Industry News

Bad Management Costing Businesses

Ineffective management could be costing UK businesses over £19 billion per year in lost working hours according to a survey published by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI).

The CMI’s report revealed that three quarters of employees waste almost two hours of their working week due to inefficient managers. Worst management practices responsible for time lost include unclear communication, lack of support, micro-management and lack of direction.

Taking the average hours wasted in a week across the average working time of 48 weeks per year, equates to a loss of £900 per employee and a total loss of £19.3 billion, calculated at a median value rate.

Unfair Dismissal Changes Start Next April

The Government has confirmed that from 6 April 2012 the qualifying period of service required for an employee to present a claim for unfair dismissal would be extended from one to two years.

Currently an employee can present a claim for ordinary unfair dismissal once they have one years’ service. However, there are certain exceptions to this when an employee with any length of service can present a claim for unfair dismissal. It is expected that these exceptions will continue to apply. The increase to two years will bring it in line with the qualification requirement for a redundancy payment which, under the statutory scheme, requires an employee to have two years’ service.

Employers and Recruiters Prepare for Agency Workers Regulations 

The Agency Workers Regulations (AWR) comes into force this week (1st October) entitling agency workers who have worked for a company for more than 12 weeks to the same rights to basic employment and working conditions as if they were permanent staff. This will cover pay, working hours, overtime, holidays and certain bonuses but excludes sick pay and redundancy pay.

The introduction of the AWR is intended to bring UK employment law in-line with EU regulations. Feedback from employers and agencies have highlighted the need to closely monitor how the regulations work when put into action. 

Business owners struggle to take holiday

According to a report by Bibby Financial Services more than half of business owners (53%) make business calls and email while away on holiday and more than 1.1 million UK Company owners are under so much pressure to keep their business going that they will be unable to take a summer holiday. More than two fifths (42%) say they have to work extra hours just so they can go away, with one in 10 (12%) claiming to have to put in an additional 21 hours or more.

Female execs earn the same as men for first time but equal pay for all is a long way off

Figures released by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) show that female executives are earning as much as their male counterparts for the first time since records began at junior executive level.

However, the average figures across the whole sample of 34,158 UK executives surveyed by XpertHR on behalf of CMI suggest equal pay for male and female executives across all seniority levels remains a long way off.

One third of workers don’t take a full lunch break

According to a workplace report by Aviva Health UK workers’ eating habits are suffering due to stress and long hours and workplace pressures are stopping workers from taking the breaks they need.

Nearly a third (30%) of employees said they are unlikely to take a lunch break which is a slight improvement on the 37% who gave the same response in 2009. A quarter (25%) will only take a lunch break if they feel their workload allows it.