This week’s guru
Climb every mountain with Personnel Today
The issue of work-life balance became extremely critical for Penna
consultant Dr Colin Selby, when he kept up-to-date with Personnel Today after
conquering the precarious 21,000ft summit of Mt Aconcagua in Argentina.
Guru is impressed with Selby’s dedication, which saw him overcome 70mph
winds and freezing temperatures to complete the climb of the highest peak in
the Andes and still find time to read about the latest developments in HR.
Selby, 55, who has also climbed extensively in the Himalayas and the Alps,
took three weeks to get to the top of the mountain.
Guru has decided that Selby’s exploits are worthy of sparking a new
Personnel Today competition.
Any disciple who sends in a photo of themselves reading Personnel Today in an
unusual or exotic location will be featured in the magazine and could win a
bottle of champagne.
EU sex discrimination trouble
The EU seems to be struggling to
comply with its own employment and race directive, set to place tighter
constraints on all types of workplace discrimination in the UK.
European Ombudsman Jacob Soderman accused the European
Commission of ongoing practices resulting in sex, age and race discrimination.
Soderman ruled that the commission’s insistence on full-time
work amounted to indirect sex discrimination after a British civil servant with
a child was prevented from taking up a seconded post. He also criticised the
commission and the parliament for continuing to apply age limits in recruitment
notices and called on the EU to address the small number of ethnic minorities
among its 35,000 officials.
Collective bargaining with 007?
The secret service is to benefit from
union representation after MI6 signed an agreement to affiliate to the civil
servants’ union, the First Division Association.
The FDA will help the 2,000 members of Her Majesty’s Secret
Service negotiate better pay and working conditions.
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All staff from junior admin staff to senior management are
covered by the agreement.
If Guru were a member of M16 he would be asking his union rep
to lobby for proper secret service benefits including a company car with all
the expected extras, ejector seat, bulletproof glass – and of course, a
beautiful Russian spy called Olga to be placed in the passenger seat…
