New rights for agency workers
May 30, 2008
The ongoing debate and battle over legislation relating to agency worker rights came to a head last week when a deal was struck between the TUC, CBI and the Government that entitles UK agency workers to employment rights equal to their equivalent permanent workers (in terms of salary) after 12 weeks working with the same firm. This issue has been going on for ages – I last wrote about it back in February, and whilst Gordon Brown originally backed the CBI view that adopting the EU Directive on agency worker rights would damage the flexible labour market that the UK enjoys, he changed this opinion last week. This is seen as a bit of a compromise, as the EU wanted the qualifying period to be shorter, however it seems that the PM’s hand was forced somewhat as the hope is that by agreeing to this legislation, the UK will be able to opt out of the working time directive. This law limits the legal working week to 48 hours, and UK workers who are currently able to opt out and work overtime hours over and above this would potentially lose a large proportion of their income if a limit was imposed. The news has been received well by the TUC, however other bodies such as the CBI and the CIPD have criticized the adoption of the legislation as they feel it will be very problematic for businesses to handle.
I don’t use many temporary workers, and if I do we would pay them a comparable rate of pay to what they would receive if they were permanent anyway, so this isn’t too much of an issue for me personally, but having worked in the past for a company that relied heavily on temporary staff I can imagine the difficulty this legislation is going to pose for some organisations. It will require a big pay evaluation exercise in industries where many temporary workers are employed, to ensure than no members of staff receive lower pay rates. The alternative, to employ people in contracts that are less than 12 weeks long, is completely impractical and the number of available temps that have not already had their 12 weeks exhausted will run out pretty quickly. Where I used to work there was a ‘bank’ staff system and we had lots of long term temporary workers that came through an agency but worked additional shifts on a regular ad hoc basis.
Some companies have already said that they may respond to the legislation by employing fewer agency workers and creating a flexible workforce by developing more flexible working arrangements for their permanent staff. If this is a widespread occurrence, there will be fewer temporary assignments available and potentially the only ones on offer will be less than three months long. I’m finding it difficult to see how this will improve life at work for the 1.4 million agency workers we currently have in the UK.
What makes a great place to work?
May 29, 2008
I’ve just read that Google has been announced as the UK’s best place to work, by the Great Place to Work Institute. This is the list that’s published in the Financial Times annually, with Beaverbrooks the Jewellers and Asda being winners in previous years. The list is created by surveying employees against the Trust Index (copyright), although I’m not quite sure how companies are selected initially for the survey to be carried out. The company is also able to submit materials for consideration, so it’s got a little bit of PR about it, however there’s no denying that Google has become well known for being a place many people would love to work; with its innovation-encouraging ethos and relaxed but hardworking culture, being a ‘Googler’ is something to aspire to.
So what really makes a company good to work for? Google was praised by the Institute for the strength of its brand within the organisation: with the shared identity of the Googlers being a key feature of this. The company’s commitment to employee development was also commended, as was its contribution to environmental matters and employee well being by giving all employees a bike last year. Whilst it’s probably the more ‘cool’ features that Google is famous for as an employer, such as the lava lamps, pool tables and ‘bring your pet to work’, the real strength lies in the opportunities to shine that are afforded to employees.
The Great Place to Work Institute defines it as ‘a place where employees trust the people they work for, have pride in what they do, and enjoy the people they work with’, and is indicated in the inter-relationships between staff and management, and between employees. I think this is a great motto to follow, as it’s simple to understand, and completely true, but wide enough to be non-prescriptive, so organisations can find what works for them in terms of the actual practices that are used to give employees the great work experience they desire. I think the worst thing you can do as a company is look at organisations like Google and try to copy everything they do in the hope of creating a similar effect. Making a company great is about understanding what makes what you do (or sell) brilliant, and transplanting this into the management of the people, so that everyone shares the vision and knows why they’re there, and why it’s great to be there.
The complexities of company car schemes
May 28, 2008
There are many day to day headaches for HR or personnel professionals, and managing a company car scheme can certainly be one of them. There are many implications relating to the provision of company cars, including those relating to taxation, and health and safety legislation.
A company car is provided to an employee as part of their overall reward package. Usually, only employees with a need for a car in their work are entitled to this benefit, although sometimes the provision of a car is related to the employee’s level within the organisation or simply as a personal benefit to be used for private use rather than business. When a car is made available for private use instead of or as well as for business use, a tax charge is made to the employee (as long as they earn £8,500 or more per year). Generally, taxation is lower for cleaner and cheaper cars, to encourage more environmentally friendly options.
There are different ways in which to manage a company car scheme. Some employees prefer to receive an allowance in lieu of a car, and the payments are subject to Income Tax and National Insurance contributions in the same way as their salary. Whilst this can seem like an attractive option, the employee is still responsible for repairs etc, and some people prefer to have the comfort of knowing they are covered in the event of a break down, which can be built into the company car option. Another issue with the car allowance option is the responsibility for health and safety that is still on the employer for employees driving in their work, even if the car is bought and owned by the employee. It is possible that an employee will purchase a car that is not fit for purpose, whereas an employer has more control over the quality and safety of cars in a car providing scheme.
Companies can purchase company cars outright, which means the car then becomes a company asset, and the employer has to manage the scheme including administration, tax and insurance, and repairs. The trick with this is to work out the car makes that will provide the most value, i.e. which are low in tax, and which will retain the most value, as we’ve all heard the stories of cars that drop a massive chunk of their value the minute they’re driven off the car lot. Another popular option is business contract hire, where the company hires the car from a leasing company and pays agreed monthly payments. This option takes away all the administration of the scheme and there are different options for the inclusion or exclusion of insurance and maintenance costs, although the employer is still responsible for health and safety issues and should therefore have a clear relationship with the leasing company and a good health and safety/company car policy. This scheme means the company does not own the cars, but it does take away the issue of depreciation, and also means the costs of the company cars can be spread evenly across the year.
There are so many things to consider when trying to set up or manage a company car scheme, but one thing’s certain, you will need a lot of time and patience if this is part of your role!
Lawyers’ gender pay gap grows!
May 27, 2008
There has been some research into how much women and men get paid in the legal industry recently and the results are rather shocking.
Men are now getting paid 32% more than women, this is more than double 12.5% which is the official national gap.
The research which was done by the Law Society, the professional association in England and Wales showed that a male solicitors average annual pay was £60,000 compared to a females which was £41,000.
I am certainly against paying different wages for men and woman and beleive that gender should not have a part to play within a role.
The results however didn’t shock me too much as this is probably going on in a lot of work places where they have stuck to their old fashioned ways and has been going on for years.
Katherine Rake, the director of Fawcett Society which is a group that campaigns for sexual equality has said:
“The paucity of senior flexible roles, the long working hours culture, and plain old fashioned discrimination all conspire to shut women out of the boardroom and reduce their wage packet.”
Get managers involved with new employees!
May 26, 2008
Sharing the responsibility for learning and development of employees between line managers and HR is a great idea!
When a new employee starts, we give them a set induction plan for the week. At the end of the week we hold an evaluation meeting where we can ask how the induction has been and if they feel they need to go over any areas they feel they are not 100% sure on.
We then hold a meeting at the end of week 2 and week 3 and then do a 1 month, 3 month and 6 month review.
In the past, this has all been down to the HR department when in fact it should be the responsibility of the line manager to liaise with the new employee.
After the 1 month review, the employee doesnt really meet with the HR department again so its crucial that the manager gives the employee time to speak to them about how they are settling in and if they need more help in certain areas.
We have also decided to involve managers in the interviewing process so that they can decide exactly who they would like to join their team.
If managers are not involved with the recruitment of employees or the learning and development in your company, then i definitely think that you should start this now!
Hot Desking - Is it all its cracked up to be?!
May 23, 2008
I read an article in the People Management magazine about “Hot Desking” recently and couldn’t make my mind up if i thought it was a good idea or a really bad idea?!
Hot-desking is basically where staff have no workstation of their own and is also a form of flexible working.
Hewlett Packard are one company who have decided to implement hot desking into their offices, and with 4,000 staff and only 1,600 desks you can imagine people would be fighting for a work station, but this is not the case.
Only 1000 employees got to keep their own desk, but most departments, including HR had to switch.
A lot of the staff at Hewlett Packard really like the idea, saying that the office now has more of a “buzz” and that they can grab their favorite position and work next to the people they know. Other people complained that they were loosing space for files and folders.
Working in HR and having lots of confidential documents, i dont think it would be a good idea, but for departments such as sales it would be fine.
Although i think its a good idea for companies who have people in and out of the office all day i dont think this would work for the majority. I wouldn’t personally like to have to clear my desk each day and not know where i am sitting from one day to the next. My desk is my territory !!
What is your opinion on hot-desking?
New mums being forced back to work
May 22, 2008
A recent study has shown that more and more new mothers are being forced back to work to be able to pay the bills.
It seems that these days, being able to have time off to look after your newly born child is becoming more of a luxury.
With household bills rising as much as £150 a month it is hitting families hard.
The study showed some shocking results, which included that 38% of mothers with children under 2 years old are having to return to work due to financial reasons.
Ann Robinson, Director of the company who commissioned the report has said the following:
“Economic factors are taking away the choice for many young families today. People who want to stay at home can’t afford to due to rising household bills, and even people who want to return to work can’t afford to either, due to the high cost of childcare. Any initiatives introduced by the Government that support parents wishing to return to work when they have children should be commended - but we also need to recognise that some parents would prefer to stay at home to look after their children, even if only during the early years.
Obviously with most parents, having a child will mean a massive amount of the money usually spent on bills will be used for the baby and this is a risk that every family have to take!!
Extra public holiday gets parliamentary backing
May 21, 2008
A while back I wrote about a proposal to introduce a new public holiday to commemorate those who have died whilst serving in the armed forces and those currently on the front line. Today I’ve found out that this may be one step closer to being realised after a parliamentary report was published called ‘National Recognition of our Armed Forces’. The report recommended a day to recognise the contribution of the armed forces, which could be an additional public holiday or could be on a Saturday (I know which one I’m hoping for…). The date would be the end of June, rather than after Remembrance Sunday as originally thought.
As I’ve said before, I’m not sure that this is the way to increase awareness and recognition of the armed forces. Other recommendations in the report that did sound like a good idea were increasing the role of the Cadets in schools, and outlawing discrimination against military people in uniform, which was quite a big news story a few weeks ago as many military personnel have experienced verbal abuse when out in public in their uniform.
We’ll just have to wait and see what happens next…
Korean bank faces discrimination claim
May 19, 2008
Woori Investment and Securities International, the UK arm of a large Korean bank, is facing a discrimination claim for £400,000 from a HR and Office Manager who claims she was paid up to £20,000 less than her Korean female counterparts and up to £50,000 less than male Korean colleagues. Christine Jones claims that she has been a victim of both racial and sexual discrimination, and is also claiming for constructive dismissal as she felt she had little choice but to resign after her complaints went unresolved and she felt she was “banging my head against a brick wall”. The bank is contesting her claim, and the case should be heard later in the year.
I will look forward to the outcome in this unusual case.
The right to request time off to train
May 16, 2008
This week Gordon Brown released plans to give UK employees the right to request time off to participate in training activities or complete qualifications, in the same way that some parents have the right to request flexible working. This right will be part of an educational bill to come into force next April.
This is a curious development. The skills agenda seems to be quite a big issue at the moment and the Government is making a lot of plans to try to increase skills within the labour force, but I’m not sure that people not having time off to carry out qualifications is such a big problem. I’ve recently talked about the benefits (or lack of) of formal qualifications in relation to skill development, and so I’m not sure that this is necessarily the answer to the regularly reported ‘skills gap’. But perhaps the new right isn’t really to do with that, it may be more to do with the rights of people to develop themselves and to achieve their personal educational and career goals. However as John McGurk of the CIPD says in the news report I’ve read, training opportunities should contribute to the business needs of the employer, and if the request is for training that is not going to help these needs, then the employer should be able to refuse the request. This would mean employees could not take time off to train for a career that was different to the job they were currently carrying out.
I’ve been training outside of my full time job for four years, half of which I did in the evenings outside of work time, and half I was able to take time off work to attend. Of course it was better for me to attend in work hours so I wasn’t studying until late, but to be honest if I couldn’t have done that I would have still done the course in the evenings as I was committed to it and wanted to complete it. Completing a qualification is hard when you work as well, and I think that many of the people who are really committed to this option would do so somehow without this right. Also, I’m not sure giving the right to request time off to train will increase the amount of people doing courses; what if you couldn’t afford to take the pay cut to have the time off? On the other hand maybe a positive thing about the right is that it would probably receive a lot of publicity (if the right to request flexible working is anything to go by) and would therefore maybe advertise the possibilities of gaining new skills and qualifications to people who had not really thought about it before