Employment Law takeways for November
Employment law takeaways: our bitesize legal updates for busy HR professionals, provided by Suzanne Horne of Morrison and Foerster. This month, it’s mostly maternity and dismissal, but there’s something to be said for football too… Gisda Cyf v Barratt – Dismissal by post only effective when employee reads the letter or has reasonable opportunity to […]
What staff really want… a better pension contribution
The most popular benefit that European employers can provide staff in order to improve retention rates is a higher pension contribution, with nearly half of workers even prepared to sacrifice pay in return. These are the findings of a survey undertaken among 7,500 workers in Europe’s 10 leading economies, including the UK, by human capital […]
New skills strategy will cost employers
Under the coalition government’s new skills strategy, large employers will have to cover the full cost of basic skills training for staff aged 24 and over from 2013-2014, while small-to-medium business will be expected to pay half. They may also all be asked to pay training levies. The move follows the government’s decision to cut […]
Improving performance management in medium-sized businesses
Medium-sized businesses can encounter very specific problems in maximising employee performance. Vincent Belliveau explains why these problems arise and outlines how they can be overcome. While small businesses have fewer employees and shorter chains of command, providing greater transparency to individual performance, large organisations benefit from comprehensive systems and processes to help measure and manage […]
Uncertainty despite private sector coming up with jobs
Although private sector job creation will offset public sector job cuts in the last quarter of this year, widespread uncertainty as to the future means that employers remain cautious about prospects for the year ahead. According to the Labour Market Outlook survey undertaken by researchers Ipsos-Mori, some two out of five public sector bodies currently […]
Proposed pension solvency rules may cause employers to give up and close schemes
UK employers may simply close their occupational pension schemes if proposed tough new European rules that force them to set aside similar reserves to insurance companies come into force, a pensions body has warned. In a formal statement submitted in response to the European Commission’s Green Paper on pensions, the National Association of Pension Funds […]
Ask the expert: Internal job post -applications after closing date?
The experts, Adam Partington and Esther Smith advise on whether late applications can be accepted in an internal job post. The question: Internal job post – applications after closing date? My employer listed a job on the internal recruitment website; for a position which I applied; I know for a fact I am the […]
Where’s my office?
Andy Barker considers HR’s role in supporting collaboration systems for remote working. As businesses begin to emerge from the worst economic downturn in living memory, austerity measures continue to be implemented across almost every area and business sector. Many companies are consolidating buildings and mobilising their workforce in an effort to save money. Long established […]
US employee may have been fired illegally due to Facebook comment
In what could prove to be a precedent-setting case on both sides of the Atlantic, the US National Labor Relations Board has accused a company of illegally firing an employee after she criticised her boss on Facebook. The Board, a US federal agency, which oversees union elections and investigates claims of unfair labour practices, claimed […]
Banks to halve bonuses this year
The UK’s biggest banks are in negotiations to almost half the amount they pay out to staff in New Year bonuses in a bid to avoid potential tax penalties and avert another PR disaster. According to the BBC, the banks are holding secret talks about the issue under the umbrella of the British Bankers Association, […]
Make your organisation a lean, green, motivating machine
In these lean times, encouraging staff to think green will not only cut costs to your organisation but will also help motivate your staff. Emma Mason, NetRegs.gov.uk Communications Officer explains how. Recent estimates say that UK businesses generate around half of the UK’s CO2 emissions. But surely they’re referring to large organisations? After all, […]
Redundancy consultation may be scrapped
UK workers may lose the right to be consulted over redundancies following an appeal by the US Government to clarify EU law. The EU Court of Appeal has asked the European Court of Justice to rule whether employers need to consult with staff before or after deciding to make them redundant, following an appeal by the […]
HR not ready for future workforce headaches
The very different demands of Generation Y and an increasingly ageing workforce combined with a progressive move to remote and flexible working will generate a number of HR headaches over the next few years. But according to an online poll undertaken among 262 facilities managers by employee satisfaction measurement tools provider Leesman on behalf of […]
Working with children blacklist ruled ‘against human rights’
Legislation that blacklists people convicted of certain crimes from working with children and vulnerable adults without allowing them a ‘right to be heard’ first is in breach of human rights law, the High Court has ruled. The Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, which introduced a “vetting and barring” scheme, also allowed for the creation of […]
CIPD Conference 2010: Chris Grayling seeks HR support for government scheme
Government minister Chris Grayling asked the HR community to ‘give the long-term unemployed a chance’ by working with the government on their back to work scheme when he addressed them at the CIPD conference. The MP issued the plea to the assembled human resource practitioners at the CIPD annual conference’s closing session for business […]
Unemployed: take work or lose benefits
Under a new ‘three strikes and you’re out’ rule due to be announced later today, unemployed people who refuse to take up offers of work will lose their unemployment benefits for three years. The sliding-scale penalty will be triggered automatically on the third occasion that claimants on Jobseekers Allowance turn down a job offer, fail […]
Report extract: HR’s role in enabling innovation
This extract draws on K2 Advisory’s research entitled: “The CIO’s role in enabling innovation” and provides a snapshot of what training to support innovation is happening in the UK as well as indicating that it is an area positioned to grow. Key messages from the report: K2’s research shows that 81% of organisations consider innovation […]
The five myths of outsourcing
All HR directors should consider their sourcing options; how they should secure the capabilities required to deliver an effective an efficient HR service, and particularly whether or not they should use outsourcing to deliver key HR services. It is not credible to argue that the HR function should be excluded from the attention given to […]
Pub academy, have Tennent’s staff got the pint factor?
Tennet’s Lager has invested £1 million in Scotland’s first pub academy to equip staff with the necessary skills to work in the hospitality industry. The academy will be based in Glasgow at the company’s Wellpark Brewery and a derelict building has been newly converted to include a bar, beer cellar and kitchen in order to […]
3/5 workers overestimate their value to employers
Although nearly four out of five UK workers would like to change employer, three fifths overestimate their financial value. According to a survey undertaken by vocational distance learning provider the Home Learning College, while some 78% of staff would like a new job, just over a third are actively looking. Some 27% have chosen not […]