Crucifix wearer accuses BA of discrimination
A British Airways check-in worker, suspended for wearing a cross the size of a 5p piece around her neck, is accusing the airline of discrimination.Reported by The Times newspaper, Nadia Eweida was put on unpaid leave from her post at Heathrow in September after refusing to conceal the cross. The suspension followed a written warning […]
Estranged by change?
Change is one of the only certainties on today’s fast moving business highway. But mismanage it, and you could be speeding towards a multi-lane pileup. Matt Henkes looks at how HR can mitigate the risks. One of the fundamental truths of modern business is that the flat-footed will flounder. It is only those firms that […]
Office parties: Are you headed for crisis?
It’s that time of year again, when HR must set about organising the good old Christmas shindig, but how can you ensure everyone is kept happy, religious pitfalls are avoided and all goes smoothly? Sarah Fletcher talks to some festive HR Zone members. Every Christmas the same warnings are dealt out to HR professionals: Plan […]
Bosses go on hiring spree despite ‘credit crunch’ gloom
Eighty-six per cent of employers intend to recruit staff this autumn in a sign that caution is not being heeded in the wake of the ‘credit crunch’. The latest quarterly CIPD/KPMG Labour Market Outlook survey finds a surprising degree of optimism amongst employers about short and medium employment prospects. Just under half of respondents plan […]
Succession planning: Where are your future leaders?
How do you select future leaders in your organisation without giving false expectations or unfulfilled promises? If you say nothing, the potential leader may leave. If you make the promise, what if the person fails to deliver? Mike Shreeve and Neil Kirby provide some answers. Succession planning is a dilemma for many organisations. Many centuries […]
How to retain and develop graduates
Consultant John Pope has some helpful advice on how to attract, develop and retain high-calibre graduates in your organisation. How are the graduates you recruited over the last two or three years? You bought the best you could find, at a price you could afford. It was probably expensive and difficult to get the ones […]
Ask the expert: Changing working patterns
Two part-time employees both work mornings and their employer wants to change the rota so there is cover in the afternoons; but both employees refuse to change their hours. Esther Smith, partner at Thomas Eggar, and Martin Brewer, partner at Mills & Reeve, advise on whether this is a redundancy situation. The question:I have started […]
Compensation for worker sacked for being ‘too young’
In the first case of its kind, a 20-year-old woman has won a discrimination case for being too young.Reported by The Times newspaper, the case involves a young woman, Megan Thomas, who told the tribunal that she was sacked from her job as a membership secretary at London club Eight, after being told that she […]
UK ‘lacking entrepreneurial ambition’
The number of adults with ambitions to grow their own successful business lags behind that in countries such as the US, New Zealand and Iceland, a major new study has revealed.According to an examination of high-expectation entrepreneurship (HEE) – the term used to describe wannabe entrepreneurs or existing start-up owners expecting to employ at least […]
People planning triggers biggest headache
Getting people strategy right is the hardest business challenge.This is according to a new survey by Barclays Commercial Bank which reveals that people strategy beats off marketing and sales, financial forecasts, risk management and environmental and corporate responsibility policy as the most difficult part of a business plan to get right. This challenge is compounded […]
Face-time – not Facebook – scores business
Business is most likely to be won as a result of a face-to-face meeting than any other method, including social networking.The research, by Vodafone UK, reveals that just over half (57 per cent) of business people win business via the traditional face-to-face method, dropping to just 34 per cent who have won business by email. […]
Boss idols applauded
Far from loathing bosses, 80 per cent of workers admire them, according to a new survey.Peninsula, an employment law service, quizzed 1,873 employees and 76 per cent said they had a great boss, whilst 62 per cent of respondents felt their boss is a good role model and someone that they would like to aspire […]
Log on to Facebook and log off from work
At least 1,700 employees have been sacked or disciplined for internet or email misuse, including surfing social networking sites, in the past three years.The figures – obtained from 65 institutions – show how strongly employers are clamping down on staff who spend hours on social networking sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Bebo.According to a […]
Older workers face pay squeeze
Little progress has been made in closing age pay gaps, according to The Age and Employment Network (TAEN).Commenting on the latest Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2007 from the Office of National Statistics, TAEN says that the pay gaps between ‘prime age’ and older workers have barely closed for either men or women. TAEN […]
‘Hair’ today, gone tomorrow: Salon sued for religious discrimination
A Muslim woman is taking a London hair salon to an employment tribunal claiming the wearing of her headscarf cost her the job.Reported by the BBC, Bushra Noah was rejected for a post at Wedge salon in King’s Cross because the owner, Sarah Desrosiers, allegedly said she needed staff to display their hairstyles.Noah, aged 19, […]
The final curtain-call: Paying for performance
Performance-related pay (PRP) is the bedrock of motivation at many organisations – or so they’d like to think. Annie Hayes finds out whether these schemes continue to push the right buttons or if it’s time for the curtain to come down on them. What is PRP?PRP, in reality, is a reward strategy based either on […]
BT axes 5,000 managers in reshuffle
Telecoms giant BT has announced plans to sack 5,000 managers in the latest wave of its restructuring programme.Reported by The Times newspaper, the restructuring has already witnessed the departure of 2,000 managers since May. The white-collar cull is a deliberate move away from management. “We are seeing a move away from managers to hire engineers […]
City & Guilds DG gets top skills job
City & Guilds director-general Chris Humphries is set to head up the new UK Commission for Employment and Skills.In his new role, Humphries faces the task of creating a highly skilled workforce for the UK, increasing employment levels and engaging with more people from disadvantaged backgrounds in the workforce. He said: “I am absolutely delighted […]
Political activists to get union boot
The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has welcomed proposals for unions to expel members for belonging to a political party. The new rights come after train drivers union Aslef defeated the UK government in the European Court of Human Rights over the expulsion of a member of the British National Party (BNP). The government argued that […]
Gender pay gap narrowest since records began
The pay gap between men and women is at its narrowest since records began; yet despite the news, business groups say progress is slow.Official statistics show the gap between women’s median hourly pay and men’s was 12.6 per cent, compared with a gap of 12.8 per cent recorded in April 2006. The median hourly rate […]
