A round-up of HR-related stories in today’s newspapers.
The BBC reports that the Government is facing an unprecedented legal challenge to its Budget from women’s rights group the Fawcett Society. The group claims that women in public sector jobs, 65% of which are held by female workers, would be more likely to be hit by pay freezes and job losses. It also said that cuts in benefits and tax credits were also likely to affect them disproportionately.
A survey among senior surgeons reported by the Daily Telegraph suggests that the maximum 48-hour working week for doctors in training (from 1 August 2009) has been having a detrimental effect on the quality of patient care. Responses to the poll carried out by the Royal College of Surgeons included warnings that the rules were creating a generation of “clock-watchers” with a “lazy work ethic” who no longer felt personal responsibility for their patients.
The Guardian has highlighted new research that has found that mothers can go back to work months after the birth of their child without the baby’s wellbeing suffering as a result. The research contradicts other studies in this area, which have tended to suggest that children do worse if their mothers go back to work in the first year after childbirth.
Sir Hugh Orde, the president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, has suggested that police forces should accept cuts in numbers if front-line officers are freed from bureaucracy to “get on with the job”. He also warned against assuming that all officers should be on the beat at all times, given the current economic constraints, says the Daily Telegraph.
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