Unemployment at 17-year high – and worsening
The UK is suffering a “major jobs and pay crunch” after unemployment hit 2.6 million, a figure not matched in 17 years and higher than consensus forecasts for 2011 as a whole. According to the Office for National Statistics, the number of people out of work in the three months to September rose by 129,000, […]
Jobs market to suffer “slow, painful contraction”, warns CIPD
Private sector hiring plans are being overshadowed by public sector job losses and will lead to the employment market continuing to suffer a “slow, painful” contraction. This was the key message to come out of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s quarterly survey of 1,000 employers, which found that the extent of public sector […]
Legal Insight: How to tackle bullying in the workplace
Former England Rugby Union international, Ben Cohen, has called for people to make a stand against bullying in general and homphobia in particular. To this end, his Foundation is calling for the creation of an annual ‘Standup Day’ to take place on 14 November each year. Although the aim of the Day is to encourage […]
Employee resilience – whose responsibility is it anyway?
The concept of ‘developing resilience’ in employees is becoming increasingly popular as redundancies and talk of fresh economic downturns start to hit the headlines. But although it is intuitively understood that the term is linked to stress management, definitions of what it means in exact terms are often vague. Advocates tend to fall into […]
Regional Growth Fund to create 4,000 SME jobs
The Regional Growth Fund, which has been heavily criticised for only benefiting big companies, is to provide £500m in funding to small-to-medium enterprises, creating an estimated 4,000 jobs in the process. The Coalition Government’s flagship recession-busting scheme will allocate £95m to firms, while RBS, NatWest and HSBC banks will top up the rest of the […]
Seven secrets to staff engagement
The fundamental role of HR is to motivate the right people to do the right things at the right time. This situation puts the spotlight on how to boost employee engagement and ensure that workers are committed to the organisation. If you want staff to perform effectively, what are you going to give them in […]
Ask the Expert: Do staff accrue holiday while on unpaid leave?
The question We have a part-time employee who has asked to take two periods of unpaid leave during the next calendar year so that she can go travelling. We are happy to grant her these periods of unpaid leave, but the question is, will she continue to accrue holiday leave entitlement during this period […]
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 […]
HMRC staff balloted for action over call centre privatisation plans
A union representing more than 21,000 Revenue and Customs staff is threatening to stage regular walk-outs over the government agency’s plans to use private sector providers in order to answer taxpayers’ phone calls. At the end of last week, the Public and Commercial Services union began a two-week ballot of 12,000 of its members […]
News Analysis: Two thirds of workers suffering high stress levels
Two thirds of all workers are suffering from high levels of stress and are having to take time off work as a result. These are the key findings of a survey among employees at 1,500 companies worldwide undertaken by employee assistance programme provider, ComPsych, to coincide with National Stress Awareness Day today. The poll […]
UK lags behind rest of OECD in management skills
An influential HR body has called on the Coalition Government to find ways of encouraging UK employers to fill damaging gaps in current management and leadership skills profiles. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development has published a Work Horizons report entitled ‘Good Management – A New (Old) Driver for Growth’, ahead of next month’s governmental […]
Tube drivers to start industrial action on Friday
Tube train drivers are to begin industrial action on Friday morning in a move likely to cause delays and disruption to the capital’s underground network. The action was agreed by a margin of four to one by members of the UK’s largest transport union, the Rail, Maritime and Transport union, in a row with London […]
Axing unfair dismissal rights “not beneficial” for employers or staff, warn experts
Radical proposals to allow employers to sack unproductive workers without explanation would “not be beneficial” to themselves, their staff or the economy, experts have warned. A leaked final draft report, commissioned by the Prime Minister and written by Adrian Beecroft, a venture capitalist and Conservative Party donor, suggests that UK workers should be banned from […]
Employers lose top talent due to neglect not pay, says study
Low trust levels in senior management, job dissatisfaction and excessive amounts of daily stress are the key reasons why employers lose top talent. According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s quarterly Employee Outlook survey, staff are, unsurprisingly, much more likely to position themselves among the 22% currently looking for a new job if […]
Clegg promises yet more employment law change this autumn
The Coalition Government plans to introduce a “major package” of employment law changes this autumn, which includes “significant reforms” to the tribunal system. This morning, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg told a meeting of small business leaders gathered at the Shoreditch offices of Holition, which creates augmented reality marketing software, that the aim of implementing […]
Unions mount legal challenge to Government pension changes
A new front will open up tomorrow in the ongoing battle over public sector pensions between unions and the Coalition Government when a judicial review hearing kicks off in the High Court. The aim of the legal challenge, which has been mounted by the UK’s six largest public sector unions, is to question the lawfulness […]
Staff education and training are critical to corporate security
Earlier this year, a security firm called RSA was embarrassed by a major breach that led to information about its user authentication token technology leaking out. The company not only faced a huge bill to physically replace its offerings, which were now useless, but also attracted unwanted column inches from press around the world. Just […]
Ask the Expert: How can I legally sack an employee with a disability?
The question We have a member of staff who is bi-polar (declared and fully supported since November 2009). Recently, however, there have been changes to his mood and behaviour. He suffers from depression, feelings of self-harm, hallucinations. On occasion, the staff member has also sent inappropriate and racist emails to some colleagues and demonstrated […]
MoD spends £9m on armed forces recruitment as redundancies mount
The Ministry of Defence has spent £9 million on recruitment advertising for the armed forces despite being in the process of laying off thousands of troops over the next four years. According to figures revealed in a written Parliamentary answer to shadow defence minister Kevan Jones, the government department has forked out £5.19 million in […]
Public sector job cuts hindering not helping deficit reduction, warns CIPD
Chancellor George Osborne has been urged to postpone continuing public sector job cuts because they are a “false economy” that is hindering rather than helping deficit reduction plans. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development today warned that the Coalition Government was cutting too far, too fast, after a survey by the organisation revealed […]