Tube Staff to Strike Over Night Shift Work
A 24-hour strike will start tonight (8th July) as unions representing 20,000 employees failed to reach an agreement with London Underground over night shift pay and working conditions. Transport for London has said that additional means of public transport will be available for the duration of the strike. Why are the Tube staff on strike? The Tube staff […]
Ban on Exclusivity Clauses in Zero-Hours Contracts
A ban on exclusivity clauses in zero-hours contracts is now in effect following the introduction of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015. The introduction of the legislation means that an estimated 150,000 workers are now legally entitled to take work from more than one employer at a time. However the new legislation offers […]
Higher Standard of HR Skills Required
A new report from the CIPD has concluded that many HR departments are failing to develop the HR skills necessary to operate in a changing workplace. The CIPD’s HR Outlook (Winter 2014-15) reports that as the workplace evolves and HR operating models and capabilities adapt, many HR professionals are not doing enough to keep up. […]
Employees Under the Influence
A quarter of employees have turned up to work still feeling the effects of alcohol from the night before, according to a recent survey. A new survey by ELAS has found that a quarter of UK workers admit to having attended work whilst under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Of the 1,500 people surveyed, […]
Flexible Working: The Future of Employment?
A new study by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has found that only a quarter of people consider work to be central to their lives. The study is the first such research the CIPD has undertaken since 2005, and it highlights the degree to which attitudes and approaches to work are evolving. […]
Unlimited Holiday in the UK?
Sir Richard Branson created a stir earlier this month by announcing that the Virgin Group will be piloting unlimited holiday schemes. The entrepreneur has termed the unlimited allowance a ‘non-policy’, as Virgin Group employees will have complete flexibility with how and when they take their time off as long as they do so responsibly. Branson […]
Pay Rises and the National Minimum Wage
New findings have found that whilst increases on average earnings have remained at the same median rate of 2% from last year, there is still a clear discrepancy between pay rises across different industries. National pay analysis carried out by XpertHR has found a significant variation in salary increases from one industry to the next, […]
Should E-Cigarettes Be Banned from Offices?
An increasing number of businesses and employers are taking action against the use of e-cigarettes in the workplace, despite having no legal grounds to do so. The question of whether or not to ban e-cigarettes from the workplace poses a number of important questions for employers and could lead to tensions between employees. The practice […]
BBC Payouts: Lessons for HR Managers
The BBC payouts furore has highlighted the importance of ensuring that severance payments remain within contractual terms. The broadcaster’s Trust Chairman Lord Patten and Director General Lord Hall were called before the Public Accounts Committee because of widespread concerns that more than £25m was paid to 150 people leaving the corporation.It follows a critical report […]
Keeping HR costs down in the modern workplace
Outsourcing HR projects to consultancies when needed is growing in popularity as a practical method of keeping staff costs down and ensuring that HR problems are managed by the experts. Costs and savings HR can be a complex function and is something of a minefield due to the frequent changes in employment law and compliance requirements. […]
Minimum wage pay changes
This year will see an increase in minimum wages for all groups under the age of 25, under new plans to improve earnings across the board. The highest rise will be for those aged between 18 and 20, with a 4.7% increase up to £5.55 per hour. This is continued with 21 to 24 year […]
Unison Given Go-Ahead to Appeal Tribunal Fees
The Supreme Court has allowed Unison to appeal the Court of Appeal’s recent ruling on Employment Tribunal fees. The announcement, made on the 26th February, relates to Unison’s third challenge of the tribunal fees system. The Court of Appeal rejected this challenge last September. Tribunal fees have been controversial since their introduction by the Coalition […]
UK Pay Increase Predicted for 2016
UK workers look set to receive an average pay increase of 2.3% in 2016. This will be the largest ‘real-terms’ salary rise since 2008. This forecast follows research by Korn Ferry Hay Group. Whilst the rate of pay increase looks set to be at the same as this year (2.5%), the level of inflation is […]
Dangers of Working Holidays
The Christmas period means a seasonal slowdown in some industries, but for many December is the busiest and most stressful month of the year. If it’s not an increase in demand as people rush to get things done before Christmas itself, it’s the need to get everything signed off and finished before the end of […]
Companies Failing to Embrace Flexible Working
It has been one year since the Government rolled flexible working out to all UK employees, but research suggests that employers are still not quite sure how to manage it. A recent survey by workingmums.co.uk found that over a fifth of working mothers believed that they had no choice but to leave their jobs after their […]
Sweden Introduces Six-Hour Working Day
There has been a working time revolution taking place in Sweden as businesses trial the six-hour working day. Employers in Gothenburg, the country’s second largest city, have reduced the length of their working day in an effort to improve productivity and work-life balance. The trial is running as part of a controlled experiment into the […]
Engaged Employees More Likely to Slack Off
Highly engaged staff are more likely to be frequently late for work and to undertake personal activities when they get there. A report by reward provider Red Letter Days for Business compared the time management of highly engaged employees with that of their less engaged co-workers and the results revealed some surprising findings. The headline is […]
Employees Afraid to Blow the Whistle
A third of employees have admitted to being afraid to blow the whistle on illegal or dangerous activities taking place in their workplace. Over half of employees (53%) said that fear of losing their job would cause them to turn a blind eye, whilst 23% stated that they were worried about the impact upon their […]
Glassdoor More Trustworthy than Employers
Prospective employees are more likely to trust Glassdoor for information about a workplace than almost any other source. Careers advice website Glassdoor was found to be the third most trusted source of information (68%) about what it’s like to work in a company. The site came behind only family feedback (80%), and colleague or ex-colleague […]
Employers Limited by Pension Compliance
A report has found that the rate of changes to pension compliance over the last five years has caused organisations to lose focus on their retirement objectives. “Fit for Retirement”, a report by Towers Watson, found that 56% of UK businesses believe they have to prioritise compliance above any other factor when managing pension […]
