This week’s guru
Top tips to put women back in the driving seat
Guru has discovered that plans to combat the shortage of lorry drivers in the
transport industry reported in Personnel Today last week are not the first time
the sector has attempted to overcome recruitment problems.
In 1943, Transportation Magazine published a guide for companies considering
hiring women for the first time during the Second World War.
These tips were apparently the way forward for the fair-minded employer of
the time:
1. Pick young married women. They usually have more of a sense of
responsibility than their unmarried sisters, they’re less likely to be flirtatious,
they need the work or they wouldn’t be doing it, they still have the pep and
interest to work hard and deal with the public.
2. General experience indicates that ‘husky girls’ – those who are just a
little on the heavy side – are more even-tempered and efficient than their
underweight sisters.
3. Give every girl an adequate number of rest periods during the day. You
have to make some allowances for feminine psychology. A girl has more
confidence and is more efficient if she can keep her hair tidied, apply fresh
lipstick and wash her hands several times a day.
4. Be reasonably considerate about using strong language around women. Even
though a girl’s husband or father may swear vociferously, she’ll grow to
dislike a place of business where she hears too much of this.
Staff censure causes bit of a stink
Lord Sawyer, the man responsible for
improving employment relations at the Royal Mail, complained last week that an
ongoing dispute over shift patterns has delayed progress.
No doubt he would be unhappy with the latest dispute over
working conditions at one of the Royal Mail’s sorting offices in Somerset.
There the hot air goes beyond the negotiating table – staff are having to be
censured for breaking wind.
All 15 workers at the Yatton and Clevedon delivery office
received a warning note on personal hygiene, which reminded them that such
behaviour is unacceptable and could be breaking the company’s code of conduct.
The letter also urged staff to stop flicking rubber bands because
of possible health and safety implications.
‘Metatarsal Monks’ calls for star
quality rehab all round
The TUC wants everyone who is injured
at work to receive the same sort of rehabilitation as injured England soccer
star David Beckham.
TUC general secretary John Monks is calling for a partnership
between employers, unions and the NHS to provide improved rehabilitation for
everyone injured at work.
Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance
Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday
"It doesn’t matter if you are a footballer, factory worker
or a florist – it’s a false economy for your boss to ignore prevention and
rehabilitation," he said.
Guru is all for the TUC’s campaign, but he is unsure all
employers will be able to provide their employees a special oxygen tent to
sleep in – Beckham has used one to aid healing – let alone his indoor heated
swimming pool and chauffeur driven car.
