Millions to benefit from extra holidays

The government is proposing to increase workers’ holiday entitlement from 20 days per year to 28. It says up to six million workers would benefit from an extra eight days holiday each year under the plans.

Statutory annual leave entitlement would be increased in two stages, rising from 20 to 24 days on 1st October 2007, and from 24 to 28 days on 1st October 2008.

above: Up to six million workers would benefit from an extra eight days holiday each year.

The Big One

Photo of Lenny Henry Red Nose Day is back and The Big One promises to be nothing short of enormous. The whole thing will culminate in seven hours of wall-to-wall comedy on BBC One, Friday 16 March.

For starters, make sure you get hold of this year’s Red Nose from Sainsbury’s, Oxfam and online — costing just £1. Open the pack and roll the foam nose in your hand to see it expand into the biggest nose in Comic Relief’s history - definitely not to be sniffed at! The nose also comes with a delicious square of Fairtrade white chocolate for you to enjoy. But look before you lick as there is a surprise in store! Next time you’re out shopping, make sure you include RND ‘07 merchandise on your list and you’ll be making a big difference to hundreds of lives.
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Pensions breakthrough

Equality watchdog EOC has welcomed the pensions bill, published in November. The bill is an important step towards ending the scandalous inequalities currently faced by women in retirement. The unpaid contribution to society made by millions of parents and carers will finally be recognised and rewarded on the same terms as paid employment.
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RNID calls for Hearing Checks

Hearing charity RNID are calling on workers and their managers to ‘break the sound barrier’ and take the charity’s telephone hearing check on 0845 600 55 55. To date, 300,000 people have taken the telephone hearing check but RNID believes many more could benefit from taking the check to discover their level of hearing loss. Employers are also being urged to encourage staff to take the confidential, five minute check either in a quiet place at work or at home.

To take the ‘Break the sound barrier’ telephone hearing check call 0845 600 55 55.

For more information call the RNID Information Line on 0808 808 0123 (freephone) or 0808 808 9000 (textphone) or send an email to information@rnid.org.uk.

No Smoking Day — 14th March 2007

Image of no smoking day branding A survey for the charity No Smoking Day, showed 2.8 million of them will definitely try to stop smoking when England goes smoke free on July 1, 2007.

No Smoking Day offers these top tips for anyone wanting to quit in 2007:

Why wait until July to make a quit attempt. By stopping on No Smoking Day you can be totally smoke free well in advance of the ban.
Smoking can create hormonal imbalances which decrease libido — giving up smoking will improve your sex life!
Feel fitter within two weeks of stopping: finally run for the bus without a coughing fit.
Using an NHS stop smoking service is four times more likely to work than going cold turkey

For more information about stopping smoking and the help available log call the NHS stop smoking helpline on 0800 169 0 169.
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Unpaid hours cost workers £4,800 a year

Employees in the UK who do unpaid overtime do an average of seven hours six minutes extra work a week, and would take home an extra £4,800 a year if they were paid the average wage for those unpaid hours. It shows that if everyone in the UK who works unpaid overtime did all their unpaid work at the start of the year, the first day they would get paid would be Friday 23 February!

Flexible fears

Almost two-thirds of UK employees would prefer to work flexibly but almost half are concerned that flexible working will have a negative impact on their careers. A survey indicated that four out of five employees believe flexible working would improve their productivity and loyalty to their employer and almost three quarters said flexible working would improve the time they spent with their families.
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Eating hours

Photo of two sandwiches on a plate Almost half of workers say they don’t have time to leave the office for a lunch break, according to a survey. It found 62 per cent of employers believe all their staff have a full lunch break at least three times a week — while only a third of employees actually do.
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