Migrants are taking our jobs

The Treasury says that immigration, by increasing the growth of the labour force, also raises the economy’s long-term or “trend” rate of growth.

The Bank of England, in an assessment of immigration’s impact in its most recent inflation report in August, concluded that the arrival of new workers had the beneficial effect of acting as a job-market safety valve, reducing pay pressures.

One of the recent economic puzzles had been the surprisingly benign behaviour of wages given low unemployment, it said. One reason, reported by its own regional agents, was that employers were increasingly turning to migrant workers to ease labour shortages.

There is certainly plenty of immigration. Official figures released earlier this month showed that a record 582,000 people came to Britain last year, up from 513,000 in 2003.

There were also 359,000 departures last year, slightly down on the 361,000 recorded in 2003. Net migration into Britain was thus 223,000, the highest since the present method of compilation began in 1991, up from 151,000 in 2003.

More Britons leave than return — a record 208,000 departures in 2004 compared with only 88,000 arrivals. In contrast, 342,000 more non-British people arrived than left. Britain has become a magnet for arrivals from the new European Union members in eastern Europe.

To read this article in full click here
Source – David Smith, The Sunday Times, Outlook

Back to top

Construction skills body predicts 33,500 jobs needed for Olympics projects

The sector skills council for construction has estimated that the 2012 Olympics in London will create 33,500 additional jobs for the sector in the next seven years, with civil engineering and a range of specialist skills in particularly high demand.

The forecast by ConstructionSkills is based on construction work directly attributable to the games.

It indicates that the number of workers needed to complete Olympic construction projects will peak at 7,500 in 2010 and includes a range of specialist skilled workers who will be required to build the complex mix of stadia, infrastructure and residential developments.

The forecast of 33,500 broadly breaks down as 6,500 managerial or administrative roles, 2,800 professionals such as architects and surveyors, and 24,000 trade or craft roles.

Sheila Hoile, skills strategy director at CITB-ConstructionSkills, said: "We believe that this analysis is the most accurate and realistic forecast available at this stage of planning. Building the Olympics needs to be seen in the wider context of the current massive demand on the UK construction industry.

Source: Personneltoday.com

Back to top

Is the pace of change fast enough in your organisation to deliver the results you demand?

The majority of business leaders we have the pleasure and privilege to work with answer this with a resounding ‘no.’ Encore in association with Bozeat Consulting will enable organisations like yours to meet and exceed your business objectives by educating, training and inspiring people to embrace the habits of top class professionals.

In January we are going to deliver a short series of one day strategy workshops packed with practical ideas and tips for accelerating the realisation of your business objectives:

If you would like to book any of these courses please call our seminar hotline on 01162620651 and ask for Cindy Gunn for an information pack.

As an introductory offer we are offering each seminar at a reduced investment of only £379 plus VAT

Three for two offer. If two people attend a colleague can attend for free.

Attendance is limited to 24 places. Book early to guarantee your place!

Early bird discount - Book before Christmas and receive a 15% discount!

Attending a workshop will guarantee you:

• a pack of materials full of practical ideas, tips and techniques used by top professionals in organisations across the globe
• free enrolment on the acclaimed ‘Working the Net’ e-mail mini course. A comprehensive series of tips on how to use your networking time wisely
• a fabulous networking opportunity with business leaders from across the region

Back to top

Personality can be grounds for dismissal

In the recent case of Perkin v St George's Healthcare NHS Trust, the Court of Appeal has held that a dismissal as a result of an employee's difficult personality was a potentially fair dismissal for "some other substantial reason".

The Facts

Mr Perkin was employed by St George's Healthcare NHS Trust as director of finance. There were concerns about his personality and relationships with colleagues and third parties. The Trust's chairman, Ms McLoughlin, told KPMG that she wanted an "exit strategy" for Mr Perkin by the end of the month. That day the Chief Executive, Mr Hamilton, called Mr Perkin into a meeting and asked him to resign. Mr Perkin refused.

A disciplinary meeting was then held, chaired by Ms McLoughlin and Mrs Mark, following which Mr Perkin was suspended. During the meeting Mr Perkin made accusations against Mr Hamilton. The hearing found that Mr Perkin should be dismissed with immediate effect because his relationship with the executive team had broken down and he failed to establish quality of relationships with third parties necessary to preserve and advance the Trust's interest. They also held that the allegations against Mr Hamilton meant they could never work together again.

Mr Perkin brought a claim in the employment tribunal for interim relief, automatically unfair dismissal under the whistle blowing provisions of the Employment Rights Act 1996 and unfair dismissal under s.98 of the same Act. The Trust argued that Mr Perkin was dismissed for "a reason related to his conduct" and/or "some other substantial reason" (SOSR) i.e. the irretrievable breakdown in relationships to which his behaviour had given rise.

For details of the employment tribunal outcome click here

Source: Shepherd+ Wedderburn November 2005

Back to top

German boss targets whingers with two-moans-and-out policy

A German company has made whingeing in the office a sackable offence.Ramona Wonneberger, head of the Leipzig IT company, Nutzwerk, has introduced a "two moans and you're out" policy to clamp down on the "negative energy" that she thought was damaging the company.

"Unfortunately, Germans are the world's most inveterate whingers and bellyachers, particularly concerning things they cannot change, like the weather or a late train," she said. "I thought I had to do something to change this mentality."

Employees now have a clause in their contracts which states: "Moaning and whingeing is forbidden... except when accompanied with a constructive suggestion as to how to improve the situation."

So far three employees have fallen foul of the new rules, including one who left because she said there "was nothing to talk about any more".

The UK Court of Appeal recently ruled that dismissing someone purely on the basis of their personality was not illegal.

The court rejected a claim for unfair dismissal from a senior employee within an NHS trust who was dismissed because of his behaviour.

Following his dismissal, he claimed compensation as the trust was unable to name any rules that he had broken and he had received no warnings.

But the court ruled that his personality was, in fact, a sufficient reason for dismissal

Source Personnel Today November 2005

Back to top

New engineering staff barred from most final salary schemes

Only one in five engineering firms still offer final salary pension schemes to new staff, according to new research.

Pay and benefits specialist, Incomes Data Services, found that 20% still offered defined benefit schemes, while 80% offered purely defined contribution schemes.

Those offering final salary schemes often incorporated them in ‘hybrid schemes’, where staff can switch to the scheme after a certain amount of time at the company.

The research consistently showed that companies complained of “the burden on company schemes and urged the government to simplify matters”.

In a separate development, 5,500 British Gas engineers are to be balloted in the run up to Christmas over the company's intention to close its final salary pension scheme to new starters from next year, the GMB union announced today.

An unofficial consultative ballot has shown that the workforce is against the company's plans, and there is a wish to take action to protect their new colleagues’ pensions rights, the GMB said

Back to top

UK unemployment - Labour Market Statistics

Employment continues at record levels and the number of unemployed has also fallen. 28.8 million people were in work in the period June to August according to the labour force survey (LFS). This was up by 103,000 over the previous three months and up by 345,000 over the last year. The working age employment rate is 74.8% - up by 0.1% on the previous quarter and 0.2% over the year.

ILO-defined unemployment in June to August was 1.42 million (4.7%), down by 7,000 in the last three months but up by 21,000 from this time last year.

The claimant count for Jobseeker's Allowance in September 2005 was 875,500 - up by 8,200 on the previous month and 39,500 on last year.

Earnings growth over the year to August (including bonuses) was 4.2%, unchanged from the previous month.

Margaret Hodge, Minister for Employment and Welfare Reform, commented:

"These figures show continued strength in the labour market. There are now more people in work than ever before, up by over a hundred thousand in the last quarter alone.

"The number of people claiming Jobseekers Allowance is 8,200 higher this month, even though the number of new claims is down. The rise is because people are staying on the benefit longer. I am investigating why this is happening and what we can do to reverse the trend.

"Taken together this represents another set of encouraging figures. Not only are there more people in work than this time last year, but unemployment remains historically low, there are fewer people outside the labour market and the overall number claiming out-of-work benefits has fallen," Margaret Hodge continued.

"More than 10 thousand new vacancies are placed at Jobcentre Plus offices every working day and at least as many again are advertised through other recruitment channels. Because of this we are very successful in helping those who have recently lost their job to find another one quickly. Even better, we are increasingly helping the long-term unemployed, lone parents and those claiming incapacity benefits, to overcome the barriers that have in the past prevented them from returning to work," Margaret Hodge concluded.

Source HRM Guide October 2005

Back to top

If you have liked what you have read so far why not recommend a colleague as a subscriber to our monthly enews. By clicking here you can nominate by simply detailing the email addresses of any colleagues you think would be interested in this free subscription.

Deloitte offers free HR Director Training

Professional services firm Deloitte has launched a £10m training academy that will offer free advice to HR directors.

Professional services firm Deloitte has launched a £10m training academy that will offer free advice to HR directors and other senior executives who are swamped with regulation.

The Deloitte Academy, which was launched yesterday (Monday) at the company's headquarters in London, will offer a programme of technical training, support and guidance on management and governance issues to directors of publicly-listed companies. A full programme of events will start in January 2006, with e-learning courses also available for remote training.

Martin Eadon, Deloitte's chief operating officer, said the academy was not a money-making venture, but a way to help directors keep up with an ever growing body of complex legislation.

"Business leaders are faced with an unprecedented volume of change," he said. "These changes are not going to go away so directors are going to have to deal with them and at the same time remain competitive."

Susannah Haan, senior legal adviser at the CBI, said directors needed all the help they could get as they were snowed under by the weight of regulation from the British government and Brussels. To cover international financial reporting standards alone, one CBI member hired 100 extra people, she said. And the new Company Law Reform Bill has 886 clauses for directors to get their heads around, she added.

"These people have to run their business as well," Haan said. "Shareholders and investors are asking if directors are being forced to spend too much time on complying with regulations and not enough on growing business."

Although Deloitte will not charge company directors to attend the academy, Eadon did admit that the scheme was not strictly an act of
philanthropy, as it would be very important in building the company brand as the "pre-eminent professional services provider".

HR director-level courses on offer

• Executive remuneration strategy
• Pensions regulation
• HR strategy
• Operating and Financial Reviews
• Corporate governance and regulation
• Evaluating board performance

For more details of the courses go to www.deloitteacademy

Source Personneltoday.com November 2005

Back to top

Gender Pay Gap Narrows

The 2005 Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE), published by the Office for National Statistics shows a fall in the gender pay gap. The median gender pay gap has fallen from 17.4% in 1998 to 13.2% in 2005. However, gaps between public and private sector workers and high and low earners are widening.

Minister for Women Tessa Jowell said: "It is excellent news that the gender pay gap is now at its lowest level in 30 years since the introduction of the Equal Pay Act. In 1975, women earned 70p for every £1 a man received, while today women receive 83p. The pay gap has fallen from 17.4% in 1998 to 13.2% in 2005. Women now earn an average of £9.82 an hour and men £11.31 an hour.

"But there is obviously still more to be done. This shows that government policies to address the reasons why the pay gap has existed for so long are working: the minimum wage, flexible working, and better maternity and paternity leave. But there is no room for complacency; we must close the pay and skills gap further to ensure women have higher lifetime earnings and higher pensions.

ONS figures are available at: www.statistics.gov.uk/

To read this article on full click here

Source HRM Guide November 2006

Back to top

Better deals for Polish workers

A young union official from Gdansk is joining the North West TUC this Autumn to help thousands of Polish workers in the North West of England get a better deal at work. 28 year old Tomasz Laskowski is a national organiser for Solidarnosc, the Polish trade union once headed by Lech Walesa who led the shipyard strike that signalled the beginning of the end of communism in Europe. The TUC hope that Laskowski will help overcome cultural and language barriers that might prevent Polish workers from joing British trade unions.

Some Polish workers who have come to the UK hoping to earn five times as much as they did at home have discovered that working conditions are not as good as they expected. Complaints about not being paid the minimum wage, not being given an employment contract or national insurance number and being made to work excessively long hours are common.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said: 'Not every Polish worker who comes to live and work in the UK has a hard time, but unfortunately many do. The TUC and unions in the North West are determined to stop unscrupulous employers from using a poor command of English and an ignorance of UK employment law as an excuse to treat Polish nationals less favourably than anyone else.

'The best protection anyone can have against ill-treatment at work is to belong to a trade union but many Polish workers don't know how to contact a trade union over here. Similarly the language barrier has made UK unions unsure of how to reach out to and recruit migrant workers.

'Having Tomasz working with the TUC for three months will provide a massive boost to union recruitment efforts throughout the North West. We hope that young Polish workers will not only win a better deal at work, but will be encouraged to join a Polish union when and if they return home.'

Back to top

The myths about HR careers

A new CIPD survey finds most HR professionals are happy with their career choice and 81% would make the same choice if they started all over again.

The CIPD report looks at the career experiences of over 1,800 HR professionals and challenges many of the negative myths about human resource specialists. According to Jessica Jarvis, CIPD Learning, Training and Development Adviser and author of the report:

"It sometimes seems that it is fashionable for the HR profession to indulge in doom, gloom and self-loathing. But this survey turns some of the myths on their heads. A profession where the vast majority would pick the same career path if they could start over again is a confident one that is happy with itself."

Main findings:

• Contrary to the common belief that the most senior people in HR have little background in human resources and are parachuted into their jobs, the average HR Director has 20 years HR experience, has worked in four different organisations, and taken five major career steps to their present jobs.
• Human resource professionals are (mostly) not serial career changers. They average 15 years service within the HR profession.
• HR professionals do not lack experience elsewhere in the world of work. Just 26% of those surveyed began their careers in human resources. 83% of respondents had worked outside HR at some point in their careers - typically, sales/marketing/retail, or possibly general business/management and finance.
• Survey respondents rated the most important factors in a HR career as personal drive, business/industry awareness and generalist experience.
• Moving between organisations is seen as important to career progression. On average, respondents had taken four major career steps and worked for an average of three organisations.

Staying in one organisation, over specialising and call centres/shared service centres were highlighted as ignificant barriers to career progression. 40% of respondents felt outsourcing was having a negative impact on HR careers.

To read this article in full please click here

Back to top

Issue 19 - November 2005

Welcome to the November Issue of encore enews.

Our third article this month refers to Encore’s increasing foray into the world of consulting and HR advice. In January we are sponsoring three major workshop events using the services of Bozeat Consulting – a leading name in management change and HR consultancy. We hope we have picked some areas of interest and look forward to seeing you at one of the events in the New Year.

Immigration has undeniably been a good thing for Britain’s economy, according to conventional wisdom. It has brought new talent and dynamism to these shores, and it has helped the economy in other ways. David Smith The Sunday Times Leading Correspondent reports further in our leading article

Greg Latham

Managing Director

This month...

• Migrants are taking our jobs
• Construction skills body predicts 33,500 jobs...
• Is the pace of change fast enough...
• Personality can be grounds for dismissal
• German boss targets whingers
• New engineering staff barred
• UK unemployment - Labour Market Statistics
• Deloitte offers free HR Director Training
• Gender Pay Gap Narrows
• Better deals for Polish workers
• The myths about HR careers

Company News

A round up of the main business news in the past few weeks

Ernst & Young has been appointed receiver at parts of BSA Group, which will affect 270 staff at BSA Metal Powders of Birmingham, BSA Precision Castings of Redditch, Redditch Properties, BSA Holdings and BSA Advanced Sintering of Ipswich. 
www.ey.com

Golden Wonder, the snacks manufacturer, is to carry out a strategic review by the end of the year, which could result in the business being sold. 
www.golden-wonder.com

Unilever is considering plans to outsource its payroll, human resources and IT functions, which would affect up to 2,500 jobs across 25 European countries.
www.unilever.com

Fidelity Systems has acquired Carr Cash Registers, the Northampton-based cash register company, for less than GBP 0.2m. 
www.fidelitysystems.co.uk

Umeco is to raise GBP 48m in a rights issue to fund acquisitions and the expansion of its aerospace parts factories and warehouses, and has also announced the acquisition of Provest of Italy for GBP 14m.  Leamington Spa,
www.umeco.co.uk

QDF Castings has closed its foundry in Derby with the loss of the remaining 116 jobs.  Tel: 01332 760260

Coors has confirmed plans to shed more than 200 jobs at its brewery in Burton-on-Trent over the next three years.  03-
www.coors.com

Weetabix is to shed 112 of the 1,700 jobs at its breakfast cereals factories in Burton Latimer and Corby.
www.weetabix.co.uk

Rieter Automotive is recruiting 25 workers for a new vehicle soundproofing systems factory due to open at Trentham Lakes Business Park in Stoke-on-Trent in January, and the site will employ up to 180 staff by the end of 2006. 
www.rieter.com

Primark has suffered a major fire at its main 440,000 sq ft warehouse in Lutterworth, destroying a large proportion of its clothing stock. 
www.primark.co.uk

Reckitt Benckiser is to relocate about 150 marketing and finance jobs from its recently-acquired Boots Healthcare International business in Nottingham to its UK headquarters in Slough. 
www.reckitt.com

Carillion has won a GBP 500m contract to maintain 8,500 buildings in the Midlands, the north and Wales for the Ministry of Defence, in a joint venture with Enterprise. 
www.carillionplc.com

The Ministry of Defence is to reorganise its defence repair and maintenance services, with the loss of almost 2,000 jobs in St Athan, Fleetlands, Donnington, Warminster and Colchester.
www.mod.uk

Polymer Laboratories , the Shropshire-based scientific instruments company with 160 staff, has been acquired by Varian of the US for GBP 24m.  09-Nov-2005
www.polymerlabs.com

Northern Foods has won a GBP 30m contract to supply ready meals to Asda, which will create more than 200 jobs at factories in Carlisle, Grantham, Sheffield and Nottingham
www.northern-foods.co.uk

Capgemini is to create 500 new jobs in Telford and 220 in Aston, as part of its ASPIRE contract to provide business and IT services to HM Revenue & Customs. 
www.capgemini.com

Sega is to invest up to GBP 30m in the expansion of its games development centre at the Blythe Valley Business Park in Solihull over the next three years, and 80 new jobs will be created over the next 12 months. 
www.sega-europe.com

Cemex is to invest a further GBP 6.5m at its cement production plant in Rugby, in order to improve its environmental performance. 
www.cemex.co.uk

Caterpillar is to shed about 50 temporary jobs at its industrial equipment plant in Desford, Leicestershire, and has also announced plans to transfer its telehandler production overseas.
www.cat.com

Spice Holdings has acquired Kemac Services, the Leicestershire-based water services company, for GBP 6.2m. 
www.spiceholdings.com

Walsgrave Hospital in Coventry is to shed about 250 jobs, in order to prepare for next year's move into a new hospital.  15-Nov-2005
www.uhcw.nhs.uk

St Modwen and Salhia Real Estate are planning to redevelop the former Metro Cammell plant in Washwood Heath, Birmingham, into a GBP 80m industrial and distribution centre by early 2007.
www.stmodwen.co.uk

Les Wilson Haulage has gone into administration through Deloitte & Touche, with the loss of about 40 jobs at its Derbyshire-based transport business. 

Bmibaby is to reorganise its engineering operations with the loss of 180 jobs at East Midlands Airport, in order to transfer all Airbus work to Heathrow. 
www.bmibaby.com

Recommend this newsletter to a friend »

Archive: 2005

• January
• February
• March
• April
• May
• June
• July
• August
• September
• October
• November
• December

Archive: 2004

• March
• April
• May
• June
• July
• August
• September
• October
• November
• December