Using mobile phones whilst driving – Employers beware

You may have seen media coverage of the Government's announcement that the fixed penalty for using a handheld mobile phone (or similar device) whilst driving will be increased from 27 February 2007.

The fine will be doubled from £30 to £60 and, for the first time, the fixed penalty will include three penalty points being endorsed on the driver's licence. If the police (or the driver) chooses to take a case to court rather than use a fixed penalty notice, the maximum fine on conviction increases to £1,000 (£2,500 for drivers of vans, lorries, buses and coaches).

Why are employers affected?
Employers may also be affected by this legislation because it is an offence for anyone to "cause or permit" another person to use a hand-held mobile phone or similar device whilst driving. An employer who merely issues employees with mobile phones, BlackBerries etc should not commit an offence. However, directors and managers could be personally liable for this offence if, for example, they give instructions to an employee to use a mobile phone or similar device in a way that breaches the legislation or if an organisation's working practices mean that such use is condoned.

Practical advice

• Ensure your relevant policies are properly publicised to employees and make it clear that using (or requiring others to use) a hand-held mobile phone or similar device whilst driving is not permitted in any circumstances and will be considered a disciplinary offence.
• A "similar device" includes PDAs and BlackBerries so ensure they are covered by your policy. Two-way radios are not covered, however.
• Driving whilst using a "hands-free" kit is not, in itself, an offence. However, users of a hand-held or hands-free device may commit the separate offence of failing to have proper control of the vehicle, or the potentially more serious offences of careless or dangerous driving if the police believe the nature of the driving warrants it. Ensure your policy covers this issue.
• Bear in mind that the legislation defines a person as "driving" even if the vehicle is stationary but the engine is running.
• Consider whether your policies should also regulate the use of mobiles and other devices in other situations where the distraction of using them may cause a risk of injury to the employee or to others.

Source; Olswang

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Good news for Employers of Agency Workers

The vexed question of the employment status of agency workers has been the subject of a great deal of litigation. Although it is unusual for the courts to find an agency worker is an employee of the agency, there has been considerable disagreement over whether the worker can be an employee of the end-user. In the most recent decision on this issue, James v Greenwich Council, the EAT (Employment Appeals Tribunal) held that an agency worker supplied to the Council for a 5 year period was not an employee of the Council and so could not claim unfair dismissal.

The facts

Ms James was taken on as an agency worker by the Council, which exercised day to day control of her work. Although her terms and conditions were similar to those of her permanent colleagues, she did not have a written contract with the Council, was not entitled to contractual sick pay and when she went off sick for two months another worker was provided by the agency in her place. On her return to fitness she was told she was no longer required, and as a result brought a claim for unfair dismissal against the Council, alleging she was their employee.

To read this article in full including the EAT decision click here

Practical implications

It is unclear whether the EAT's restrictive approach would be upheld by the current Court of Appeal. Further litigation in this area is therefore almost inevitable. Legislation to clarify the status of agency workers is badly needed.

Source Pinsent Masons

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Doting owners get ‘peternity leave’ if the dog is feeling ruff

You no longer need to be as sick as a dog to take time off work. Companies are allowing employees to work from home or take days off to look after unwell pets.

Some have introduced “pet-ernity” policies giving staff paid leave to care for ill dogs and cats or to take them to the vets. Other businesses such as Halifax bank and Bank of Scotland allow staff to take time off work to deal with sick pets so long as they organise cover. Royal Mail will consider allowing “compassionate leave” if a pet dies.

Some firms, including the central London office of Google, the internet search company, allow dogs in the office, realising that workers are reluctant to leave them at home or give them to dog walkers, who can charge up to £25 for a two-hour walk. Employment experts say that bosses are recognising the importance that people place in their pets, adding that arrangements that allow time off for pet care could make them more attractive as employers.

Research by Petplan, the insurance company, found that 35% of its customers admitted to having taken time off work to look after pets or settle new animals. Half said they took a week off a year to look after their pets, potentially costing British businesses £19m annually.
The Courier Service, a delivery company in Edmonton, north London, has had a “pet-ernity” policy since last July that allows two days’ paid annual leave. “It is awarded if you need to go to the vet or your animal needs an operation, in the same way people might need time off for a baby or to look after a child,” said Denise Fresco, the human resources manager.

However, Cary Cooper, professor of organisational psychology and health at the Lancaster University management school, advised against seeking time off to care for pets. “When jobs are insecure, telling a boss that you want time off work to look after a pet would not go down well,” he said. A website, www.dogsblog.com, has been launched, allowing people to look at strays in 30 dogs’ homes in Britain and increasing the chances of the animals being found a home.

Source The Sunday Times

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Improve productivity and reduce waste - A Case Study

A Plastics POS manufacturing facility with annual sales of over £15 million relies on temporary staffing for 60% of its workers. Their production schedule is volatile, with frequent peaks and troughs. To remain competitive, they needed to reduce their defect and wastage rates and improve plant efficiency.

Quality improvements were difficult to implement due to high worker turnover. This client decided to consolidate their supplier base and selected Encore as their staffing partner to gain greater control over the quality and productivity of their supplemental workforce. They also weren’t able to control staffing spend on a weekly basis.

The Encore Solution We established a daily on-site staffing Partnership Program. To improve the quality of workers, we developed customised recruitment, orientation and training programs, which included H&S induction, clocking-in procedure and work wear issue. Also Branch Personnel worked on site and weekly two way meetings were implemented to build morale and retention. A computerised time and attendance system was also installed to track timekeeping and hours connected via a LAN link to the client for improved communication

Results

• Temporary staff turnover reduced from 200% per month to less than 10%.
• Reject rate reduced from 10% to 1%.
• Waste rate reduced from 7-8% to 5%.
• Plant efficiency rose from 90% to nearly 98%.
• Now able to handle a 20% increase in business within a week.
• Client able to budget on weekly basis and reduce staffing costs by maximising orders to specific days in the week.
• Site accidents (H&S incidents) reduced from 14 per year to 4.

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Time to curb workplace bullies

The current media hype around alleged bullying in the Big Brother house has drawn attention to the issue of this behaviour in the workplace. According to research by the Chartered Management Institute, which questioned 512 executives across the public and private sectors, victims of bullying continue to increase while organisations display an alarming lack of awareness about dealing with the problem and fail to take action.

Workplace intimidation and harassment can take many forms. The most common are psychological in nature, often seen through misuse of power, verbal insults and exclusion. Thankfully, physical intimidation or violence are the least common forms of bullying, with less than one fifth (17pc) of the survey’s respondents having been bullied in this way.

Alarmingly, 39pc of UK managers admit to have experienced some form of bullying over the last three years. Managers are observing incidents of bullying between peers, by external customers or by clients. There are even reports of the bullying of managers by junior staff, dispelling the myth that it only occurs in formal hierarchical relationships.

According to the research, middle managers are most likely to be bullied amongst the UK’s management population with just under half of those questioned (49pc) reported having suffered. Additionally, women managers seem to be more frequent victims of bullying than men with over half (54pc compared to 35pc of men) having suffered bullying in the last three years.

This article can be read in full by clicking here

Source: The Daily Telegraph

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Back pain in the workplace

For the 80% of us who will suffer back pain at some point in our lives, it may come as a surprise to learn that the old remedy – a prolonged period of bed rest – may do more harm than good. Experts today say that remaining active is the best answer to backache in all but the most severe cases.

Through its Better Backs campaign, the Health and Safety Executive has been promoting the ‘stay active’ message, asking employers and employees to take sensible workplace precautions that reduce the risk of back pain and encourage them to work together to help people with back pain return to normal activities.

• Assess whether your staff are at risk of suffering back pain.
• Find out what equipment is available to help your staff with manual handling and lifting.
• Simple pain relief is recommended by medical experts as a good way to help remain active before fully recovering from back pain.
• Encourage your staff to stay active, if possible, but to see their doctor if their pain persists or suddenly gets worse.
• Talk with your staff and, if necessary, discuss what can be done to help them stay at work.
• Work with your staff to modify their job, as a temporary measure, to help them begin the recovery process.
• Encourage staff to return to work as soon as possible. Functional ability is regained gradually – being at work can aid recovery.
• Work with employee and safety representatives at all stages of the risk assessment and return-to-work process.
• Use professional advice – occupational health adviser and GPs.

Source The FPB

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Demand for Staff at 24 Month High

Demand for staff in January strengthened to a twenty-seven month high, underpinning further robust increases in permanent and temporary staff appointments, as well as maintaining substantial inflationary pressure on workers’ pay, according to the latest Report on Jobs.

The latest data signaled further increases in permanent and temporary employment last month with growth of permanent placements remaining strong while temp billings rose at the sharpest rate for five months.

The REC/KPMG research also found that candidate shortages and pressure for higher wages continued to play an important role.

Commenting on the latest survey results, Michael Carter, People Services Partner at KPMG said: “This month's survey provides further evidence of a tight recruitment market. With wage inflation at the top of the Monetary Policy Committee’s worry list, settlements will be watched closely over the next few months to see if these pressures are translating into pay increases more generally. In the meantime, further pre-emptive tightening by the MPC cannot be ruled out, which in turn is likely to cause employees to demand further increases in pay.”

Marcia Roberts, Chief Executive Officer, Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) added: “The continued demand for staff once again highlights the important role that temporary workers have to play in helping employers fill vital gaps in their workforce. Most interestingly, the report finds temporary staff salaries increasing at a very strong rate. This challenges the Trade Unions’ suggestion that temporary work is low paid.”

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How to avoid CV fraud

CIFAS, the UK’s Fraud Prevention Service, estimates that employee fraud costs the UK £40m and that approximately 1,500 employee fraudsters are dismissed each year.

It is not just a question of people helping themselves to pens from the stationery cupboard or inflating their expense claims. People will falsify their CVs to get the job they want and it is now recognised by prosecution agencies that organised criminals will infiltrate selected companies, and endeavour to place individuals in positions where they have access to money, goods or information.

CV fraud is on the up and there have been several well-publicised cases in the press recently, most notably that of Barian Baluchi, the taxi driver who used fictitious qualifications to set himself up as a Harley Street doctor and consequently conned £1.5m from the Government, charities and unsuspecting patients. On a lesser scale, your business could also be affected by CV fraud.

How can CV fraud damage your business?

• You could be subject to fines from regulatory bodies.
• You could end up providing your customers with a poor level of service, or even put them at risk, if your staff are insufficiently qualified.
• There could be a negative impact on fellow employees who have to shoulder the burden of an ill-qualified team member.
• Depending on the industry, an ill-qualified individual could put themselves and their fellow workers in danger.

What can you do to reduce the risks of being taken in by a fraudster?

• When reviewing CVs, check for gaps and unusual job moves.
• When interviewing, use a competency-based approach to gain evidence of how the person would perform.
• Consider using work-based ability tests to provide real data on each candidate’s ability to do the job.
• Ensure you thoroughly check a new candidate’s identity and address. It is not enough to rely solely on physical documents, although these must also be double-checked to guard against forgeries. The most efficient way is with an online check that can confirm a candidate’s identity and address within seconds, against a wide range of datasets.

Once the decision has been made to employ the successful applicant, the company must ensure that the offer letter states that this is a 'provisional offer subject to references satisfactory to the company being received'.

Insist on seeing original certificates for all relevant qualifications.
Fully reference any new employees before they are allowed to start. Automating the referencing process, by using a credit reference agency, will free up your time as well as speed up the process.
Always include a probationary period as part of the employment contract – if misrepresentation comes to light once an individual has joined the company, it will be easier to release them.

Source: The FPB

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Issue 34 – February 2007
Welcome to the February issue of Encore enews.

Demand for staff in January strengthened to a twenty-seven month high, underpinning further robust increases in permanent and temporary staff appointments, as well as maintaining substantial inflationary pressure on workers’ pay.
The REC/KPMG research also found that candidate shortages and pressure for higher wages continued to play an important role.
Spiraling labour costs can exert pressure on the Bank of England to increase interest rates at their next monthly meeting in an attempt to control inflation. Let’s hope that any escalation in monetary measures will be temporary and we can all return to a low inflation / low interest rate economy.

Greg Latham
Managing Director

This months round up of local business news: