Ask the expert: Disciplinary action and illness disclosure
An employer has started disciplinary proceedings against a disruptive employee. The employee has now disclosed a medical condition which could affect the proceedings. Esther Smith, partner at Thomas Eggar, and Martin Brewer, partner at Mills & Reeve, advise. The question:I have started disciplinary proceedings against an employee, after it was disclosed they were pursuing personal […]
Is employer brand an HR responsibility?
The employer brand defines what is unique about working for an organisation. But is it HR’s responsibility to promote a brand that can attract and retain employees? Bettina Pickering and Janet Windeatt discuss. While the concept of an employer brand has risen in prominence in recent years, every organisation, no matter whether it chooses to […]
Equal Opportunities
What is peoples views of the equalities minister Harriet Harman’s suggestion that legislation should be introduced that if two candidates were equally qualified for a position, employers would be able to reject the white person or the man in favour of a black person or a woman.Personally I belief that this is blatant racism and […]
Sick Britain costs £100 billion a year
The findings of the first ever review into the health of the work age population shows that ill health is costing Britain a huge £100 billion ever year.The cost is more than the entire annual budget of the NHS and is equivalent to the entire gross domestic product of Portugal.Dame Carol Black, the director for […]
Mums ‘start again’ after maternity leave
Taking time out to have a baby is costing working women their position on the career ladder.Tanya Hine, president of the British Association of Women Entrepreneurs, called it an “ongoing” difficulty: “It always has been a problem that once you have children you’re normally back at the bottom of the ladder and have to work […]
Nine to five slog saps workers’ energy
UK workers only work at their optimum levels for five hours a day, according to recent research. A study by high street chemist Boots had shown that the average employee loses over 150 minutes a day due to being tired and, if working the usual nine to five, they are only fully awake for up […]
The dawn of a new age
There are conflicting reports as to how effective age discrimination laws have really been, but it’s clear there is still plenty of work to be done to encourage more older workers into the workplace. Louise Druce looks at the issues. Depending on which statistics you believe, it seems the number of older workers is on […]
Give more and get more back
Most organisations want more out of their employees. But what will it take to get staff to go that extra mile and release their discretionary effort? Chris Legge has some answers. Research suggests that within a typical organisation, 20% of employees give everything, 60% would give more if there was something in it for them […]
Adding value through interim management
Raj Tulsiani discusses five things you should know about interim management but perhaps never considered, to help add real value to the business. The growth of interim management over the last three decades has been such that industry best practice has been fighting a losing battle to keep up with the movement of the […]
Colborn’s Corner: A nanny state?
In the news this week, it has been suggested that employers make financial guidance available in the workplace to offer staff general advice on personal finance. Quentin Colborn considers this view from an HR perspective. Insurance chief Otto Thoresen has been appointed by the economic secretary to the treasury to carry out a review examining […]
HR tip: Time off for funerals
These questions are being answered by Learn HR, a market leader in the provision of HR and payroll training and nationally-recognised professional qualifications. Question:"How much time should we allow off for funerals?" HR tip:The law allows employees time off work to deal with family emergencies such as bereavement but does not say how much. You need […]
Extra funding for UK skills
In his first budget speech on Wednesday, Alistair Darling announced that an extra £60m will be spent on improving skills levels of the country’s workforce.The speech was scant on detail as to how this would be spent in practice, however he said the government wanted to ensure that every UK adult had the opportunity to […]
Silver surfers smash stereotype
Older workers are being praised for embracing modern workplace methods and becoming competent with new technology.Findings from the poll by Lifelong Learning UK show that more than half of older employees love new technology and are confident about their level of skills.Chris Ball, chief executive of The Age and Employment Network, said: “It is good […]
DWP calls two-day strike
Civil servants working at the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) will strike on two days next week unless their pay offer is improved.Members of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) will stage the protest on Monday 17 and Tuesday 18 March 2008. The ongoing pay row centres around the new three-year pay deals […]
Seventy days of salary taken just to clear credit interest
New figures from unbiased.co.uk, the independent financial adviser website, show that employees have worked the last 70 days solid to earn enough money just to service the interest on credit card and loan debt.This does not include re-paying the actual debt itself.Personal loan levels in the UK increased to £9.8 billion, from £2.6 billion last […]
Campaign highlights the dangers of accidents at work
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is launching the ‘Shattered Lives’ campaign to highlight the devastating consequences of simple slips, trips and falls in the workplace.According to HSE figures, every 25 minutes someone breaks of fractures a bone at work. In Great Britain last year, 45,749 people were injured.Sadly, every week, one person dies from […]
The party is over for bosses who fail to meet recession challenge
Over 70% of senior management admit UK bosses have little or no experience of how to deal with a downturn.This is according to a new survey by Pentacle, the virtual business school, which finds that over two-thirds of executives believe the UK is now heading into a recession or serious downturn.Worryingly, the research suggests that […]
Salary sacrifice: Too good to be true?
Ask an employee to ‘sacrifice’ their salary and the prompt response is usually “over my dead body”. Yet bar the unfortunate terminology, the benefits on offer seem rather pleasing. Annie Hayes reports. Tobin Coles, head of flexible benefits at Jelf, a consultancy that specialises in employee benefits, believes that ‘salary exchange’ is a more appropriate […]
Initiative launched to raise status of employer-led training
A new scheme designed to raise the status of employer-based training has officially been launched. Employer Based Training Accreditation (EBTA) is a new initiative that aims to provide organisations with the support and advice needed to raise the status of training. Academic experts in relevant fields will advise employers on workplace learning, and the awarding […]
Dismissing an employee: Employers beware
Barrister Charles Price explains how tribunal cases are up as lawyers blame Alan Sugar’s “you’re fired” mentality. Last year, the original TV business guru Sir John Harvey-Jones launched a blistering attack on The Apprentice star Sir Alan Sugar.In the ‘Western Mail’, Sir John accused Sir Alan of ‘exploiting’ his power on the show by humiliating […]