Failings of the education system harm business
Current Government policies on education and training are doing nothing to plug the UK’s productivity gap, according to the Institute of Directors (IoD). In a speech to the Institute of Economic Affairs in Central London, director general of the IoD Miles Templeman, said that 25,000 pupils leave school with no GCSEs, contributing to 4.5 million […]
Politicians warned ‘immigration plugs skills gap’
Current political debate about immigration needs to take into account recruitment difficulties and skills shortages faced by employers, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has warned.The CIPD said its research showed high levels of recruitment from abroad, with employers using migrant labour to cover shortages of professional skills as well as filling low […]
Member wire #83 – Bricks and mortar trap workers
================================================================ HR Zone Members Newswire Issue 83 25 January 2005 http://www.hrzone.co.uk ================================================================ SITE HIGHLIGHTS **** SITE HIGHLIGHTS **** SITE HIGHLIGHTS **** 1. Editor’s Comment: Bricks and mortar trap workers 2. Focus On: HR Specialists – OH Manager SW Trains 3. The Couch?! Gets grumpy 4. Labour market buckles under weight of contradictions 5. Any Answers: […]
Opinion: Smile sheets can’t bring you true happiness
"We ask people scurrying for the door to take time to check boxes … then… flip through them hoping desperately for a few feel-good moments of positive feedback, and finding good rationalizations for any negative scores." – Godfrey Parkin asks what are you really measuring with that happy sheet? If the training organisation is […]
Pub chain kicks the smoking habit
The Trades Union Congress are backing an all-out smoking-ban by leading pub chain JD Weatherspoon; by May 2006 smokers will be outlawed in all of its 650 pubs.Brendan Barber, TUC General Secretary supports the move saying that a ‘threat to business’ is now a ‘bogus agrument’ for failure to ban smoking:“One of Britain’s biggest pub […]
Businesses back minimum wage hike
According to pay analysts IRS, businesses are right behind the October National Minimum Wage rate rise.Three months ago the adult wage rate increased to £4.85 an hour up from £3.60 in 1999.Nine in ten (94%) agree with the most recent increase, however, when asked at what level the minimum rate should be set, almost half […]
Payroll giving still not possible for most employees
Most companies still do not allow staff to contribute to charities through their salaries. According to the poll by YouGov for KPMG, 58% of the 11000 people in employment questioned said their employers do not offer a ‘payroll giving’ scheme through which they could make donations.KPMG points out that “Payroll giving schemes allow employees to […]
Payroll Tip: SSP and the percentage threshold scheme
These questions are being answered by Learn HR, a market leader in the provision of HR and payroll training and nationally-recognised professional qualifications. Payroll tip: The PTS is intended to help employers when there is an abnormally high level of sickness. Eligibility is determined in each tax month by comparing the total amount of SSP actually […]
Short-termism doesn’t pay off
UK companies are risking future growth plans by focusing on short-term staff instead of longer term contracts or hiring permanent employees.This is the claim from a Reading based IT recruitment firm, GCS Recruitment Services.Kevin Logan, head of business development at the firm said: “Although the economic outlook has been steadily improving, many companies are still […]
Focus On: HR Specialists – Barbara Davenport, OH Manager SW Trains
Barbara Davenport, Head of Occupational Health at South West Trains explains the ins and outs of her job including the responsibility to ensure consistency of fitness standards for safety critical employees across the regions and how she changed hearing-safety standards by challenging an ancient law. Career historyPerforming first aid for factory workers injured after handling […]
Welfare benefits ‘subsidise family break-up’
The level of public subsidy to households with children has doubled since 1997, and now stands at £22bn a year, but the price of parenthood is too high for many ordinary families, according to a report published today by the Centre for Policy Studies. Jill Kirby’s ‘The Price of Parenthood’ concludes that the “financial penalties” […]
The Couch?! gets grumpy
January is already quite a grumpy month as we struggle to adjust to work after the Christmas break.It’s understandable we all feel a bit down in the dumps as we realise just how much money we spent over the festive period. We are also facing up to the failed diets and the realisation that all […]
Three million plug into Home Computing Schemes
The Home Computing Initiative (HCI) Alliance says that HCI schemes have became the fastest-growing employee benefit in the UK. Enabled by the Government’s tax exemption on loaned computers, HCI schemes allow employers to loan computing equipment to their employees for personal use at home as a tax-free benefit. More than 380 companies, employing over 3.6 […]
Editor’s Comment: Bricks and mortar trap workers
By Annie Hayes, HRZone EditorOfficial statistics out this week show that movement in the labour market has reached its lowest ebb – employment is high but the number of unfilled vacancies is up; Editor’s Comment examines how the nation’s obsession with home-ownership is restricting the passage of skills and workers. Two thirds of us are […]
Linguists are key to global success
The ability to speak more than one language is critical if businesses are to succeed overseas.The survey by executive recruiters Korn/Ferry International reveals that 85% of recruiters in Europe, 88% in Asia and 95% in Latin America agree that being at least bilingual is critical to succeed in today’s business environment. Among recruiters in North […]
TUC call for equal pay ‘reality’
Deputy General Secretary of the TUC, Frances O’Grady will today tell delegates at an equality law conference that progress in equal pay must be speeded up.Calling for ‘real commitments in party manifestos’ O’Grady will say that ‘time is of the essence’ if pay parity is to become a reality.It is 35 years since the Equal […]
Revenue targets eBay traders
Workers who supplement their income by buying and selling goods via the online auction site eBay have been warned not to neglect their tax liabilities. Saffery Champness warned that the Inland Revenue is very aware of eBay and its inspectors have been targeting serial eBay users. Tax partner Ronnie Ludwig noted that with some 25m […]
Mid-sized firms dominate HR outsourcing
According to analysts Datamonitor, medium-sized businesses will lead the way in HR outsourcing deals this year.Michel Janssen, President of outsourcing advisory firm, Everest Group commented that last year and for the first time, mid-to-large versus the large-to very large businesses dominated human resources outsourcing.“2005 will be the year that BPO goes mainstream, and it will […]
Labour market buckles under weight of contradictions
Labour market statistics present a mixed picture. Official figures from the Office of National Statistics show that the trend in the employment rate is increasing. Working numbers increased by 99,000 over the quarter and by 271,000 over the year, to reach 28.49 million. This is the highest level since comparable records began in 1971. Despite […]
Call centre training achieves top grade
Contact Centre Professional (CCP), which trains unemployed adults to handle telephone enquiries in call centres, has been awarded a grade 1 “outstanding” by the government’s Adult Learning Inspectorate. The Newcastle-based firm was awarded the highest grade – achieved only by a handful of training organisations in the country – for its retailing, customer service and […]
