New diversity guide and sample policy
Stonewall, the gay equality organisation, has produced a free 40-page ‘toolkit’ offering practical help and advice to employers on how to comply with the Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations which came into force on 1 December 2003. The booklet, The Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations: Guidelines for Employers, features best practice guidance developed by members […]
Community feature: Introducing…
Nichola Nair, European HR Strategic Programmes Manager for Xerox, is this week’s star of HR Zone’s regular ‘Introducing…’ feature. What’s your current job role?European HR Strategic Programmes Manager, Xerox Limited.What did you do before this job?I had an HR operations role. Describe your route into HR?I moved from a Programme Management role (first job) to […]
Employers failing to communicate full value of reward packages
Very few employers keep staff informed about their pension arrangements on an on-going basis, according to the CIPD’s annual reward survey. It found that 88% tell staff about pensions during their recruitment and induction process, with only 46% updating staff about their pension arrangements on an ongoing basis. Duncan Brown, Assistant Director-General for the CIPD […]
Empowering the workforce to innovate
Most businesses say they would love their employees to be more creative, contributing fresh ideas that make and save money for the company but is this just a management pipedream? John Carter, Management Innovation / Quality Manager at Toshiba Information Systems (TIU), examines how viable this really is, looks at techniques to encourage innovation and […]
Line managers increasingly take on HR tasks
With many employers having abandoned their old multi-tiered management structures for a flatter organisation, the burden of responsibility falls increasingly on the front-line manager. Yet HR professionals “have little confidence that the task will be done well, if at all,” claims a new report.However, most of the 62 named companies in the IRS survey said […]
Recent trends in reward management
There has been a large increase in the number of organisations who have carried out pay audits in the past year and an even greater proportion of employers plan to carry one out in 2004, according to new research.The CIPD’s annual reward survey of 500 organisations, to be launched at the CIPD’s reward conference tomorrow, […]
Case study: Starting from scratch at Panasonic
Two years ago Panasonic UK over-hauled its training and development process. Development Manager Graham Borley says the results have been a more motivated workforce and a 40% reduction in costs. In the first of two articles, Graham explains the reasons behind the review. Business commentators and senior managers are often heard to say that people […]
February’s themes on HR Zone
HR Zone will continue to publish a range of information on a variety of HR topics but we also plan to bring you a monthly focus on some of the key subjects you’ve told us you’re interested in.Throughout February HR Zone will be publishing news, features and case studies that focus on retention and reward. […]
‘Work rage’ – how can employers tackle it?
What practical steps can employers take to help eliminate any occurrence of work rage and what are the key legal points employers should consider as they shape relevant HR policies? Law firm Beachcroft Wansbroughs urges employers to take note of the following advice. New HSE statistics show that episodes of ‘work rage’ continue to afflict […]
New Bill to promote flexible employment for carers
British Gas has given its firm backing to the Carers (Equal Opportunities) Bill, Dr Hywel Francis MP’s Private Members’ Bill, which will place a duty on local authorities to tell carers about their rights and to promote carers’ opportunities to work, train and attend courses on life-long learning. Mark Clare, Managing Director of British Gas […]
Testing staff for drug taking
If you suspect one of your employees is taking drugs, and their work performance at work is deteriorating, is there anything you can do about it? Debbie Taylor of Mercia Group looks at the legislation that can assist businesses to take action against employees. When is it appropriate to test staff? In an environment with […]
HR Tip – Behaviour outside 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: An employee was recently thrown out of a pub having, we understand, caused a lot of damage. Can we fire him? A: Probably not. What the person did was in his own […]
Pay gap widens
Whilst overall temporary and permanent pay rose across most job types in 2003, the gap widened significantly between those earning top rates and those at the lower end of the scale, according to new salary research by Kelly Services. National resultsOn average, temporary staff on the lower end of the scale (across the 16 job […]
Government proposes automatic entry to occupational pension schemes
The Government has set out a series of initiatives to increase pension saving, working in partnership with employers, individuals, the financial services industry, trade unions and the voluntary sector.Andrew Smith, together with Pensions Minister, Malcolm Wicks, yesterday unveiled the publication: ‘Simplicity, security and choice: Informed choices for working and saving’. Read a summary of the […]
New report provides insights into employing disabled people
Employers’ awareness of the current provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) is patchy, claims a new report by The Department for Work and Pensions.The new report, ‘Disability and Business: Employers’ and Service Providers’ responses to the DDA in 2003 and preparation for 2004 changes’, based on responses from around 2000 telephone interviews, is summarised […]
How Did I Get Here? Alison Lewis, Oxfam
HR Zone member Alison Lewis is Corporate Learning & Development Manager for Oxfam. Here, in our regular 'How Did I Get Here?' feature, she spills the beans on her HR career to date. What's your current job role?Corporate Learning & Development Manager for Oxfam – which I do 3 days a week. The other 2 […]
What makes an employee stay with an organisation?
How can HR take advantage of the changing ‘psychological contract’ between employer and employee to retain staff? Tim Osborn-Jones looks at the issue of retention by drawing on research from Henley Management College. The talent warThe challenge of managing talent from the viewpoint of the employee, and the employer, critically dubbed as the ‘talent war’ […]
Toshiba demystifies pensions with online information service
Toshiba Information Systems (TIU), one of the UK’s largest electronics firms, has launched an innovative service that gives members of its DC[1] pension scheme new levels of transparency and control over the present and future direction of their pension contributions. The online pension service, one of the first of its kind in the UK, is […]
Public sector most likely to use online recruitment
Almost nine in 10 public sector employers use online recruitment to find new staff compared with just over three in four manufacturing and production companies, according to new research.The IRS survey of 208 UK employers found that online recruitment is less popular among small organisations (fewer than 250 people), where three in four use this […]
Softworld feature article: Implementing an effective e-recruitment strategy
What are the key points to consider when deciding whether to implement an e-recruitment strategy? Bill Shipton, Chairman of the Association of Online Recruiters looks at the benefits of the Internet as a “must have” candidate attraction strategy and highlights examples of organisations that have made significant time and cost savings through managing the recruitment […]
