You are currently browsing the Blog - EMS - Business Consultants weblog archives for October, 2009.
31/10/2009 by Geoff.
Simone our HR specialist writes
The Tribunal Service has released its statistics for 2008-9. Claim numbers totalled 151,028.
There has been a significant jump in the number of unfair dismissal claims between April 2008 and March 2009 to 52,711. This represents a 29% increase. This was the largest single category of claim.
How much did they cost? I hate to think!
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31/10/2009 by Geoff.
We will be updating our website late in October ‘09. In this update we will include an article by Tony Storey OBE entitled “Doing Business With Secondary Schools”.
We thought you’d like to know that Tony, Britains longest serving Secondary School Headteacher until he retired last year, is in the process of publishing a book “An Educated Life - A Boys Own Story”
If you want a copy you can contact us on enquiries@emseff.co.uk or Tony direct on tonystoey.66@btinternet.com.
Price is £7.50 (plus £1.50 p and p)
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24/10/2009 by admin.
ACAS has published its Annual Report for 2008/9. Three pertinent points in this Report:
· The recession has stimulated a 22% rise in unfair dismissal cases
· Other Employment Tribunal cases have also increased
· Support on redundancy cases has risen dramatically. So too has the demand for redundancy training……………………
Written by Simone Greasley
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17/10/2009 by Geoff.
A recent case has come before an Employment Tribunal which shows the need to be wary of giving “off the cuff” remarks. A Senior NHS Manager was passed over for a position, in favour of a colleague 13 years her junior. She claimed she had been discriminated against on the basis of her age. The Claimant was the preferred candidate for a role in the NHS. She had 38 years relevant experience. She had told her Manager that she was three years from retirement age (60), her Manager allegedly replied “I didn’t realise you were so old”. The Claimant was awarded £33,500 for injury to feelings; £5,700 aggravated damages as well as interest and a statutory uplift of 25% for failure to follow the old statutory procedures - her total award was £49,162.50.
The lesson to be learnt in this case is “be wary of what you say……………….”
Written by our HR specialist Simone Greasley
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17/10/2009 by Geoff.
I’ve just returned from a great holiday in New Zealand and whilst there I saw some things that you might find of interest since they’re related to business or will just lighten your day.
Business Opportunities
I saw two of these which to my knowledge have not been exploited in the UK. We are going to evaluate the ideas so at the moment I can’t tell you more. If we don’t follow these up then we will pass them on. Please contact us to express any interest (enquiries@emseff.co.uk).
Getting your business noticed
It’s always wise to get your business noticed. Whilst in NZ I saw a woollen shop - to get them selves noticed they had the sheep in the field in front of their shop dyed purple - very noticeable! No prizes for the name of the shop!
A bit of humour
Kiwis seem to have a passion for throwing themselves off things and doing things that are good for the adrenaline. Whilst one of our group leaped off the Sky Tower in Auckland and did a bungee jump off the bridge that started it all we settled for a less dramatic jet boat ride. The driver recounted a tale that his passengers irrespective of real age were all really 30 -35, a 93 year old passenger took exception to this telling the driver he felt like a teenager - not working and taking drugs!!!
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10/10/2009 by admin.
The Government has published draft regulations to introduce Additional Paternity Leave (APL). Once approved the Regulations will come in to force on 6th April 2010.In essence it will enable Mothers of children due on or after 3rd April 2011 to transfer up to six months of their maternity leave to the Father, when they return to work. This may or may not be paid leave, depending on the amount of statutory maternity pay received already by the Mother. Similar provision will also apply to adoptive parents.
From Simone
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10/10/2009 by Phil.
There is a new two tier fee structure……..
Organisations with 250 or more workers (and Private Companies who have an annual turnover of £25.9million) will pay £500.00 for new notifications and renewals.For all other non-exempt organisations the fee remains at £35.00
From Simone
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06/10/2009 by Geoff.
On numerous occasions we find a potential client doesn’t want us to help them get rid of a problem in their business. This is generally because they have no idea how much the problem is affecting the performance of their business. I thought it might be useful to look at the impact of some problems:
Poor delivery performance
You could lose a customer with lost turnover and the costs associated with finding a new one. Poor quality can have the same effect as well as increased costs.
Poorly motivated or managed staff
Their productivity is likely to be low increasing costs and there’s no telling how they’re going to respond to customers or suppliers. Again the result could be lost customers or suppliers and in the case of the later materials might not arrive on time (increasing downtime).
Lack of systems and procedures
If you haven’t got these then repeatability will be low and the business is reliant on individuals knowledge. In this case it can be difficult to identify where a problem is in the business.
If I’ve got you thinking about how much your problems cost then perhaps we should have a chat to see how we can help you get rid of them.
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06/10/2009 by admin.
At the end of September 2009, the High Court ruled on its judgment on the Heyday case. This centred around the charity Age Concern (now called Age UK), which was attempting to have the default retirement age (“DRA”) ruled as being unlawful.The High Court Judge decided that UK age discrimination law was valid and that the “default retirement age” of 65 is still lawful. .However, the Judge said that his decision might have been different if the Government had not recently announced it review of the DRA. It is therefore envisaged that the days of being able to retire employees at age 65 are likely to be numbered…………….
From Simone
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01/10/2009 by admin.
In the 2009 budget the Government announced its intention to increase statutory redundancy pay from £350.00 to £380 per week. The increase becomes effective today (1st October 2009).The new figure will also apply to the basic award in unfair dismissal cases as well as other compensation payments based on weekly pay.The annual adjustment, which normally occurs each February, will not now take place until 2010. The limit will therefore remain at £380.00 until February 2011.
The cap on unfair dismissal compensatory awards (currently £66,200) is unaffected. The annual adjustment to this will still occur in February 2010.
Thanks again Simone
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