Search Results for: employment

March 15, 2018

What the Chancellor’s Spring Statement means for the employment landscape

It may only have lasted 26 minutes, but chancellor Philip Hammond’s inaugural Spring Statement included a number of very encouraging points. Critics were quick to criticise Philip Hammond’s first Spring Statement. But that is perhaps simply the nature of politics. If an impartial party carefully dissects the 26-minute speech, there are undoubtedly many positives to take away. Yes, growth projections still lag slightly behind those highlighted in March 2016. However, it must be accepted that pre-Brexit forecasts are a different story altogether. On 24 June 2016, very few people would have predicted the growth story that was told in the House of Commons today – one of continued economic development with further growth on the horizon. This story is therefore an extremely encouraging one, and a welcome narrative amidst the doom and gloom that so often dominates the media headlines and political debates.

March 2, 2018

Employment law is out of step with flexible work and the changing workplace

by Leon Deakin • Comment, Flexible working, Legal news, Workplace

Anyone who works in employment law or HR is certainly living through interesting times. With the removal of employment tribunal fees, litigation over the correct calculation of holiday pay and Brexit planning there is much to keep us busy. In addition, In addition, the impending GDPR is highly topical. However, for me, the most intellectually stimulating but also practically difficult area to advise on often remains employment status. Put simply, the law is out of date. Legislation drafted in the 1990s, and to some extent based on cases from much earlier, simply does not cut it in an increasingly flexible and developing work place.

January 2, 2018

We need to stop talking about self-employment as a monocultural phenomenon

by Andrea Broughton • Comment, Flexible working

Self-employment has grown considerably in the UK over the past 15 years, now totalling around 4.8 million workers, or 15 per cent of the workforce. There is a debate about the extent to which this growth in self-employment is a positive development: some believe that it is a positive feature of an entrepreneurial and flexible economy, while others fear that it is increasing levels of precariousness. This is a difficult issue to address as there is great heterogeneity among the self-employed workforce. In order to shed light on this, IES undertook research for the Centre for Research on Self-Employment (CRSE) to divide the self-employed workforce into segments. The policy debate on self-employment has often been carried out on the assumption that there is some homogeneity among the self-employed workforce. However, this is far from the case, and it could be argued that diversity is increasing due to the growth of the so-called gig economy. In order to help clarify the debate, IES undertook research for the CRSE that aimed to achieve greater clarity in terms of the size and nature of the different segments of the self-employed workforce. The aim is that if the sector is better segmented, this will help policymakers to avoid taking a broad-brush approach to the treatment of self-employed workers.

December 22, 2017

Five employment law milestones from the past year we need to remember in 2018

by Lucy Gordon • Comment, Workplace

The past twelve months have been an eventful period for employment law; from the uncertainty surrounding Brexit and the rights of EU Nationals working in the UK, to the mounting attention on employee data protection as the GDPR edges ever closer. Issues of Employment Tribunal fees, holiday pay and the gig economy have similarly captivated headlines, and these significant milestones from the past 12 months are set to have a big impact on the challenges facing the sector into 2018. More →

December 1, 2017

New Government plan to address employment barriers for disabled people

by Sara Bean • Legal news, News, Wellbeing, Workplace

The Government has announced a new 10-year strategy to address employment prospects for disabled people and people with health conditions. In response to its Work, Health & Disability Green Paper consultation which closed earlier this year, the White Paper, Improving Lives: the Future of Work, Health and Disability sets out how the Government will work with employers, charities, healthcare providers and local authorities to break down employment barriers for disabled people and people with health conditions over the next decade. This will be delivered through in-work programmes, personalised financial and employment support, and specialist healthcare services. Currently, ill health that keeps people out of work costs the economy an estimated £100 billion a year, including £7 billion in costs to the NHS. Two new employment trials will also be launched in the West Midlands and Sheffield City Region combined authorities to provide employment support. The Government is also investing around £39 million to more than double the number of Employment Advisors in Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services.

November 16, 2017

Astonishing Uber employment case could lead to fresh battles over gig economy

by Philip Richardson • Comment, Flexible working, Legal news, Technology

The latest decision in an ongoing legal battle involving the ride-hailing app, Uber, could have serious consequences for companies which operate in the ‘gig economy’. The prolonged employment tribunal case first began in 2016 with a case bought by the GMB Union. Uber drivers James Farrar and Yaseen Aslam argued that the employment status they had been assigned by Uber – namely, ‘self-employed’ – was incorrect and that they should instead be classed as ‘workers’. The change in status would mean the pair were entitled to holiday pay, paid rest breaks and the minimum wage.

September 15, 2017

Regional office property market benefits from growth in office based employment

by Sara Bean • Cities, Facilities management, News, Property, Public Sector

Strong demand and a lack of supply is helping to boast the regional office rental market, according to Savills’ latest Regional Offices Market Watch. The firm anticipates that take-up will reach 9.8 million sq ft (910,450 sq m) by the end of 2017, a 4 percent increase on 2016 and 9 percent up on the 10 year average. This is due to a number of large Government Property Unit (GPU) deals completing in the second half of the year. As a result of strong demand, total availability across the UK fell by 1 percent to 30 million sq ft (2.787 million sq m) in the first half of the year, which equates to just 1.8 years worth of available Grade A supply. What’s more, Savills notes that office based employment across the regional cities is forecast to grow by up to 4.6 percent over the next five years, leading to a net additional 55,000 jobs, representing a need for a further 5 million sq ft (464,616 sq m) of office space.

September 11, 2017

Growing numbers of people remain in employment past retirement age

by Mark Eltringham • News, Workplace

Both men and women are increasingly staying at work beyond the state pension age, UK government figures show. Data published by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) reveals that the average retirement age for men has now risen to 65.1 and for women 63.6. Over a twenty year period, this marks an increase of around two years for men and nearly three years for women. In both cases the average retirement age is now higher than the state retirement age. Some 10 percent of over-65s are currently in employment, according to the DWP data. However, the data also suggests that men are still retiring at an earlier age than they were in the 1950s, which is the starting point for the study.

August 18, 2017

Board buy-in is key to closing employment gap for disabled people in workplace

by Sara Bean • Facilities management, Flexible working, News, Wellbeing, Workplace, Workplace design

There continues to be a significant gap between the employment rate of disabled people and the rest of the population; according to the Office for National Statistics, just 49 percent of disabled people of working age are in employment. This is why getting genuine buy-in from the top is key to improving levels of disability disclosure and helping to facilitate requests for workplace adjustments. That was the conclusion of a recent round table hosted by the Recruitment Industry Disability Initiative (RIDI) which also found that while some HR and diversity specialists are sceptical about the level of support available from senior leadership teams, once the topic is brought to the attention of the board, the response is often overwhelmingly positive. Practical ways in which leaders can bolster disability initiatives shared at the event include; identifying disability champions within the business who can communicate their own stories, implementing unconscious bias training, instigating & reverse-mentoring initiatives where senior managers are partnered with disabled colleagues and leading by example by being open about their own disabilities.

July 10, 2017

Improved employment rights would boost number of gig workers claims PwC survey ⁰

by Mark Eltringham • Flexible working, Legal news, News

While most workers favour full time employment, significant numbers of people would consider gig work and other flexible options such as zero hours contracts, according to a PwC survey of more than 2,000 UK adults. But key concerns remain job security, the ability to earn sufficient income and losing out on workplace benefits. The findings come ahead of the much anticipated Taylor Review into Modern Employment practices, expected this week. While 77 percent of the people surveyed prefer full time employment, 45 percent of the respondents would consider gig work (defined as short-term, casual work, typically organised or facilitated via mobile phone apps) or already work in this way. This number would rise if employment rights improved significantly, with two in five people saying it would make them more likely to take up gig work. Flexible options are most popular with ‘millennials’ – some 58 percent of 18-34 yr olds would consider taking gig work compared with 30 percent of those over 55. Likewise, while zero hours contracts would be considered by 35 percent of respondents overall, 45 percent of millennials say they would take a zero hours contract., falling to just 24 percent of over 55s.

May 4, 2017

Brexit bonfire unnecessary as employers back the UK’s existing employment rights ⁰

by Sara Bean • Flexible working, Legal news, News, Workplace

UK employers do not believe a bonfire of employment law is necessary under Brexit, as negotiations over the country’s departure from the EU begin. According to new research by the CIPD and the employment law firm Lewis Silkin, employers back the UK’s existing employment rights framework with all twenty eight areas of employment law rated as necessary by a majority of employers. In the survey of more than 500 employers, organisations were asked whether they viewed more than twenty different aspects of employment law as necessary or not. The list included unfair dismissal laws, rated as necessary by 93 percent of businesses, as well as national minimum wage (87 percent), parental rights at work (82 percent), agency workers laws (75 percent) and the Working Time Regulations (74 percent). The research, which looked at a wide variety of employment laws and practices, also found more than half (52 percent) of employers go beyond the legal minimum requirements when implementing employment law.

April 24, 2017

Many workers believe AI and automation will increase employment and flexible working ⁰

by Neil Franklin • Flexible working, News, Technology

A new study from Adecco suggests that a large number of employees have a generally positive attitude towards technology in the workplace with many seeing it as increasing employment opportunities and nearly half believing that the advent of artificial intelligence and automation will enable a greater uptake in levels of flexible working. According to the Humans vs Robots report, two-thirds (65 percent) of employees believe that overall, technology has actually increased the number of jobs available to them, 54 percent believe that advances in technology will continue to create more jobs than it destroys over the next decade, 48 percent think AI will positively benefit them, by helping them to work more flexibly and a large majority of workers (87 percent) think that computers will make their role easier within the next ten years