HP gives contractors a 5% pay cut ultimatum
HP is giving IT contractors at its Enterprise Security Services division an ultimatum: accept a minimum 5% pay cut or lose their positions. The deadline for contractors to decide is today, according to leaked proposals confirmed by recruitment agents.
Public sector employers not liable for asbestos claims, rules Supreme Court
The Supreme Court ruled that public sector employers are not liable for asbestos-related claims, with liability instead falling on insurers at the time of exposure. The landmark decision clarifies a long-standing dispute over compensation responsibility and protects employers from potentially costly mesothelioma claims, which typically exceed £200,000 each.
Blog: Four steps to take on finishing your staff engagement survey
Learn four key steps to maximize your staff engagement survey results: establish clear objectives for executive support, prioritize action over analysis, equip employees and managers to own engagement, and align practices with your culture goals. Strategic recognition proves critical for sustaining improvements.
Blog: Are you wasting 35% of your payroll costs on disengaged staff?
Disengaged employees cost organizations 35% of payroll annually, or up to $17.5 million in a 1,000-person company. Building a culture of recognition, trust, and rewards is essential to boost engagement and transform payroll from wasted expense into productive investment.
Legal Insight: Employee or consultant? Lessons from the Student Loans Co
The Student Loans Company case highlights the legal distinction between employees and consultants. While consultant arrangements can offer tax benefits, they lack employment protections like paid leave and redundancy rights. Courts and tax authorities examine whether individuals are genuinely self-employed or actually employees avoiding statutory obligations.
CEO Insight: Briggs Equipment’s Richard Close on staff engagement
Richard Close, CEO of Briggs Equipment, reveals how prioritizing staff engagement transformed the company from a £5 million loss to a £3 million profit over six years. He outlines key strategies including training, approachable management, and autonomous decision-making to boost employee satisfaction and business performance.
Blog: Building a magnetic culture
Employee recognition is the strongest driver of engagement, accounting for 56% of variance in how engaged employees feel. Kevin Sheridan’s Building a Magnetic Culture outlines the 10 key drivers of engagement and demonstrates how recognition and culture management directly impact organizational success through improved margins, revenue, and customer satisfaction.
Racism claim upheld after pub manager calls black worker “Sooty”
An employment tribunal upheld racism claims against a pub manager who repeatedly called a black employee “Sooty” and made other derogatory comments. Greene King was found guilty of racial harassment and discrimination after the worker was suspended and later fired following his complaint.
Unpaid overtime saves employers £29.2bn each year
One in five UK workers regularly perform unpaid overtime, costing employers £29.2 billion annually. Research shows 5.3 million people work an average of 7.2 hours per week without pay, with older workers and long-serving employees most likely to do so.
Dept of Health apologises for paying senior execs via limited companies
The Department of Health apologized for misleading Parliament about paying senior executives through limited companies, a tax avoidance arrangement affecting 25 identified cases. Internal documents reveal staff salaries were paid directly to shell companies, potentially reducing tax bills, with officials warning the practice may be widespread across government departments.
Talent Spot: Community blogger, Derek Irvine
Derek Irvine, vice president of strategy and consulting services at Globoforce, is an HRzone blogger with extensive expertise in employer branding and company culture. His career spans marketing roles at major companies like Johnson & Johnson and Pernod Ricard, before joining Globoforce’s founding team during the dot-com boom to pioneer employee recognition software.
Short on rewards – an HR skills crisis
Reward professionals are in high demand as businesses expand internationally and face increasingly complex regulatory requirements, but their specialized skills remain scarce. Training pathways for junior HR professionals have diminished due to outsourced service centers, creating a significant HR skills crisis in the rewards sector.
Woolworths union takes advice over collective redundancy laws
Usdaw union is seeking legal advice to challenge UK collective redundancy laws after an employment tribunal awarded 24,000 former Woolworths staff up to £67.8 million in compensation. However, approximately 3,000 employees from smaller stores with fewer than 20 redundancies were excluded, highlighting what the union calls a legislative loophole.
Blog: How to embed a learning culture
A learning culture helps organizations stay competitive by encouraging employees to develop skills and capabilities. Key strategies include securing management sponsorship, rewarding learning behaviors, measuring progress in appraisals, and establishing learning as a core organizational value.
Update: RBS chief rejects £1m bonus
RBS chief Stephen Hester rejected his £1 million bonus amid growing backlash against executive pay. Meanwhile, easyJet founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou is challenging the airline’s proposed £8 million share deal for senior executives, calling it a “gravy train” that must end.
Trends 2012: Rewards
Two-thirds of UK private sector organizations plan to change their reward strategy in 2012, with employee engagement and alignment to business strategy as top priorities, signaling a shift from cost-focused approaches toward strategic talent management.
Fujitsu workers agree to end long-running dispute
Unite union members have ended a long-running dispute with Fujitsu over pensions, pay, and overtime. The agreement includes improved pension protections, backdated pay increases for Manchester staff, and protection against retaliation for workers involved in industrial action.
Survey reveals UK employers of choice
Google, Apple, and John Lewis are perceived as the UK’s best employers, according to a YouGov survey. A positive working environment emerged as the most important factor (82%) when evaluating employer quality, followed by competitive pay and benefits (81%).
Trends 2012: Employment law
Key employment law changes are coming in 2012, including increased tribunal compensation limits, extended parental leave from three to four months, and a longer qualifying period for unfair dismissal rising from one to two years. Additional changes involve higher statutory sick pay rates, new apprenticeship structures, and pensions auto-enrolment requirements for large employers.
Analysis: Increasingly fragile UK jobs market set to get “much worse”
UK unemployment rose to 8.4% in November, the highest since 1996, with 118,000 job losses in three months. Underemployment and youth joblessness surged while full-time employment fell, signaling a fragile labor market expected to worsen significantly ahead.
