New government plans are under way to extend the cigarette ban outdoors to include entrances to workplaces, bus shelters and pub beer gardens. Most businesses have probably stopped employees smoking in ‘front’ doorways/entrances because of the poor image it portrays.
Now however it is wherever smokers ‘herd’ together – which from my experience as an ex-smoker [...]

2010 Pay Rises Likely To Be Around 2%

An early indication that salary increases are beginning to recover is highlighted by a forecast predicting 2% median pay increase across the UK private sector this year – an improvement on predictions of just 1% in March 2009, a Hay Group survey has found.

A nurse who posted photos on Facebook showing patients having operations has been suspended.

The employee is said to have used their mobile phone to take pictures of patients in an operating theatre.

Millions to get first pension – employers to pay in
Millions of workers moved a step closer to getting a workplace pension for the first time as the final rules for the Government’s pensions reform were put before Parliament last week.
Employer contributions will be phased in from 1% in 2012 to 2% in October 2016 and [...]

Beware Emails Masquerading as HMRC
Just as we come out of the season to be jolly and move into the season of the dreaded tax return we get scammers wanting to take advantage of the situation.

The BIS (Department for Business, Innovation and Skills) has recently launched guidance for employers about the new right for employees to request time for training.

In September we released a comprehensive Swine Flu business pack. The pack, which includes a quick quiz designed to identify how much people know about swine flu, was created to raise awareness, educate and inform businesses about how to minimise the impact of runaway swine flu on operations, staff and profit margins.

The Business Department has delayed the introduction of the Agency Workers Directive (AWD) until October 2011 as part of efforts to cut the cost of business regulation by £6.5bn by 2015.

The limit by which statutory redundancy pay is calculated increases today. The maximum “week’s pay” for the purposes of the calculation is to rise to £380, up from £350.
There is a wonderful ‘mind-boggling’ table that you can use to work out an employees entitlement based on age and length of service.

“Stopping the spread of Swine Flu is just as vital for businesses as it is for the Government, individuals and families.” says Ed.
Unless your organisation is a big one, having a percentage of staff off sick at any one time is bound to cause major problems. In a competitive market, businesses that take common sense [...]