Does affirmative action in recruitment work?
Affirmative action in the jobs market, while illegal in the UK, has been key to helping cut US unemployment rates among African-Americans, research has revealed. According to a paper presented at the British Sociological Association’s annual conference in Leeds today, one in 12 black Britons is currently unemployed compared with just one in 16 over […]
Talking Point: Why are there still so few women in the workplace?
Once upon a time, real work was for men and women were expected to stay at home and look after the wellbeing of their families. If anything, they were regarded as the ‘silent reserve’ of the labour market. In the 21st century, however, policy makers and businesses no longer need the devastating impact of the […]
Jealous HR staff ‘bin CVs with pics of pretty rivals’
It appears that internet sensation Samantha Brick may have a point – research has revealed that women should beware of attaching photos of themselves to their CVs because jealous HR staff have a habit of binning them. Brick, a former TV presenter, who has widely been accused of being an internet troll – or someone […]
Blog: The diversity issue – Is being people-friendly the next eco-friendly?
What does diversity mean to you and your business? Or inclusivity and cohesion? A few zzzz lines in the company report, a policy destined for tumbleweed, an unreachable recruitment target, something largely negative under the umbrella of ‘compliance’ that must be reluctantly ticked? What would true diversity and total inclusivity look, feel, and sound […]
Ask the Expert: Are dads on paternity leave entitled to bank holidays?
The question One of our employees became a father on 22 December, 2011. He requested and took his two weeks of paternity leave, starting on the day that the baby was born and ending on 5 January, 2012. However, during those two weeks, there were three bank holidays. Has he lost these now […]
Talking Point: Do you really know how to get the best out of your older workers?
Of all the things that we aspire to during our career, being an ‘older worker’ probably isn’t one of them. Yet, as we age, this identity is thrust upon us and, with it, a range of stereotypes based on other people’s perceptions. As a 56-year old manager recently pointed out: “Suddenly all that people […]
Blog: Five tips on how best to recruit Generation Y
By 2020, the Millennial generation will account for 50 per cent of the working population and will represent the majority of the workforce. As Millennials consume information in different ways than their Gen X and Boomer counterparts, it’s no longer enough for companies to connect to potential employees via traditional communications channels such as newspapers […]
Ask the Expert: Do employers have to pay for post-natal time off?
The question A member of staff has just returned from maternity leave. She is still breast-feeding her child and needs to expel her milk at least twice a day. She works a 40-hour week, which is now being reduced by between 30 and 40 minutes each day due to this process. The employee […]
EU Parliament votes in favour of binding female boardroom quotas
The EU Parliament voted in favour of introducing binding quotas for women at the top table at the same time as a report revealed that UK progress on appointing females to executive board-level positions had been slow. The vote by the EU Parliament followed a consultation that was launched last week by EU Justice Commissioner, […]
Ministers in legal battle to stop Christians wearing crosses at work
Christians do not have the right to wear crosses openly at work, ministers are set to argue in a landmark case at the European Court of Human Rights. But the move will set the coalition government on a collision course with its own equality quango, The Equality and Human Rights Commission, which plans to put […]
International Women’s Day: Only 19% of IT professionals are female
Despite years of IT industry initiatives to boost female representation, a mere 19% of technology professionals are currently women. A poll conducted among 2,000 respondents by recruitment website, The IT Job Board, to coincide with International Women’s Day, indicated that the figure had risen 3% on last year, but it also pointed out that half […]
HRD Insight: Leigh Lafever-Ayer on Enterprise Rent-A-Car’s women’s mentoring scheme
Many companies are grappling with how to help more women attain senior roles at the moment, especially since the Davies Review shone a spotlight on the shortage of women in the boardroom. Our approach to the issue at Enterprise Rent-A-Car has been to introduce a mentoring scheme in order to focus on helping women progress […]
International Women’s Day: Making gender diversity a workplace reality
The aim of International Women’s Day today is to inspire women, celebrate their achievements and find ways of creating brighter and more rewarding opportunities for future generations. But in terms of the workplace, just how far has gender diversity actually come? The media is full of reports about the need for greater female equality. […]
Remploy factory closures risk jobs of 1,500 disabled workers
Remploy is to consult with unions over the proposed closure of 36 of its 54 factories due to government funding cuts, which could lead to compulsory redundancies among more than 1,500 disabled workers. Remploy factories were established 66 years ago as part of the creation of the welfare state in order to employ disabled […]
EU proposals for female board quotas a “mistake”
A European Union-wide consultation on whether to introduce mandatory quotas to try and increase the number of women on company boards has been branded a “mistake” by the coalition government’s boardroom diversity champion. Lord Davies of Abersoch admitted that the move by the EU’s Justice Commissioner, Viviane Reding, “raises the temperature” on organisations that […]
Inclusion: Reaping what you sow
From the rallying cry of the Lord Davies report calling for more women to join British boardrooms to the abolition of the official retirement age, diversity has been in the full glare of the media spotlight over the last year. Yet the story at ground level is rather different and the key theme in […]
Spiralling childcare costs risk driving parents out of work – report
Above inflation rises in the cost of UK nursery places at the same time as wages continue to remain stagnant risk forcing parents to give up their jobs because they can no longer afford to pay for childcare. This is the key finding of a study conducted by national childcare charity, Daycare Trust, and sponsored […]
Blog: Diversity is good for business
I have watched with amusement these past few weeks the reaction in the sports world to the phenomenon called Jeremy Lin. Not being much of a sports fan (especially basketball), I had to delve a little deeper than the normal fan. Chinese-American and Harvard-educated does not normally equal star in the NBA — or at […]
Blog: Are most diversity initiatives just PR stunts?
If we want to create truly sustainable change and a culture of involvement and responsibility throughout our organisations, then we need to examine our every action to ensure that it supports our objectives. Sustainable change requires total commitment, not just rhetoric. Sadly, this isn’t always the case – as a recent survey from recruitment […]
Recruitment agencies indulge in “casual racial discrimination”
UK recruitment agencies are indulging in "casual racial discrimination" against job seekers from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, making them more likely than white applicants to apply to employers directly. This is the key finding of a survey among 2,500 people who have sought work over the last 12 months conducted by SPA Future […]
