… in brief

This week’s news in brief

Free reader tickets

Organisers of the e-learning London conference and exhibition are offering
Personnel Today readers free places at one of the seminars on 5 June. To claim
your free ticket to the workshop – Meeting learner needs by personalising
e-learning – call the hotline on 020 8394 5131 quoting PT e-learning offer.
Tickets are subject to availability. The event takes place at the Business
Design Centre, London, 4-5 June.  www.e-learningevent.com

Call-up continues

The Ministry of Defence is mobilising more part-time soldiers, despite the
end to the war in Iraq. Defence secretary Geoff Hoon said a further 1,200
reservists would be called up to help secure post-war Iraq in addition to the
5,000 already in service. Hoon said that even more personnel could be called up
to bolster the UK contingent.  www.mod.uk

Net abuse escalates

The average employee spends more than an hour each day browsing the internet
for leisure and sending around 18 personal e-mails from work. A survey of 1,687
employers shows that 36 per cent of all e-mail is personal, costing firms 43
per cent of the total amount invested in running the system. Seventy-four per
cent have caught employees downloading illegal software.  http://peninsula-uk.hostinguk.com

RMT halts strikes

The RMT union has called off strikes by train guards after making
‘substantial progress’ in settling its dispute with train operating companies.
The union has been arguing about the safety role of guards. RMT staff have
already held strike action three times over the issue. Strikes had been planned
for 6-7 May and 27-28 May.  www.rmt.org.uk

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Costly intranets

Poorly-designed and inefficient company intranet systems are costing
employers thousands of pounds per employee and hampering internal
communication. Company intranets are also increasingly being used as
‘information dumping grounds’ that waste time and money, according to research
by Mercer. The researchers calculated that wasted time costs around £1,000 per
employee, totalling more than £1m for every 1,000 staff.  www.mercer.com