News: Kate Bleasdale v Healthcare Locums case turns dirty

The former chairman of Healthcare Locums, Alan Walker, has denied “sexual impropriety” with dismissed chief executive Kate Bleasdale amid allegations of accounting irregularities at the company. Bleasdale, who is representing herself at the London employment tribunal, is suing Walker – and HCL’s board members – for sexual discrimination and unfair dismissal.   The medical staffing […]

Legal Insight: Health matters part 2 – Dealing with ‘problem absences’

In the first instalment of this three-part guide to managing sickness absence, we considered both the importance of developing a good policy and how to manage sickness absence on a day-to-day basis.  And in this second article, it will become all too clear exactly how important these initial stages are when you are presented with […]

News: Employers cling to ineffective training methods – study

Too many employers are clinging on to traditional training methods despite having reservations about how effective they are, a survey has found. The poll was undertaken by Software-as-a-Service-based learning and talent management software supplier, Cornerstone OnDemand, and the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, which published the findings today to coincide with the start of […]

Olympus whistleblower demands answers at shareholder meeting

Former Olympus president and chief executive Michael Woodford has demanded answers over his sacking at a shareholder meeting in Tokyo. Around 1,000 investors approved a new board at the Olympus extraordinary general meeting amid calls from Woodford that it was a “mockery” to claim the group was making a fresh start.   Shareholders approved five years’ […]

CSC axes 1,100 jobs, 640 go offshore

Only days after CSC workers conducted a national lunchtime walkout over plans to impose compulsory redundancies, they have been told that 640 more posts are to go, bringing the total job losses since February up to 1,100. Unite members from CSC’s Chesterfield, Chorley, Leeds and Solihull offices took part in the walkout last Thursday to […]

Former press officer sues GCHQ for bullying amid “widespread” racism claims

A former senior press officer is suing GCHQ for allegedly having been a victim of “widespread” race discrimination and constructive dismissal after being victimised for making “public interest disclosures” as a whistleblower. Alfred Bacchus claims that his managers bullied him while he was a senior press officer at the government’s secretive spy base in Cheltenham, […]

Legal Insight: How to cope with tube strikes

Passengers are expected to face widespread disruption on the London Underground from tomorrow (24 April) due to a four-day strike by maintenance workers that is likely to affect services. The action looks likely to go ahead as planned because talks to avert it ended yesterday without agreement, according to the conciliation service Acas.   The […]

Mental ill-health issues cost employers £30 billion per year

Mental ill-health issues cost the UK economy £30 billion each year in lost productivity, half of which results from people taking a total of 91 million days off work, according to a charity. The Centre for Mental Health indicated that the other £15 billion was accounted for by employees turning up for work when they […]

Cultivating emotional intelligence: Lessons from two public resignations

There was a time when the manner and timing of your arrival was the coup de grace moment. But, if two recent articles that are getting considerable attention in online circles are anything to go by, the golden moment might now actually be the method of your departure.   It all began when Greg Smith […]

CSC staff protest about proposed NHS Lorenzo deal redundancies

Unite members working for CSC are on the streets today to protest against the company’s plans to make compulsory redundancies among those working on its troubled Lorenzo patient records system with the NHS.   Unite members from CSC’s Chesterfield, Chorley, Leeds and Solihull offices took part in a lunch-time walkout.   After several weeks of consultation over a reduction […]

EC campaign unveiled to promote funded international work placements

The European Commission is to unveil its ‘We Mean Business’ campaign tomorrow in a bid to encourage employers to offer fully-funded international work placements to young people. The aim of the move is to boost young people’s skills and employability at a time of high youth unemployment across Europe.   To this end, the EC […]

Tube maintenance staff to strike next week

London Underground maintenance staff will go on strike for 72 hours next Tuesday because of a row over pensions and benefits. The Rail Maritime and Transport Workers union, which represents about 1,000 staff who work on the Tube Lines contracts, said that personnel had voted four to one in favour of industrial action, which will […]

Is there such a thing as a typical HR career path?

There is no such thing as a ‘typical’ career in HR.  The diversity inherent in the profession provides the opportunity to take things in a variety of different directions and to influence strategic business decisions.   This is as true today as it was 20 years ago. HR is an evolving profession and entry routes […]

Mini workers threaten strikes after claims of being denied loo breaks

Thousands of Mini workers are threatening to strike over a “strings attached” pay deal as it also emerged that they were facing shorter breaks and had to “ask permission” to go to the toilet. Unions have already balloted almost 2,000 of their members who work at the BMW-owned plant in Oxford over what the car […]

Breakthrough reached in Unilever pension dispute

Two out of three unions have broken the deadlock in a long-running pension dispute at Unilever by accepting what they described as a “significantly improved” offer. Members of the Unite and Usdaw unions have accepted improvements made to a career average pension scheme that had been put on the table to replace a more lucrative […]

Legal Insight: Compromise agreements

On Friday 6 April, changes to The Equality Act 2010 (Amendment) Order 2012 confirmed that an employee’s lawyer could act as an independent adviser for the purposes of preparing a compromise agreement. But while this is all very well and good, what actually is a compromise agreement and why do employers use them so frequently […]

Blog: The power of trust

The bloodshed and killing in Syria goes on unabated. Yesterday the news was full of stories casting doubt on whether the peace plan will be respected and hostilities suspended. And as the deadline for the withdrawal of government troops and weaponry from population centres approaches, the government and the opposition forces continue to trade demands […]

Experts welcome two-year freeze on skilled migrant cap

 Experts have welcomed the coalition government’s decision to freeze the skilled migrant cap for two years, saying that the move will give employers more “certainty” and access to the specialist talent they require. Rather than reduce the current annual limit for the number of skilled non-EU workers allowed to enter the UK, the Home Office […]

Talent Spot: Community blogger, Doug Shaw

Doug Shaw has his nine-year-old daughter to thank for coming up with the most appropriate description of his job: “I make work better,” he says. The clue to how he performs this feat is in the name of his consultancy – ‘What Goes Around’. Treat staff well and they will treat their employer and its […]

In a Nutshell: Five legal tips for easing Diamond Jubilee holiday headaches

Marks & Spencer, Edinburgh Woollen Mills and Dorchester NHS Trust have been named and shamed for refusing to give staff paid leave on both days of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee weekend at the start of June. The TUC criticised all three organisations for requiring personnel to work on Tuesday 5 June, the final day of […]