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Weight Watchers classes in your lunch break
Staff planning their office Christmas party may have to think again before ordering all the trimmings and mince pies. The boss could be expecting them to step on the scales the morning after.
Weight Watchers plans to get nine-to-fivers fit by selling its dietary services to companies the length and breadth of the nation. It is offering to run classes during the lunch hour or immediately after work, when its staff will give out advice on what food and drink to do without in order to bring the belt down a notch.
The scales will be brought into the office once a week for “weigh-ins”. Confidentiality is promised, although one suspects mischievous colleagues will find ways of obtaining those terrifying numbers.
For the employer it will help cut healthcare costs and cut down on the number of days staff are off sick.
Staff absence from the workplace is thought to cost businesses more than £13 billion a year, with an average of 6.7 days lost per employee in 2007.
More on the new scheme from Weight Watchers.
above: The scales will be brought into the office once a week for “weigh-ins”.
Staff scamming expenses and lifting stock on the rise as credit crunch hits
Fraud experts and business groups have put employers on red alert as the economic downturn forces many workers to find extra cash dishonestly.
Recent figures have shown that employee fraud has cost UK companies more than £77m in the first half of this year—up from just £10m in the same period last year.
Spiralling personal debt as a result of mortgage, food and fuel price hikes is making workers desperate, resulting in staff scamming expense claims, or lifting company stock, software or equipment for resale.
Employers can reduce the risk of being hit by staff fraud by monitoring worker habits. Stay alert to changes in lifestyle and work patterns, keep an eye on people who are working very early or very late when they wouldn’t normally do so, or not taking lunch breaks or holidays as they ordinarily would. More Learn more about fraud Prevention.
Businesses grapple with IT security risks
Businesses are still focusing their IT security efforts on threats from outside the company, despite research that suggests that the biggest threat comes from inside the company.
Employees are often the biggest security risks to a business. Research indicates that internal users may try to gain unauthorised access to applications and information. One of the biggest problems is the mishandling of login details or passwords by employees. Passwords might be written down, shared with other people or not changed frequently enough, leading to security breaches.
The research also revealed a strong move towards remote and mobile computing—increasing the risk that people from outside the business might try and examine company systems. More Learn more about IT security.
Bogus job applicants catching out employers
Employers are warned to watch out for fake candidates who apply for one job with two CVs—one containing information about their minority status, such as being Asian or disabled, and the other avoiding it.
Employers who reject the minority application but accept its more mainstream counterpart can be taken to an employment tribunal for recruitment discrimination, resulting in compensation for up to six months’ of prospective work lost.
Legal experts have warned that such tactics are a serious threat to firms as the economy slumps further, particularly to large employers who get hundreds of CVs for positions and they will get no warning before receiving the claim letter.
Avoiding discrimination pitfalls
- Use application forms, not CVs, to filter candidates
- Document the basis on which applicants are rejected
- Put clear deadlines on job ads
Leaving your pc on costs £5m
Research, by energy company E.ON, found that more than 700,000 computers are left on while people are on holiday each year.
Employees failing to turn off their PC, monitor and printer before leaving for a two-week holiday produce an unnecessary 27kg of CO2 each.
Simple actions like turning off electrical equipment before going away can make a big difference when it comes to saving energy and money.
In the current economic climate every penny counts and an increase in energy bills means a reduction in profit. Employers should ensure workers are aware of the savings that can be made at the simple flick of a switch. Source
Minimum wage confusion still rife
Almost a third of small business owners are unaware that from October 1st the national minimum wage was increased from £5.52 per hour to £5.73 per hour.
Businesses need to be fully aware of the legislation or risk the consequences, as the government is introducing tougher penalties for firms who, for whatever reason, fail to abide by minimum wage legislation.
Each criminal offence carries a maximum fine of £5,000 and a criminal record. Source
Your pay-packet changes again this month
The combination of the late change to personal allowances this year combined with the fact that PAYE tax is calculated on a cumulative basis means many employees will be thrown by the varying amount of tax paid in September and October as the changes take effect.
The £600 increase to the 2008-09 Personal Allowance took effect on 7th September and was backdated to 6th April. This meant that your pay packet at the end of September included six months worth of the increased allowance for the period from April to September.
Most basic rate taxpaying staff should have received a £60 tax refund in their September pay packet and will pay £10 less tax a month going forward. Source
Promise of more nursery places to get parents back to work
Gordon Brown pledged in September to provide free nursery places for UK toddlers in a bid to get parents back to work.
A package of measures unveiled by the government will include free places for all 600,000 two-year-olds, estimated at a £1bn cost to taxpayers. Currently, parents can claim up to 15 hours per week of free childcare for three and four-year old children.
Brown said he plans to extend free nursery care to include all two-year olds to give more women the option of going back to work. Source
Childcare voucher entitlement doubles
As new maternity leave provisions come into force on 5 October, mothers who give birth on or after 5 October will be entitled to childcare vouchers for a year instead of six months as before. The provision of childcare vouchers is a contractual obligation, so employers who stop someone’s entitlement–even mistakenly–could be subject to breach of contract or sex discrimination claims.
A Personnel Today survey earlier this year found that three-quarters of organisations offered childcare vouchers, but that take-up was low. Source Tips on saving money through the Childcare Voucher scheme
It will be 2195 before women’s pay overtakes that of men’s!
A survey carried out by the Chartered Management Institute found that on average female executives earn £32,164 a year compared with the average take-home pay of £46,269 earned by their male counterparts.
It is time that the lip service of the three decades since sex discrimination was first outlawed is transformed into action. Government is playing its part, but businesses must also play theirs. Source
Brits Waste 1/3 Of Their Working Day Pretending To Be Busy
Almost half of British workers waste around 1/3 of their day pretending to work and a massive 32% admit to wasting around 3 hours every day, on non-work related tasks. Surprisingly, 96% of respondents admitted to making rounds of tea or tidying desks to avoid doing work at some point throughout their day.
This means that on average, employers are paying members of staff for almost 12 additional hours per week, about 45 hours per month and around 770 hours per year.
Results also show that 31% of workers began winding down at least 15 minutes before the end of their day; filling their final moments with shuffling paper and sorting their desk.
44% of respondents wouldn’t start a new task or deal with a request that came in less than 20 minutes before home time and, in addition, 46% of those surveyed disclosed that they leave any mundane task till the very last minute to complete.
However, 68% of British workers did state that they would stay later at work if necessary; 39% of which, claim they do this at least once a week. Source
Staff scared to ask for pay rise
Almost half of PAs and secretaries (43%) do not feel comfortable in approaching their boss for a pay rise as they find their superiors intimidating. The recent online poll by office support recruiter Crone Corkill found that because of this, most would rather wait and see if they were offered a salary increase than request one.
31% of respondents said that they would sometimes be willing to approach their boss regarding the issue, but that this would depend on his or her workload and stress level at the time. Just under a fifth said that they do not need to ask because they are often rewarded for their hard work.
Many also said they would have to judge their boss’s workload first so they obviously know them well enough to know when is a good time, and when isn’t! Discussing workplace and employment issues is important and office support staff should see it as a vital element in building a strong working relationship, which employers will value. Source Guide to asking for a pay rise.
Salary transparency to increase as UK workers upload anonymous pay details to Glassdoor website
International website Glassdoor.com has added British wages to its extensive searchable database.
It is another step towards wage transparency after the draft Equality Bill outlined measures to ban gagging clauses that prevent employees from discussing their salaries with each other.
The Glassdoor website allows current and former employees to post anonymous salary entries and company reviews, which are then vetted for accuracy. More than 50,000 entries have been made from 80 countries.
Robert Hohman, chief executive of the website, said “People don’t talk enough about how they can be more valuable. This should help them. Knowledge is power.” Source
Flexible working plans proceed despite slump in economy
Despite pleas from the business community in light of the economic downturn, the Government will proceed with its plan to extend the right to request flexible working to parents with children who are 16 and under. At present this option is only available to parents of children aged under 6.
These new rights, which come into effect from April 2009 will entitle more than a quarter of a million employees to request flexible working.
The Government has promised to explore ways to make dealing with flexible working requests easier for businesses and to suggest ways to reduce the paperwork involved with flexible working requests.
Employment Relations Minister, Pat McFadden said, “The right to request flexible working has worked well because it helps employees to balance their home and work lives, but at the same time gives employers the right to say no where there are legitimate business concerns.“
“Parenting requirements don’t end as children get older. We think it is right to extend this successful scheme and help parents of older children access the flexibility they need.”
Consideration will also be given to raising awareness of the right to request flexible working among employees and to boost knowledge of the range of free tools available to make dealing with requests quicker and simpler for businesses. More
October 2008
Self Assessment returns — New deadline of October 2008 for paper returns
Tue 7th — World Day for Decent Work
Wed 8th – Thu 9th — Total Workplace Management — London Olympia
Fri 10th — British Safety Council Conference: Small business and health and safety — Hilton London Euston
Tue 14th — ‘Half-an-Hour Day’
Thu 16th — Boss’s Day
Tue 21st — Trafalgar Day
Sat 25th — New issue of Unlimited Magazine
Sun 26th — Summer Time Ends, clocks go back
Fri 31st — Halloween
November 2008
Mon 3rd — London to Brighton Veteran Car Run
Wed 5th — Bonfire Night
Sat 8th — Lord Mayor’s Show and Fireworks
Sun 9th — Remembrance Day
Sat 15th — Workplace bullying conference — Midlands
Wed 19th – Thu 20th — National Executive PA Conference — Brighton
Wed 26th – Thu 27th — Times Crème Show — Manchester
Thu 27th — Thanksgiving
Sun 30th — St Andrew’s Day
December 2008
Sun 21st — Winter Solstice
Wed 24th — Christmas Eve
Thu 25th — Christmas Day
Fri 26th — Boxing Day, St Stephen’s Day
Wed 31st — New Year’s Eve
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