Women still getting a raw pay deal
Figures released by the government show that women are earning far less than men, whatever their stage of life.Individual income statistics from the Women and Equality Unit reveal that the weekly median gross individual income for all women in 1999/00 was £125 – under half of the £256 for all men.But this is a slight […]
HSE: Nightworkers need help to change their way of life
The Health and Safety Executive has published research which looks at a method of helping those working on night shifts cope with their lifestyle. The disruption to sleeping, eating, social and domestic routines that comes with night shiftworking can pose a chronic risk to mental and physical health.Scientific literature suggests that giving people information on […]
Share options and redundancy
Giant US technology company Intel closed its operations in Denmark in June of this year resulting in the loss of 200 jobs.Many of the former employees were consequently unable to exercise their non-mature share options and the Danish commercial and clerical trade union is now taking the company to court to test whether it is […]
Human aspects of Mergers and Acquisitions
The following article was submitted by Jane Clarke, a director with business psychologists Nicholson-McBride and looks at why so many mergers and acquisitions fail to live up to expectations. And guess what? People are the key to making it all work!The recent announcement that Hewlett Packard (HP) is going to merge with Compaq will allow […]
Bank of England cuts rates
The Bank of England has cut interest rates from 5% to 4.75%.Today’s cut follows cuts by the US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank yesterday following last week’s attacks in New York and Washington.The Federal Reserve lowered its benchmark overnight bank lending rate by 0.5% to 3%, the third time this year the Fed […]
HSE ‘Workers web page’ gets the thumbs up from TUC
The TUC has welcomed the launch of a “workers web page” on the Health and Safety Executive website today. It is the first example of a Government body creating a portal specifically for workers. At last week’s Congress, the TUC committed itself to reaching out to the missing millions of workers who are not yet […]
Next stage of reform of the Minimum Funding Requirement
Today the Government published a document setting out plans for the next stage of reform of the Minimum Funding Requirement (MFR). It also announced that a Consultation Panel has been set up with representatives from the pensions industry, consumer organisations, employers and trade unions to take forward the final stages of the reform of the […]
Jobseekers to pilot literacy and numeracy improvements
Adult Skills Minister John Healey and Minister for Work Malcolm Wicks yesterday welcomed the start of pilots that will identify and improve the literacy and numeracy skills of people on Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA). These include providing financial rewards to those who complete basic skills training, and reducing JSA for people who refuse to improve their […]
Sexism begins at graduation
The pay gap between men and women begins immediately after graduation, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development has found.Male graduates are twice as likely to earn a salary above £25,000 as their female counterparts, the study revealed. And for every 5 women earning between £10,000 and £15,000, there are just three men. Unsurprisingly, male […]
Building Brands with People
“Companies seeking to build strong brands pump a considerable amount of resources into marketing, advertising and PR activities. Yet these very same companies often ignore what can be the most powerful ingredient of an enduring customer relationship: the people who represent the brand to the customer and who are called upon to fulfil the brand’s […]
Easing the strain in matching people to jobs
It’s a tough world out there for the HR professional. Caught between the explosion of the information age and the impassioned cries for a return to a more human element in work practices, the personnel department is now more than ever in a quandary. Staff reductions, shrinking budgets, staff turnover, increased administrative duties and added […]
Ten steps to better expenses management
In most companies, processing travel and entertainment expense claims uses either paper-based forms or Excel spreadsheets. As a result, control of spending across the organisation suffers and data needs to be re-keyed for entry to the general ledger, payroll and tax systems. According to American Express, travel and entertainment is the second largest item of […]
Workplace stress goes global
Almost all companies throughout the industrialised world are showing signs of employee stress, according to new research from Penna Sanders & Sidney. Based on findings from over 1000 companies in 24 countries, the research was conducted by Arbora, the international career management network of which Penna Sanders & Sidney is a member.The report divides companies […]
How to: Protect Yourself From Redundancy
Coming back from holiday to an uncertain economic climate, a key question in everyone’s minds is whether or not their jobs are secure… Do their bosses really value them? Have they got their fingers on the pulse in terms of their own industry sector and their own organisation’s ability to deal with any down-turn or […]
Healey: New research strategy for education will improve quality and access
A new national framework for improving the quality of educational research was welcomed yesterday by Adult Skills Minister, John Healey. The strategy will provide a national framework for improving the quality of educational research. Proposals from the National Educational Research Forum’s (NERF) first strategy document published today include: a Funders’ Forum to ensure value for […]
ACAS report increase in discrimination cases
Individual complaints to employment tribunals about discrimination in the workplace are on the increase. Latest figures from ACAS, the government backed employment relations experts, show a 21% rise last year.ACAS’s Chief Executive John Taylor said, “While the number of complaints to tribunals for many types of case has levelled off recently, there is still a […]
New lay members sought for EATs
A new round of recruitment to the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) was launched by the Government yesterday.The Government is planning to appoint ten new lay members to the EAT. Lay members have an important role to play in reviewing the decisions of employment tribunals and in interpreting legislation across a wide area of employment rights.Those […]
Women workers are key to filling long-term skills gap
Failure to tap the potential of a growing number of women workers will stifle the prospects of many UK businesses – according to the Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT). With the number of women workers projected to rise over the next 10 years (whilst rates for men fall)*, the AAT believes that organisations will need […]
Labour market remains strong – Nick Brown
The continued strength of the labour market was welcomed by Minister for Work, Nick Brown. The latest UK Labour Market Statistics show that employment has risen by 13,000 in the last three months and by 190,000 over the last year.The ILO unemployment rate remained unchanged on the quarter at 5 per cent, down from 5.3 […]
TUC conference to end early
The Brighton TUC Conference is to finish early after yesterday’s tragedies in the United States.President of the TUC, Bill Morris, told reporters that he would be fetching the conference to a “dignified close” on Wednesday in order to support the government. The conference will conduct no business and will wind up by 10.00 a.m. BST.The […]
