Job cuts hit NHS and IBM

The seemingly unrelenting news about job cuts continued apace today, with a possible 36,000 nursing positions due for the axe in the NHS and potentially as many as 299,000 permanent posts to go at IBM worldwide.  A survey of 26 of England’s 168 NHS Trusts by the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) found that 5,600 […]

CIPD warns UK must prepare for 10% public sector cut

The CIPD has estimated that the UK should be braced for a 10% cull in the public sector workforce in the lifetime of the next government – whoever wins the May 6 General Election.  The cut would bring the current 5.8 million roster of such jobs down by at least 500,000, says the CIPD (Chartered […]

Public sector pensions – an election issue?

Do you want to see ‘an independent commission on public sector pension provosion’ in our HR manifesto wishlist? Bonuses and benefits have been huge stories in the past year, and now we are offically in campaigning pereiod for the 2010 general election any newsworthy issue can become an election issue. In HR we might feel […]

Research reveals new talent in town – Gen R

Say hello to Generation R, your new must-have employee. They’re not defined by a date of birth but recession, retention, responsibility and a desire for recognition.  Forget generations X and Y, it’s Generation R you need to look out for. This set of professionals have not only survived the recession but were retained, were not […]

Law essentials: Equality bill

The Equality bill changes you need to be aware of, from law firm Beachcroft LLP. Update: see the changes which came into effect on 1 October here View our article on the parts which didn’t make the cut here Harmonisation and extension of discrimination law: The prohibition in directly or indirectly discriminating “because of a […]

Equality bill gets washed up

The equality bill has been passed in the last days of the government in the ‘wash up’ period.      Update – See an overview of the changes which came into effect on 1 October 2010 here The Press Association reported Deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman’s flagship Equality Bill was sent for Royal Assent on […]

Election 2010 – your manifesto

What do you want to see the parties promising you this election? We’re putting together a manifesto wishlist to win the hearts of the HR community.  Now that parliament has been dissolved, the campaigning really has officially begun. The parties have been delivering hints and statements on their policies for some time now, but we […]

Mandelson: Business leaders ‘tricked’ by Tories

Lord Mandelson has claimed the Conservatives ‘tricked’ some of the UK’s biggest business names into signing a letter backing the Tory plan for National Insurance if they come to power. The Labour plans involve a 1% rise on NI for employers, sparking claims of a Labour ‘tax on jobs’, which the Tories say they would […]

Government takes on long term unemployment

The government is guaranteeing to provide jobs or work placements for people on Jobseekers Allowance who have not worked for more than two years in a bid to prevent long-term unemployment from soaring.  Under Labour’s new so-called “something for something” approach, however, claimants will be required to take up such positions or risk losing their […]

Manifesto for employment – what do you want to see?

After the UK election, any incoming government should focus on workforce flexibility rather than employee job security and on ensuring that further education is aligned with commercial requirements rather than promoting education for education’s sake.  These are the key demands laid out in the UK’s largest recruitment consultants Hays’ new ‘Manifesto for Employment’, which calls […]

Budget reveals funding for skills

Chancellor Alistair Darling’s decision to earmark £2.5 billion in this year’s Budget to boost skills and innovation among small businesses has been branded “vital” in helping the UK to recover from recession.  The one-off growth package is intended to encourage employers to invest in developing key skills such as literacy and numeracy among their workforces […]

Budget 2010: our forecast

So what did Alistair Darling have to offer employers and employees in his 2010 budget? Here’s a light hearted forecast at how the budget will affect you at work. Unemployment – be grateful, but not too gratefulMr Darling was quick to remind us that the unemployment rate is lower than it was during the recessions […]

Female students rule out career in finance due to perceived discrimination

While the UK’s top female students are ruling out careers in the City seeing it as unethical and rife with discrimination, two thirds of healthcare workers are enthusiastic about their jobs, with nine out of ten feeling that they really make a difference. According to a survey of 450 female undergraduates at Oxford University undertaken by […]

Recession continues to strain employee-employer relations

The number of monthly calls being made to the conciliation service Acas’ helpline has doubled since September last year as the impact of the recession continues to put increasing amounts of strain on employer-employee relations.  By the end of February, Acas had referred 8,034 pre-claim conciliation cases to its early conciliation service since launching its […]

Tories unveil plan to ‘get Britain working’

If elected to power, the Conservatives have pledged to set up a ‘Service Academy’ that they claim would create up to 50,000 training places and work placements for the unemployed in partnership with business.   Eleven employers in the hospitality, leisure and tourism sector have already signed up to the scheme, which forms part of […]

Train and gain or snooze and lose

Dwindling levels of investment in training must rise this year if UK employers are to remain competitive on a global basis as the economy starts to emerge from recession, an expert has warned.  According to the National Employer Skills Survey (NESS) for England undertaken among 79,152 organisations and commissioned by the UK Commission for Employment […]

Landmark agency and permanent staff wage equality

Asda’s landmark deal to ensure that agency workers in its meat and poultry supply chain are paid the same as permanent staff is likely to pile pressure on other supermarket chains to follow suit.  The retailer’s move comes ahead of a report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission looking into working practices in the […]

Businesses petition against NIC increase

A raft of business groups have started a petition against the government’s planned 1% increase in National Insurance contributions, which they claim will force employers to recruit fewer staff and even lead to job cuts.  The petition, which was launched yesterday, was backed up with a letter to the Daily Telegraph, calling on the government […]

A possible 25,000 jobs to go in public sector

Employers should prepare themselves for slow economic recovery and the potential for “social disharmony” should predictions about the possible loss of 25,000 jobs at local councils in England over the next three to five years come to pass.   According to a survey from business lobbyists the CBI, the growth picture in the UK’s vital […]

HR professionals ‘risk being left behind’, says CIPD

HR professionals risk being left behind unless they find ways to help senior managers reach their goal of building a genuinely sustainable business model for the future.  The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) in the first report from its Next Generation HR project said that the HR function needed to move from its […]