The document provides a weekly summary of top HR and management stories, including:
1) Changes to UK agency worker regulations that will require equal pay and conditions after 12 weeks, prompting companies to reassess their workforce.
2) Falling numbers of skilled work visa applications in the first month after new restrictions were introduced, contrary to employer concerns.
3) Stable median pay rises of 2.5% in the UK, though below inflation, and a drop in average sick leave days per employee.
4) Indications that the government may scale back plans to outsource public services and extend recommendations on fair pay beyond the public sector.
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This week in HR People Management (to 6 May)
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This week in HR
A round-up of the top HR and management stories
Week ending 6 May 2011
PEOPLE MANAGEMENT
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Change in temp rules
affects labour mix LINKS
The forthcoming agency workers rec.uk.com
regulations (AWR) are an opportunity for
companies to reassess their workforce Government guidance:
planning, a conference heard on Thursday. bit.ly/juj9f4
Allied Milling and Baking – the maker of
Kingsmill and Sunblest – is aiming to
“significantly” reduce its reliance on agency
staff as a result of the legislation and a review
of its resourcing, according to the company’s
HR director, Nigel Toon. The regulations – the
government published its final guidance today – will come into force this October,
and will entitle temporary workers to pay and conditions equal to that of permanent
staff after 12 weeks’ employment.
Read the full stoRy at bit.ly/jGEtI4
Comment: Can we ever cut the front line? Thousands of nursing jobs ‘at risk from cuts’
Read the full stoRy at bit.ly/jcC5V9 bit.ly/dYrffm
PM recently reported the Royal College of Nursing motion of no confidence in
health secretary Andrew Lansley – that “up to 40,000 NHS posts, half of them
doctors and nurses, could be lost in the proposed reform of the health service”.
RCN said that it had “exposed the myth that front-line care and services would be
protected” when in fact the cuts would “have a catastrophic impact on patient
safety and care”. But Iain Mackinnon asks: are they right?
Work visa applications fall under new rules UK Border Agency
Read the full stoRy at bit.ly/lrOFMB ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk
Employers’ concerns that immigration visa restrictions for skilled workers would
stop talent coming to the UK appear to be unfounded, as the first month’s
allocation leaves visas going spare. Of the available 4,200 restricted certificates of
sponsorship for skilled workers (as the work visas are known), only 1,028 were
taken up, according to figures from the UK Border Agency.
Wage rises hold steady at 2.5 per cent, figures show Incomes Data Services
Read the full stoRy at bit.ly/kJzvAp incomesdata.co.uk
Median UK pay rises have stabilised at 2.5 per cent, new data has revealed,
although the deals lag far behind RPI inflation, which is 5.3 per cent. The latest
figures from Incomes Data Services found that, on average, pay awards had
remained the same in the three months to March 2011.
Public service privatisation plans ‘to be scaled back’ Public-sector cuts ‘could create HR outsourcing boom’
Read the full stoRy at bit.ly/iYYZJN People Management bit.ly/iutsD9
The government has ruled out the “wholesale outsourcing” of public services
to the private sector, a report by the BBC has claimed. A leaked memo
obtained by the corporation said such a move would be politically “unpalatable”,
as the coalition embarks on its efficiency drive to transform services and slash
public spending.
Average sickness absence falls Fit note starts to reduce absence rates at DWP
Read the full stoRy at bit.ly/myrsAr People Management bit.ly/9XVgxH
The number of sick days the average UK employee is taking has dropped by 1.7 to 5
days a year, research has revealed. Furthermore, 45 per cent of employees did not
take any days off sick in 2010, according to the 2011 Sickness Absence Survey from
manufacturers’ organisation the EEF and Westfield Health. ☛ MORE NEWS ON NEXT PAGE