Financial services follows manufacturing sector in seeing confidence fall
Business confidence amongst financial services companies has fallen more sharply than at any time for three years and business levels are well below normal. Those are the main findings of the latest quarterly survey of firms in the sector published today by the CBI and PricewaterhouseCoopers.Seven per cent of respondents said they were more optimistic […]
Employers rush to sign up for stakeholder schemes, but…
The introduction of the stakeholder pension has created a wider “stakeholder effect” in the pensions market, according to a new report published on Friday by the Association of British Insurers (ABI). “Stakeholder Pensions – The Story So Far” includes case studies showing how the scheme has benefited employees and reports that sales of individual pensions […]
FirstPersonGlobal and the Employment Service both recognised at the Computing Awards
The Employment Service and its IT partner, EDS, have won two of the prestigious "Computing" Awards for Excellence. The awards were announced at a ceremony at the Grosvenor, London, on 3 October. The winning categories are "Most Innovative e-Business Project of the Year" and "Web Site of the Year". The e-Business Project award went to […]
Ten stakeholder pension myths
We’ve all heard of the urban myth – a fantastic fusion of imagination, primal fear, base superstition and rumour.A worthy successor to the urban myth is the stakeholder myth – a fantastic fusion of imagination, primal fear, base superstition and rumour.At the risk of being boring, the Occupational Pensions Regulatory Authority (OPRA) would like to […]
FLASH – – – Bank rate cut by 0.25%
The Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee has announced this lunchtime that the bank's interest rate is to be cut by a quarter point from 4.75% to 4.5% Responding to the Bank of England's decision to cut interest rates, TUC General Secretary, John Monks, said, "Today's decision is very welcome but the Bank must be […]
PwC at centre of Independent redundancy storm
Over 150 former staff of Independent Insurance are to allege that liquidators from PricewaterhouseCoopers failed to consult with them properly over their redundancies.PwC showed the door to 1,000 employees in June, just days after the firm was called in as provisional liquidator.Now a group of former staff from the collapsed insurer are launching unfair dismissal […]
Employers’ access to criminal records ‘will make it harder to prevent re-offending’
New legislation giving employers access to the criminal records of job applicants will add to discrimination against offenders in the labour market – increasing the risk they will revert to criminal activity. The warning comes in a study for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation which concludes that the vast majority of employers will make use of […]
TUC economic report – recession or recovery?
The TUC is today (Thursday) calling on the Bank of England to cut interest rates and urges employers to treat redundancies as a last – not first – option in response to the economic impact of the terrorist attacks in the US. A TUC economic analysis, World recession or recovery? released today (Thursday) says the […]
EEF calls for Chancellor to ‘protect our manufacturing jobs’
The Engineering Employers’ Federation (EEF) has urged the Chancellor of the Exchequer to bring forward measures in his pre-budget statement to protect the UK economy, and manufacturing in particular, where an already deteriorating situation has been exacerbated by the attack in the United States.The call comes as the monetary policy committee again review interest rates […]
Out of court settlement for bullied pregnant executive
Australian-born Vanessa Brennan, 32, of Chelsea, west London, is reported to have settled her claim for loss of earnings, stock options and injury to feelings against her former employer American Express in an out-of-court agreement. Her original claim sought for a settlement of some £1 million.Earlier this year Mrs. Brennan told an employment tribunal in […]
Government sets out voluntary code for pension fund investment
The Government today issued a revised set of principles of investment for pension funds, following consultation. It also issued its official response to the Myners review of institutional investment, which gives some updates on how the Government and other organisations are taking forward the recommendations of the review. The principles of investment were proposed by […]
Manufacturing summit to tackle jobs and investment
Trade and Industry Secretary Patricia Hewitt yesterday unveiled plans to hold a Manufacturing Summit to tackle the challenges facing manufacturing firms in every part of the UK.Announcing the Manufacturing Summit yesterday, Patricia Hewitt said, “There is real pain in our manufacturing industry – workers with ten, 20 and 30 years of skill and experience gutted […]
Sift Seminar – Employee Online Communities
If your company has an employee intranet, it’s time to think again about what you’re using it for! Although employee intranets have been around for some time, enabling companies to distribute knowledge and information to their staff, until recently intranets have been used primarily for top-down communication from management to employees. With issues of internal […]
Employment legislation
This page contains a summary of all the information and resources available on HR Zone which look at employment legislation, bringing together all the information you need in one place.Resources:For in-depth descriptions and details of legislation recently passed, see the range of specialist publications available at HR Zone Blackwell’s Bookstore. OneClickHR provide a number of […]
‘Get your jab in first!’ says Henry Cooper
UK boxing icon Henry Cooper will again be spearheading this year’s government campaign for people to be immunised against the flu virus.Last years campaign which brought “our ‘enry” in to lead efforts to reduce the target age group from 75 years to 65 years was considered to have been a great success. The target this […]
New minimum wage rates in force
More than a million low paid employees across the UK will get an extra £14 in their pay packet for a standard 35 hour week, with the new National Minimum Wage rates coming into force.The increases mean that the hourly rate for adults aged 22 and over will increase from £3.70 to £4.10 – equal […]
Changes to the Working Time Regulations
Changes to the Working Time Regulations which will remove the qualifying period necessary to receive entitlement to paid annual leave were announced today by Employment Relations Minister Alan Johnson.The amendments will give workers a right to paid annual leave from their first day of employment, and a corresponding right to compensation for any untaken leave […]
The nine-point guide to ‘de-hiring’
The well-documented downturn in the media industry has generated a level of sackings and redundancies, not experienced since the early ‘90s. Given the sustained period of growth, many managers have never had to fire people before and are making a hash of it, according Hugh Joslin, MD of recruitment consultancy, Media Contacts.“It is bad enough […]
Coaching versus training
Is there research which shows that managers get more benefit from one to one coaching than attending “standard” training courses? Did I read somewherethat retention is 2.5 times greater?Is there evidence that companies are using coaches (internal or external)more often in the UK these days? Alan Ross
CBI: Don’t talk the UK into recession
CBI Director-General, Digby Jones yesterday claimed to set the record straight on the state of British business in the wake of the terrorist attacks in the United States. Speaking at the Liberal Democrats’ conference in Bournemouth he said, “We are living in uncertain times, but you won’t hear me talking about general recession. The stock […]
