Wednesday, June 1, 2005
Advice on the new childcare vouchers
Very few employers in the UK — less than five per cent — give their staff financial help with the cost of childcare. But employees who are fortunate enough to work for companies who do offer assistance, either in the form of childcare vouchers or via a place in a workplace nursery, could now save money by opting into a salary sacrifice scheme.
The TUC says that working parents need to weigh up whether or not it makes financial sense for them to join a salary sacrifice scheme where they can choose to receive up to £50 a week of their salary in childcare support, meaning that they will no longer be paying tax and national insurance on that part of their pay packet.
The TUC advice says that parents need to be aware that when sacrificing an element of their National Insurance and tax to pay for childcare, there may an impact on their current entitlement to tax credits. Parents also need to consider that they may be jeopardising any future entitlement to such work-related benefits as maternity pay, sick pay and occupational pensions, and to state benefits such as the state second pension, Incapacity Benefit and Job Seekers’ Allowance.
To help parents understand whether joining a salary sacrifice scheme would be a smart financial move, the TUC is publishing advice on the new tax and National Insurance changes on its world of work website.
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above: The TUC says that working parents need to weigh up whether or not to join a salary sacrifice scheme.
Worker deaths are not counted
The death of a young British bank employee who fell ill and died in Britain of a work-related disease will not be investigated by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) or included in official workplace death statistics because she caught the disease on a short work trip abroad.
Lucy Wilson, 23, a financial administrator for the insurance division of Lloyds TSB, contracted a rare liver infection while in India training call centre workers, an inquest heard this month. She showed flu-like symptoms within three weeks of returning to Newport, Wales, from Mumbai.
She died of Hepatitis E and liver failure three days later. An infected cut was ruled out as a cause of death. Birmingham deputy coroner Christopher Ball heard six other Lloyds TSB staff working in India had suffered with symptoms of hepatitis but none was as ill as Ms Wilson, although one was taken to hospital. An HSE spokesperson confirmed the death would not be investigated by HSE because the condition was not a reportable workplace disease and had been contracted outside the UK. He also told Risks the case would not appear in UK workplace death statistics. Cases like this are likely to become more commonplace as workers become more mobile and as businesses globalise. Coroner David Morris, commenting last month on the death of Cambridge oil rig worker Nic Edeleanu, who was employed by a French company and who was working off the coast of Nigeria when he died, said ‘there was a gross failure on the part of his employers. A verdict that he was unlawfully killed by reason of gross negligence is appropriate.’ HSE says is will not take any action because the incident was outside their jurisdiction. His death will not appear in UK work fatality statistics.
Work continues to take massive toll
Millions of workers are suffering as a result of job hazards, according to a new report from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).
‘Self-reported work-related illness in 2003/04: Results from the Labour Force Survey’ shows the overall level of work-related ill-health in 2003/04 was similar to 2001/02. For people working in the last 12 months, the incidence of new cases of work-related illness in 2003/04 was lower than in 2001/02, HSE says, with much of this due to a fall in musculoskeletal disorders, in particular those which mainly affect the back.
The estimated average number of annual working days lost per worker due to work-related illness in 2003/04 was of a similar order to the estimated rate in 2001/02. The headline figures, which were trailled in November last year, give an estimated prevalence of self-reported work-related illness in 2003/04 of 2.2 million, equating to 5.2 per cent of people ever employed. An estimated 27 per cent of this total, 0.6 million people ever employed, were new cases. Among people employed in the last 12 months, this equates to an estimated incidence rate of 2.0 per cent - 1 in 50 in the working population. The estimated number of working days lost due to work-related illness during the 12 month period was 29.8 million.
Musculoskeletal disorders followed by stress, depression or anxiety were by far the most commonly reported type of work-related illnesses with corresponding prevalence estimates of 1.1 million and 0.6 million for people ever employed.
Could your business be the target of a Data Protection scam?
Many small and medium-sized businesses have recently fallen foul of notification scams. You might well have received a threatening letter about your business’s legal obligations. These prevalent scams usually state that you must notify the Information Commissioner about the way your business processes its data. Typically you may be asked to complete and sign a form that will then be published on a public register.
But, if you are a small or medium-sized business you may well be exempt from the requirement to notify and able to put these scamming letters through the shredder. It is typical for ‘scammers’ to charge over a hundred pounds for their ‘service’ of simply forwarding a notification form to the Commissioner. However, you will still have to comply with the requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998 and other privacy legislation in respect of any personal information you are processing.
Second six figure fine this year for British Sugar
British Sugar has received its second six figure safety penalty of 2005. The company was fined £250,000 this week on charges relating to an incident which saw an electrician seriously injured, losing the sight in one eye. The firm admitted breaking health and safety rules at its Cantley plant in Reedham, Norfolk, in July 2003. Edmund Osborne, from Lowestoft, was working on a sugar elevator tower when he was injured in the explosion. Judge Paul Downes, at Norwich Crown Court, said British Sugar’s breaches of safety regulations were ‘very serious.’ He ordered the firm to pay a fine of £250,000 and £95,300 costs. He said an aggravating factor was that British Sugar had been before the courts five times in five years. Ken de Haan QC, representing British Sugar, said the company had spent £6 million on safety improvements and was now working in partnership with the Health and Safety Executive to ensure nothing like this ever happens again. British Sugar was fined £400,000 in February for safety offences relating to the death of Lorraine Waspe (Risks 195). Only 61 workplace safety fines have ever exceeded £200,000 in the UK, and British Sugar has received two of them this year. The double blow is unlikely to impact too dramatically on its bottom line, however.
British Sugar’s parent company, Associated British Foods, made an operating profit of £478 million in 2004.
Road firm pays £97,000 after worker burns to death
A road contractor has been fined £75,000 and ordered to pay £22,000 costs after a worker was burned to death while cleaning a tanker.
Crawley-based Colas Ltd admitted at Lincoln Crown Court failing to ensure the safety of employees John Gilroy and Phillip Kelly whilst they were cleaning a bitumen tanker at the company’s Grantham depot on 20 February 2003. The court heard John Gilroy was cleaning the bitumen spraying bar at the back of the tanker with a mixture of kerosene, gas oil and diesel, which ignited. He received 60 per cent burns and died from his injuries on 4 March 2003. Phillip Kelly received superficial burns to his face and head. HSE inspector Jon Anslow, who investigated the incident, said: ‘This was a tragic and avoidable incident. The company failed to control even simple sources of ignition, such as smoking or hot working.
‘Importantly, if a liquid was used rather than a spray, no flammable mist would have been created, and this could have prevented the incident.’ He added: ‘This case emphasises the importance for employers to assess and plan work with dangerous substances. Sensible health and safety is about managing risks. This need not be costly, it’s just a matter of thinking jobs through and anticipating hazards. Employers must also make sure employees are properly trained and have the proper equipment to deal with danger.’
Better conditions not gimmicks cure sickness problems
Only continued investment in Royal Mail’s workforce will see further improvements in attendance levels, post union CWU has said. But the union criticised as a ‘gimmick’ the company’s scheme which gives those with the best attendance record to chance to win cars and holiday vouchers.
Royal Mail has announced it will be extending the scheme. The union acknowledges that sickness absenteeism fell between August and January, but CWU deputy general secretary Dave Ward said this had to be viewed in context. ‘Over the last 18 months our members have benefited from pay increases of more than 18 per cent. Their working week has also been reduced from six days to five. It is only that kind of investment and improvement that will ensure absenteeism continues to fall.’ He added: ‘We have no problem at all with people winning cars and holiday vouchers, but giveaways are not the reason why attendance levels have improved and they are certainly not a substitute for continuing to invest in our members’ overall employment package.’
British Red Cross launches ‘Safe Hands’ programme
The British Red Cross, one of the UK’s leading providers of first aid and health & safety training, is launching a new, unique facility to support all delegates who have attended their training courses. The new programme — ‘Safe Hands’ — is designed to support all first aiders when they have completed their course.
Available via the British Red Cross website, the ‘Safe Hand’ programme acts as a lifeline between refresher courses and also gives the first aider access to the British Red Cross website community, a Q&A forum and opportunities to share experiences with other first aiders.
“We are launching the ‘Safe Hands’ programme at the end of May and are very excited about it because no other training organisation offers this level of support once their training is complete,” explains Amanda Jenkins, Marketing Communications Manager, British Red Cross. “Remembering the first aid techniques that you have been taught is important so that when you are called on you can confidently diagnose and perform the correct treatment.”
Once delegates have completed a course they will automatically qualify for the ‘Safe Hands’ programme and will be offered a unique password to access this area on the British Cross website upon registration.
The British Red Cross has been training people since 1981 and offers over 80 different courses with the most popular courses being First Aid at Work (HSE approved), First Aid at Work Refresher (HSE approved), Basic First Aid for the Appointed Person and a Moving and Handling course. More
Safety warning as Hell’s Kitchen goes stateside
A leading US ergonomics magazine has issued a workplace safety warning after it was announced that ITV reality programme ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ is to be exported to the US.
Ergonomics Today says Fox Television’s move to bring Gordon Ramsey and his ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ show to America this summer is a safety issue ‘because the celebrity chef is known best in Britain for workplace behaviour that ergonomists warn against.’ It adds that ‘Ramsey’s tantrums’ are likely to become a case study in many classrooms. Ergonomics is the practice of fitting the job to the worker, which contrasts with Ramsey’s approach which involves pummelling the worker into shape. The report comes hot on the heels of a Fortune magazine story revealing that two top US law firms have instituted a ‘no jerks allowed’ policy in a bid to attract a better class of worker. Ergonomics Today, commenting on the response to the ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ programme in the UK, said: ‘Many viewers there switch off Ramsey as too abusive to watch. More viewers watch his show just to see his tantrums. The producers just have to sit back and watch the fireworks.’ It adds: ‘What will the American public make of Ramsay? Will other US companies be swayed by anti-‘jerk’ policies? The answers have implications for ergonomists and others interested in workplace trends.’
What are employers really looking for?
It’s that time of year when fresh graduates are emerging onto the job market. A new survey by VMA Group, a leading specialist recruitment consultancy, finds when it comes to getting a job, the old adage of ‘It’s not what you know, but who you know’ still holds true.
VMA’s survey of 487 owner managers of smaller-and-medium sized enterprises (SMEs) revealed that eight out of ten owner managers prefer word of mouth recommendations to find new employees. However, the cache of graduating from Oxford and Cambridge is less dominant, with 85% of bosses saying they are not influenced by where job candidates went to university.
They found that a worryingly large percentage of SME heads (25%) rely entirely on gut instinct when choosing new employees. And a massive 95% believe they ‘know when they’ve met the right candidate’, with only 14% bothering to formally test candidates’ numeracy, literacy and powers of reasoning. A staggering 59% of bosses admitted to breaking their own recruitment rules repeatedly regarding the minimum educational standards and experience candidates require.
Educational attainments are still important, but minimum standards will often be ignored if a candidate has relevant work experience or comes highly recommended. For example, while 55% of owner managers claim to impose minimum educational standards, 38% of SME bosses will interview candidates regardless of their qualifications if they know them personally or if the candidate has previously worked with other colleagues.
Work experience in the right industry is clearly important; 83% of those questioned would opt for someone with practical experience over an identical candidate with better educational qualifications.
We say:
‘speak to almost anyone running a business, large or small, and they will tell you that the toughest part of the job is finding the right staff. Someone who is right for one company can be totally wrong for another. But there are some steps that can be taken to make recruiting more effective. First, bosses should rely rather less on gut instinct, and rather more on testing and systematic interviewing processes. It is often more effective to conduct a small number of targeted interviews, than meet a large pool of candidates, and certainly a better use of a busy boss’ time.
For new graduates, perhaps seeking their first career job, there are a few simple rules that will help them do well at interview. Bosses we spoke to say they are impressed by candidates who’ve researched their company, show real enthusiasm for the job on offer, are smartly turned out and don’t talk too much or avoid answering the questions asked.’
Big Turn Ons for Employers
- A good attitude (62%)
- Previous experience (46%)
- Intelligence and aptitude (43%)
- Enthusiasm (28%)
- Qualifications (28%)
- Initiative (24%)
- Knowledge of the company (23%)
Big Turn Offs for Employers
- A bad attitude (90%)
- No understanding of the company/job (62%)
- Lack of previous experience (45%)
- Talking too much, without answering the questions (43%)
- Poor standard of personal grooming (26%)
- Lack of qualifications (24%)
Baby manifesto
The Maternity Alliance has spelled out 10 key demands that it says would improve the lives of thousands of new parents and their babies in the UK. The lobby group is calling for measures including increased maternity pay, paid parental leave and an automatic right to work flexible hours for parents of children under two.
Sickly CBI
Claims by bosses’ organisation CBI that public sector sick leave is undermining services have been dismissed as ill-informed by unions and other bodies. TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said a TUC report this year exploded the myth of ‘sicknote Britain,’ adding ‘a more serious analysis of absence statistics shows the exact opposite’ - not only did public sector workers take less sick leave, Britain had one of the lowest levels of both long- and short-term sickness absence anywhere in Europe.
Bizz backlash
As the political parties jockeyed pre-election for position in the work-life balance stakes, the business lobby started to get nervous. Bill Midgley, president of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), said: ‘The key to work-life balance is balance’ and Kate Groucutt, policy adviser at the CBI, warned against extending the ‘right to request’ to a wider group of workers, including carers.
Home works
Eight out of ten people want more flexibility at work to balance their professional and personal lives. Cutting commuting time is a favourite reason for homeworking, according to a Financial Mail flexible working survey, which also found many workers would relish the chance of flexible hours or taking work home.
Friday feeling
Schools in England could close on Friday afternoons as a result of a row over teachers’ workloads, the leader of the country’s headteachers warned in April. Growing financial pressures are forcing many heads to consider shutting at lunchtime on the last working day of each week - giving pupils half a day off, according to David Hart, out-going general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT).
Holy days
Leading British companies have pledged to extend flexible working to help ethnic minority employees celebrate holy days and festivals. Firms including the BBC, Shell and London Underground and other members of the Employers Forum on Belief have also announced plans to set up prayer rooms in the workplace.
Gender gaps
Women in Egypt are the furthest behind men in terms of economic equality, while no country has closed the “gender gap” entirely, a World Economic Forum survey has found. Sweden has the smallest difference between the sexes, followed by Norway, Iceland, Denmark and Finland, with the UK coming in at number 8 and the US at 17th.
Spanish life
Eight out of ten people want more flexibility at work to balance their professional and personal lives. Cutting commuting time is a favourite reason for homeworking, according to a Financial Mail flexible working survey, which also found many workers would relish the chance of flexible hours or taking work home.
Home works
Levels of satisfaction with life and optimism about the future are higher in Spain than the European average, according to a European Foundation survey. However, women in particular suffer from the effects of a profound lack of work-life balance, it found.
US women pay
Women in the USA are earning 76 cents for every $1 a man makes, says national union federation AFL-CIO. According to a study by the AFL-CIO and the Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR), working families lose $200 billion (£108bn) of income annually to the wage gap - an average loss of more than $4,000 (£2,160) each for working women’s families every year.
Overworked Americans
One in three American employees is chronically overworked, according to the Families and Work Institute. It says only 8 per cent of employees who are not overworked experience symptoms of clinical depression compared with 21 per cent of those who are highly overworked.
Overload kills
Increased workloads, workforce cutbacks and faster production rates have become major safety and health issues for US workers, national union federation AFL-CIO has warned. Its report, ‘Death on the job: The toll of neglect,’ says truck drivers, health care workers, steelworkers and flight attendants are some of America’s many employees whose health risks are growing as the quality of their jobs decline.
China burnout
Many Shanghai office staff are suffering from burnout due to an increasing in work hours over the past two years. US head hunter Hudson Recruitment surveyed 604 executives from multinational companies and found nearly one-third of the companies surveyed reported a rise in employees who are unable to work efficiently, especially in the manufacturing, consumer products and media sectors.
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