Legal Insight: How to guard against constructive dismissal claims
Lord Sugar is as famous for his business success as he is for his “You’re Fired” catchphrase on ‘The Apprentice’. Seven series of the popular BBC television show have produced seven winners, but only one still works for him. However, viewers of the last series will know that the winner no longer takes it […]
Research puts migrant construction worker safety in the picture
Deaths and injury among migrant construction workers could be cut by up to 20% simply by including pictures in safety training, research has revealed. Statistics from the Health and Safety Executive show that migrants, who comprise 6% of the UK’s 2.3 million construction workers, are more likely to be fatally injured than native UK employees […]
Change programmes: Asking the awkward questions
As difficult economic circumstances continue, it seems likely that organisations of all types are going to have to find new ways of cutting costs, improving productivity and just generally fighting harder to get business. This will mean scrutinising activities that do not clearly help them meet their goals in the short-term and potentially terminating them. […]
Unpaid overtime saves employers £29.2bn each year
One in five workers regularly work unpaid overtime saving employers a huge £29.2 billion per year, with older workers and long-servers by far the most likely to offer their services for free. According to an analysis of official government figures undertaken by the TUC to mark ‘Work Your Proper Hours Day’, some 5.3 million people […]
Analysis: Are women being hit hardest by public sector cuts?
Although research indicates that women have been disproportionately hit by cuts in public sector temp budgets, females are not being hit harder than males in the UK jobs market overall, the CIPD attests. An analysis of employment across 74 local authorities and other public authorities undertaken by consultancy, Comensura, revealed an 11.8% drop in the […]
Could more effective workforce management replace redundancy?
As uncertainty over the Eurozone crisis continues to dampen confidence and fears of a double-dip recession continue to loom, it appears that UK organisations will need to keep on tightening their belts for some time to come. And as downsizing strategies go, few measures ever seem to receive the same amount of airtime and […]
Network Rail’s travel time-based redundancy policy branded “unfair and arbitrary”
Unions have branded Network Rail’s decision to make workers redundant if they do not live within 75 minutes of its new offices as “unfair and arbitrary”. The Transport Salaried Staff Association claims that 800 staff from Kent, Surrey, Sussex and Hampshire will be affected by the policy, although the owner of the UK’s rail infrastructure […]
Blog: How to network effectively
Networking – why do it? Are you doing it? Are you any good at it? Did you know that you can greatly enhance the performance of your team and your company through networking? One of the things about networking is that there can be a lot of mystique attached to it. There is the […]
Legal Insight: How to avoid getting sued when making redundancies
In today’s financial climate, it is generally not particularly difficult to persuade an employment tribunal that a company needs to make redundancies. But if an employee challenges the reason for their dismissal, the employer’s reasoning will come under much closer scrutiny than it would in an ordinary unfair dismissal case. This means that, ideally, […]
UK unemployment continues ‘steady crawl’ to 9% by year end
Although the latest official unemployment figures were better than expected, the UK is continuing its steady crawl towards jobless levels of 9% by the end of the year, experts warn. According to the Office for National Statistics, worklessness rose by 48,000 in the three months to December, bringing the number of people without employment to […]
Talent Spot: David Kast, head of HR at Hogg Robinson Group
When David Kast first started working in a branch of travel agency Hogg Robinson Group in the early 1970s, he had no inkling that he would still be working for the same firm 39 years later – or that his career would have veered off into HR and training. Kast had left school unsure of […]
Talking Point: Is the fit note fit-for-purpose?
The fit note was introduced in April 2010 and replaced the ‘all or nothing’ classification of the traditional sick note, under which people were either ‘fit’ or ‘unfit’ for work. Based on the premise that you don’t need to be totally ‘fit’ to do some kinds of activities, establishing a third option of ‘may be […]
Blog: The necessity of developing management resilience
The resilience theme is continuing in my blog posts, this time due to a recent news item I’ve read. According to the latest Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development‘s (CIPD) quarterly Employee Outlook survey, UK middle managers are feeling the squeeze as a result of the economic downturn. The results highlighted that almost half […]
Valentines Day: Two out of five employees look for love at work
Although many UK employers have traditionally frowned on workplace romances, a huge two out of five employees will nonetheless be looking for love at work this year, according to a survey. The poll undertaken by Jobsite.co.uk also revealed that a third of men would take a job based on the attractiveness of new colleagues. Some […]
Unions launch year-long ‘treat interns fairly’ campaign
The TUC and the National Union of Students have launched a year-long campaign calling for interns to be treated fairly. The initiative, which kicked off at a seminar at TUC headquarters in central London today, is intended to address concerns that graduates undertaking work experience are being exploited as a useful source of free labour […]
Redundancies expected to hit highest levels since spring 2009
The proportion of private sector employers planning to make redundancies this quarter is at its highest level since spring 2009, with those cutting jobs expecting to axe about 4% of their total workforce. According to a survey among more than 1,000 employers undertaken by YouGov on behalf of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, […]
Shaping future strategy: Workforce analytics
We see it every day in the headlines, particularly over the last few years – ‘Top Company Cuts 1000s of Staff’. All too often, there is a knee-jerk reaction after senior executives and managers conclude that headcount equals only cost and they neglect to consider what value their people bring to the business. They […]
Unilever scientist jumps to death following redundancy
A top food scientist jumped to his death from the roof of his laboratory only hours after being made redundant, an inquest has heard. Dr Clive Blackburn, who had worked for Unilever for 15 years developing ready-to-consume drinks for big brands such as Slimfast and Lipton Tea, was told that he was at risk of […]
PM refuses to rule out ‘golden skirt quotas’ of 30%
The Prime Minister has said he will not rule out introducing so-called ‘gold skirt quotas’ as a means of boosting the number of women at board level. At the Northern Future Forum summit in Sweden today, David Cameron said that he wanted to “accelerate” the amount of high-level female representation and, while it should happen […]
Lack of workplace training ‘boosts UK inequality’
A trade union-based learning and skills organisation has called on employers to provide their entire workforce with learning and development opportunities in order to boost motivation and retention rates and cut sickness absence. Unionlearn, which is part of union umbrella organisation, the TUC, cited "shocking" statistics from the UK Commission for Employment and Skills‘ Employer […]