News: Men who wear pink shirts earn more and are better qualified

Men who wear pink cotton shirts earn more and are better qualified than those who prefer traditional colours such as white or blue, according to a study.   On average, pink-loving males earn £1,000 more a year than those who prefer blue shirts and are twice as likely to have a Masters degree than those […]

News: Underlying joblessness worsens despite official figures, warns expert

Despite apparently positive unemployment figures, underlying worklessness is now much higher than it was in May and could jump quite dramatically in the New Year, according to an employment expert.   The latest Labour Market Statistics report from the Office for National Statistics indicated that the UK jobless rate now stands at 2.51 million or […]

News: Christmas party hangovers to cost employers £740m this year

Hungover staff will cost employers a huge £740 million in lost productivity this year, with seven out of 10 expecting to party for at least two nights over the next 10 days.   According to a survey among 2,000 workers conducted by hotel chain, Travelodge, three times more UK companies (75%) plan to host a […]

News: Investment manager loses £1.7m bonus over poaching lunch

An investment manager lost a £1.7 million bonus claim today after the High Court found that he had breached the terms of his employment contract by trying to poaching another employee over lunch. Fahim Imam-Sadeque had been head of sales for the UK, Middle East and Australia at Royal Bank of Canada’s Bluebay Asset Management […]

News: EU pension change proposals to cost UK employers £350bn

Proposed EU pension changes could cost UK employers £350 billion in additional costs, reducing GDP by an average of 1.5% per annum and cutting 180,000 jobs by the mid-2020s, the CBI has warned. The European Commission is proposing to introduce a new funding regime, which would require final salary pension schemes run by individual employers […]

News: 1/3 of workers sleep with colleagues at the Xmas party

Even though just under a third of employees admitted to having had sex with a co-worker at the Christmas party, nearly three quarters don’t want to go this year. According to a poll of 1,000 UK staff undertaken by married dating website IllicitEncounters.com, three out of five also acknowledged having kissed someone that they work […]

That was the HR year that was

If it were possible to sum up a year in a single word, that word in 2012 might be ‘austerity’ – a word that means many things to many people, but which basically amounts to hard times for great swathes of the population. In economic terms, austerity refers to a policy of lowering expenditure by […]

News: Employers ‘routinely discriminate against women from ethnic minorities’

A group of MPs and peers has urged the government to take steps to improve equality in employment procedures after it was revealed that many employers routinely discriminate against women from ethnic minorities. A report produced by the Runnymede Trust for the all-party parliamentary group on race and community found that females belonging to ethnic […]

2012 – The year in full

HRZone editor, Cath Everett, picks out the key events from what has, once again, been a challenging year for the HR community:       January   The PM’s views on popular capitalism: Employee-ownership, Living Wages etc Increasingly fragile UK jobs market was set to get worse More strikes and legal action threatened over public […]

Blog: Workers to burn out unless something gives soon…

HR professionals will have seen more than anyone the ongoing challenges being faced by both employers and workers as the seemingly never-ending economic crisis rolls on. Some may be claiming that the green shoots of recovery are now visible but others are telling us to prepare for a triple dip recession.   Whatever future difficulties […]

News: Chancellor’s Autumn Budget Statement for HR at-a-glance

Here are the key HR-related announcements of Chancellor George Osborne’s Autumn Budget Statement:  Civil service spending/job cuts   Whitehall departments will be required to shave 1% off their running costs during the financial year 2013/14 and a further 2% the following year in order to save £3.4 billion on top of existing cuts.   Another […]

News: Govt pursues shares-for-rights scheme despite lack of support

 The government has decided to press ahead with its plans for ‘employee-owner’ contracts despite a lack of support among either employers or employees. A consultation by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills revealed that most organisations would choose not to take up the new rights, which were announced by Chancellor George Osborne in his […]

The skills paradox flourishes

We are in a skills paradox. On the one hand, headlines have screamed all year of redundancies, high unemployment, and graduates struggling to get a foot through the corporate door.   On the other, they have also been warning of rising skills shortages and on-going talent wars.   While there has and always will be […]

News: Starbucks’ move to cut staff benefits sparks fresh concern

Starbucks’ decision to cut paid lunch breaks, sick leave and maternity benefits has sparked concern among staff that they are being forced to help subsidise the coffee chain’s potential tax bill increase. According to the Guardian, on the same day last week that the House of Commons’ public accounts committee branded the firm’s tax avoidance […]

News: Disclosure & Barring Service to offer “one-stop-shop” criminal record checks

A new organisation to oversee criminal records checks, referrals and barring investigations has been set up in a bid to provide employers with a “one-stop-shop” service. The Disclosure & Barring Service was formed out of the merger of the Criminal Records Bureau and Independent Safeguarding Authority in an attempt to make the checking process clearer […]

News: First employers accredited under London Healthy Workplace Charter

Fourteen employers have been accredited under the London Healthy Workplace Charter, which is intended to set standards for improving employee health and well-being in the capital. The initiative grew out of the Workplace Well-being Charter that was developed by NHS Primary Care Trust in Liverpool and endorsed by the cross-government Health, Work and Well-being board. […]

News: Gen Y will lead to workforce management shake-up

The growing presence of Generation Y in the labour force will lead to new ways of working, generating radical change in the way that employers handle everything from staff retention and talent management to succession planning. According to a global survey of 2,900 managers and graduates as well as 100 in-depth interviews conducted by the […]

News: Industry publishes code of conduct over workplace pension charges

The workplace pensions industry has bowed to political pressure and published a code of conduct relating to the disclosure of schemes’ fees and investment costs, which will come into force next year. The voluntary code, which was launched today, is intended to ensure that such disclosure is consistent in an attempt to make it easier […]

News: Coulson wins legal costs appeal against News Group

Former News of the World editor Andy Coulson has won his appeal against a High Court ruling that News Group Newspapers does not have to pay his legal costs. Coulson, who is facing trial next year on charges related to his alleged involvement in phone hacking while at the now defunct Sunday paper, sued NGN […]

News: Suspended civil servant sues Dept for Transport

A civil servant who was suspended following the West Coast mainline rail franchise fiasco is to take legal action against the Department for Transport over the way that she was treated. Kate Mingay, the DfT’s director of commercial and technical services, was one of three officials suspended in early October, after the government changed its […]