Sainsbury’s gives graduates a taste for leadership
Supermarket chain Sainsbury’s has developed a programme to enhance the personal leadership skills of its graduate recruits through a community-based project.The action-learning programme has been designed by Impact, a company that recently won three-star accreditation in the Best Companies awards. A local primary school in Newham is at the heart of the community-project, which includes […]
TUC and FSB champion apprenticeship cause
The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) is backing calls from the Trades Union Congress (TUC) to increase the minimum weekly wage for apprentices from £80 to £110.The organisations said this would happen once legislation has been passed to extend wage contributions to small employers who are taking on an apprentice. They added that £110 for […]
Social enterprises beat profit chasers to ’employer of choice’ gong
A survey has revealed that 30 per cent of people feel that social enterprises would be their employer of choice. The YouGov poll of more than 2,000 individuals, commissioned by the Social Enterprise Coalition (SEC), found that just 16 per cent would pick a traditional business, while only 13 per cent opted for a government […]
Employee engagement: Tailoring it to the company
Kentucky Fried Chicken draws on the iconic ‘Colonel’, Yahoo yodels, and the Penguin Group depends on a shared passion for books. Annie Hayes discovers that engagement comes in many different shapes and guises. What is employee engagement?I am engaged therefore I am. HR would be delighted with the play on philosopher Nietzsche’s words of wisdom, […]
Employing illegal workers: Are you in the know?
The Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act 2006 comes into force on 29 February, which will introduce stricter penalties for employing illegal workers. Solicitor Laura Mitchell explains the implications for employers. The government has recently revealed that more than half of the new jobs created under Labour since 1997 have gone to foreign workers and, for […]
You and your job – happy together?
Are you happy in your job? If not, then you’re not entirely alone, but don’t worry because Denise Taylor has some handy hints on how to make your working day that little bit more enjoyable. Some lucky people love their job and look forward to work each day, but for many of us work is […]
Ask the expert: Re-hire after redundancy
Can you re-engage an employee a few months after you made them redundant? Esther Smith, partner at Thomas Eggar, and Martin Brewer, partner at Mills & Reeve, advise. The question:We made a few redundancies in November 2007 based on restructuring and the need to reduce headcount in a certain area. As a result, a team […]
CV howlers leave candidates jobless
Jobseekers are missing out because of blunders such as misspelling, inappropriate email addresses and grammatical errors, according to a new poll.The poll by online recruitment outfit fish4jobs found that three-quarters of employers admit that badly presented and written CVs are more of a turn-off than a candidate showing up late, wearing inappropriate clothes or swearing […]
Single women rank highest for ‘unpaid’ overtime
Women under the age of 30 work the most extra hours.This is according to a Trades Union Congress (TUC) study, which reveals that 39 per cent of the under-30s notch up hours over and above their contracted duty.Comparatively, only a quarter of men of the same age work over their hours for no extra money.Brendan […]
Overwhelming vote in favour of rights for agency workers
MPs have backed new proposals to give agency workers the same rights as permanent staff despite opposition from the government.In the House of Commons on Friday 22 February, politicians voted 147 to 11 in favour of the Private Member’s Bill. A total of 136 Labour MPs supported the Bill’s second reading including former work and […]
It takes 2.0
Web 2.0 is helping people to interact on a wider scale but is that a good thing? Louise Druce looks at how HR can embrace these tools to get the most out of the company. Love or hate social networking sites, they are among the so-called Web 2.0 applications here to stay. So for those […]
Stressed out: Who is looking after HR?
HR is responsible for implementing wellbeing policies but what happens when they get stressed? Alan King provides advice on how HR professionals can deal with stress at work. In 2006, an HR professional at Intel, the world’s largest computer chip maker, was awarded more than £114,000 after she became so stressed at work she had […]
Protecting employees who work in high-risk countries
With increasing social and economic unrest, and the growth of terrorism attacks around the world, Mike Penrose explains the responsibilities that companies have for employees working and travelling in high-risk countries. It is one of the great ironies of international business that so many of the regions with the most development potential are also sometimes […]
Pedalling your way to good health
Former world champion cyclist Tony Doyle, MBE, advises how employers can support their employees’ health and wellbeing without breaking the bank. With health secretary Alan Johnson’s announcement of a £372m anti-obesity strategy aimed at employers, communities and individuals last month, the pressure will be firmly on all UK employers to invest in new health policies […]
HR tip: Advising retirement age employees of their rights
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:"Are we obliged to inform people approaching their retirement age of their rights or is it up to them to find out?" HR tip:Indeed you are. You are required to inform employees in […]
Employers divided on rights of agency workers
A new study shows continued division on the principle of equal rights for temporary agency workers and qualifying periods.Friday 22 February sees the second reading of the Parliamentary private members bill seeking to give agency workers the same employment rights as permanent employees, with possible agreement on the stalled EU Temporary Agency Workers Directive on […]
Management slog reaps little reward
Despite working longer and harder hours, managers are seeing little return for their efforts.This is according to a report by the Chartered Management Institute, which has revealed that as many as 89 per cent of managers work over their contracted hours – the equivalent of working an extra 40 days a year on average.Over half […]
Breach of trust causes workers to walk
Over half of workers have left an organisation citing trust issues.This is according to a new poll by The Ken Blanchard Companies. According to the findings, almost 40 per cent cited ‘lack of open communication’ as one of the reasons for their departure. Other prevalent ‘trust busting’ behaviours included broken promises, breach of confidentiality, unethical […]
Management turns perpetrator as bullying cases soar
As many as seven in 10 employees have felt bullied at work with almost half of bullying instigated by management.The research conducted by Peninsula employment law service shows that bullying has increased significantly since 2003, with 69 per cent of employees saying that they have been exposed to bullying in the workplace, compared to 52 […]
McDonald’s basks in top restaurant employer award
Fast-food giant McDonald’s has been voted Caterer and Hotelkeeper’s Best Place to Work in Hospitality 2008 in the restaurant and bar sector.David Fairhurst, senior vice president, chief people officer, McDonald’s Restaurants said: “We invest time, energy and resources into getting the right people into our business – people who have the potential to deliver an […]