Data Protection Act
HR professionals regularly handle personal data through recruitment, appraisals, and disciplinary processes, making them subject to the Data Protection Act 1998. Part 4 of the Employment Practices Code provides guidance on handling workers’ health information, classified as sensitive personal data requiring strict compliance with eight Data Protection Principles.
Case study: Retention success at Mastercare
Mastercare PC ServiceCall achieves exceptional staff retention—only one employee left a 35-person team in five years—through hiring passionate self-learners, fostering open communication, encouraging creativity, and providing comprehensive training and individual development plans.
Parenting sabbaticals – how do you ensure staff remain skilled?
As companies offer parenting sabbaticals to retain skilled female executives, maintaining their professional competencies becomes crucial. Extended leave of up to five years risks skill degradation, requiring organizations to implement training strategies that keep staff current and job-ready upon return.
HR Tip – Holidays for temporary employees
Temporary employees on your payroll are entitled to four weeks’ paid holiday per year, pro-rated based on their employment duration. Agency-supplied temps remain the agency’s responsibility for holiday entitlement, and employers cannot pressure either party to forgo legally entitled holidays.
Softworld feature: Selecting and implementing HR software – Q&As with Paul Priddle
Paul Priddle, SAKS Consulting Principal, shares expert guidance on selecting and implementing HR software effectively. He discusses critical planning processes, developing a solid business case, current market trends, and strategies for navigating vendor options to ensure successful project delivery and measurable ROI.
Softworld feature: Payroll legislative changes
Learn about mandatory electronic payroll payments and filing requirements for larger employers, National Insurance number changes, and updates to company car taxation and benefits at the Softworld HR & Payroll seminar on 3 March.
How Did I Get Here? Sue Matthews, Coventry City Council
Sue Matthews, HR Manager at Coventry City Council, discusses her career journey from legal PA to HR professional. She shares insights on how HR has evolved toward strategic roles, the importance of gaining experience and qualifications, and her favorite HR Zone resources.
Case law: Injury to feelings awards
A Court of Appeal decision clarifies that compensation for unfair dismissal claims can include damages for injury to feelings, but only where there is “real injury” to the employee’s self-respect. This ruling potentially increases compensation awards and is likely to generate significant future case law.
Case study: Creating a culture of needs-based learning at Panasonic
Panasonic UK overhauled its training program to align development with business strategy and measure impact, achieving a 40% cost reduction. The company implemented an electronic system with needs-based learning reviews, job profiling, and career planning tools to replace its historical, third-party-coordinated approach.
Workers choose ‘more responsibility’ over cash
Three-quarters of recently promoted workers prioritize increased responsibilities over higher pay, according to a Reed survey of over 3,700 employees. Directors were most likely to value greater challenges, while public sector workers were least interested in expanded responsibilities.
Study highlights executive remuneration practices
A Hewitt Associates study of over 60 major public companies reveals HR currently plays a technical role in executive remuneration, though market pressure and shareholder demands are expected to drive strategic change toward stronger performance-based pay links and enhanced transparency.
How can you widen your recruitment selection pool to increase diversity within your organisation?
Widening your recruitment selection pool increases organisational diversity through a strategic four-point approach: understanding your market demographics, building a business case for diversity, and engaging hiring managers. This evidence-based strategy delivers commercial benefits including improved problem-solving, stronger product development, and better market alignment.
Billions wasted on under-valued employee benefits
UK employers waste around £5 billion annually on employee benefits that junior staff don’t value, according to new research. A survey of HR directors found benefits packages are far more important to experienced employees than younger workers, suggesting companies need tailored benefit offerings rather than one-size-fits-all approaches.
HR Tip – A redundancy problem
When you’ve made a job offer that’s been accepted, you have a binding employment contract even before the employee starts. If you need to withdraw the offer due to redundancies, you must provide contractual notice rather than simply canceling—use the notice period specified in the contract or a reasonable period matching similar roles.
New diversity guide and sample policy
Stonewall has released a free 40-page toolkit to help employers comply with sexual orientation employment equality regulations. The guide includes best practice advice from major organizations like BT, Barclays, and the Home Office, plus a sample diversity policy.
Community feature: Introducing…
Nichola Nair, European HR Strategic Programmes Manager at Xerox, shares her career journey in HR Zone’s community feature. She discusses transitioning from programme management into HR, leading a major European acquisition, and offers advice for aspiring HR professionals on gaining diverse experience across all HR disciplines.
Employers failing to communicate full value of reward packages
Most employers fail to keep staff informed about pension arrangements after hiring, with only 46% providing ongoing updates compared to 88% during recruitment. This lack of communication means employees don’t fully appreciate their total reward package or understand retirement savings importance.
Empowering the workforce to innovate
Organizations can foster employee innovation through structured processes like Six Sigma rather than informal brainstorming. By creating concrete initiatives with clear procedures and incentives, companies empower their workforce to contribute creative ideas that improve efficiency and profitability.
Line managers increasingly take on HR tasks
Line managers are taking on increasingly complex HR responsibilities as organizations adopt flatter structures, but HR professionals worry they lack adequate support and training. A new report finds that companies with well-trained first-line managers report strong effectiveness, though expectations continue to expand across recruitment, appraisals, absence management, and people development.
Recent trends in reward management
Organizations are increasingly conducting pay audits and shifting pension strategies, according to new CIPD research. Employers are restricting final salary pensions to existing staff while introducing lower-contribution money purchase schemes for new employees, and cafeteria benefits are gaining popularity to attract talent.
