In a recent report the US National Transportation Safety Board outlined its conclusions regarding another fatal crash involving a ‘driverless car’. The vehicle had its cruise control set to 75 mph but was travelling slower at first as another vehicle was in front. At some point, the driverless car veered to the left and when […]
Category: Employee engagement
Employment Terms & Motivation
Welcoming New Staff [Editor’s note – updates to the content were made in October 2020} Most managers want new staff to have a positive experience of their recruitment and acceptance of the offer of a job. Employees will not resign usually from their current job until they receive a clear offer of the new job. […]
Older Employees – Organisational Asset or Liability?
Shortage of People and Skills Ahead In recent years the focus has been on apprenticeships and job opportunities for young people, which are both important. However, that has distracted managers from another pressing issue – the skills and ‘corporate glue’ provided by older workers. The number of young people coming into the workforce is shrinking. […]
The Minimum Wage has a Nasty Bite
True Cause or Excuse The minimum wage is well known but there are still some employers, across many sectors, who choose to skate on thin ice. Those organisations fail to pay the correct amount because of: Insufficient funds; Failure to take into account all the operational hours expected of staff; Ignorance; An “I’ll chance it” […]
Balancing the Need for Operational Flexibility and Staffing Flexibility unlike Sports Direct
Unfortunately, Sports Direct hit the headlines for the wrong reasons but their underlying aims may not be so different to many organisations in the private and public sectors. Managers at Sports Direct went about it in the wrong way. Statistics from ONS indicate that employment on zero hours contracts has risen by 21% year on […]
ACAS Disciplinary Code Diluted
This article was first published in our temporary blog When the unfair dismissal legislation was introduced in 1974, the onus was on the employer to demonstrate that the reason for dismissal was fair in all the circumstances and that a fair procedure had been adopted when deciding whether or not to dismiss an individual. The […]
Postponing a Tribunal Hearing – 3rd Time You May Be Out
Occasionally postponements are used to unsettle the other party. The main drawback of postponements is the lost time, the need to rearrange appointments and the waste of tribunal time and accommodation if a new case can not be slotted into the gap. Three Strikes and Out The number of times an employer or claimant can […]
Junior Doctors’ Dispute re Pay and Working Hours
In our first article about the junior doctors’ pay and hours dispute, we queried whether the negotiators for the doctors will avoid the mistakes of previous years. Those agreements left some junior doctors in specialities, such as general medicine, feeling the deal was unfair as colleagues, in other specialities, were not liable to be called […]
Temporary Respite in Costs of Auto-Enrolment Pension Schemes
Our earlier article ‘Living Wage has Hidden Costs for Employees and Employers’ has been updated to reflect the Chancellor’s intention to postpone the rise in minimum pension contributions from both employer and employees. The postponement will be for 6 months. The increases will take place in April 2018 and 2019 instead of October 2017 and […]