Perspectives on the changing workplace from the team behind XpertHR. This blog includes news, commentary and analysis on employment law, employee relations, recruitment, retention, reward and work organisation.

May 17, 2013

#HRTells: You know you work in HR when...

LetSdeGTweet.jpgWhat's the surest sign that you work in HR?

What does HR know that other people don't?

You know you work in HR when...?

I'd love to get your input on the above!

Please get in touch with details of your surest HR giveaways (or should we call them HR tells?)! You can leave a comment via the box below, or get in touch via , via Twitter (using the #HRTells hashtag) LinkedIn or Google+!

These questions were inspired by a great recent tweet from US-based recruiter, HR and leadership coach and blogger Leticia S. de Garzón.

Continue reading "#HRTells: You know you work in HR when..." »

Michael Carty | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

May 16, 2013

Paid Parental Leave Does Not Replace Workplace Flexibility

8_Arbeitsplätze_für_7_Wäschefrauen_und_1_Wäscher_mit_Waschzuber,_Waschbrett,_Gießkanne_zum_Sonnen-Bleichen,_Wäscheklammern_und_Wechselgriff-Bügeleisen.jpgWhat's the best approach to take on parental leave benefits when it comes to recruiting and retaining existing, new or expectant parents? Is it all about paid leave? Or should the focus be on work-life balance? Or maybe a little from column 'A' and a little from column 'B'?

Hot on the heels of being criticized by many  for banning telecommuting, and for taking an unusually short maternity leave, Yahoo CEO, Marisa Mayer decided to enhance Yahoo's parental leave benefits by providing up to 16 weeks of paid leave (with benefits) for eligible new moms and eight weeks for new dads. New parents also will receive $500 to spend on housecleaning and other related needs.

Under the new leave policy, Yahoo will provide more time off than what is required under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Under the FMLA, covered employers are only required to provide eligible employees with up to 12 weeks of leave to bond with their newborn child. In addition, and more important to a new parent's financial peace of mind, Yahoo's leave will be paid (as compared to the FMLA, which is unpaid).

Continue reading "Paid Parental Leave Does Not Replace Workplace Flexibility" »

Melissa Burdorf | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Does HR share the blame for corporate wrongdoing?

Trust in senior executives in multinational companies could take another major knock if theraids this week on the company offices of oil giants BP and Shell by the European Commission result in prosecutions. The raids were over suspicions that executives inflated oil and petrol prices for a decade. This is the latest development to raise the question of what HR can do to prevent breaches in corporate governance. You could go further and argue that HR shared responsibility for such breaches by failing to ensure professional standards of management.

Another reminder of corporate failure this week is the publication of a "CSR report" by Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) stating the bank, which had to bailed out by the UK government, is "determined to correct the control and risk management failures that originated in RBS during the financial boom years, of which attempted LIBOR manipulation is an example".

An an article published this week on Personnel Today by HR consultant Paul Kearns argues that the adoption of HR professional standards is key to preventing such failures in corporate governance.

Continue reading "Does HR share the blame for corporate wrongdoing? " »

Noel O'Reilly | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

HR data round-up May 2013: Public sector still leads on annual leave

XpertHR's HR data round-up for May 2013 looks at latest benchmarking data on annual leave entitlements. We also provide links to all the latest additions to XpertHR Benchmarking and present our regular round-up of the best HR data blog posts and HR infographics.

Public sector still leads on annual leave in 2013
Leave allocations for workers in the public sector workers remain more generous than those for workers in the private sector, XpertHR research finds.

XpertHRBenchmarkingAnnualLeaveEntitlement2013.axd.pngAcross the whole eocnomy, the median annual leave entitlement (excluding bank holidays) for 2013 is 25.0 days.

Continue reading "HR data round-up May 2013: Public sector still leads on annual leave" »

Michael Carty | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

May 14, 2013

How to be an HR Superhero

Superheroes.jpg

Faster than a speeding stenographer. More powerful than aromas from the cafeteria microwave. Able to solve employee problems in a single day. 

Look over in that cubicle! It's a salesman! It's an administrator! It's...an HR professional?

Believe it or not, in HR, we all have the opportunity to be heroes in the workplace. We can be heroes to the employees who come to us with problems. We can be heroes to in-house or outside counsel when it comes to defending the employer against wrongful termination or discrimination claims. We can even be heroes to upper management when we identify wasteful or problematic business practices. 

But in order to be heroes, we must develop certain skills. Superpowers, if you will. And luckily enough, developing those skills doesn't require a tryst with a radioactive spider, decades of training in ninjitsu or a stroll through the nearest intrinsic field subtractor.  

Continue reading "How to be an HR Superhero" »

Michael Jacobson | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Shared parental leave - have your say

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The Government’s consultation on how the proposed system of shared parental leave and pay will work closes on Friday 17 May 2013.

From 2015, mothers will be able to come back to work early and share the untaken balance of their maternity leave and pay with their partner as shared parental leave and pay. Both parents will need to meet the qualifying conditions for the right to apply. The right will also apply to adopters and surrogate parents. Additional paternity leave and additional statutory paternity pay will be abolished. The Government has been seeking views on some of the detail around its proposals.

Six important issues to consider:

  • The Government wants to allow women who have given notice that they want to end their maternity leave and enter a period of shared parental leave, the right to revoke that notice if they gave it before they had the baby. The Government has asked if the period to revoke the notice should be four or six weeks from the birth.
  • How much information should employees have to give to be able to take shared parental leave? The Government anticipates similar requirements to current additional paternity leave and pay, as well as information about how parents will divide leave and pay between them.
  • The Government proposes that there should be no limit to how many times leave and pay can transfer between parents and that parents should to be able to change the way that they divide up the leave and pay, giving eight weeks’ notice. It is asking if parents should be able to tell their employer about their intentions, as needed.
  • Whether the cut-off point (after which parents will no longer be able to use any outstanding shared parental leave or pay entitlement) should be 52 weeks from the start of the employee’s maternity leave or 52 weeks from birth.
  • Should both parents get up to 10 keeping-in-touch days while on shared parental leave (as well as 10 days for the mother on maternity leave)?
  • Whether the right to return to the same job should apply to returning from the first continuous block of leave up to 26 weeks, or when returning from leave that cumulatively totals up to 26 weeks.

To download the consultation document and for details of how to respond see the UK Government website.

Find out employees’ existing rights to family-friendly leave and pay.

Photo: andrellv

Clio Springer | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

May 13, 2013

Inflation outlook more 'concerning' than that for growth, says Bank of England

Alfred E. NeumannThe UK economy might have avoided a triple-dip recession, but the overall economic situation remains precarious, as XpertHR's economic commentary article for May 2013 notes.

Inflation is one particularly thorny problem area facing the UK economy.

Ian McCafferty, external member of the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) warns that the inflation outlook is "more concerning" than that for growth.

Inflation has remained above the Bank of England's target rate for an extended period, and could be about to rise higher still.

Continue reading "Inflation outlook more 'concerning' than that for growth, says Bank of England" »

Michael Carty | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

May 10, 2013

What's the state of digital recruitment in 2013?

XHRDigitalRecruitmentmedia2013.pngDigital recruitment would appear to be thoroughly embedded at UK organisations in 2013. But the mix of digital recruitment methods used is constantly evolving.


This is according to latest XpertHR benchmarking research on the state of digital recruitment in 2013. The survey suggests that:

  • The vast majority of UK employers use some form of digital recruitment in 2013, with use of social recruitment showing strong growth.
  • The most popular digital recruitment method is posting job ads on the corporate website. But growth in social recruitment is strong.
The survey is based on responses from 138 organisations with a combined workforce of 577,187 employees.

How does this compare with the use of digital recruitment at your organisation? Please get in touch and let me know!

Continue reading "What's the state of digital recruitment in 2013?" »

Michael Carty | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

May 9, 2013

Next generation of leaders will be more diverse and collaborative

A report this week based on interviews with global chief executives suggests many organisations are out of touch and complacent about the implications of "generation shift",  the retirement of "baby boomer"company leaders and the emergence of younger leaders in organisations. 

The report, "After the baby boomers: the next generation of leadership", by Odgers Berndtson, a global executive search firm, with Cass Business School, part of City University London, found that only 41% of respondents believed that their organisations are ready for changing  workplace demographics of age, gender and diversity. 

 58% of respondents believe that a different leadership style will be needed to motivate future employees, as Generations X (born between 1965 and 1979) and Generation Y (born after 1979) replace the retiring baby boomers (born between 1945 and 1964). But less than half;(41%) think their organisations are ready for demographic changes.

Continue reading "Next generation of leaders will be more diverse and collaborative" »

Noel O'Reilly | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Seven interesting facts about Brazilian employment law

Brazil flag.jpg

How easy is it to terminate an employee's employment contract in Brazil? When are employees entitled to paid annual leave? Does Brazilian law permit positive action? HR professionals working for global organisations with interests in Brazil can find the answers to these questions and more in the new guide to employment law in Brazil that has been added to XpertHR International.

We have set out below seven interesting features of Brazilian employment law:

  1. Employers with 100 or more employees must employ a minimum mandatory quota of employees who have disabilities or have undergone rehabilitation by the social security authorities (see Employment quota for people with disabilities).
  2. Employees are entitled each year to be paid a "13th month" of salary by their employer, also known as the Christmas bonus (see 13th month payment).
  3. Employees are entitled to paid annual leave after 12 months' service with the same employer. Except in cases of "collective" holidays, employees have no paid annual leave entitlement at all during the first 12 months of service (see Holiday and holiday pay).
  4. The law specifically permits (though does not require) employers to adopt temporary measures aimed at establishing equality for women and men, where these seek to correct "distortions" that affect women's vocational training, access to employment and general working conditions (see Positive action).
  5. In general, the employer or employee can terminate an employment contract at any time and without any particular reason, by giving proper notice. However, employees are temporarily protected against such dismissal "without cause" while certain circumstances apply, such as pregnancy or maternity (see Termination of employment - general, Termination without cause and Dismissal protection).
  6. All employees have an individual account with the statutory Service Guarantee Fund (Fundo de Garantia do Tempo de Serviço, FGTS), into which the employer must pay the equivalent of 8% of the employee's pay per month. Employees are entitled to withdraw the balance of their FGTS account as a severance payment in certain circumstances (see Severance payments).
  7. There is no legal concept or definition of redundancy (see Redundancy).

Continue reading "Seven interesting facts about Brazilian employment law" »

Sarah Anderson | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

My 10 top HR tweets (9 May 2013 edition)

Momohatozu HuizongHere's the second in my irregular series rounding up the very best bite-sized pieces of HR wit, wisdom and wondrousness, as shared via the medium of Twitter over recent weeks.

This list is necessarily extremely selective, as it is necessarily limited to tweets from people I follow. It picks up when and where my previous round-up left off, and therefore covers the just-over two weeks from 23 April 2013 to 9 May 2013.

This time around, I'm highlighting superb tweets from the following 'tweeps': @aarondodd, @flipchartrick, @gmggranger, @hassanahrudd, @hrtinker, @jules_griggs, @kevinwgrossman, @perrytimms, @seanjones11kbw and @sukhpabial.

If there are any truly great tweets that you think should be highlighted here, please do get in touch and let me know about them!

Continue reading "My 10 top HR tweets (9 May 2013 edition)" »

Michael Carty | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

May 8, 2013

Playing with fire? IMF takes aim at austerity

Softdart DetailAusterity would appear to have fallen from favour in some quarters over recent weeks.

A growing number of commentators and major economic bodies have issued warnings that austerity policies in the UK and other countries could be exacerbating economic problems, rather than solving them.

Perhaps the sternest words come from IMF Chief Economist Olivier Blanchard, who warns that UK Chancellor George Osborne is "playing with fire" by refusing to budge on austerity.

With the IMF's visit to review the state of the UK set to begin today, we take a quick look at recent criticisms of austerity, and the Coalition Government's response.

Continue reading "Playing with fire? IMF takes aim at austerity" »

Michael Carty | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

May 7, 2013

Average earnings outlook: Heading for 'the worst of all worlds' as earnings growth slows?

RothschildTortoiseAverage earnings growth has slowed markedly so far in 2013.

Looking ahead, some commentators are concerned that signs of a weaker UK labour market could be bad news for average earnings prospects.

Average earnings growth slows as unemployment rises
As XpertHR's economic commentary article for May 2013 notes, growth in average earnings (including bonuses) slowed to its lowest rate since late 2009 in last month's ONS data.

The slowdown in average earnings growth is bad news for consumers, and could in turn dent growth by limiting demand.

Continue reading "Average earnings outlook: Heading for 'the worst of all worlds' as earnings growth slows?" »

Michael Carty | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

May 3, 2013

A world first? HRINZ National President engages directly with world of #HRblogs

HRINZ2013Tweet.jpgA very interesting development in the world of HR blogs today...

Human Resources Institute of New Zealand (HRINZ) National President Catherine Taylor has taken the time to post a lengthy and detailed comment on the latest blog post from New Zealand-based HR blogger Richard Westney.

Richard's post weighs up the differences between HRINZ and the UK's own CIPD, following Richard's recent trip back to his native UK.

I'd highly recommend reading Richard's post in full, as wel as all the comments it has inspired. Richard has kicked off a fascinating debate here.

World first?
So is this a world first?

Continue reading "A world first? HRINZ National President engages directly with world of #HRblogs" »

Michael Carty | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

What's the best recipe for HR success in 2013?

" 12 - ITALY - Italia cuisine - aglio pomodorini e prezzemolo ( garlic, tomatoes, parsley ) su tagliere - wooden chopping boardWhat do you think are the key ingredients for a successful career in HR in 2013?

If you had to pick a list of say five essential qualities or characteristics for getting on in HR in 2013, what might they be?

I'd love to get your views on this. Please do get in touch and share your personal recipe for HR success in 2013 via Twitter, LinkedIn or Google+!

These questions are inspired by a recent interview with leading Canadian HR blogger Jane Watson.

Continue reading " What's the best recipe for HR success in 2013?" »

Michael Carty | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

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