears to indicate that foreign companies […]
Asda launches leadership programme
Asda is about to introduce a company-wide leadership programme just as a study revealed that one in four managers have in the past knowingly breached professional conduct guidelines at work. The supermarket chain intends to provide management training to 10,000 bosses across the UK under the auspices of its Asda Leadership Event developed in conjunction […]
Public sector pay should be linked to performance
Senior public sector managers’ pay should be performance-related but not subject to a cap at 20 times the salary of their lowest paid staff, an independent review has proposed. The government-commissioned Fair Pay Review, led by Work Foundation head Will Hutton, the final version of which is published today, U-turned on initial recommendations made in […]
Book review: The Art of Action by Stephen Bungay
Once upon a time an entrepreneur was presenting a product to a large player in the software field… After the meeting, one of the key heads from the vendor company approached the hopeful, and said: “All year long people come in here and say what they are going to do. You and your team have […]
The return of the thank you event
During the depths of the recession many companies either cancelled all staff events, rewards and incentives or conducted them in secret. Those which ran incentive travel programmes were forced, by those who deemed such spending was “inappropriate” during a recession, to deliver vouchers or tickets, unbranded, to their staff’s home addresses. End of year thank […]
