Does the Working Time Directive encourage a long hours culture?
February 27, 2009
Today is officially ‘work your proper hours day’, which is an initiative from Worksmart, part of the TUC, intended to encourage UK workers to stop carrying out billions of hours of unpaid overtime and perpetuating a long hours culture. The Worksmart website says:
“Over five million people at work in the UK regularly do unpaid overtime, giving their employers £26.9 billion of free work every year. If you’re one, why not take some time to reflect on how well (or badly) you’re balancing your life? This is one day in the year to make the most of your own time. Take a proper lunchbreak and leave work on time to enjoy your Friday evening - You deserve it!”
The site goes on to explain the negative health-related effects of working long hours, including stress and damage to external relationships.
This information is not anything we haven’t heard before, but the long hours culture in the UK has been around for years and will probably still be in the future despite the efforts of organisations such as the TUC. What is it about our country that makes us all work so much, with arguably no benefit to productivity? Most of the time it doesn’t even impress the boss – whilst many people may be exercising a lot of ‘presenteeism’ at the moment in order to safeguard their jobs in uncertain times, a survey of 500 managers that was carried out in December by Kingston University found that 59% did not think that people who stayed late worked harder than those who didn’t.
One theory put forward by many Unions and a number of Labour MEPs is that our continuing support for the opportunity for employees to opt-out of the Working Time Directive (which limits the legal working hours to 48 per week) is ensuring the long hours culture remains in the UK. This is an issue that has again been in the news in the last few months as the EU continues to put pressure on the UK to remove the opt-out. Last year the UK managed to hold onto the opt out by negotiating better legislation for the protection of temporary workers (see Agreement reached on opt out of working time directive, June 08) however at the end of last year European MPs voted in favour of scrapping the opt out for the UK, and now Gordon Brown faces a difficult negotiation in order to keep it. Some members of the Labour party feel that the opt out should be scrapped, but Gordon Brown wants to keep it, as do Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs.
The Government is also under pressure from business groups including the CBI as they feel that the opt out allows businesses to have more flexibility in the use of their workforce – which was the whole point of introducing the opt out in the first place. On the other side of the argument it is said that the Working Time Directive is a health and safety law; protecting employees’ health from the adverse effect of long hours. In addition MEPs argue that the Directive as it has been adopted allows flexibility for workers to work longer than 48 hours in some weeks when there is a high workload because an average can be calculated over a period of 12 months.
What is your opinion of this issue? Does the opt-out provide flexibility for businesses and employees, or does it exploit UK workers and perpetuate a long hours culture in the UK?
Interim specialists – providing help for businesses affected by the recession
February 26, 2009
The big ‘R’ word – you can hardly go half a day at the moment without hearing something related to the economic downturn, whether it’s interest rates cuts, mass redundancies or businesses going under. Thousands of companies in the UK, both small and large, are really starting to struggle in the face of economic uncertainty and loss of business; and in turn this is leading to an increase in the need for interim specialists to carry out short term ‘turnaround’ projects to provide help for businesses affected by the recession.
Interim specialists can provide the value needed at a variety of levels in the company; from boardroom to backroom. This is not to say that existing staff are not capable of managing the company as the country is going through a recession, but that there may be certain specialist skills and experience required that may not be abundant within the organisation. Another factor is that existing staff have all the issues that still occur each day to deal with – and an interim has the benefit of not being part of the workforce and therefore the day to day activities. They can therefore take a step back and really focus on what is needed without any preconceptions, or indeed without any emotional connection to the company – which may hinder the difficult decision making process companies often have to go through in a recession.
According to a recent article I read, interim managers are in high demand at the moment but are in short supply due to the abundance of companies using their services to help them deal with the recession. It seems that interims can pick and choose their assignments, and will almost certainly choose the ones that will have the biggest impact on their portfolio, as well as those in which they feel they can truly make an impact (and not be hindered by company politics or individual agendas). Many companies advertise for interim turnaround managers in the national or specific press, and there are also a lot of recruitment consultants that specialise in interims. Often a good way to source the perfect interim is through networking – many senior managers know specialists or their counterparts in other organisations, or have met the right kind of people at events or conferences.
Do something positive – company events
February 24, 2009
At the moment there’s loads of news about poor employee morale, the struggle to maintain commitment and motivation in hard times and a general lack of positivity. Employers are finding it hard to keep employees’ spirits up and therefore team work, communication and mutual support (the things that are most in need), are thin on the ground as suspicion and self-preservation prevail as the common behaviours of naturally concerned staff. Even if your company isn’t going through upheaval such as redundancies, it is impossible for the workforce not to be somehow affected by the knock-on effects of the recession, so it’s important to generate ways of increasing morale, teamwork and strong relationships within the workforce.
One way of bringing people together at work is to arrange a joint event that people can become involved in and possibly ‘bond’ over. This doesn’t have to involve a lot of money – for example in my organisation we have entered a charity run as a company team, and everyone running has been set a challenge to raise as much money as possible for a nominated charity. Almost half the workforce has signed up to the run, which was really pleasing, and many other employees will be joining in by coming down to cheer us on on the day.
This type of event can have many different benefits – there’s staff ‘bonding’ over the fact that we’re all training and there are many conversations going on in the staff room or at the kettle about how far people have ran so far, what pace they’re doing, how much their legs are aching and what they’re wearing on the day! Of course, the fact that we are raising money for charity gives participants a shared sense of purpose and also contributes to the company’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) agenda, which can be a good feature on a corporate website or in the local press. There is also the health and wellbeing benefits of having a workforce that regularly exercises – so giving people something to aim for encourages this outside activity.
I’ve done this kind of thing before in previous organisations that I’ve worked for, and whilst it’s really hard work and something I’m not overly looking forward to at the moment, it does always turn out to be a great day out and a good morale-boosting exercise for the workforce.
How far does the minimum wage stretch?
February 23, 2009
I’ve just read an article about an experiment a reporter is carrying out for the traditional period of self-denial; Lent. Charlotte McDonald, who is based in London, is going to live on the current minimum wage for the 40 days of the festival – to see how far £5.73 an hour gets you when you live in one of the most expensive cities in the world.
Charlotte has calculated that after paying all her bills, rent and travel expenses (which is notoriously very expensive in London) she will have less than £15 each week for food and socialising (which I don’t think she will be able to do much of). Do you think that you could live on that much money?
The experiment is taking a look at how people have to live when times are hard;
‘As the recession has started to change people’s spending habits, I don’t think I will be alone in trying to find enterprising ways of economising.’
One person has left a comment below the article on Charlotte’s experiment, saying that she could perhaps be entitled to some benefits depending on her earnings, but I’m not so sure – if she works full time and earns the minimum wage then I don’t see what support she would be entitled to – can anyone shed any light on this?
This will be a very interesting experiment and I will be keeping up with Charlotte’s progress by looking on the news shopper website.
Online learning through webinars
February 20, 2009
Yesterday I participated in my first ever ‘webinar’, which was for employment law training from a legal advisor. Having not been involved in online learning before I was intrigued to find out what it was going to be like.
The training was delivered from what looked like the trainer’s home, and was broadcast on the internet to all participating organisations with a webcam and Powerpoint presentation, so you could see the slides and the trainer speaking together on one screen – pretty much as you would with a live presentation. I felt that this was a really cost effective way of getting the information to us; because the training was delivered in this way there were no travelling, room hire, refreshments or paperwork costs, and the session was really inexpensive (especially as three of us watched the webinar) whereas if we had all attended a course the cost would have been in the hundreds. The other great benefit was that we simply booked a meeting room to view the webinar (I wouldn’t recommend viewing training at your desk because there will be constant interruptions) and therefore we didn’t spend half the day travelling to and from the venue.
However the session wasn’t all good – the connection was a bit jumpy and kept pausing - towards the end of the session it was really distracting and annoying. Also one thing I did miss that you would have in a face to face session was being able to interrupt the trainer in the middle of the session to clarify something and have a two way chat about it (we were able to email questions in at the end though). The tutor did at times go a little too fast to take in what she was saying, which again probably wouldn’t happen in a face to face learning session because the facilitator would be able to gauge the pace. However overall I would say these things didn’t considerably hinder the effectiveness of the learning process.
So in conclusion I would say that webinars can be a really useful way of providing learning opportunities to many people across different locations at the same time, and will provide a valuable addition to an learning and development strategy. However I would stress caution when implementing web based training – it is useful for knowledge/information transfer (such as employment law as in this session) but it is not suitable for skill based training such as management skills – interactive methods such as coaching will be more appropriate in this case.
What’s a good industry to be in?
February 18, 2009
Whilst the media at the moment is generally full of depressing news about job cuts all over the country due to the economic downturn, there have been occasional refreshing reports about jobs being created in a number of different industries. So what are the recession-resistors and recession-risks in terms of the jobs people actually carry out?
Well at the bad end of the scale, finance, manufacturing and retail seem to have taken a huge hit, which largely began with the huge city losses last year when large multinational banks went under and many other financiers suffered massively. There have been huge job losses on the high street, with Woolworths, USC and Zavvi (who today announced that the remaining stores will be gone by the end of this week) amongst the list of retail casualties. Mini (part of BMW) has become the latest in a series of large scale redundancies in the car manufacturing sector this week when hundreds of jobs were shed at the plant in Cowley. Today General Motors has announced that 47,000 jobs will go across the world, which may affect the Vauxhall plant in Merseyside. So which industries appear to be resisting the economic climate?
Companies operating in the digital arena may have a better chance than the above industries, with so much of everyday life moving online; and this may be partly why Woolworths and Zavvi have left the high street – as so many of their products can now be bought much cheaper online from companies such as Amazon and Play. There’s also a focus on digital industries in the ‘new deal’ philosophy that Barack Obama and Gordon Brown spoke of at the beginning of the year: with broadband connections for everyone being a key feature. Another one is in the environmental field – which still has importance despite the economic climate having perhaps stolen all the headlines recently.
The supermarkets appear to be leading the way in creating new jobs, with ASDA last month announcing 7,000 new jobs that will be created through expansion, as well as similar announcements from Sainsbury’s, Morrison’s and Tesco. In these times supermarkets are able to thrive with money saving deals and price drops, as well as targeted advertising such as the ‘feed a family for less than a fiver’, and ‘every little helps’ campaigns. I imagine that many general stores that will struggle will be local shops such as independent butchers and greengrocers etc; who will not be able to compete in terms of price comparison.
Then there are stories of growth and development that are more unusual – like the £225million development of Chester Zoo that will be taking place until 2018. This will see the Zoo grow substantially and introduce a vast array of exciting new attractions and species, and will also provide hundreds of jobs over the coming years in the North West of England in conservation/zoology (as well as construction and engineering during the development).
So it seems that whilst the economy appears to be sliding further each day, and there are many people in difficult positions, there are industries that are actually not doing too badly. I would think that in the next year or so, many keen entrepreneurs will be looking to analyse the effects of the recession on different industries and looking to capitalise on some of the opportunities that present themselves.
What to do with staff survey data
February 16, 2009
In my organisation we have recently carried out an employee survey, which was done through face to face meetings with each employee. I am part way through analysing the results and there have been some interesting responses. It’s always surprising how different people have widely different feelings about what makes them happy and motivated at work. There were comments about many different aspects of work, ranging from the level of feedback employees receive on a regular basis, to what is provided in the food and drinks machines! It just goes to show that the smallest things that management may not consider to be important can actually have an effect on the general mood of the workforce; and this is why I personally am quite a big fan of staff surveys.
Carrying out a survey is one thing, but it is what you actually do with the results of the survey that is really important. When I have carried out surveys in the past I have always worked hard to try to at least put together a report for the management team or company leadership, so that a response can be put together and actions made as a result of what staff have been saying. There’s nothing more damaging to the sense of ‘employee voice’ than when a staff survey is carried out and employees hear nothing more about it after they have submitted their response. Even if the results are used positively and management make workplace changes as a result of survey responses, the communication of this is almost as important as the action itself; as it is vital that employees know that this has been a direct result of their opinions and ideas.
There’s an interesting article in the latest People Management magazine (The Big Ask: 12th Feb) which talks about linking employee survey results to business performance. Employee engagement is the main buzzword of the moment in terms of how employees feel about and respond to the organisation; and this can be shown to have an effect on the bottom line and other business performance indicators. Research has shown that organisations that have high employee engagement also have better business performance, including in particular, net profit.
For more information on employee engagement and staff surveys have a look at previous articles Let’s get engaged (13 June 08) and Developing engagement (14 June 08).
The Health and Safety (offences) Act 2008
February 13, 2009
On 16th January, the Health and Safety (offences) Act 2008 came into force. This is an amendment to the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, and covers the sentences that might be issued if a company/individual is found to have breached the law, which include prison sentences.
Under the 1974 Act, employers have a duty to manage the risks in the workplace to employees and other people affected by the business (visitors, customers etc), and it is an offence to breach this duty. Previously this offence only carried a financial penalty, however now the courts have wider powers including larger fines and prison sentences of up to 12 months (Magistrates Court) or up to 2 years (Crown Court).
The reason for this change in the law is that there are still thousands of accidents and injuries in the workplace that could be avoided with good health and safety awareness, but the numbers keep increasing. In 2007/2008, over 200 people were killed at work, and there were over half a million new cases of people suffering illnesses that were caused or made worse by the workplace.
Many injuries are caused by slips and trips, due to things like poorly designed or laid out office furniture, filing cabinet drawers left open or wet floors with no warning sign. Some of the more serious injuries are caused by poorly maintained machinery or unsafe practices when operating them. Whatever the industry, all companies should pay attention to health and safety issues, whether it is a display screen equipment (DSE) assessment at an employee’s desk, or providing the correct clothing or equipment for employees working on a site or plant.
The Health and Safety Executive has a great deal of information on getting started in health and safety issues and how to deal with accidents and incidents. Many companies also buy in the services of an external consultant to assess the risks in the workplace and help manage them; and with fines of up to £20,000 for breaches of the law, it’s probably a small price to pay to make sure your employees are safe at work.
Interview bugbears
February 12, 2009
This week I spent the whole of one day interviewing candidates for a new position. The structured interview is still one of the most common methods used by organisations in recruitment and selection, and having experienced a range of different responses from interviewees, I thought I would put together my top three interview bugbears:
- When the candidate hasn’t bothered to do any research at all on the company. My first question is usually ‘what do you know about the company?’ and one of the candidates this week said that she had not been able to find out anything because the link to our website that was sent in her invitation email did not work. She had apparently not thought to find another way to get onto the site such as typing the url into the address bar, or Googling the company name. After the interview myself and the other panel members all agreed that it was pretty much game over at that point, but of course we gave the candidate a full and proper interview, which felt like a waste of time!
- When the candidate cannot answer succinctly. Have you ever been in an interview where the candidate tells gives you a sufficient, and sometimes event brilliant answer to a question in a few minutes, yet they continue to ramble on and on for a long time, with no additional benefit to the interview. I know it’s easy to ramble when you’re nervous, but it’s good skill to be able to give a full and relevant answer without having to talk for ten minutes, and it puts me off if the candidate cannot realise when they have talked too much. Also, I feel that the best interviews are more like two way conversations, so it’s good for the interviewer to be able to speak occasionally, but with ramblers you can’t often get a word in edgeways.
- When a candidate is late but doesn’t apologise. There’s nothing worse than rudeness, and whilst I understand that there are sometimes uncontrollable circumstances that lead to lateness, if you don’t even acknowledge this then you’re on a path to rejection with immediate effect. If a candidate is going to be late then they should call and ensure the interviewer is aware of this and the reason as soon as possible. If the role is a client facing job, then this is especially important because their behaviour in attending the interview is indicative of their potential behaviour with a client.
So if you’re going to an interview in the near future, the above points are general no-no’s if you want to have a chance at getting the job. If you’ve recently been interviewing, let me know what your biggest bugbears are.
Retirement procedures (2)
February 11, 2009
Yesterday’s article looked at the first two parts of the statutory retirement procedures (part of the Age Discrimination Regulations 2006): which were 1) giving notice of retirement and 2) the right to request to work beyond retirement age. Here is an explanation of the final stages of the statutory retirement procedures:
Considering the request:
The duty to consider the request should basically follow the statutory dispute resolution procedures (which are due to change in April this year). A meeting should be arranged to discuss the request, (unless the employer immediately grants the request) followed by the employer’s decision and the employee’s right to appeal the decision. As with disciplinary and grievance procedures, individual companies’ retirement policies may state time limits within which meetings will be arranged and decisions given, or may simply state ‘within reasonable time’. The employee has the right to be accompanied by a colleague or trade union official at the meeting.
Further requests:
If a later retirement date is agreed, the company needs to go through the correct procedure again to automatically dismiss the employee at their new retirement date (i.e. at least six months notice) unless they have agreed an extension of six months or less. If the employee then wants to work beyond that date, they must go through the whole process again with a request to work beyond the agreed retirement age. This would be treated as a completely different request.
Procedural fairness:
As with other statutory procedures; failure to follow any parts of the above rules could lead to a ruling of automatically unfair dismissal in an Employment Tribunal. It is therefore in employers’ interests to know and understand their responsibilities under the legislation. As I always say, the best thing to do when dealing with a retirement is to consult your employment law advisor or ACAS in plenty of time.