Corporate control – value add or value laden?
Corporate communications specialist Karen Drury considers how organisations control and manage their employees by promoting their own values. One of the most popular management methods of control in modern organisations is through the development of value programmes which implicitly – if not explicitly – indicate how employees should behave, the style they should adopt, even […]
Employment law – A drain on the balance sheet?
The impact of employment regulations on businesses has been an issue of great debate for many years. Dan Martin spoke to some of sister site AccountingWEB’s business members for their views on the true cost of red tape. “Too costly for employers” was the reason given earlier this week by the government when it announced […]
What’s the answer? Fleas at work
Ben Harding gets legal guidance this week from Martin Brewer, a Partner with the employment team of Mills & Reeve, and Helen Badger, employment law expert at Browne Jacobson, on sharing a workspace with those of the small, wingless and parasitic variety. The question:The whole office here has just received an email saying: “The pest […]
Company of the week: AXA PPP healthcare
*Benefits stats*Benefits offered: Pensions: final salary available to eligible staff. Private Medical Insurance (PMI): open to all grades of staff and their families. Annual leave: rising from 22 days per year to 25 and 28 dependent upon service. Bonuses: linked to personal performance. Rewards for top performers and best performing teams including days out and […]
House of Lords confirms TUPE transfer date
Following a decision by the European Court of Justice, the House of Lords has confirmed that transfers under TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 1981) must take place on a specific date and not over an extended period of time.In addition, employers and employees cannot agree a date for the transfer that is […]
HR Zone Briefing #301 – Psychometric Testing Does It Work?
================================================================ HR Briefing Issue 301 – 22 June 2006 http://www.hrzone.co.uk ================================================================********************** Featured Sponsors *********************** Directors Rewards – Free executive summary and results http://www.hrzone.co.uk/redirects/croner14a.html **************************************************************** Editor’s Note ============= Finding the best staff is the perennial recruitment challenge. In our feature of the week Sarah Fletcher reports on whether psychometric testing is a help or a hindrance […]
Colborn’s Corner: The recruitment lottery
Quentin Colborn looks at the CIPD’s annual Recruitment, Retention and Turnover Survey released this month reporting on the activity levels involved in hiring the best staff and examining what part luck and chance play. They say that one of the easiest jobs to recruit for is an MP. There are dozens of people willing to […]
Court confirms managers can be liable in discrimination cases
A decision by the Court of Appeal confirms that managers held to be guilty of discrimination can be fined for their own acts plus those of other employees.It is rare for a manager to be fined personally as usually a company is held vicariously liable for its employees’ acts. In this case (Miles v Gilbank) […]
Death outside working hours – company fined £30k
In what is believed to be the first case of its kind a company has been fined £30,000 after one of its workers was killed in a car accident outside working hours.The company involved, The Produce Connection, admitted breaching health and safety legislation by failing to ensure the health of workers and the public. As […]
Out-of-date IT hinders HR
A new study reveals that 55 per cent of HR managers think their function needs more sophisticated technology systems and processes to support recruitment and development.In addition, less than one third (29 per cent) felt that they had sufficient systems in place to gain a clear picture of existing employee skills.The Gap Between IT and […]
Does psychometric testing work? By Sarah Fletcher
Sarah Fletcher looks at whether psychometric testing improves the efficiency and quality of the recruitment process and how to implement it within a company. The purpose of psychometricsThere has been a long history of debate over the validity of psychometric testing. Royal Mail has fuelled this by announcing that the 125,000 applications it receives each […]
Quarterly employment law round-up: April – June 2006
The outcome of employment tribunal cases can have a significant impact on the HR function. Guy Guinan, an employment partner at national law firm Halliwells, has highlighted some key cases from the last three months and their possible implications for employers. Alexander & Hatherley v Bridgen Enterprises 12 AprilThis case gives valuable guidance on the […]
Member’s tip: One minute silence
How can you organise periods of respectful silence in a call centre environment? Nik Kellingley says just don’t do it. My advice is not to do this at all, unless the silence is a national event (in which case your customers may understand not being able to access your service) just don’t do it – […]
HR Tip: When to issue contractual statements
These questions are being answered by Learn HR, a market leader in the provision of HR and payroll training and nationally-recognised professional qualifications. Q: “Exactly when should we issue written statements of terms and conditions of employment?” A: Every employee with one month of service is entitled to a written statement of terms and conditions of […]
Statutory procedures triple the work but lead to fewer dismissals
Many employers have seen a three-fold increase in the number of formal disciplinary and grievance cases since the introduction of a new statutory framework for workplace dispute resolution was introduced two years ago, a new study reveals.Research published in the current issue of IRS Employment Review suggests that reforms introduced by the government in October […]
Over 200,000 Royal Mail candidates to be assessed online
The Royal Mail has awarded what could be the largest ever online testing contract – to assess more than 200,000 applicants.Assessment specialist PSL has been asked to design two bespoke psychometric tests: a personality questionnaire and a ‘sorting simulation’ test, both of which will be delivered online via PSL’s test delivery engine. One or both […]
Briefing: Directors and salaries
There have been a number of queries on this topic in sister site AccountingWEB’s Any Answers forum. This article gathers them up in one place to form an FAQ on director’s remuneration. Do directors need to pay themselves a salary and if so, what about the national minimum wage?If there is no written employment contract […]
Ministers scrap sick pay changes
Plans to overturn sick pay regulations by requiring employers to provide benefits to staff from the first day of their illness are to be scrapped by the government, according to press reports. The ‘Financial Times’ said work and pensions minister John Hutton will announce that proposals to simplify sick pay rules will be dropped because […]
Recruitment of older workers sparks warning about new legislation
Organisations facing recruitment difficulties and attempting to get ready for new age discrimination legislation have been targeting older workers according to new research by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).But the move has sparked a warning from employment law expert Croner that deliberately targeting older workers could trigger age discrimination claims when new […]
Business leaders need to update their skills
When it comes to providing training for the leaders in your organisation, the chances are communication skills is going to be top of the agenda – that’s according to research by the Ken Blanchard Companies consultancy.Of the 1,400 senior executives asked to give their opinion of the most critical skill a leader can possess when […]
