Date: 21 July 2007

Source: House of Commons

In its document - The Governance of Britain – The Government’s Draft Legislative Programme, HM Government has announced plans to simplify the current employment regime.

Globis welcomes the Governments intentions to simplify the current dispute resolution regulations saving UK Business an estimated £180 million /year. This provides UK leaders with part of the business case for improving relationships at work.

The purpose of the bill is to simplify, clarify and build a stronger enforcement regime for key aspects of employment law.

The purpose of the bill is to:

• Simplify, clarify and build a stronger enforcement regime for key aspects of employment law.

The main benefits of the bill are:

• Significant administrative savings for businesses, specifically through legislation to implement the Gibbons review of workplace dispute resolution, with an estimated benefit to business of up to £180m/year;
• Further cost and time savings for businesses, trade unions, individuals and public sector bodies;
• Delivering a more straightforward and transparent enforcement and penalties regime for the national minimum wage (NMW) and employment agency standards, to provide greater support to vulnerable workers, fair arrears for the underpaid and a level playing field for compliant businesses
• Greater clarity for employers, trade unions and employees
• Compliance with European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) judgment in Aslef v UK 

The main elements of the bill are:

• Implementation of the outcome of the Gibbons review of workplace dispute resolution (including repeal of the statutory dispute resolution procedures and implementation of a package of replacement measures to encourage early/informal resolution and changes to the employment tribunal system.
• Clarification and strengthening of the enforcement framework for the NMW, specifically through the introduction of a straightforward penalty that can be levied against all non compliant businesses and a fairer method of calculating arrears.
• Strengthening the employment agency standards enforcement regime by making offences under the Employment Agencies Act each way offences and clarifying investigative powers.
• An amendment to trade union membership law in light of the ECHR’s judgment in Aslef v UK (such that trade unions can expel members on the basis of their membership of a political party).
• It might also be necessary to use the Bill to clarify provisions in the NMW Act related to voluntary workers, depending on the outcome of current consultation which closes 4 September.

Globis will monitor this Bill as it passes through Parliament and we will keep our website fully up to date. Anyone with additional information about this Bill or associated Parliamentary discussions are invited to contact us. Further details of the Bill can be found by clicking the link below:

Related links :

The Governance of Britain – The Government’s Draft Legislative Programme

Related Documents:

• Consultation on workplace dispute resolution

Source: The Economist

Date: July 19 2007

THE Big Four look embarrassingly male at their most senior levels. Although around half of their intake is female, that proportion shrinks rapidly as people climb the career ladder. KPMG wants women to account for a quarter of partners by 2010; Deloitte is aiming for a figure of 31% for its female partners and directors by 2009, up from 26% now.

To get to even these relatively modest targets, the firms must grapple with what Sylvia Hewlett, of the Centre for Work-Life Policy, calls women’s “non-linear career paths”. According to her research, 37% of all professional women drop out of work at some point; even more will spend time working flexibly. Getting back into employment is not easy: only 40% manage to find full-time jobs. And those that do suffer a loss of earnings: a 38% fall for those who have been out of the office for three years or more compared with those who have stayed.

Smart employers are toying with ways to keep the door to “off-ramped” female staff ajar. The big accounting firms offer formal career breaks that allow staff to take unpaid leave from work. Booz Allen Hamilton, a consultancy, and Lehman Brothers, an investment bank, run programmes offering interesting project-based work to women who are not ready to take on full-time positions.

Flexible working can also improve retention, through options such as part-time work, compressing work into fewer days and seasonal schedules which can fit in with school holidays. Flexitime and home working are popular and help explain why more than 80% of the women on maternity leave at the Big Four return to work, which is a higher proportion than in other industries.

Child care is not the only issue such schemes address. More and more people look after elderly relatives—Ms Hewlett points to China, where women from the one-child generation will look after not just their parents but also their in-laws.

Source: CIPD

Date: 17/07/2007

As sickness absence rates increase for the first time in two years, more and more employers are beginning to focus on staff well-being, it has been claimed.

According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), the average level of employee absence has increased from 3.5% of working time lost in 2006 to 3.7% this year.

The average cost of absence has similarly risen to £659 per employee per year from last year’s figure of £598, the CIPD revealed.

As the rate of sickness absence rises, so does the prevalence of workplace stress, with 31% of employers reporting an increase in stress-related absence, the research found. It was also cited as the most common cause of long-term absence in non-manual workers.

Consequently, the CIPD said that the number of organisations focusing on employee well-being as a means of tackling rising absence levels and costs has soared over the last year.

Service businesses are leading the way in the private sector, the survey found, with the number of firms having a well-being strategy rising dramatically from 22% in 2006 to dramatically to 37% this year.

Ben Willmott, CIPD employee relations adviser commented: “The report shows employers are increasingly recognising the benefits that can be gained by supporting employee well-being.”

“As organisations increasingly face the costs and risks of long-term absence, damaging their productivity, growth, retention and brand, businesses are increasingly under pressure to address the well-being agenda.”

However, Willmott warned that efforts to promote employee well-being and manage absence will be undermined unless they are underpinned by good people management and effective organisation.

He added: “There is no point providing healthy eating options and on-site gyms if people are dreading going to work because of their bullying line manager or because of their excessive workload.”

Source: People management Magazine

Date: 13/07/2007

Employers in small businesses are being warned to keep an eye on their business’ supplies, as new findings suggest workers are pocketing office goods worth millions of pounds each year.

A survey commissioned by The Federation Against Software Theft has found that the items stolen by staff range from computer software and digital downloads such as film, music and video (which 10% of staff admitted taking), pens (62%) and notebooks, printer paper and blank CDs (25%).

Furthermore, while 8% of respondents said they feel the occasional stab of guilt over taking pens, just 2% felt that downloading illegal software was something to feel ashamed of.

John Lovelock, director general of The Federation said: “Just as we expected, people fail to recognise that theft is theft – whether it’s the act of physically taking something that doesn’t belong to you or downloading software that you haven’t paid for.

“Digital theft is costing the UK millions of pounds each year. You wouldn’t expect to walk out of PC World with a piece of software up your jumper and get away with it, would you?”

He also warned bosses that the downloading of software, films, music or games is illegal, and it would be the employee’s boss who could be liable to ten years in jail, should the activity be caught.

Clive Lewis of Globis said “When working relationships need developing one of the areas that begin to increase are staff theft and sabotage. Organisations can avoid this when there are productive healthy relationships at work”.

Source: People Management magazine 

Date: 12 July 2007

The government has received mixed messages from employers in response to its consultation on dispute resolution.

The consultation, which closed last month, proposed replacing the 2004 statutory disciplinary and grievance procedures with guidance put forward by the Gibbons review of dispute resolution, published in March.

Janice Munday, senior employment relations civil servant at the new Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, said the 400 or so formal responses to the consultation had shown a divide between large and small firms.

“We’re finding that there’s affection for some parts of the procedures,” she said at the CIPD’s annual employment law conference in London earlier this month. “Some want to save this part, some another. And there’s a split over what should go in the statutory guidelines. Put crudely, employee representatives want a return to the pre-2004 Acas code, large employers want the guidelines stripped back to what is merely the law, and small businesses are somewhere in the middle.”

The response showed that while the government wanted to simplify the regulations, there were many interest groups who wanted it to be more complicated, she added.

The CIPD’s own consultation response endorsed the need for a voluntary approach and called for a single set of guidelines, an improved Acas code of practice on discipline and grievances, and measures to increase the use of mediation in dispute resolution.

Munday acknowledged that the department had “heard businesses’ concerns about complex rules, inconsistencies and other irritants, and we’ve listened to these”. But she said the mixed response made a satisfactory outcome “a difficult one for sorting out in the future”.

The department’s conclusions will be published in the autumn.

Source: Personnel Today

Date:  11/07/2007

Small businesses are being urged to take steps to combat employee stress, as research reveals that the workplace has caused stress to affect the vast majority of staff.

Findings from employment law consultancy Peninsula have shown that a huge 82% of employees have been affected by stress brought on by work.

The consultancy pointed out that high stress levels in the workplace can have a negative effect on a business’ productivity and profits, as it can lead to higher levels of staff absences.

Clive Lewis of Globis says “There is a clear link between bottom line performance and stress levels ,” . Globis has seen a significant increase in advice calls from employers worried about staff stress levels.

Suggested stress-reduction methods included initiating simple procedures such as ensuring there are enough employees to deal with the workloads, and taking steps to prevent or stop internal conflicts. Employers have also been encouraged to focus on creating good communication.

Source: People Management

Date: 29/06/2007

Keeping employees interested and engaged will help prevent high staff turnover, it has been claimed.

New research from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) found that only 35% of employees are actually engaged with their work.

“Our recent research clearly shows how much management practice affects people’s attitudes towards their work,” said Mike Emmott, CIPD employee relations adviser.

“With only three in ten employees engaged, many managers evidently aren’t doing enough to keep their staff interested.”

Emmot said staff engagement delivered ‘business value’ and organisations should do more to ‘drive up levels of engagement among the workforce’.

The theme of employee engagement was the subject of discussion at the CIPD’s Annual Talent Management, Recruitment and Retention Conference.

Source: Personnel Today

Date: 15/06/2007

The government has revealed a green paper that could bring about the ‘biggest ever shake-up of the laws underpinning diversity’, it has been claimed.

Earlier this week, the government announced its Discrimination Law Review (DLR), which is seeking views on proposals such as a Single Equality Bill, to simplify and improve existing legislation and modernise discrimination law.

Discrimination law is currently contained in nine major pieces of legislation, and this can act as a barrier to fairness, the government said.

The review is good news for businesses, said Sue Ashtiany, head of employment at law firm Nabarro, non-executive director of Channel 4 and commissioner for the Equal Opportunities Commission.

She said: “Businesses are looking for simplicity. Discrimination law is getting very complex, so this review is a good time to put forward their thoughts and make a case for streamlined work rather than legislation for the sake of it.

According to Ashtiany, businesses are going on a diversity drive, but she warned that lots of positive action measures are currently unlawful.

“Lots of companies now want to be able to take action to remove disadvantage but don’t know how to do it without breaking the law because there’s not much scope for legal positive action.

“For example, it is usually unlawful to favour women or ethnic minorities in recruitment promotion and job opportunities but that’s just what employers often want to do.

“In the DLR there are some interesting ideas being floated about letting such businesses do more without being at risk of litigation.

“So whether the concern is to avoid complicated and unnecessary claims or to ask for incentives for – say- agreeing flexible working, this is the opportunity to join in and tell the government what you want.”

Source: Personnel Today
Date: 15/06/2007 
The government has revealed a green paper that could bring about the ‘biggest ever shake-up of the laws underpinning diversity’, it has been claimed.
Earlier this week, the government announced its Discrimination Law Review (DLR), which is seeking views on proposals such as a Single Equality Bill, to simplify and improve existing legislation and modernise discrimination law. 
Discrimination law is currently contained in nine major pieces of legislation, and this can act as a barrier to fairness, the government said. 
The review is good news for businesses, said Sue Ashtiany, head of employment at law firm Nabarro, non-executive director of Channel 4 and commissioner for the Equal Opportunities Commission. 
She said: “Businesses are looking for simplicity. Discrimination law is getting very complex, so this review is a good time to put forward their thoughts and make a case for streamlined work rather than legislation for the sake of it. 
According to Ashtiany, businesses are going on a diversity drive, but she warned that lots of positive action measures are currently unlawful. 
“Lots of companies now want to be able to take action to remove disadvantage but don’t know how to do it without breaking the law because there’s not much scope for legal positive action. 
“For example, it is usually unlawful to favour women or ethnic minorities in recruitment promotion and job opportunities but that’s just what employers often want to do. 
“In the DLR there are some interesting ideas being floated about letting such businesses do more without being at risk of litigation.
“So whether the concern is to avoid complicated and unnecessary claims or to ask for incentives for – say- agreeing flexible working, this is the opportunity to join in and tell the government what you want.”

Source: Personnel Today

Date: 13/06/2007

Managers could significantly lower a £5bn drain on business, it has been claimed, by learning to recognise when employees are under stress.

According to Canada Life Group Insurance, workplace bullying or harassment is the most obvious cause of work-related stress, but there are numerous other more subtle triggers, such as workloads, management, organisational change and targets.

Colin Micklewright, head of group income protection development at Canada Life Group Insurance commented: “Before any action can be taken to help employees suffering from stress, it is important to identify who is suffering and why.

“Often there are many signs that a person is suffering from workplace stress, but if you are not watching for these behaviours, you may miss them.”

Clive Lewis of Globis encourages employers to be on the lookout for classic signs of employee stress, such as workers acting unduly quiet, working extended hours, procrastinating or reacting in an irritable manner.

He added: “It is important for organisations to be aware of potential causes of stress and work to actively avoid them.

“Prevention really is better than cure as returning a person to work after a period of absence due to stress without acknowledging the causes and working to change them, can be a pointless exercise.