Lone parents and benefit claimants lured back to work
“It is time” announced Chancellor Gordon Brown in his Pre-Budget Report to the Commons to “attract into work lone parents and incapacity benefit recipients with the capacity to work.”Forty pounds a week will be offered to 250,000 lone parents or £2000 a year for the first year they get back to work.While Brown patted himself […]
Skills to be reviewed says Chancellor
An independent review of the UK’s skills needs is to take place, chancellor Gordon Brown has announced.The review is to be led by chairman of the National Employment Panel Sandy Leitch.The announcement follows a move by Education Secretary Charles Clarke to protect subjects vital to the UK’s trade and security like science and languages. Yesterday […]
Low-skilled workers to get free training
Employer Training Pilots (ETPs) are to be extended to the whole of the UK, Chancellor Gordon brown announced in his Pre-Budget Report.The pilots, launched in 2002, aim to help low-skilled people in work gain basic skills or their first level 2 qualification (equivalent to GCSE grades A-C).Currently available in 18 areas of England, ETPs offer […]
Critics lash Brown’s family planning
Announced in the Commons this afternoon, Chancellor Gordon Brown has unveiled a package of reforms to help get parents of young children back in the workplace. The Government’s commitment to ‘building a fairer and more inclusive society’ in which everyone can contribute from lone parents to those on incapacity benefits is supported by a number […]
Housing sector employees are proudest
Nearly three quarters (72%) of employees working in the housing sector are proud to work for their organisation; a figure that is twelve percentage points above the UK norm of 60%.These are the findings from a recent report by research specialists ORC International’s Putting it in Perspective.Work/life balance satisfaction levels also rate highly in the […]
LSC pledges to put employers in driving seat for skills
Employers are to be put in the driving seat for skills development, the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) has said in its first annual statement of skills priorities. Priorities include extending Employer Training Pilots – expected to appear in Chancellor Gordon Brown’s Pre-Budget Report later today – increasing apprenticeships, and a firm commitment to make […]
Single workers get rough deal at Christmas
Preferential treatment is being awarded to employees with families over single workers when it comes to allocating Christmas holiday allowances.These are the findings from a survey by Croner Consulting.Four in ten employers give priority to those with children or dependants when granting annual leave requests over the festive period while in small businesses the discriminatory […]
Feature: Employing the grey nation
Tim Bradley, managing director of Pecaso looks at the implications of an ageing workforce for HR strategy. The result of increasing life expectancy and lower birth rates is a top heavy workforce in which the elderly begin to outweigh the young. The much documented pensions’ crisis caused by this has made the British aware that […]
Feature: Training -the missing element in successful mergers and acquisitions?
By Jon Buttriss, Executive Director, Thomson NETgTough economic times over the past five years have seen an unprecedented number of companies going through the mergers and acquisitions process, however, according to Robert J. Thomas, 50-80% of companies that have merged fail to match their previous performance. In many cases, the failure is caused by a […]
Free redundancy e-learning from Acas
Acas has developed a free online learning package to help businesses and organisations best manage redundancies in the workplace.The course covers topics including:* redundancy – where do I begin?* statutory consultation requirements;* undertaking individual consultation;* the employer’s obligations to employees facing redundancy;* statutory and voluntary information requirements.The e-learning course also gives a definition of redundancy […]
Senior nurses could earn £80k
Agenda for Change brings in tabled reforms to NHS workers’ pay today.The reforms will benefit more than a million NHS staff and are part of the biggest job evaluation exercise ever undertaken that will see staff matched to a new pay band and get fair reward for the jobs they do.Changes include: the NHS minimum […]
Businesses fear parental rights boost
Government plans to extend paid maternity leave from six to 12 months is alarming businesses who fear a productivity lag and a hit on profit levels.Sixty-one per cent of businesses polled by Croner Consulting, said the proposals would impact on their bottom line. Nearly two thirds also reject recommendations to increase paid paternity leave. Plans […]
Commuters score higher stress levels than fighter pilots
Even short commutes induce higher stress levels than those experienced by fighter pilots going into combat and police officers facing rioting mobs.The research, commissioned by Hewlett Packard reveal that heart rates and blood pressure rose rapidly for those on the commute to and from work.‘Commuter Amnesia’ a condition by which weary travellers temporarily switch off […]
HR Tip: Making rules work
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: Our employees have little respect for company rules. What can we do? A: You should first check that your rules are relevant and necessary, and that they are easy to understand. If not, […]
Focus On: HR Specialists – Jon Young, Head of HR at Saffery Champness
Trained as an engineer, Jon Young is perhaps an unlikely candidate for the HR profession; a personal tragedy triggered a move from production management to HR – a change of course that was to be the making of Young who has headed up the HR division of accountancy practice Saffery Champness for ten and a […]
Information & Consultation
By HRZone member Sandra Beale of SJ Beale HR Consult. To promote mutual trust between employer and employee, increase flexibility of business, improve competitiveness, align training and development to business needs and increase ability of business to anticipate risk – these are just some of the aims of the Information & Consultations Regulations 2005 being […]
New qualifications framework promises to cut confusion
A brand new framework for all qualifications – to include employer-led training – is being put to public consultation.The Qualifications and Curriculums Authority (QCA) says its framework would mean: * A clear structure for recognising learning and qualifications * Smaller packages of learning units that can be accumulated and transferred easily between qualifications and awarding […]
Outsourcing will kill IT departments
Shocking findings from a new poll reveal that 72% of end user companies and 82% of supplier organisations believe outsourcing will finish off IT departments for good.The poll was conducted at the National Outsourcing Association’s (NOA) recent summit.Martyn Hart, chairman of the NOA commented:“Even though this may seem like a blow to the IT industry, […]
Jaguar workers vote on strike
Jaguar workers are being balloted over strike action over the owner Ford’s decision to end production at the Browns Lane plant. On Saturday, 5000 people, including Jaguar workers from Browns Lane and other plants, their families and supporters marched through Coventry in protest at the planned closures, which threaten over 1000 jobs. Many demonstrators were […]
Member wire #76 – HRZone meets the new CIPD President
================================================================ HR Zone Members Newswire Issue 76 30 November 2004 http://www.hrzone.co.uk ================================================================ SITE HIGHLIGHTS ***** SITE HIGHLIGHTS ***** SITE HIGHLIGHTS 1. HRZone meets the new CIPD President 2. Q&A learndirect Chairman, John Weston talks to HRZone 3. HR Tip: Making rules work 4. The Couch?! Gets dunking 5. Any Answers: overtime pay, searching workers, medical […]
