Editors Blog

Did anyone else enjoy the ludicrous union comments last week in the case of council workers sacked for spending too much time surfing online?

Nine workers at Neath Port Talbot Council in South Wales left their jobs after it was discovered that they were spending up to two hours a day on internet auction site eBay.

Union officials from Unison had the cheek to blame the council for its employees' actions, claiming it "had put temptation in their way" by allowing access to external sites.

I interviewed the departing Acas chair Rita Donaghy earlier this week. She is stepping down after seven years in the job and a long career in employment relations.

She was sorting through papers and clearing her desk as I arrived, ready for her replacement Ed Sweeney to take over from next week.

Speak to senior human resources or employment experts and none of them will have a bad word to say about Rita, and after meeting her I can see why.

We've just heard the annual blast of the Confederation of British Industry(CBI) trumpet against the level of the national minimum wage. At £5.52 per hour the bosses' organisation reckons it's way too high. Perhaps in Fat Cat Heaven - aka China - where workers do as they told for tuppence an hour it might be but not in the UK where a cup of coffee can cost £3. The truth is that it's directors pay which is surging ahead.

It’s interesting how much of the news coverage of the ITV phone-in scandal has focused less on the £8m robbery of voting viewers and more on the fact that no-one has been sacked as a result.

ITV chairman Michael Grade, while acknowledging the “grisly” findings of the Deloitte report, said in interviews that he wasn’t planning to ask anyone to resign over the shambles. His intention was to get to the bottom of what happened. Instilling a culture of fear – or carrying out a witch hunt - was not the best way of achieving that, he said. (He subsequently admitted that disciplinary conversations were ongoing, and that perhaps his predecessor should have resigned at the time).

But that does not mean ITV will be able to draw a line under this.

The introduction of auto-enrolment and personal accounts into the UK pensions system in 2012 is being heralded as the panacea to prevent inertia which hinders the current system.

Under the proposals, employees will contribute 4% of their pay into the scheme, with employers paying in 3% and the government contributing 1%.

Great news, but spare a thought for small employers.

The minister for pensions reform, Mike O’Brien, has said there are nine million people who currently worked for an employer who had not made any contribution to their pension.

He has said time and again that personal accounts will complement rather than replace existing pension provision, and target low-to-moderate earners who did not have access to a company scheme.

High up on this list are smaller employers, some of whom might not be as pleased with personal accounts as the pension fraternity, and who will suddenly find themself 3% per employee out of pocket.

And the winner for this year's award for biting the hand that feeds is... workers at Leicestershire County Council who were offered a fully paid afternoon off to do their Christmas shopping.

Instead, staff were angered by cabinet member, Kevin Feltham's, suggestions that it would 'prevent staff from skiving off' to do their festive season shopping anyway.

The result was an apology from the council and day time television for Mr Feltham, who got the sack for his trouble.

November 7 is both Ban Bullying at Work Day and National Stress Awareness Day. What can HR do to make it memorable? Give everyone the day off perhaps?

With such a crowded special days' calendar it was perhaps inevitable that there would be a clash. And it has to be bullying and stress. Surely both are such serious issues they deserve their own day?

Nowhere is the challenge of managing a multicultural workforce greater than in the professional football industry, especially the Premier League which features workers from toute le monde.

Personnel Today readers no doubt thought the case of National Grid worker John Beasley - who was denied the chance to prove unfair dismissal when he e-mailed his claim one minute and 28 seconds past the midnight deadline - was amusing.

But top barrister Daniel Barnett has now alerted us to an even closer shave.

A law student representing the claimant, D Miller, hit the 'submit' button on the Employment Tribunal Service (ETS) website at one second before midnight on the last day for presentation of an ET1 claim. It arrived on the ETS server at eight seconds past midnight.

The British Broadcasting Corporation has come up with a master plan to get back into favour with the public and her majesty the Queen.

Employees at the Beeb are being sent on a course to learn how to regain the public’s trust.

It follows a number of recent foul-ups by the broacaster leading to a formal apology to Queen Elizabeth II and a £50,000 fine after the results of a competition in children's program Blue Peter were found to have been faked.

According to The Sun newspaper, staff including director-general, Mark Thompson, will attend Safeguarding Trust workshops next week.

According to the tabloid, Thompson told staff in an email: “We are launching workshops across the BBC which will focus on the issue of audience trust.

“The problems over the summer were unrepresentative of the majority of our output. Nevertheless, they were serious and highlighted there is an urgent debate to be had about standards.”

New research reveals that almost a third of UK workers claim never to be thanked for their personal contribution at work.

Excuse me for being hard, but I have never expect to be thanked for doing my job. It’s why we get paid, and that is reward enough for me.

And the research also finds that two in 10 respondents say they are thanked more than once a week. What?
Sure it's nice to get a ‘thank you’ for doing something extraordinary for your employer once in a blue moon, but to get praised each time I saw a days work through would have me questioning me senior authorities belief in me.

According to writer on leadership Simon Western we are entering a new age of corporate leadership in the developed world, one he calls Eco-leadership. No doubt you're thinking that that would include the late Anita Roddick or M&S boss Stuart Rose.

If I tell you that includes Al Gore well maybe you'd go with that. But Bill Gates and McDonald's? What's the boy Western on - too many organically-sourced smoothies?

Make Me A Better Manager, together with the employee opinion database of its owner, ETS, has produced a list of the worst management mistakes that companies can make.

Here are the 10 worst...

So, five million sucker Brits work overtime and do not get paid for it eh?

That’s according to data from the National Statistics Labour Force Survey and Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings which revealed that the average amount of unpaid overtime is now seven hours and six minutes a week.

The number of employees working unpaid overtime increased by 103,000 in 2007, bringing the total to nearly five million, according to a new analysis of official statistics by the TUC.

Based on these figures, employees who work unpaid overtime would receive an extra £4,955 a year if they were paid for those extra hours.

News of the clampdown on unnecessary tribunals could not have come soon enough.

The number of employment tribunal cases rose from 115,039 in 2005-06 to 132,577 last year. And with the exception of race discrimination, all areas had an upward trend.

The dispute procedures have to take their share of the blame and have given HR much to complain about with widespread criticism of their complexity.

Last month we highlighted how crucial it was that the government delivers the greater powers it has been promising to Acas and makes sure the new statutory code of practice is simple and effective enough to put a stop to the pain that has already been caused by the nightmarish procedures that currently exist.

Valentine's Day is one of those annual events that gives certain companies and PR agencies an opportunity to unleash a barrage of highly tenuous press releases relating to employment law.

The same thing happens at Christmas, Easter, April Fools' Day - in fact any time where there might be a chance to release some questionable survey results, desperately seeking out some publicity.

The Personnel Today inbox has this week been inundated with such releases in the run up to 14 February, each one as infuriating as the last.

Legal 'experts' are warning staff not to send online Valentine's Day card as it could result in sexual harassment claims after being interpreted as unwanted attention.

With the UK’s debt crisis becoming an all too familiar story, HR professionals – just like consumers – might be forgiven for turning a blind eye to a problem the UK has faced for some time.

But the signs of strain are now beginning to spill over into the workplace – as money sickness syndrome takes its toll – and it’s high time HR professionals paid the issue some serious attention.

As one Personnel Today reader recently pointed out, employee debt can have “dire consequences” on productivity, yet “employers seem to be slow in addressing this issue”.

Labour MP Tom Watson has come up with a few guidelines on his blog on what to include in a code for Civil Service bloggers.

It follows the disappearance of the popular Civil Serf blog over the weekend which had led to a number of stories based on the blogger's critical comments about the inner-workings of Whitehall.

The author, who claimed to be a 33-year-old female fast-stream civil servant, particularly had it in for former work and pensions secretary Peter Hain.

Watson has come up with a dozen suggestions for any potential code, including: write as yourself, be nice, keep secrets and the slightly more intimidating 'stop it if we say so'.

Now the Civil Serf URL has been registered by Simon Dickson at something called Puffbox with his take on the story.

It raises a number of interesting questions about what procedures organisations should put in place to protect themselves against blogging employees and the damage it can do to your employer brand.

Look out for exclusive Personnel Today research, in association with law firm Charles Russell, on the topic in the coming weeks.

Local government HR directors working in London could be forgiven for quaking in their shoes with the news that controversial no-win no-fee lawyer Stefan Cross is heading southwards.

The MJ reports that the Newcastle-based solicitor has started advertising in the capital for equal pay cases to take on.

Cross has become somewhat of a hate figure among trade unionists in the local government sector because of his appetite to take on these kinds of claims and his pursuit of workers, mainly women, in signing up to his firm.

Having just taken over as editor of Personnel Today sister title Employers Law, and also being responsible for the legal pages of Personnel Today itself, I'm drowning not waving in the murky creature infested pool that is employment law.

But it always help to have a familiar face when contemplating a new landscape. And I think I've found one: that fictional hero of 1980s' corporate greed and devil take the hindmost managerial skills Gordon Gekko is back.

And he's back in droves. And possibly in a lift near you, at least if you work in the City.

Finally, the eagerly awaited review of extending flexible working rights, by Sainsbury's HR director Imelda Walsh, is out in the open. And it certainly
makes a nice change that HR is in the spotlight for leading a government review rather than simply responding.

By now, you will have digested the fact that the right is set to be extended to staff with children up to the age of 16. And the outcome seems to be one that most parties and the HR community support.

But while HR legal eagles know only too well that the right is only to 'request' fl exible working, you may still have a job to do educating your workforce that it's not an automatic privilege to work flexibly.

Likewise, you'll have your work cut out ensuring that the line managers and colleagues involved are flexible in their approach to getting the balance right. As always, translating laudable intentions into practice will be easier said than done.

Is your HR team concerned at the prospect of being inundated with requests to work flexibly? Do you feel that there will be pressure to accept or reject more requests to work in different ways?

August is usually the height of the silly season  when the media is forced to search for ridiculous stories as little of serious note is happening. You know the sort of thing: crop circles indicate alien invasion soon; deck chair shortage hits Scunthorpe; HR killjoys ban three quarter length shorts (good) and so on.

But, I fear. this year the kick off has been brought forward to May with a lawyer warning of "unprecedented" unrest in the nation's offices, a Wally saying without equality "learners can't learn", and the launch of a Strictly Come Dancing package for the corporate market.

The two issues that seem to be preoccupying HR professionals at the moment are agency workers' rights and flexible working. Yes, it's the old red tape story. For a couple of decades employment regulations have kept HR in gainful employment and given the profession a useful lever to make line managers take them seriously. But cynics could say the red tape mind set reflects an us and them attitude: us being the management and the others being those pesky employees threatening to cost the organisation more money and take you to the cleaners at an employment tribunal.

On the other hand, you could turn this on its head and, instead of seeing temporary staffing and flexible working as a threat, try to see  them as strategic opportunities. This week a report by the CBI and the TUC called Talent not Tokenism showed how some firms are using flexible resourcing to their advantage. Hospitality company Botanic Inns provides employees with flexible working options and enhanced maternity and paternity pay resulting in lower staff turnover.  Even small firms (Beacon Foods, Oakwood Builders and Joinery, and mouse mat manufacturer Listawood) are taking into account the need for flexibility to look after children. 

Unfortunately the sad truth is that some HR manager's focus on the red tape reveals that they see the workforce as a liability? In other words it's the complete opposite of the HR cliche "People are our most valuable resort."

So the Royal Mail has turned itself around. Four years ago, almost 12,000 of its employees were absent at any one time. Since 2004, the group has reduced its absence rates from 7% to 4%, saving it an estimated £227m.

The government now wants the worst offending sectors for absenteeism to replicate the Royal Mail's absence management model, believing that the UK economy could save £1.45bn a year through reduced salary and temporary worker costs, and increased productivity.

But does one model fit all organisations? Would what worked for the Royal Mail really reap the same rewards in the NHS or central government?

Possibly not. For one, the Royal Mail spent £46m on health and wellbeing activities to improve attendance and in the past it has offered employees the chance to enter a draw to win a car or holiday vouchers if their attendance record was 100%.

Not all organisations have access to such a budget or the willingness from their top ranks to invest such a sum in proactively looking after staff.

It's also a question of creating the right culture. However much your organisation spends, unless line managers take charge of managing absence and create an environment where staff want to come to work - as the Royal Mail has also clearly achieved - then absence will continue to be an issue.

I'm with Ben Willmott at the CIPD on this one: "As long as incentives for absence are part of a whole package... they can create a buzz around the importance of managing absenteeism," he said recently.

After all, if the only reason your staff are coming in is on the offchance they might win a car, you need to take a serious look at your work culture.

How altruistic are those HR professionals working in the not-for-profit and voluntary sector? By the very nature of the organisations they are employed by, and the work they do on a daily basis, you would assume altruism would be second nature.

The call by two leading figures in the third sector for HR professionals working for larger charities to help smaller organisations with employment law and employee relations issues is to be welcomed.

These smaller charities obviously need help - the number of grievance case in the sector far outweighs those in the public and private sectors. And a lack of cash often means that in-house HR expertise is at a premium.

A new website that allows employees to rank their workplace was launched this week.

Work Rewired is designed to give a heads up for prospective employees interested at working in certain companies, using feedback and written reviews

Anonymous entries are permitted, which may allow for the website to be abused.

Speculation is rife among the national press this morning on how much ground Gordon Brown conceded to the trade unions at Labour's National Policy Forum in Warwick over the weekend.

With no official announcements from either the government or unions, it is up to the political and industrial correspondents to fill in the rest of us as to what was agreed. Unions have been pushing hard for more workplace rights and saw the weekend as a chance to really back Brown into a corner.

Depending on what paper you read, the new rights seem to be:

• Extending unpaid parental leave to those with children aged under 16 (currently aged six)
• Adult threshold for minimum wage lowered from 22 to 21. Adult rate is currently £5.52
• More public sector apprenticeships
• Proposals to make maternity and paternity leave more flexible
• Measures to end "bogus self employment" in the construction industry

Being an employment journalist is not always easy - but it is often remarkably so.

Stories you would struggle to invent just keep on coming. After the government race watchdog was itself accused of racial discrimination against its staff, and employees of a trade union voted to strike, came the news that staff at conciliation service Acas were voting over industrial action.

News that employees at BP are to lose their option of working a nine-day fortnight is an embarassment to the company and the government.

The policy allows staff at various BP offices in the UK to take every other Friday off if they work a set number of hours every fortnight. The oil giant is thought to be axing the benefit as part of a cost cutting drive, alongside plans to cut thousands of jobs worldwide.

BP has been held up as a shining example of flexible working. In 2003 it was named by the government as one of 50 model employers in its approach to work-life balance. The revelation that it is now ditching the approach is a blow to its reputation.

If it wanted to introduce a standardised policy across all its UK operations, why not level up instead of level down? The damage this decision will inflict to both staff morale and employer brand will be hard to measure precisely, but it definitely goes against the grain of most forward-thinking employers.

News that the Football Association (FA) has hired new employment law advisers would not usually register that strongly on Personnel Today's news radar.

But with FA chief executive Brian Barwick having just been given the push, the threat of more jobs to be axed and England's 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign about to kick-off, the timing of the annoucement is intriguing.

Law firm Mace & Jones has been handed a contract to act as employment law advisers until 31 May 2010 - two weeks before the World Cup in South Africa gets underway. This should be perfect timing for them to negotiate a payoff for current head coach Fabio Capello following England's anticipated dismal failure to get to the finals.

Capello signed a £6.5m-a-year deal in Janaury that takes him up to July 2012. The smart money is on him not lasting anywhere near as long as that. If the FA want to get rid of him, like they did with ex-coach Steve McClaren, then it's going to cost them.

Unless, that is, Capello plays away from home with a female FA employee, a la Sven Goran Eriksson, then the legal eagles at Mace & Jones will really be earning their crust.

The seeming over-confidence and intense demands of Generation Y (dubbed Gen Why?) is, to say the least, proving to be a challenge for employers.

There's a growing perception that this generation believes it can have it all and is not embarrassed to ask for it. Put simply, they want to get the job done on their own terms and, unphased by hierarchies, have a strong tendency to challenge managers. There's no doubt that this is resulting in a clash of values.

So it's time to really gen up on Gen Y and help managers understand the generational differences and not get frustrated by them.

Carolyn McCall, chief executive of Guardian Media Group, and David Robinson, chairman of hi-fi retailer Richer Sounds, join the CIPD's director of research and policy Linda Holbeche to speak about how companies can cope with uncertain times.

I'll be covering the speeches live - feel free to add your comments at any time, from 4:30pm today.

"Employee engagement is not just a buzzword - it has a clear link to increased business success". Not the words of a leading thinker or top practitioner at the latest HR conference, but of a cabinet minister.

Recently resfuffled business secretary John Hutton's words upon announcing a government review into new ways of increasing employee engagement should be welcomed by the HR community.

The fact that the government has finally woken up to what the vast majority of us have known for years - that engaged workers perform better, stay in their jobs longer and boost profits - is a shot in the arm for the profession.

The Sunday Times ran a good piece last week on the Heyday retirement age challenge and its potential impact on older workers in the UK.

The article focused on Andrew Webster, a teacher at a West London school who was forced to retire at the age of 68, despite protests from staff and parents.

An estimated 25,000 people face default retirement in the UK every year, regardless of whether they want to continue working past the retirement age.

I was struck by comments from Neil Carberry, head of employment and pensions at the CBI, who said that getting rid of the mandatory retirement age would mean that the only way someone could be asked to leave was via a disciplinary process, which could mean "a very undignified end to some people's careers".

That's an interesting view and one I'm sure many in the HR community would have a view on.

January 1 2009 sees the latest health and safety at work legislation come into effect.

Apart from making employers liable for accidents in the workplace, the legislation also places the onus on employees too. In theory this could mean that employees could be prosecuted for harming themselves. 

As safety prosecutions lawyer Chris Green, a partner at law firm Weightmans points out: "Even any employees who fail to protect their own or colleagues' safety could face imprisonment if accidents occur after January, whether or not they are senior managers or directors." Daft or what? 

Lord Mandelson's 'efforts' to cut red tape for firms will only serve to add to the feel-bad factor we're already experiencing as we spiral into recession. Business secretary Mandelson is making a huge faux pas if he decides to delay the flexitime reforms approved at the Labour Party conference last month.

HR professionals know only too well that the business case for flexible working is a well-proven argument, and many employers have, for some time, been granting requests to work flexibly and reaping the benefits of increased staff satisfaction as a result.

'Tis the season to make redundancies... if the massive job cuts of the last week or so are anything to go by. As the nightmare before Christmas becomes more of a reality by the minute for many firms, it's perhaps not surprising that 'redundancy' tops our list of search topics on Personneltoday.com

And it's the right season to swing the axe, according to one employment law expert, who controversially is claiming that making people redundant on Christmas Eve is the best time of year to deliver this unwanted news.

Max Bestley, of SAS Daniels, boldly asserts: "The best time for many people to be told they've lost their job, or for employers to make somebody redundant, is actually as close to Christmas as possible. Letting somebody go on Christmas Eve can be a massive blessing in disguise for all concerned," he says.

Further evidence that the recession is hitting UK employers hard with the news that the number of businesses and employees seeking advice on redundancy, lay-offs and business transfers hit a high in November.

Figures released by Acas, the employment relations service, revealed almost a third (31%) of enquiries to its helpline in November were regarding redundancy, lay-offs and business transfers - a rise of 12% since May.

The service also said its website had received a sharp rise in the number people visiting pages containing guidance on redundancy issues - with more than 15,000 visits a week in November compared to 4,000 in May, a jump of nearly 300%.

Acas says that employers are most likely to ask about their legal responsibilities, consultation periods and how to decide which employees to make redundant. Common enquiries from employees include asking about their own notice period and redundancy pay levels.

Combine this with the news that demand for staff has hit a record low, then the outlook for the UK labour market is pretty bleak. And to think, we're not even technically in a recession yet...

Redundancies are difficult for employers, and one mistake may result in severe consequences, financial or otherwise, for the organisation. 

Here are some top tips from jobs board Monster and Insala, talent management software provider, on tackling redundancy situations.

• Establish an objective plan and identify your talent - first review your business goals and document why redundancies are needed for genuine operational reasons. Establish an objective plan for targeting positions to be made redundant. Determine the skills required within your workforce, then work with managers to identify areas where redundancies make the most sense, ensuring that top performers are identified, retained, and redeployed if necessary
• Know your legal obligations - review your selection criteria ensuring they are objective and non-discriminatory to protect your organisation from unfair dismissal claims. Make sure employees are terminated because their job is no longer needed versus other reasons such as personality, conduct, poor performance, or a disability. Consult legal counsel to ensure your redundancy plan is in compliance with labour laws
• Offer career transition services - make arrangements early in the process for outplacement consultancy support to begin immediately upon termination. Such services assist employees with determining skills/strengths, writing CVs, sourcing career opportunities, networking, interviewing and negotiating opportunities. Offering such support communicates a powerful message to both the redundant employees and those staying - that you care about them

With the recession biting, managers may be considering cancelling their office or team Christmas party. However, according to the Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM), it is more important than ever to invest in motivating and rewarding employees.

The ILM's top 10 tips for employers on holding a Christmas party on a budget are:

1. Have a 'kids style' Christmas party (and save yourself staff embarrassments as well as cash by banning alcohol for the afternoon) - bring in some sandwiches, crisps, cakes and jammy dodgers along with party games. You can always move onto the pub for a few drinks later
2. Have an eco party - instead of asking people to cough up for secret Santa have a swap-shop (don't just swap clothes - do books, CDs or any gifts you've received that you'd rather pass on to someone else!)
3. Take some time out of the day to celebrate success - talk about what the team has achieved and share out a big box of chocolates
4. Use your office as the venue - festoon a meeting room or boardroom, order some buffet food from your local supermarket or café and - as a special twist - get managers to serve their teams
5. Book a function room at your local pub - find a venue where they don't charge regular customers for room hire and then negotiate a deal on house wine. This will offer the team a change of scene and guarantee your local landlord a healthy bar spend
6. Remember that if you really do need to hire a venue, choosing a midweek date will reduce your hire costs as well as the food and drink prices
7. Hold a team lunch in a bring-your-own-booze restaurant and save yourself money on the alcohol spend
8. Go to www.officechristmas.co.uk and search according your budget, number of guest and location to find Christmas party offers around the country from £16.50pp
9. Team up with other organisations in your building (or teams within your company) to share costs and finally talk to the people that you usually only say hello to in the lift
10. Manage your budget by going all inclusive - they're often a little more expensive, but at least you'll know what your bill will be at the end of the night.

I'm afraid the time has come folks. The new discipline and grievance procedures will be introduced in less than three months time.- and HR departments up and down the country will no doubt be making last minute changes to their internal policies to make sure they tie in with the new law.

On top of the current economic crisis it's a wonder HR has time to do such things. But here's the good news.:the system will undoubetdly be a lot simpler than the old one. Yes it will require some tweaking to current policies but the dreaded 3-step rule will be abolished and greater flexibility will be allowed for the times that ACAS can help organisations conciliate.

To some at the HR Business Summit in Birmingham today, this news was quite the relief. Despite talk of the new procedures having been around for some time - with conciliation service ACAS publishing their new code of guidance last year - many HR practitioners I spoke to today were still unaware of what they needed to do or what was changing;.

Well, as Ed Sweeney, the chair of ACAS put it - himself leading a session at the summit,,here's a run down of what HR needs to know is changing:

- A repeal of the statutory grievance process

- Clear, simple and non prescriptive guidelines

- No time limits for how long ACAS can help resolve disputes, and

- More dispute services from ACAS before claims are lodged.

Sweeney said: "We are now moving into a new world where you will have to look at your proceses and procedures and see if they fit with the new structure."

But the guy next to me sighed at this very point,

At the time of writing, Personnel Today's redundancy tracker - regularly updated on www.personneltoday.com  -  shows that over 90,000 UK jobs now face the chop. As more employers get pushed into this situation, it seems the basis for making redundancies is evolving from a person's role to that individual's approach to work.

Our front-page story this week brings you the reaction of experts and employment groups to law firm Speechly Bircham and King's College London's 'The State of HR' survey of HR managers, which found the profession is increasingly basing redundancy decisions on criteria such as absence , disciplinary history and performance assessments.

The CIPD has cautiously backed the trend, with senior public policy adviser Ben Willmott arguing that a 'holistic approach' to the issue can only be sensible. But Willmott, legal experts and a number of senior HR directors also strongly urge caution, as basing redundancy too heavily on any one factor can potential land employers in serious trouble.

Research by talent management software provider Taleo of 345 executives has identified the best, and worst, practices for managing talent and reducing headcount during the economic slump.

Taleo has also produced a webcast that goes into more detail about the issue.

Best Practices in Downsizing:

1. Identify the work that is core to retaining business (not just the work that is being done well). 56% of companies look at core and critical positions first to prioritise where headcount can be cut, if necessary.
2. Identify competencies needed to meet business goals. Use scenario-based workforce planning and performance management to make better decisions.
3. Protect your bottom line and your brand. When making downsizing decisions, consider that poor execution and planning has long-term brand effects and instant Internet scrutiny.
4. Communicate constantly. Let staff know what you know, when you know it and provide them the dignity they deserve.
5. Pay attention to survivors. Let them know why they were kept, or bear the consequences ranging from low engagement and productivity to leaving of their own volition.

Worst Practices in Downsizing:

1. Don't cut with a hatchet, use a scalpel, or you may be understaffed for the recovery.
2. Don't commit "death by a thousand cuts". Plan for it well and do it all at once.
3. Don't plan a layoff on a Friday or right before a holiday. Primarily for the survivors: they need reaffirmation and connection.
4. Don't shoot from the hip. Have solid justifications, and consider legal ramifications in your plans.
5. Don't keep employees guessing. Be forthright, honest and as detailed as possible.

The furore over BMW's treatment of agency workers at its Mini plant in Cowley is still fresh in the mind.

The car maker has insisted it played by the rules and was 'frustrated' with the critical media coverage it received after sacking 850 agency staff. What exactly did it expect?

BMW told Personnel Today it wasn't washing its hands of the situation - while effectively washing its hands of the situation. A spokeswoman said the firm had followed the letter of the law and it was down to the recruitment agencies involved to communicate with the agency workers about their employment rights. 

The survey last week of more than 2,000 UK civil servants that found that found that working long hours can reduce cognitive function and wellbeing,   worries me. I keep thinking about the likes of Margaret Thatcher who famously survived on three hours sleep a night. Then again, you might think that proves the point. But how does this finding fit with other research that suggests the more you use your brain, for example by doing sudoku,  the less chance you have of getting dementia?

Perhaps the answer isn't so much the hours that you work as the way you work and what you are working on. There is a view that working in sprints, rather than trying to go flat out is the answer. Try reading this article by Dr Wolfgang Seidl, who knows about these things.

The fact the Tribunal Service has reported a massive increase in the number of claims appears to have riled some in the HR profession. And it is touching that so many people are concerned that too many 'frivolous' cases are ending up in court.

Yet while the idea of some kind of tribunal gatekeeper is undoubtedly a good one - as regularly demonstrated by Personnel Today's Case of the Week slot, where the Employment Appeal Tribunal ultimately comes up with a conclusion after months or years of a case being batted back and forth by 'legal experts'.

But surely HR should be more concerned about the reasons why cases come to court in the first place?

I was shocked to hear Sir Ian Blair, the former Met Police Commissioner, actually say that yesterday.

Within minutes of giving his opinion about diversity at the Met Police Race and Faith Inquiry, Blair took a pop at Tarique Ghaffur, Britain's most senior-ranking Asian officer, for lodging a race discrimination claim against the Met. He implied that someone of his rank  'should have known better' when it came to lodging a tribunal claim.

He said: "There is a sense in which this Inquiry is rewarding bad behaviour. Tribunals are designed for [employees with] a far more junior status."

When asked by the Inquiry panel whether he understood all staff of all backgrounds and levels had a right to lodge genuine claims, he said: "I can understand and accept that. I would have wished it [the claim] be balanced with a certain amount of pride as to what has been achieved [in diversity]."

Blair is clearly still reeling from being sacked by the Mayor. A series of high-profile race discrimination claims last year ultimately led to his departure. By attacking the purpose of the Inquiry - which he claims, is heavily based on tribunal claims that should not have happened - Blair is saying that the decisions which led to his departure were rushed and based on little consideration.

Is Blair justified to say it was not right for Ghaffur to lodge a tribunal claim because of his seniority? Surely race discrimination is race discrimination and if someone feels they have a genuine case that cannot be resolved outside court, the claim is justified.

Perhaps a better question could be: is it right that a senior-ranking employee went to the press with his tribunal claim?