HR headaches ahead as 6 million plan to delay retirement
One in five people in their 50s plan to work for at least 10 years longer than the current state retirement age, creating yet more planning headaches for hard-pressed HR departments. A survey of 1,500 over 50s undertaken by insurance and pensions company LV= revealed that 6.1 million or 28% of the entire age group […]
Ask the Expert: Can I change the job offer for a pregnant candidate?
The question We recently offered a full-time role to an applicant who has now indicated that she may be pregnant. She is considering not joining us because of this. We have no problem with her pregnancy, but the role offered could be strenuous in the later months of pregnancy. We want to consider other […]
Blog: Five truths about millennials in the workplace
Recognise This! – All people, of every generation, are individuals. Stereotyping behaviours based on birth date only serves to ignore true issues in the workplace. The generational divide, in one form or another, kept hitting my screen time and again in the last week or two. A few that struck me the most: […]
Update: Government pension proposals not enough to stop industrial action
Coalition Government concessions on public sector pension changes have not proved enough for the unions to call off their proposed day of action at the end of this month. The point was rammed home earlier today when members of Unison, the UK’s largest union, voted overwhelmingly in favour of striking by 245,359 for to 70,253 […]
Garden centre worker unfairly dismissed for anti-hunting beliefs
A Dorset man was unfairly dismissed from his job at a garden centre because of his anti-hunting beliefs, an employment tribunal has ruled. Joe Hashman was fired from Orchard Park in Gillingham after acting as a witness in two hunting prosecutions. He took his claim for unfair dismissal to a tribunal after a judge […]
Talent Spot: John Hardman, HR director at HSS Hire
The various jobs and responsibilities may have changed over the years, but for John Hardman, HR director at HSS Hire, one thing has remained constant. “Dealing with people is what I do, and what I love,” he says. His natural people skills were noticed early on by his first employer, NatWest. Hardman had started on […]
Getting women on the board is not about quick fixes
The newspapers have been awash lately with damning surveys suggesting that large companies still have a long way to go to balance up their boardrooms and create working environments that support women’s career progression as much as they do men’s. So it came as no surprise that Lord Davies’ Review has so far yielded minimal […]
Talent Spot: Denise Keating, head of the Employers’ Network for Equality and Inclusion
There isn’t much in either an HR or business setting that Denise Keating hasn’t tried and mastered. As well as systematically working to make herself an expert in every aspect of HR, along the way she has also picked up experience of areas such as IT and clinical governance. “I never lost jobs, just gained […]
White officers sue Metropolitan Police for racism
Six white officers are taking the Metropolitan Police to an employment tribunal, accusing the force of racial discrimination and ‘political correctness gone mad’. The men, all members of the Met’s Territorial Support Group, were acquitted two years ago in a trial relating to alleged race-related assaults, but claim that, since the court case took place, […]
Proposals to change parental rights slammed as “hideous”
A Liberal Democrat minister has branded recommendations to restrict maternity and paternity rights as “hideous” amid rumours of a Cabinet split on the issue. Lynne Featherstone, LibDem equalities minister, made it clear to the Observer newspaper yesterday that her party would not tolerate any watering down of parental rights, lashing out at private equity […]
Employers sign up to Recruitment Protocol to tackle disability discrimination
A group of 16 employers are to sign up to an agreement requiring all of the recruitment agencies they work with to remove employment barriers for disabled people. The ‘Recruitment Protocol’, which was developed by the Employers’ Forum on Disability in consultation with the employers concerned and recruitment agencies, is intended to make it easier […]
“Institutional inertia” leads to slow progress on female board directors
“Institutional inertia” is to blame for the fact that only 33 FTSE 100 companies have heeded Lord Davies’ call to set targets for increasing the number of female directors on their boards. A progress report due to be unveiled at a Downing Street reception this afternoon will also reveal that, of the 33 firms that […]
Cost a factor in disability discrimination claims, landmark ruling reveals
Employers can take cost issues into consideration when working out what constitutes a ‘reasonable adjustment’ for disabled employees, an employment appeals tribunal has clarified for the first time. The ruling was made in the case of Jane Cordell against the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and is the first time that cost has been put at […]
Ask the Expert: Is it OK for staff to smoke e-cigs in the workplace?
The Question ‘E-cigs’ are electronic cigarettes. Basically, they look like cigarettes but work by heating a solution that contains nicotine. This produces an odourless vapour that is inhaled. The user inhales this and gets their nicotine hit. When they exhale, you see a ‘vapour’, which looks like smoke. In fact, the units look just […]
Diverse thinking
How many ethnic minorities are represented within your organisation? Do you know that? If you do, do you know what the breakdown is in terms of representation and at what levels of the organisation? How about the breakdown in terms of sexual orientation? Or faith-based segmentation? Let’s ask a different question: does all this matter? […]
The retiring of the retirement laws – a talent management challenge?
Employers can no longer force staff to retire at 65 after the Default Retirement Age met its end on 1 October – but has UK Plc really woken up the HR challenge ahead? The Default Retirement Age (DRA) was introduced in 2006 at the same time as regulations (Employment Equality (Age) Regulations) intended to stop […]
Six tips for effective talent management
With competition to retain high-potential employees at fever pitch, talent management is firmly occupying the HR, learning and development and leadership agenda. But there are six principles that organisations can adopt to make a real difference in talent management terms in order to ensure that they select, develop and retain their best performers and future […]
Women, depression and the workplace
This article forms part of our series on women in the workplace. Take a look at the full content series for more information, including insight into impostor syndrome, sick leave and much more. According to the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), depression currently affects 1 in 6 people in the UK at […]
Legal Insight: Tackling gender pay gap reporting
The recent settlement of the long running saga of Gibson and Others v Sheffield City Council, otherwise known as the ‘dinner ladies’ case, highlights the limitations of the UK’s equal pay legislation. After 40 years of being in force, we are still seeing test cases, where legal issues relating to whether workers are entitled to […]
Investors demand FTSE 350 go public on female board diversity
HR directors could be getting a knock on the door following letters sent to FTSE 350 chairmen by institutional investors demanding that they disclose their plans for employing more women directors. According to the Telegraph, the seven investment firms, which include Jupiter Asset Management, Insight Investment Management and Co-operative Asset Management, are “keen to understand” […]
