Business leaders have breathed a sigh of relief after a crackdown on rogue employers of vulnerable workers announced today did not include new laws.
The strategy instead features a telephone helpline for vulnerable workers to report abuses, and a £6m information campaign to raise awareness of employment rights as reported in personneltoday.com.
The Vulnerable Worker Enforcement Forum made recommendations which included representatives from business, unions, recruiters and the government.
Neil Carberry, head of employment at the CBI, said; "This report is good news for law-abiding employers. Britain has a strong framework of employment rights and it is where these laws are flouted that employees are open to exploitation. New laws and regulations do little to tackle unscrupulous firms, who simply ignore the law while they undercut law- abiding businesses. This package of reforms will not increase the burden for honest businesses, but will help protect workers who are being denied their employment rights".
The new Fair Employment Enforcement Board, chaired by the employment relations minister Pat McFadden, will co-ordinate the work of the government enforcement agencies covering minimum wage, health and safety, employment agencies and gang masters.
Among the new measures is the induction of a telephone helpline to report abuses to government workplace enforcement agencies. The Employment Agencies Standards Inspectorate is to be strengthened by doubling the number of its inspectors by the end of July 2009 and have its profile raised significantly, while BERR (The department for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform) will also introduce stronger penalties for agency offences. As part of the crack down, agencies are being encouraged to share more information.
Pat McFadden said: "There are still dark corners of the labour market where rogue employers seek to mistreat their workers and more needs to be done to safeguards people's rights. We want to prevent unscrupulous employers who undercut honest competition and prey on people who are fearful or so desperate to earn a living that they are open to exploitation. It is vital we boost awareness of employment rights and ensure those rights are properly enforced".
Author:
Chris Crawford is the MD of BD Recruitment, a specialist recruiter for copywriter jobs, sem jobs and web programmer jobs, based in Manchester, UK.
Showing posts with label jobs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jobs. Show all posts
Monday, 11 August 2008
Re-Think Redundancies
Employers need to retain staff to see out the economic downturn, according to Hull based human resources consultant Rob Coates; The Managing Director of Willerby Hill.
Rob's Comments are supported by a recent study by Deloitte Touche, which concludes that 2008 is the year when there will be more jobs than people to fill them.
Coates claims that staff expertise and skills are needed most during a downturn to see companies through it. He said "Apart from depriving yourself of prized assets that may be vital to weather hard times, you could be delivering competitive advantage to business rivals by letting go high calibre players whose training and development you financed."
"The fact is that, whatever the short to medium-term trends, the UK workforce is aging and shrinking rapidly, with decent staff increasingly aware of their value and far more ambitious. As such, the employment market is more predatory than ever before and businesses should be positioning themselves as top employers in their sector and geographic area so that they attract and retain the best workers."
Yet still it seems that too many companies are taking the knee-jerk reaction of streamlining three vital areas: marketing, training and staff- with the impact of redundancy invariably echoing long after people have departed. As the morale of the surviving staff is then low and they are feeling insecure they then start to seek alternative opportunities – which then in turn leads to more staff losses.
Rob says that even if business is doing well and there doesn't seem to be any plans to make redundancies then communication and transparency are vital in the face of the slowdown. This way everyone knows what's happening around them and they are kept in the picture.
Author:
Chris Crawford is the MD of BD Recruitment, a specialist recruiter for web development jobs, seo jobs and .net developer jobs, based in Manchester, UK.
Rob's Comments are supported by a recent study by Deloitte Touche, which concludes that 2008 is the year when there will be more jobs than people to fill them.
Coates claims that staff expertise and skills are needed most during a downturn to see companies through it. He said "Apart from depriving yourself of prized assets that may be vital to weather hard times, you could be delivering competitive advantage to business rivals by letting go high calibre players whose training and development you financed."
"The fact is that, whatever the short to medium-term trends, the UK workforce is aging and shrinking rapidly, with decent staff increasingly aware of their value and far more ambitious. As such, the employment market is more predatory than ever before and businesses should be positioning themselves as top employers in their sector and geographic area so that they attract and retain the best workers."
Yet still it seems that too many companies are taking the knee-jerk reaction of streamlining three vital areas: marketing, training and staff- with the impact of redundancy invariably echoing long after people have departed. As the morale of the surviving staff is then low and they are feeling insecure they then start to seek alternative opportunities – which then in turn leads to more staff losses.
Rob says that even if business is doing well and there doesn't seem to be any plans to make redundancies then communication and transparency are vital in the face of the slowdown. This way everyone knows what's happening around them and they are kept in the picture.
Author:
Chris Crawford is the MD of BD Recruitment, a specialist recruiter for web development jobs, seo jobs and .net developer jobs, based in Manchester, UK.
Frustrated Employees
According to new research conducted by the global management consultancy Hay Group: one in five UK workers are frustrated in their current jobs. 20% of the UK workforce felt frustrated by their work, while 35% think their job does not make the best use of their skills and abilities and 50% believe that they lack the authority to make decisions crucial to their jobs.
The majority of people at work are aligned with corporate goals and objectives and enthusiastic about making a difference- but they are held back by roles that do not suit them or work environments that get in their way. "Frustrated" employees represent a real lost opportunity for organisations. From a motivational perspective, business leaders have these employees where they want them. Where strong motivation to succeed is not paired with similar levels of support, employees are likely to either tune out or leave.
The report also showed that 56% of senior managers fail to generate a high-performance climate, while 41% thought managers were guilty of creating a de-motivating climate for employees.
Ben Hubbard, regional director (Europe, Middle East, Africa) at Hay Group’s employee survey division, said: "The frustrated employee phenomenon poses a major risk and a significant opportunity. With fierce competition for the most talented employees, companies' efforts to engage their people will be wasted if not backed by a supportive and enabling environment".
According to a report written by hay group there are several ways in which organisations can help beat the employee "frustration":
· Performance Management: By clarifying personal goals and priorities enables performance by allowing employees to focus on essential, value-added tasks. Likewise, by continually 'raising the bar,' ongoing feedback about performance helps ensure that employees are using their full capability.
· Authority and empowerment: Where employees have appropriate autonomy and discretion, they are better able to structure their working patterns to suit the way that they work best. And, by managing how they work, employees are more likely to find opportunities to leverage their skills and abilities fully in their jobs.
· Available resources: An enabling environment requires that employees have the information and resources (e.g tools, equipment, supplies) needed to do their jobs effectively.
· Training: In an enabling environment, employees are provided with job-related training to ensure they have the knowledge and skills necessary to carry out key tasks and deal effectively with internal and external customers. Appropriate training, which can turn potential into productivity, is also essential to ensure that organisations get the most from the abilities of their employees.
Author:
Chris Crawford is the MD of BD Recruitment, a specialist recruiter for creative account manager jobs, marketing account manager jobs and technical project manager jobs, based in Manchester, UK.
The majority of people at work are aligned with corporate goals and objectives and enthusiastic about making a difference- but they are held back by roles that do not suit them or work environments that get in their way. "Frustrated" employees represent a real lost opportunity for organisations. From a motivational perspective, business leaders have these employees where they want them. Where strong motivation to succeed is not paired with similar levels of support, employees are likely to either tune out or leave.
The report also showed that 56% of senior managers fail to generate a high-performance climate, while 41% thought managers were guilty of creating a de-motivating climate for employees.
Ben Hubbard, regional director (Europe, Middle East, Africa) at Hay Group’s employee survey division, said: "The frustrated employee phenomenon poses a major risk and a significant opportunity. With fierce competition for the most talented employees, companies' efforts to engage their people will be wasted if not backed by a supportive and enabling environment".
According to a report written by hay group there are several ways in which organisations can help beat the employee "frustration":
· Performance Management: By clarifying personal goals and priorities enables performance by allowing employees to focus on essential, value-added tasks. Likewise, by continually 'raising the bar,' ongoing feedback about performance helps ensure that employees are using their full capability.
· Authority and empowerment: Where employees have appropriate autonomy and discretion, they are better able to structure their working patterns to suit the way that they work best. And, by managing how they work, employees are more likely to find opportunities to leverage their skills and abilities fully in their jobs.
· Available resources: An enabling environment requires that employees have the information and resources (e.g tools, equipment, supplies) needed to do their jobs effectively.
· Training: In an enabling environment, employees are provided with job-related training to ensure they have the knowledge and skills necessary to carry out key tasks and deal effectively with internal and external customers. Appropriate training, which can turn potential into productivity, is also essential to ensure that organisations get the most from the abilities of their employees.
Author:
Chris Crawford is the MD of BD Recruitment, a specialist recruiter for creative account manager jobs, marketing account manager jobs and technical project manager jobs, based in Manchester, UK.
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