HR is huge. It constantly flexes as it responds to legislation, trends in society, consumer demand, competition between organisations, and health, economic and political winds.
All this means it is sometimes difficult to define what is an important story for an HR professional. The month-by-month list below, by necessity, has left out many significant developments, but it is fair to say that among the biggest HR stories of 2023 were:
- minimum service levels during strike action
- a desire to tackle sexual harassment at work
- hybrid working and the push to get more people back in the office
- the debate over the safe implementation of AI
- organisations demonstrating a sense of purpose and acknowledging climate warming
- migrant workers and immigration rules
- political posturing over moves to increase diversity, equity and inclusion
- the talent shortage
- the stagnant economy’s effect on wages and recruitment.
2023 has also been another year of strike action, but we have deliberately kept this off our news review because our Who is on strike and when page is constantly updated with the latest details of negotiations, ballots and deals.
So, let’s go back into the mists of last January, when the tech giants began to make mass redundancies, and the UK government announced it was going to impose minimum service levels to prevent strikes from overly disrupting services …
January: big tech woes
Amazon HQ in Sunnyvale, California.
Editor’s choice
Rob Moss writes: ‘It’s been the year of the pay dispute in public services. Remarkably, other than a handful of sectors, employers and unions have eventually reached agreement. But industrial relations issues are far from being resolved and the government’s insistence on pushing through minimum service levels, as well as starting another consultation on repealing the agency workers ban, means they’re likely to remain fraught in 2024.’
6 January Ministers set out their minimum service level aims
Is big tech facing a big shrink? The latest Amazon redundancies pose questions …
The UK government launches a holiday pay consultation in the wake of Harper Trust v Brazel
Google parent Alphabet announces it is to shed 12,000 jobs
Spotify says it is to make 6% of workforce redundant. In December it was to announce it was making further cuts
Ministers reject the proposal of making menopause a protected characteristic
NHS England to set out workforce plan
February: harassment at McDonald’s
McDonald’s in the UK has signed a legal agreement to protect staff from sexual harassment
Sampajano_Anizza / Shutterstock.com
2 February Employers, it is revealed, are spending only half of apprenticeship levy funds
McDonald’s signs agreement to tackle sexual harassment
Real pay falls by 2.5% despite record private sector growth
‘The UK has forgotten the art of industrial relations’, Paul Nowak, general secretary TUC, tells Personnel Today
March: that AI prediction
Perth, Western Australia
Photo: Shutterstock
Personnel Today’s pick
Adam McCulloch writes: ‘Immigration has been a huge story. As usual some of the media has managed to muddle the question of illegal arrivals with legal ones. Extraordinarily, despite Brexit and the government’s repeated promises to reduce immigration, net immigration is at record highs. Meanwhile, skills crises persist in many sectors. Western Australia’s cheeky mission to lure public sector workers to sunnier climes was a flashback to the 1950s and the arrival Down Under of “whinging Poms”.’
3 March Western Australia seeks to lure UK public sector workers
Tony Danker steps aside as head of CBI after sexual harassment claims
‘Twitter can’t tell me whether I’m employed there or not’ – Elon Musk’s chaotic takeover of Twitter
Meta announces a further 10,000 job cuts and a hiring freeze
Budget heralds childcare reforms and returnships, to encourage older people back to work
Gary Lineker: the BBC to review social media guidelines
Seafarers minimum wage law receives Royal Assent
Most people with long-Covid are treated unfairly at work, study finds
Generative AI will ‘replace 300 million jobs’, says Goldman Sachs
Bullying, racism and misogyny rife in fire services
April: CBI in hot water
CBI director-general Tony Danker has been dismissed following an investigation into his conduct
Image: ZUMA Press, Inc. / Alamy Stock Photo
3 April Sexual misconduct investigation at CBI is expanded
People analytics is HR’s biggest knowledge gap
Gender pay gap is static at 12.1%
Retained EU Law bill to be scaled back as concerns grew over workers’ rights such as holiday pay and maternity pay after the bill’s passage through the Commons in January. The bill was later stalled.
May: record immigration
Half of gig workers earn less than the minimum wage. Photo: Shutterstock
3 May HR vacancies fall by a third
Half of gig workers earn less than minimum wage, finds a study by three universities
Two in three young women reveal they’ve experienced sexual harassment at work
Net migration at new record levels, ONS figures show. In November the figures were revised upward
Sharp decline in retail worker numbers finds the CBI
June: hedging harassment
Crispin Odey arrives at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, London in March 2021
PA Images / Alamy
12 June Hedgefund boss Crispin Odey ousted after sexual harassment claims
UK bottom of employee engagement league, according to Gallup’s State of the Global Workforce report
Food producers warn of a lack of agricultural workers in UK
Birmingham City hit by equal pay claims of more than £760m
RAF recruitment discriminated against white males an inquiry finds
July: wage stagnation
Maya Forstater. Photo: Iain Masterton / Alamy
Personnel Today’s pick
Jo Faragher writes: ‘More than six years after the #MeToo movement went viral, sexual harassment stories dominated the headlines in 2023. Organisations including the CBI, Odey Asset Management and McDonald’s were all at the centre of allegations, and employers’ responsibilities to protect employees are now subject to a new law, the Worker Protection Bill, which comes into force next year.’
3 July Maya Forstater, who successfully appealed that her gender-critical views were protected as a philosophical belief, has been awarded £100,000 in a remedy judgment at an employment tribunal
The UK has seen 15 years of real wage stagnation, according to a TUC/OECD analysis
The BBC must exercise duty of care in the case of newsreader Huw Edwards
House of Lords waters down new sexual harassment protections
The government’s decision to repeal laws that banned employers from using agency workers to cover for staff who are on strike is ruled unlawful by the High Court
Fresh sexual harassment allegations at McDonald’s
Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Act 2023 passes through parliament
Shop workers facing crime spree, say Co-op and police
Nigel Farage banking case and the attack on ‘woke’ institutions: lessons for HR
August: Wilko fails
jax10289 / Shutterstock.com
10 August Wilko collapse puts 12,500 jobs at risk
Employing illegal migrants: right to work fines more than triple, announces Home Office
A-level results 2023: employers less likely to require a degree, say Indeed and LinkedIn
CEO pay gap at highest since 2017, finds High Pay Centre
Foreign workers’ interest in UK roles doubles, says Indeed
First Wilko redundancies confirmed after deal falls through
Police officers will be automatically dismissed for gross misconduct
September: bankrupt Birmingham
GMB members rally outside Birmingham City Council
John James / Alamy Stock Photo
4 September AI task force launched to plug gaps in law. Specialists in law, technology, policy, HR and the voluntary sector, hope to publish AI and Employment proposals in early 2024 and will lobby to have it incorporated into UK law
Union urges Birmingham City Council to settle equal pay issues
Labour pledges employment bill in first 100 days
Gender pay gap will take more than 60 years to close, finds BDO
Unions and industry angry at green policy delays and effects on training and recruitment
October: AI alarm
Koshiro K/Shutterstock
11 October Police to be balloted on pursuing right to strike
Total vacancies drop for first time in over two and a half years
Fall in apprenticeship starts ‘should trigger change’, education experts say
Institute of Directors says UK could be left behind on AI
Proposed halt on EDI recruitment prompts concerns from health bodies
November: flying low
The Red Arrows have been beset by culture problems.
Photo: Shutterstock
Personnel Today’s pick
Ashleigh Webber writes: ‘2023 has been a costly year where pay is concerned – we’ve seen employers increase wages by as much as 20%! Thankfully, inflation has steadily declined from the double-figures we saw earlier in the year, so the pressure to increase pay is likely to subside. But employers will not breathe a sigh of relief just yet. The cost-of-living crisis remains an issue as real wages have stagnated, and there are several industrial disputes over pay raging on.’
2 November Sexual harassment was ‘normalised’ among the RAF’s Red Arrows team, finds MoD inquiry
Dangerous robots at the AI summit – Elon Musk makes bold claims at Rishi Sunak’s AI forum
One in four UK jobs are ‘bad jobs’
McDonald’s dismisses 18 staff after sexual harassment claims
Average pay settlement returns to 6%, says Xpert HR
Record net migration figures announced – the prelude to stricter rules on immigration and working in the UK
Thousands of jobs at risk at Lloyds and Barclays
Ethnicity pay gap figures show white employees earning 18.5% more
December: the Covid aftermath
Matt Hancock, former health secretary, pictured earlier this year
Alamy
1 December Matt Hancock tells Covid inquiry he would have doubled sick pay
Nationwide reverses ‘work from anywhere’ policy
Minimum service levels enacted for rail, borders and ambulances
Minimum service levels: city and regional leaders pledge to avoid using work notices
Businesses urge apprenticeship levy reform as fears grow over recruitment
The number of employment tribunal cases falls to pre-pandemic levels
Executive pay ratios widen, as inequality persists
Inflation drops to 3.9% as pay awards stand firm.
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