News: UK workers ‘most depressed in Europe’

UK workers are the most depressed in Europe, with just over a quarter having been diagnosed with the condition, according to research. But because diagnosis levels across the continent are on average about 20%, falling to a mere 12% in Italy, it appears that the country’s dubious position at the top of the polls may […]

News: Impact of AWR 1 year on? Depends who you talk to

Research on the impact of the Agency Worker Regulations a year after their introduction has thrown up some deeply contradictory findings about the desire of employers to take on temps. One survey indicated that fewer agency personnel have been taken on as a result of the legislation, while another found that it had made no […]

News: Bereaved parents call for corporate manslaughter charges against G4S

The parents of a private security guard have called for his employer, G4S, to be charged with corporate manslaughter after their son was killed by a colleague described by an alleged whistleblower as a “violent criminal”. According to a BBC documentary entitled ‘Britain’s Private War’, which is due to be screened on BBC Two Scotland […]

News: Employers exploit apprenticeships for cheap labour, claims business owner

All too many employers are simply exploiting short-term apprenticeship schemes in order to get hold of cheap labour, a business owner in the North East of England has claimed. Mike Heslop, who owns supply chain maintenance firm, Centrex Services, said that he was stunned on talking to a good number of young hopefuls that so […]

News: Redundancies likely early next year if economy fails to improve, warns CIPD

Rising unit labour costs and falling productivity will only put more pressure on employers to either restrict pay rises and cut working hours or start making redundancies, the CIPD has warned. Figures published today by the Office for National Statistics revealed that the productivity of UK workers fell by 0.9% in the second quarter of […]

News: Fear of causing offence damaging inclusion efforts, warns research

Fear of causing offence to colleagues by saying something politically incorrect can damage working relationships and actually hamper attempts at inclusion, research has found. The study undertaken by the Employers Network for Equality & Inclusion on behalf of BT revealed that both managers and employees were often anxious about having conversations with others if they […]

News: ‘Forget offshoring. Onshore work to prison inmates instead’

Rather than offshore work to staff overseas, employers should consider onshoring it to inmates within the prison system, an offender rehabilitation expert has suggested. A report entitled ‘Made in Prison’ published by Working Links called on the government to work with organisations such as the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and the CBI to […]

News: Staff at Dept for Culture, Media and Sport face post-Olympics cull

Despite successfully helping to stage the Olympic Games and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations, civil servants at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport have all been put at risk of redundancy. The department has been tasked with cutting its administration costs by 50%.   As a result, its aim is to cut its workforce […]

Is the HR recruitment market starting to recover?

The overall HR recruitment market has seen a marked improvement recently, with a cautious but steady rise in new vacancies. Here we look at individual sectors in more depth: Financial services   There have been a few significant HR moves at the senior executive level recently and we expect that to impact hiring as new […]

News: 22,500 new HR jobs created over last year

While the number of HR professionals employed in the UK has risen by 20% over the last year, vacancies for senior interim staff leaped by a huge 45% during the first nine months of 2012 alone. According to an analysis of data from the Office for National Statistics undertaken by specialist HR recruitment agency Ortus, […]

News: Youth Contract alone not up to tackling unemployment, warn MPs

The government’s flagship scheme to cut youth unemployment will simply not be enough to tackle the current scale of the problem, according to a group of MPs.   Although the Work and Pensions Select Committee said that the £1 billion ‘Youth Contract’ was a good start, measures such as providing subsidised work and training placements […]

The Retail Distribution Review: How will it affect you?

By New Year’s Day 2013, recommendations from the Retail Distribution Review will need to have been implemented. The Review is significant as it will have a major impact on the way in which financial advisers and financial adviser firms do their dealings – or ‘distribute their advice’ – to consumers who are known as ‘retail […]

News: Lawyers disagree over impact of tribunal “shake-up” proposals

Vince Cable’s so-called tribunal system “shake up” has sparked disagreement among lawyers as to how significant the impact on employers is likely to be. The Business Secretary confirmed today that the controversial ‘no fault dismissal’ proposals made in a Downing Street-commissioned report by venture capitalist, Adrian Beecroft, were being dropped due to a lack of […]

News: Whitehall to relaunch grad hiring scheme with Facebook Q&A

The civil service has revamped its ‘Graduate Fast Stream’ recruitment programme and plans to relaunch it next week by offering candidates a live question and answer session with a government minister on Facebook. The Q&A session will take place with cabinet secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood on Thursday 20 September and is intended to provide potential […]

News: Govt plans to axe employer safety checks garner mixed response

Government plans to exempt hundreds and thousands of businesses from “burdensome” health and safety inspections as part of its pledge to cut business red tape have garnered a mixed response. Under a binding statutory code that is due to be introduced in April 2013, proactive checks will no longer be routinely carried out on premises […]

News: Thinktank and nurses’ leaders dispute impact of regional pay deals

Although a think tank has claimed that national pay rates are unfair to public sector workers, nurses’ leaders attest that local pay rates will result in thousands of professionals leaving the NHS in protest. According to a report by the right-wing Policy Exchange, a huge £6.3 billion of public money could be freed up by […]

News: Unemployment fears used to dampen pay, claims incoming TUC boss

Unemployment appears as if it is being used as a “deliberate measure to keep pay down, and to keep people scared”, according to the TUC’s leader-in-waiting, Frances O’Grady. In an interview with the Guardian, she said that there was “a fair bit of evidence” that the country’s lengthening dole queues could be part of a […]

Blog: Reshuffles – A matter of perception?

As Prime Minister David Cameron tackles the first cabinet reshuffle of his tenure he will have to balance the internal needs and objectives of the coalition, while ensuring that the shake-up of ministerial jobs sends out the right signals to the electorate and Conservative party MPs. Although it is highly unlikely that the changes business […]

News: Whitehall must work “smarter” to deliver services post-jobs cull

In order to prevent civil service staff numbers creeping up again despite heavy job cuts, it will be crucial to revamp business processes and enable people to work “smarter”. This is one of the key findings of a report entitled ‘Managing early departures in Central Government’ published by the Commons Public Accounts Committee.   The […]

EU proposals: Tightening up Ts&Cs for temporarily posted workers

A recent government consultation on the potential impact of a decision by the European Union to enforce its Posting of Workers Directive has just closed, but the responses should help the UK to formulate its negotiating position. So what does it all mean and why is the move significant for employers? A worker is classed […]