News archive

The Financial Times reports on techniques companies use to make new recruits feel welcome in their jobs, a process called ‘onboarding’. Some organisations assign new starters ‘lunch buddies’ and mentors whilst others receive hampers or corporate shopping vouchers.

The Sunday Times reports that many organisations are increasingly outsourcing HR functions, because of the complexity of employment law. Cost, skills and technological capabilities are all considered to be important factors when deciding whether to outsource these functions. The Sunday Times notes that for many managers dispute resolution is a particularly desired area to outsource.

The Daily Telegraph reports that the scale of Britain’s “chronic unemployment” problem has been disclosed by figures showing that almost 400,000 of those who are unemployed – a quarter of Britain’s jobless – have been out of work for more than a year.

The Financial Times reports that the number of east and central European migrants coming to work in the UK dipped last year for the first time since their countries joined the European Union in 2004, according to Home Office figures.

Reporting on the Government’s ‘world-class apprenticeships’ scheme, the Observer notes that the initiative is being driven by government policy rather than supply and demand. While employer and professional bodies such as the EEF and Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) are broadly in favour of the initiative, they are hardly brimming with enthusiasm.

Polly Toynbee comments in the Guardian on the second reading of Andrew Miller’s Private Members Bill to allow agency and temporary workers the same rights as permanent employees. The Bill had its second reading in Parliament on Friday 22nd February and has been widely criticised by a number of business groups including the CBI and BRC.

The Financial Times reports on findings from the latest CIPD research into agency workers. Almost a quarter of employers believe that agency workers and temporary workers should be given the same rights as permanent staff after only six weeks in a job. The survey by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and consultants KPMG reports that 21 per cent of employers believed agency and temporary workers should be treated the same as permanent staff “from day one”; 27 per cent insisted that agency workers should “never” have the right to demand equal pay conditions; and 26 per cent said that they should be eligible for equal treatment after one year’s service.