Review: Iris “HR Manager”
Iris “HR Manager” by Iris Business SoftwareReviewed by Denis W BarnardDo you believe that by paying a lot more you actually get more in the same proportion?If you hire one of the big consultancies for £100K instead of a smaller one for £20K, are you getting five times the value and content? (no mention of […]
Bosses alarmed by maternity leave reform
Panic set in yesterday as trade and industry secretary, Patricia Hewitt announced far-reaching maternity reforms that could see businesses grapple with extended leave and further calls for family-friendly working.The proposal include: extensions to maternity pay from six to nine months by April 2007 with the goal of a year’s paid leave by the end of […]
HR Tip: Victimisation
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: What exactly is victimisation in the workplace? Is it illegal? A: It certainly is unlawful. Victimisation is recognised in law as a manifestation of race or sex discrimination. If you, a white […]
Bosses shirk payment for voters
Staff are twice as likely to get paid time off to get their boiler fixed as they are for voting during working hours.Just 4% of bosses told IRS that they would give paid time off for workers to visit the polling station.Other key findings include: In the past two years, almost one-third of survey respondents […]
The Couch?! asks “Are you a workaholic?”
Inspired by The Trades Union Congress (TUC) ‘Work Your Proper Hours" day, The Couch?! would like to know how many hours you spend in the office? Are you a work bore? Do you work in the evenings and weekends? Have your family/friends forgotten what you look like? Are your colleagues your closest friends? Do you […]
HR leadership elite series: why do we need HR leaders?
In his second series for HR Zone, Paul Kearns an outspoken critic of HR practices that cannot clearly demonstrate the value they add to organisations, looks at leadership and asks why do we need HR leaders? Why we need HR leadersDo you know why unions still exist? Because no one has convinced unionised organisations that […]
Get recognised at National Training Awards
Learning and development professionals interested in this year’s National Training Awards can hone their entries at a series of workshops.The free half-day NTA workshops are run by experienced training professionals and will be taking place across the UK.Dr. Graeme Hall, the newly appointed Chief Executive of UK Skills, the organisation which runs the National Training […]
Top companies to share in diversity mentoring scheme
HBOS, Centrica, Co-operative Group, PepsiCo, BskyB, Deloitte, KPMG and Ford Europe are amongst the first companies to sign up to a new organisational diversity mentoring scheme. Due to be launched by diversity consultancy, Performance Through Inclusion (PTI) on 8 March, the scheme will enable companies to share best practice on diversity issues.Kate Headley, director and […]
Business groups hit out at minimum wage rise
Government measures to increase the minimum wage will be fiercely resisted, business groups have told sister site AccountingWEB. The Low Pay Commission is reported to want to increase the minimum wage (currently £4.85 per hour) to £5.05 in October, and £5.30 in 2006. A spokesman for the Federation of Small Business (FSB) told AccountingWEB that […]
Editor’s Comment: Tipping the balance on race equality
When Red Ken recently likened a journalist to a ‘concentration camp guard’ the particulars of the Race Relations Act may not have been at the forefront of his mind; Editor’s Comment looks at the state of parity in UK plc.By Annie Hayes Political history is dotted with the gaffs of great leaders and the royal […]
Pay settlements break free of ‘doldrums’
After months of pay stagnation at 3%, settlements have risen by an average 0.3%.Pay analysts IRS, report that wage awards concluded between November last year and January 2005 have averaged at 3.3%. This latest finding means that the IRS headline measure of pay awards has reached its highest level for more than six years, having […]
Review: Coaching with Colleagues
Title: Coaching with ColleaguesAuthors: Erik de Haan & Yvonne BurgerPublisher: Plagrave MacmillanISBN: 1403943230Price: £25.00Review by: Nigel Harris Subtitled “An action guide for learning”, this book brings together a rigorous academic approach from traditional therapeutic disciplines and modern, practical applications as developed in contemporary coaching methods. The book was originally published in Dutch, Erik de Haan […]
E-mail zaps productivity
Almost 40% of workers in the UK, Germany and the US waste an hour a day e-mailing friends and relatives or swapping jokes online.These are the latest ‘time-wasting’ findings from Clearswift, the company that manages content security software for email and the web.The other 60% aren’t angels either with the majority admitting to spending up […]
Government focuses on basic and vocational skills
There will be a tougher focus on the three Rs and new work-based diplomas for 14 to 19-year-olds in England, but GCSEs and A levels will remain, the government has announced. The new diplomas will be set at three levels and cover 14 different areas of study. They will only be applied to vocational studies […]
Outsourcing: Payroll – a safe way to test the water
By James Hall, Hewitt AssociatesThe latest research from Hewitt into business process outsourcing (BPO) in Europe shows that, when people set up shared services, they are uncomfortable with outsourcing everything in one go. Rather than take the plunge, 44% said they would prefer to test the waters – by outsourcing payroll. This is not a […]
Opinion: The changing landscape of HR technology
The merger of Oracle and Peoplesoft has pushed open the door for vendors hoping to challenge the leadership landscape; Softscape’s Alexander Bartfeld explores the evolving market and finds out what it means for HR professionals. There has been a flurry of market predictions about who will lead the pack ever since the consolidation of the […]
Revenue update: E-filing
See the latest update from the Inland Revenue, compiled especially for HRZone members, looking at e-filing, the obligations and incentives for complying ahead of time. What is online filing?Online filing means sending your information direct to our computer. It’s secure, convenient, quick and much more efficient than using paper, cutting down on storage space, postage […]
Feature: Simon Parsons, Chair of IREEN talks ‘payroll’ with HRZone
From May 2005 managers will be required to file year-end returns online; Annie Hayes talked to Simon Parsons, Chair of the Inland Revenue’s Electronic Exchange Network (IREEN) and head of payroll processing and legislation at Ceridian about the future of payroll, how the new regulations will change the current landscape and why he thinks the […]
Q&A: International payroll and the outsourcing debate
Karen Paterson, Group CEO and founder of solutions provider, Patersons answers your questions on international payroll, how to select a payroll provider and what challenges e-filing presents. International payrollQ1: What are the key considerations for setting up a payroll abroad?A: This can be quite a complex area. Questions that need to be answered are: Does […]
Feature: Making HR transformation work – six steps to success
By Bettina Pickering and Neil McEwen, PA Consulting Group For almost a decade, major organisations have been restructuring their HR functions to focus on higher value activities and make HR transactional delivery as efficient and inexpensive as possible; Bettina Pickering and Neil McEwen assess whether they have succeeded. Here are six elements that HR functions […]
