HR practice
Working at home has led to longer hours
Loss of creative collaboration and working for an extra week a month among findings from pandemic studies of working at home.
Reviews launched into deaths of NHS and social care workers
Ministers have asked medical examiners in England and Wales to review the deaths of NHS and social care employees during...
Thousands of BP staff may switch to remote working permanently
BP is planning to shift almost 50,000 of its employees to remote working as it reviews its office portfolio and...
Employee relations
TUC issues heat warning for workers at home and in the office
High temperatures pose questions of home-working as staff swelter without air conditioning or water coolers and the TUC asks employers for 'flexibility'.
Teachers urged to ‘escalate’ safety concerns when schools reopen
National Education Union wants robust testing regime at all schools but ministers rule out testing for teachers and pupils who do not have Covid-19 symptoms.
Unions to protest as BA confirms redundancies
British Airways has confirmed today that its plans to make 12,000 job cuts will go ahead, and more than 6,000...
Diversity and equal opportunities
‘Old boys’ network’: Sales exec wins sexism case against tech firm Splunk
A sales executive who earned more than £700,000 per year has won her claim for sex discrimination at an employment...
Ensure women do not lose out on maternity pay, say Labour
The Labour party has called for the government to take urgent action to ensure that those who have been pregnant...
More support for carers needed to keep staff in work
Research by Carers UK has shown that employers are seeing the health, wellbeing and productivity of their workforces adversely impacted...
Learning and development
BT Group and Firebrand in virtual apprenticeship push
BT Group has revealed how it managed to continue its 4,500-strong apprenticeship scheme at full tilt during lockdown, with 64 achieving certification in digital skills.
Number of over-50s out of work almost doubles
Support for over-50s to retrain or gain a new qualification is needed to reduce long-term unemployment, a report has said,...
Apprenticeship system reboot could boost economy
A new focus on SMEs and younger people who are disadvantaged could lead to an improved demand-led system, says influential think-tank.
Pay and benefits
Mayors launch campaign for self-isolation ‘wages’
Time Out to Help Out campaign aimed at ensuring employees are paid their full normal wage if they are requested to self-isolate and are unable to work from home.
Top 10 HR Questions July 2020: Redundancy and furlough
Coronavirus has had a huge impact on the economy and as funding through the furlough scheme is gradually withdrawn, many...
Hiring continues to fall but pace slows
The rate of decline in recruitment activity is slowing, starting salaries are falling and worker availability is on the up as the Bank of England cuts the severity of its forecasts for the UK economy.
Recruitment and retention
Job postings soar to highest point since lockdown
Last week saw the highest number of new job postings since the lockdown began, with four of the top 10 hiring hotspots situated in Northern Ireland.
Employees on payrolls fall by largest amount for 11 years
The number of employees on payrolls fell by 730,000 between March and July 2020 – the largest quarterly drop since...
More support for carers needed to keep staff in work
Research by Carers UK has shown that employers are seeing the health, wellbeing and productivity of their workforces adversely impacted...
Strategy
McDonald’s sues ex-boss for ‘lying’ about sexual relationships
McDonald’s Corporation has launched legal action to recover tens of millions of dollars of severance pay and benefits from its...
Your post-virus culture cannot be one-size-fits-all
As organisations consider how their workforces will operate and collaborate in the longer term, managers need to be mindful that...
Furlough fraud soars as job retention bonus details released
The number of reports of furlough fraud made to HM Revenue and Customs rose by more than half between the...
Technology
Home Office scraps ‘racist’ immigration algorithm
AI tool was dismissed by campaigners as 'speedy boarding for white people'; Priti Patel pledges new visa system will consider 'unconscious bias'.
Data detectives and home working facilitators among future HR roles
HR data detective, work-from-home facilitator and algorithm bias auditor are among some of the new HR roles that are expected...
We must harness technology to tackle unemployment
With jobseekers facing uncertainty from a potential recession and increased automation, Ksenia Zheltoukhova argues that we must harness – rather...
Global
Employee sacked for using Hitler meme wins pay out
A BP employee in Australia who lost his job after sending colleagues a Hitler meme parodying the company’s wage negotiations...
McDonald’s sues ex-boss for ‘lying’ about sexual relationships
McDonald’s Corporation has launched legal action to recover tens of millions of dollars of severance pay and benefits from its...
Immigration and EU workers: Brexit hasn’t gone away
Many businesses will soon have to once again wrestle with the UK's decision to leave the EU, with difficult decisions having to be made over the sourcing of talent.
