News - WorkScales

Ditch the retirement age campaign gets backing of Lords
Personnel Today's drive to force the government to commit to scrapping the default retirement age (DRA) has stepped up a gear after receiving support from leading age campaigner <A href="http://www.oecd.org/speaker/0,343

Friday podcast: Economic downturn advice, Working Time Directive opt-out, unemployment, age discrimination
Our weekly HR news and analysis audio programme includes: advice from a senior HR director about the function’s role during the economic

CIPD standards row erupts after member is named on list of BNP activists
Leading HR directors have called on the CIPD to toughen up its rules after it emerged one of its members was named as a British National Party (BNP) activist. A leaked li

Data at risk due to lack of training on dangers of working online
Employers risk losing valuable commercial and customer data if they do not train their staff on the dangers associated with working online, the TUC has claimed. The union body's warning followed this

Multicultural respect standards to be launched
A set of standards geared towards building respect between different cultures at work will be launched next week. The Natio

Bradford & Bingley boss praises staff commitment
Bradford Bingley's chairman last week gave a glowing review of the crisis-hit bank's people culture. Richard Pym told MPs on the Treasury Select Committee that staff had proved their commitment on the weekend the bank

Hospitality body condemns exploitation of young to fill migrant skills gaps
The British Hospitality Association (BHA) has warned employers worried about the UK losing its Working Time Directive opt-out<

Newly jobless likely to remain that way for some time, admits MP
Axed staff face lengthy spells out of work as the economic crisis hits the government's ability to get people off benefits quickly, a minister has admitted. E

Police Service urged to introduce local targets to boost diversity drive
Police forces may have to follow new ethnic recruitment targets under proposals set out by the government. Policing minister Vernon Coaker today published a <A href="http://nds.coi.gov.uk/environment/fullDetail.asp?Releas

Front-line NHS staff asked for views on improving healthcare service
Doctors, nurses and other NHS staff are being called on to develop new standards to measure and improve the quality of care in the health service. Local NHS organisations are being encouraged to engage with staff to help d

BNP list provokes anger, but employers warned not to overreact
Employers have been warned against knee-jerk reactions against employees recently outed as members of the BNP. Earlier this week a leaked membership list was published online, which includes police officers - who are banne

Failed training initiatives down to lack of line manager buy-in
Line managers are the main stumbling block when it comes to making a success of staff training. A survey of learning and development professionals at the <A href="http://www.learnevents.com/world-of-learning-conference-200

Cable & Wireless staff benefit from profits boost with extra holiday
Cable Wireless has just given its employees around the world an extra day off after reporting an increase in half-year profits, Personnel Today has learned. All 5,000 staff across Europe, Asia and the US wil

Record number of government staff dismissals overturned
A record number of sacked government workers successfully overturned their dismissals last year, with total compensation breaking the £1m barrier for the first time. The Civil Service Appeal Board's <A

Woolworths may sell entire business for £1
High-street business Woolworths has confirmed it is in talks over the possible sale of its entire retail business for just £1. <A href="http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/retailing/article5183

Benetton embraces talent management to drive global ambition
Clothes retailer Benetton has made talent management one of its top priorities as it aims to become "truly international", an HR manager has revealed. Gabriella Valentinotti,

Bank bonuses under fire as think-tank reveals five CEOs' £52m top up
Unions are calling for a complete overhaul of remuneration in the financial sector after research revealed that five banking chief executives received pay and bonuses worth more than £52m over a four year period. <P

B&B bonus defended by former chairman as new boss eyes £326,000 top up
The man in charge of Bradford Bingley when it was nationalised in September was yesterday forced to defend the bonus structure that will see his replacement given a huge bonus this year. Rod Kent, who was replaced by

Credit crunch inspires CIPD to launch damage limitation training for HR
Two courses to help HR staff and line managers handle strikes and redundancies better have been launched by the CIPD. The first course, 'Practical Employee Relations', provides participants with the tools to handle employe

WTD opt-out axe could force hotels to use unpaid labour to fill gaps
A luxury hotel chain will use work experience students to make up the overtime hours currently worked by permanent employees if the UK loses its opt-out to the <A href="http://www.berr.gov.uk/whatwedo/employment/employment-legisl

Labour Market Update: older workers set to bear brunt of redundancies

CIPD Labour Market Update: