The Work Clinic

The government recently introduced the new Work and Families Act to provide more maternity and paternity flexibility. On the one hand, this is great news for parents who want to spend more time out of the office to nurture their children, but on the other, how will businesses cope with the new legislation?

The most common reason for dismissal in the UK today is employee abuse of e-mail and internet, so it’s important for organisations to set out a clear set of rules argues Harry Sherrard, who's just published a book titled Human Resources Disputes & Resolutions.

He provides the following tips to avoid disputes from arising.

Dear Natalie,

"What would be the legal position in a redundancy situation when volunteers have been asked for but the numbers required not reached?

Although it states that decisions are made at the company's discretion, would someone with 20 years' service who has volunteered saying that they were likely to leave soon anyway due to personal circumstances, be made to stay because they are a good worker and would cost more to make redundant than others who would be made compulsorily redundant instead?"

Lisa

Max Williamson, chief executive of CareersinAudit.com, writes:

Isn’t anyone going to do anything to help the whistleblowers?

When you consider the amount of time we have invested in ensuring equal rights in the workplace doesn’t it seem strange that we’ve done nothing to help this most unfortunate of all minority groups?

Whistleblowing is a thankless task. Whether or not the accusations are proved correct, it is almost inevitable that the employee who takes such a step will lose their job and ironically find themselves out of the company before the accused...

In this day and age, we'd like to think that employers hire on merit alone, and that a good attitude and sound CV are enough. Consider, then, the case of China's new graduates. All too aware of the importance of looks in an already competitive job market, they are resorting to plastic surgery in a bid to make themselves more employable.

Business at the Shanghai Plastic Surgery Hospital is 40% up on last year, and 50% of its patients have admitted that their surgery is work-related. Popular procedures include nose jobs, reshaping cheekbones to make them rounder, and restyling eyelids. The latter surgery alone costs £510 - the equivalent of a year's tuition fees.

And while students are of one the largest groups going under the knife for employment reasons, white-colour workers who have lost their jobs are also bowing to pressure. Even leg-lengthening surgery is on the rise.

While employers in the UK are not allowed to refer to applicants' physical appearances in job adverts, it's hard to ignore the fact that interviewers, however well-intentioned, will lean towards the better looking applicants. In a 2008 survey by employment law service Peninsula, nearly 90% of employers admitted to having at least once chosen the most attractive candidate for a job.

But why? And should we put up with this? Should we regard improving our personal appearance - without resorting to surgery, one would like to think - as part of our application procedure? Or should employers be coached to see past an applicant's outer appearance to the skills and aptitude within?