| Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) | |
A recent survey by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) shows significant disparities exist between small businesses in their confidence and awareness of managing employment law. The study, shows a third understand their legal obligations as an employer, a third think employment law is not relevant to them and 20% say they understand their obligations but worry they haven’t got it right.
The study also includes an in-depth analysis of male and female variations. Women place a greater emphasis on keeping up to date with employment law compared to their male counterparts, but worry more that they will get it wrong. Over half (54%) of women report that they feel it is important to keep informed of changes, compared to 38% males.
Try asking yourself these simple questions to see if you know some of the basics:
Q. Did you know all employees are required by law to have a written statement of employment within 2 months of starting with the company? This statement should describe the main terms of the contract of employment.
Q. Did you know all companies with over 5 employees must have written employment policies covering disciplinary, grievance, health & safety as a minimum?
Q. Did you know employees on long term sick leave accrue holiday entitlement when they are off sick?
Q. Do you know what you can do if an employee refuses to work a bank holiday?
We offer local businesses a free employment audit to identify where employment contracts and employment policies and practices need updating to keep businesses within the law. We are not an online call centre we will speak with you in person to explain your obligations and help you find a solution to fit your needs and budget. Give us a call on 01473 281650 or email Karen@bluestarhr.co.uk to book an appointment. |
| Turn up to work and get a free car – Sunday Times Article | |
Va va voom those sick days away: public sector employees are using the lure of hatchbacks and cashbacks to get their staff to show up for work according to an article in the Sunday Times. Cars, money and holiday vouchers are being used in a bid to reduce absenteeism to the low levels of the private sector where most consider their salary sufficient incentive to turn up in the morning.
Firefighters in Liverpool who attain a 100% attendance over a year are being entered into a prize draw. This year’s winner will drive away a new Honda Jazz worth more than £11,000. Staff can also win up to £1,000 if they show up for work every day for a three month period. Postal workers have been big winners: nationwide 37 have been given new Ford Focus cars for signing on each morning at the sorting office.
Royal Mail says its absence rates fell from 6.1% to 4.8% over a three year programme in which it offered the cars as a prize. Another 74 of its employees won £2,000 holiday vouchers in a draw open to employees with an unbroken attendance record. The incentive scheme has been so successful that it has been wound up.
Even the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, which issues road tax discs and licences, has got in on the act. Staff can enter the Into Win prize draw for an extra day’s holiday even if they do not turn up for work every day for a month. This is because they are also allowed to take up to three ‘duvet days’ a year, ringing in before a shift to say they do not feel like working that day. The ‘duvet days’ count as part of their annual leave.
On average, workers in the private sector take 6.4 days sick leave a year, compared with 10.7 days in the NHS and 13.5 days in local government.
Reducing absences is a key part of the government’s plans, announced last week, to make £11 billion of efficiency savings in the public sector.
We at Blue Star Human Resources do not believe that it’s always necessary to incentivise people to come into work every day. Why should you? That’s what they are paid to do! We believe that we can achieve significant cost saving for you by rigidly applying sickness management processes; you may already have such processes in place. We’re so confident of this that we will help you free of charge! Click here for more information.
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| Equal pay – what a nightmare! | |
In one of the biggest discrimination cases that has ever been heard, an employment tribunal recently found in favour of female workers at Birmingham City Council. The council lost the case after the tribunal concluded that more than 4,500 women workers, who were employed by the council in some of the more traditionally female jobs (for instance, as cleaners, care assistants, teaching assistants and so on), should have been paid the same rates as male employees, like grave diggers and street cleaners, whose jobs were deemed to be of a comparable level.
The women involved in this case are now entitled to claim for compensatory awards; pay-outs that some have estimated could cost the council up to £200m.
Does this ruling raise alarm bells for your organisation? Chances are it might not be as bad as you think. Blue Star Human Resources are experienced in conducting equal pay reviews and working with organisations in a pragmatic way to get the best sustainable outcome for all parties. Give us a call to find out how we can help ease your equal pay headaches.
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| Equality Act | |
Get ahead of the game and give us a call. The Equality Act is expected to come into force in October 2010 and will make it possible for the government to require all employers with more than 250 staff to report their gender pay gap from 2013, if sufficient progress on reporting has not already been made voluntarily. The Equality and Human Rights Commission will develop a set of metrics for gender pay reports in consultation with business, unions and others over the summer, and the commission will then monitor the progress of reporting within the private sector annually. Public bodies with more than 150 employees will also be required to report on gender pay as well as other equality data including the number of black, Asian and minority ethnic workers, by April 2011.
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| Employment Update: April 2010 changes to Statutory Pay and some employment stats |
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Maternity/adoption Pay |
SMP/SAP is paid for 39 weeks
First 6 weeks – 90% of the employee’s average weekly earnings
Remaining weeks – SMP/SAP of £124.88 (from 4 April 2010) or 90% of average weekly earnings, whichever is less
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Paternity/Partner’s Pay |
SPP is paid for two weeks
£124.88 (from 4 April 2010) or 90% of average weekly earnings, whichever is less
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Sick Pay |
£79.15 a week | |
National Minimum Wage |
£5.80 for workers aged 22 and older
£4.83 for workers aged 18 to 21
£3.57 for workers aged 16 to 17
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Tribunal Limits |
Limit on pay – 1 day £21.20, 1 week £380
Unfair dismissal compensation award £65,300
Breach of Contract maximum award £25,000
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More stats from www.statistics.gov.uk | |
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Headline unemployment rate: |
Jan to March 2010 – 8.0%
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Pay Awards |
Third of pay awards Jan to March 2010 resulted in a pay freeze. Median pay award was 1%
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Pay |
Average pay Jan to March 2010 was £429 per week without bonuses ( £459 with bonuses)
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RPI |
March – 4.4%
April – 5.3% (the highest since July 1991) |
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If you would like further information on any issues raised by this bulletin, or indeed any other people management challenges, please call us today on 01473 281650 or email us now at karen@bluestarhr.co.uk
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www.bluestarhr.co.uk |
