Finding and keeping disabled workers
Organisations facing cost pressures in today’s challenging economic environment would do well to explore the business case for employing disabled people. Exceptional characters such as Stephen Hawking, David Blunkett and Richard Branson would appear to prove the point that it doesn’t make sense to simply exclude them in the mistaken notion that they have nothing […]
Negative attitudes towards disabled workers “more damaging than disability itself”
Just under two thirds of workers avoid people with disabilities because they are unsure of how to act around them, while a third view them in an actively negative light. These are the key findings of a survey undertaken among 3,000 UK adults by BT. The study also revealed that among those who had […]
News Analysis: ‘Glimmers of hope’ for jobs market as incomes set to drop
While there are “glimmers of hope” that the jobs market may revive somewhat over the next year, real household incomes are in contrast expected to fall by 7.4% over the next 36 months. The Recruitment & Employment Confederation’s JobsOutlook report for November, which is based on a survey of 600 employers, revealed that, although employers […]
Update: PM dismisses national day of action as “damp squib”
The Prime Minister dismissed the biggest national walk-out since the 1970s as a “damp squib”, even though the majority of schools across the UK were shut, services were disrupted and demonstrations took place across the country. His statement at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday came only hours before Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson, appearing on […]
HRD Insight: Dan Grant on Dell’s ‘Connected Workplace’ scheme
As job roles become increasingly global and Generation Y progressively enters the workforce, Dell’s aim in introducing its ‘Connected Workplace’ initiative was to continue being able to attract and retain staff. The initiative, which was initially piloted in the UK from November 2009 into early 2010, was rolled out across Europe, the Middle East and […]
The value of employee pension education
Auto-enrolment begins next October, with the aim of increasing the retirement income of a large proportion of the 14 million UK employees who do not currently save in a workplace pension scheme. An estimated nine million people will join the Government-sponsored National Employment Savings Trust, but millions more could opt straight out of the system […]
Are we ready for an older workforce?
Up until the middle of the last century, when a worker retired, the expectation was that they would not live for long afterwards. Sadly, this situation is still true in a minority of cases, although most have much longer to enjoy their retirement than in the past. In 2011, people born in 1946 will […]
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 […]
