Having my hair cut at the weekend, I was appalled and more than a little discomforted to hear that one of my predecessors in the barber's chair that morning had been made redundant by text message even as the scissors were snipping round his ears.

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CELRE's 2008 Housing Association Salary Survey, published today, shows an average basic pay rise of 5.4% for staff in the sector.

The report reveals that senior employees continue to power ahead of those at the bottom of the organisation, with average basic pay increases for chief executives of 9% and for directors of 7.4%. Clerical and care staff averaged rises of 4.6%.

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One of the most frequently asked HR questions throughout September concerns the accrual of holiday during maternity leave. HR professionals should remember that, while they used to be free to decide whether or not any contractual holiday entitlement above the statutory minimum continued to accrue during additional maternity leave, the position has changed for employees with an expected week of childbirth beginning on or after 5 October.

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XpertHR was named business website of the year 2008 last night at the Association of Online Publishers awards - the online publishing industry oscars.

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You're the boss of a small firm and suspect that an employee has been stealing hundreds of pounds from your company. What do you do?

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The latest national minimum wage (subscription required) increase comes into effect from today, taking the adult rate from £5.52 to £5.73 per hour, an increase of 3.8%.

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The grim tidings just seem to keep on coming from the finance sector, with new research from the CBI and consultants PwC - reported on XpertHR today (subscription required) - heaping on the misery.

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 The headline measure of basic pay awards has held firm at 3.5% in the three months to August 2008, according to the latest Industrial Relations Services data (subscription required), published to XpertHR today.

Continue reading "Pay awards stay strong as economy falters" »

Heyday may have suffered a setback in its campaign to have the UK's default retirement age scrapped, but spare a thought for its American counterpart, the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP). It's being sued by a former employee for, of all things, age discrimination.

Continue reading "Former employee sues US age body for . . . age discrimination" »

Despite all our efforts here at IRS researching the best way to manage absence, it would seem we should be encouraging absence - not trying to find the most effective means of preventing it . . . New research from AXA PPP Healthcare of 2,000 working age adults found that nearly three quarters of UK workers go to work despite "feeling so ill they could legitimately stay at home."

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HR professionals will no doubt be aware that the statutory dispute resolution procedures are to be abolished by an Employment Act in April 2009. One of the proposals to arise from the planned abolition is an extension of the definition of “relevant adviser” for compromise agreements, to include members of the CIPD. Members would not be able to be employed by the employer to act in this capacity.

Continue reading "CIPD members to be relevant advisers - have your say" »

Civil service specialists and managers believe that their pay structure is "broken and needs fixing", according to a survey of thousands of members of the Prospect trade union.

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The IRS HR roles and responsibilities survey seeks to establish the shape, size, structure and operation of the HR function in a wide range of companies and public service organisations. In doing so, it will establish a series of benchmarks that allow HR departments to question the ways in which they work.

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Heyday's campaign to have the UK's default retirement age scrapped has suffered a serious, but not fatal, setback.

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The introduction of "multi-faith and reflection rooms" is among a raft of new health and wellbeing initiatives for Downing Street staff, according to the Cabinet Office's annual report.

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