‘Employment by God’ limits clergy’s rights to appeal
Ray Owen is seeking to appeal against his sacking from the post of rector of the parish of Hanley. The trouble is, Church of England clergy are designated as employed by God, and only as holders of office within the church. This leaves them without the same rights to tribunals as other employees. Mr Owen […]
Warning to companies to improve on workplace partnerships
The CIPD is warning employers that they need to stay up to date with recent legislation in the area of union recognition and industrial relations.Mike Emmott, employee relations adviser, “Employers have too much at stake to remain unaware of the rules affecting trade union activity. The costs of industrial action, in terms of output, productivity […]
HR seen as inefficient at managing information
According to a survey of 100 medium-to-large companies by business intelligence specialists Cognos, 81% of UK businesses make crucial decisions with “inadequate data”. An even higher proportion rated improving sdata-handling as their top priority. Only 9% named data security as the greatest immediate concern.HR was considered particularly at fault, with nearly half of respondents rating […]
Feelings about workspaces affect productivity
Workspaces have a significant effect on productivity, but while offices have changed enormously in other respects, attitudes to the physical working environment need updating. This is the message of a new report from Futures at The Industrial Society, “The state of the office: The politics and geography of working space”.Open plan space for most staff […]
Next funding round open for work/life balance measures
Businesses are invited to bid for the fourth round of support from the Work / Life balance fund, if they want to introduce innovative working arrangements which benefit their business, their employees and their customers. The competition is open to all employers in England and Scotland in the private, public and voluntary sectors. The lucky […]
Managers confident on economy, but reluctant to invest in training
According to the Institute of Management’s latest Quarterly Management Trends survey, business confidence among UK managers has risen again over the least few months, flying in the face of predictions of recession. The Business Confidence Indicator is the percentage who express confidence in the econmomy for the coming year minus the number who don’t, and […]
Should public services disputes go to compulsory arbitration?
In the midst of ongoing rail stoppages, the Industrial Society is calling on the government to commission a review on the role of compulsory arbitration in disputes that hold up public services and damage the economy. The current rail strike affects one in five London commuters and is estimated to be costing £6.1 million per […]
Firms may be fined for failing to offer pension schemes
The CIPD is warning companies that those with more than four employees could face very large fines unless unless they offer their staff stakeholder pensions. Four months after stakeholder pensions became mandatory, many organisations may still be ignorant of their responsibilities. However, the CIPD are offering a guide through this increasingly complex area: “Pensions”, written […]
Employers wasting NHS resources by asking for sick notes too soon
Bosses are wasting valuable NHS time and resources by requesting sick notes beofre they are legally required, according to a new campaign, which is backed by a website, Managing Sickness Absence. The most common causes of sickness absence are minor complaints such as colds or headaches, which can be treated most effectively with self-medication. GPs […]
Jobseekers go online first
Twice as many skilled jobseekers start by looking online as did a year ago, according to new research from Reed. “The Quiet Revolution: Technology Transforming Recruitment” indicates that the rise in the use of the net has been greates among the most skilled candidates, doubling amongst AB jobseekers, from 18% a year ago to 37% […]
Stress a major drain on productivity
New NOP World research, commissioned by Investors in People to mark their tenth anniversary, has found that stress is a very significant factor in hampering business success. More than one in five employees see stress as the greatest negative factor affecting their productivity. However, only half as many bosses agreed. And relatively few employees saw […]
Workplace stress – how do you measure it?
This feature was provided by the Institute for Employment Studies In response to the growing demands to know how best to measure stress in the workplace, the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) has commissioned the first ever major review of measures of workplace stressors (ie, measures of those aspects or characteristics of jobs, such as […]
Sex discrimination payment breaks records
Following on from the news that discrimination compensation payments rose again last year, a new case has dwarfed those awards with a massive £1.5 million payout. Julie Bower, formerly an analyst at Schroder Securities, claimed that she had unfair treatment and dismissal, and the Tribunal has ruled that this was in part because she is […]
Option of unpaid parental leave now available
Today the new rules regulations allowing for unpaid parental leave come into force. Initially only parents of children aged over five on December 15, 1999, were entitled to 13 weeks off for each child. Now it will apply to parents of younger children too, following the TUC’s success in a legal challenge.The TUC’s General Secretary […]
Job-seekers prepared to lie about interests, but more wary on work experience
According to new research, candidates are twice as likely to stretch the truth about their personal hobbies and interests than about their work experience. The survey, by Office Angels, shows job-seekers increasingly believing that facts that could possibly be checked might well be, so the majority avoid making false statements about work experience (60%) and […]
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Compensation awards for discrimination reach record levels
A survey by IRS Equal Opportunities Review has found that compensation payments in 2000 rose to nearly £4 million. The survey included all 316 discrimination cases where an award was made. These included one payment of £100,000 for Injury to Feelings, in the case Virdi v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis (including £25,000 for […]
Workplace partnerships boost productivity and profitability
Hard on the heels of one very positive report by the Institute of Employment Studies on partnerships between enmployers and unions comes another from the TUC. “Partnership Works” suggests that when bosses and employees co-operate there are benefits across productivity, profitability, staff turnover and sickness absence.As well as highlighting the potential contribution of unions in […]
Group Training Exercise
I need to find the group training exercise which asks people to consider what items they would keep when their plane crashes in the desert.The purpose of the exercise is to show that “the sum of the whole is greater than its parts” by demonstrating through a relatively short exercise that we work better as […]
Executive pay-offs still inflating
In spite of the negative coverage given to large executive pay-offs in recent years, they continue to rise. A survey in Labour Research shows that at least 14 executives left with pay-offs of over a million pounds in the last accounting year. 75 exiting directors got over £100,000, and fourteen of the companies responsible made […]
