Don’t let snow stop your business
Much of the UK’s workforce ground to a halt at the beginning of the month in the freezing conditions that closed schools, rail links and airports. Mary Clarke offers some advice to help you plan ahead for the next forecast freeze. The Federation of Small businesses estimated that 10% of the UK’s 30 million workforce […]
How time flies…10 years of time and attendance
Today, flexible working and a greater work-life balance are real priorities for the modern worker rather than just a tempting bonus. To keep up with the changing expectations and demands of employees, businesses must begin to realise that time and attendance and workforce management systems provide critical support. With economic uncertainty and prolonged budget cuts […]
Employee engagement: the pursuit of workplace happiness
When an employee’s own self-interest is aligned with the interests of the organisation, that employee is engaged. So your workforce is engaged if a critical mass pro-actively furthers the interests of the business while simultaneously furthering their own interests. That’s a working definition of employee engagement and while it won’t resonate with everyone, it is […]
DRA scrapping could lead to more discrimination tribunals
Lack of clarity over future retirement rules could result in an escalation of discrimination-based tribunal claims once the default retirement age is scrapped next April, the CBI has warned. The employers lobby group said that the coalition government’s failure to produce any guidance or draft regulations on what a new legislative framework would look like […]
CBI demands companies ‘comply or explain’ board ratios
The CBI has called for all publicly listed companies to set targets for boosting the number of women on their boards and to report progress on a ‘comply or explain’ basis. The move comes only weeks after the heads of some of the UK’s largest companies set up ‘The 30% Club’ in a bid to […]
Nearly half feel organisation lacks skills
Although just under half of UK managers are expecting to make further redundancies next year, around 43% believe that their organisation does not have the right skills in place to fulfil its 2011 business objectives. A survey undertaken among 809 managers in the public, private and third sector by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) revealed […]
Good relations with MD helps retain talent
Personnel in small-to-medium enterprises in Scotland and the North of England are the least likely to change employers because their managing directors treat them more as friends than colleagues, according to a study. A survey undertaken among 250 MDs and owner/managers by Illuma Research on behalf of Manpower’s talent and careers management consultancy Right Management […]
Take the pain out of training seasonal staff
The customers that pack your stores during the festive period don’t know – or care – whether a member of staff is seasonal or permanent. They just know that the employee represents your business. And that means, as well as compelling product range and product availability, customers expect prompt answers to any queries they have […]
Video: Avoiding serial litigants
Jenny Wilson, employment lawyer at Pinsent Masons, explains the dangers presented by serial litigants to companies advertising positions without taking advice.In this second video Jenny explains what employers can do to avoid this issue. You can find out more by visiting Pinset Mansons online.
Update: Immigration cap legislation and how it affects you
One of the keystones of the Conservative party’s election manifesto was to reduce net migration to tens of thousands. Here Kerry Garcia outlines the latest plans. Businesses and politicians alike have expressed concerns about the impact this will have on employers. The government recently set out its proposals for implementing this permanent cap on non-EEA […]
Season of Goodwill? A very HR Christmas
The festive season is upon us, or as employment lawyers like to think of it, the litigation season. It is time to send HR’s annual email explaining that there will be no office party this year/there will be a cheaper one than usual and that no-one must smoke, drink too much, tell any jokes, or […]
Recruitment freeze thaw forecast to hit London
London-based employers are expected to abandon widespread recruitment freezes over the next six months despite widespread uncertainty over the UK economy’s growth prospects. According to the latest ‘London Business Survey’, which was undertaken among 91 businesses by employers lobby group the CBI and management consultancy KPMG, 45% of London companies are planning to start hiring […]
UK skills body to be scrapped
The coalition government revealed it was scrapping the sector skills council for lifelong learning just as a new report indicated that greater skills investment would be crucial to achieve the sustained private sector-led recovery for which it hopes. Following a review undertaken by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES), the Department for Business […]
Recession agression – HR managers are getting tougher to demonstrate greater ROI
Tough times call for tough measures and modern HR departments are now finding themselves tasked with delivering rigorous and robust return on investment (ROI), says Jason Willis, Divisional Manager of Reed Human Resources. As the UK creeps out of recession, senior HR bosses need to possess an additional results-driven skill set. There is an increasing […]
Finance Bill 2011: Childcare voucher schemes
It has been confirmed that there will be changes to the tax laws regarding the childcare voucher schemes in 2011. The government view that there are too many well-off parents benefitting from this (including tax-free music lessons through certain schemes) has led to a change in the way the system will work. This is the […]
Government u-turn on pension rates makes schemes more expensive
A pensions fund body has criticised the coalition government’s decision to backtrack on moves intended to slash the costs for employers of providing workplace pensions. Ministers had suggested in July that they would introduce legislation to enable private sector organisations to use the lower Consumers Prices Index rather than the traditional Retail Prices Index in […]
The eyes have it: Study into ‘nudge’ psychology
HR professionals wanting to ensure that employees behave themselves could do worse than hang a poster of a staring human face on the wall. A research paper, published online this week in the American journal ‘Evolution and Human Behavior’, revealed that sticking a poster of a face on the wall of a cafe made people […]
Informal learning and driving innovation future of L&D and HR
Ever increasing interest in informal and continuous learning will be the key driver for change in the learning and development function over the next 10 years. According to a report published by research and consulting firm Bersin & Associates, this growing focus on informal and continuous learning will result in the further adoption of internal […]
Getting retirement right
The recent announcement that the coalition government is to phase out the default retirement age of 65 was met with apprehension by some employers. Concerns were expressed that by abolishing fixed retirement ages we are loosing a dignified way of retiring staff whose performance may be in decline. In addition, employers feared that unproductive employees […]
Take home pay growth at 50% of last year
The average growth in workers’ take home pay is just under half of what it was last year, reflecting the ongoing uncertainty in the UK economy, according to a study. The FTSE 350 Take Home Pay Index, undertaken by payment provider VocaLink and the Centre for Economics and Business Research, revealed that, although private sector […]