Employees need holiday every 60 days

UK workers need to take a holiday every 60 days if they are to stay fresh, focused and avoid feeling stressed, according to research.  A survey among 2,000 adults undertaken by Post Office Travel Insurance revealed that one in four felt the need to take a break from work every two months, with 20% feeling […]

BA strikes peace deal

A peace deal has been reached in the 18-month dispute between British Airways and its cabin crew, only days before the next wave of industrial action was due to take place.  The settlement, agreed between the airline and Unite, was backed at a mass meeting near Heathrow airport of nearly 2,000 members of the trade […]

Secret talks lead to tube strike cancellation

A series of crippling London tube strikes due to start next Monday have been suspended following secret talks between Transport for London boss Mike Brown and union officials.  The RMT transport union had threatened to bring the Underground to a standstill in six separate walkouts planned for May and June following the dismissal of two […]

1/3 of unionised workplaces expect a strike over next year

Just over three quarters of employers believe the UK is moving into a new and more unstable era of industrial relations, with a third of those that recognise a union expecting their workers to go on strike over the next 12 months.  According to an online poll among 371 HR practitioners undertaken by the Chartered […]

HP boss wins breathing space over sexual harrassment letter

A letter detailing sexual harassment allegations against former Hewlett-Packard boss Mark Hurd will not be unsealed until September as revealing its contents before he has a chance to plead his case could cause him “irreparable harm”.  The letter, written by celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred on behalf of former HP contractor Jodie Fisher, triggered a chain […]

Coaching ‘vital’ to laid off managers

Coaching can play a “vital” role in helping older managers cope with finding themselves unexpectedly on the job market again after being laid off, research has found.  The two-year study undertaken jointly by academics at the Universities of Surrey and Bath among senior managers aged 49 to 62, who lost their jobs in acrimonious circumstances, […]

Training budgets continue to be squeezed

The trend towards shifting increasing amounts of training provision in-house to cope with budget cuts seems unlikely to change over the year ahead, with two out of five organisations anticipating further squeezes.  According to a survey among 600 private and public sector organisations undertaken by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, some 43% saw […]

Taskforce set up to increase employee engagement

A government-sponsored taskforce has been set up to try and tackle the staff engagement issues identified in the MacLeod Review in order to boost the productivity and competitiveness of UK organisations.       The taskforce, which includes representatives from both the public and private sector, will be chaired by David MacLeod himself, who wrote […]

Lecturers strike over pay and pensions

Tens of thousands of lecturers will today take part in their first nationwide strike for five years as part of a worsening row over changes to pay and pensions.  Members of the University and College Union will walk out of 500 further education colleges, older universities and former polytechnics across the country and mount picket […]

One in four have no respect for manager

Just over a quarter of UK workers have no respect for their managers, while just under half fail to find them motivational, with staff in the North East of England being most disillusioned.  These are the findings of a survey undertaken among 2,031 adults by pollster ICM on behalf of the People 1st Training Company, […]

Businesses relying on temps

The nature of the UK labour market is changing as a result of the ongoing difficult economic circumstances, with the use of temps and those working in “unsustainable, unconventional” ways on the increase.  According to research from temp recruitment agency de Poel, the number of temporary staff hired by employers increased by 65% last month […]

Eight jobs removed from ‘skills shortage’ list

Senior care workers and migrant chefs from outside of the EU seeking employment in any restaurant that provides a takeaway service are among eight occupations to be banned from working in the UK.  The coalition government plans to put the restrictions in place as part of a package of anti-immigration measures intended to cut the […]

Union fury at public sector pension plans

Unions were gearing up yesterday for a summer of discontent in protest at sweeping changes to public sector pensions proposed in Lord Hutton’s much anticipated report.  The Independent Public Service Pension Commission’s final report recommended that pensions no longer be linked to final salaries but instead be tied to average career earnings in a move […]

Police may ‘take to streets’ over cuts

Police officers could take to the streets over proposed “cataclysmic” cuts to their take-home pay, after accusing the coalition government of bullying tactics and “unfair treatment”.  The furious reaction followed a government-commissioned review by former rail regulator Tom Winsor, which called for the reduction in or abolition of a series of allowances and overtime payments […]

Tribunal system broken: time for overhaul says CIPD

The employment tribunal systems must be radically overhauled as it is now “broken” and no longer offers value for money, according to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.  A survey undertaken by the HR body revealed that just under seven out of 10 employers believe they have no effective protection against employees taking unjustifiable […]

Ask the expert: Redundancy of backfilled post

This time the experts, Esther Smith and Martin Brewer give their advice on what to do in the case of making this backfilled post redundant. The question: Redundancy of backfilled post We have a seconded employee whose post may be made redundant – given that he has been in this post for 11 months and […]

Public sector pension reform may spark action

The UK faces a wave of industrial unrest if the recommendations of a report on public sector pension reform due to be published later this week are adopted.  A Treasury review, conducted by former Labour Cabinet minister Lord Hutton, is expected to propose sweeping changes to the pension system, which include axing ‘gold-plated’ financial salary […]

UK small business ‘not prepared for disruption’

Although the majority of UK small-to-medium enterprises suffered business disruption due to adverse weather conditions, health or transport issues last year, nearly a quarter had no contingency plans in place to deal with the situation.  According to a survey undertaken by telecoms provider Cable & Wireless Worldwide’s Demon Broadband, a huge 86% of respondents experienced […]

MoD: 17, 000 forces jobs are to go

The Ministry of Defence has come under fire after announcing plans to axe 17,000 posts across the armed forces over the next four years, some 11,000 of which will take the form of redundancies.  The first tranche of the three or four waves of redundancies will come in September. The RAF was the first to […]

Scottish unions grapple with councils over redundancy and pay

Scottish trade unions have denied that a deal has been struck with the Scottish Government and local councils to protect public sector jobs in return for pay constraint.  The move followed reports that an agreement was close, but unions seeking more assurances over the deal accused the Scottish Government of “jumping the gun”.  Although a […]