News Flash

HRM compliance survey

We received a very good response to our recent survey of HRM legal and quality standards compliance. Access to the resulting report is limited to participants. However, it threw up a great deal of data – with often unexpected and

Comment: Fishing with click bait

There is an interesting contrast between the methods used in the two ‘cousin’ fields of public relations (PR) and employee relations (ER). Whilst PR has become increasingly sophisticated in its use of technology, ER remains largely back in an era

EU: That priority hire

A major concern for anyone trading across borders in the European Union must be the holding of trusted trader status (AEO) relating to customs simplification, security and safety. Although this offers great advantages to those operating in supply chains, many

Australia : : Fair Work Amendment

Employers, particularly franchise chains, who deliberately flaunt the minimum wage and other entitlements’ rules under the Fair Work Act 2009, now face stiff new penalties. This follows the passing of the Fair Work Amendment Bill on September 5th

Comment: Are you ISO compliant?

It is now 12 months since the International Organisation for Standardisation published its standards for human resource management (ISO 30408) and recruitment (ISO 30405). They were certainly a long time coming and now they are here it would be interesting

Comment: Why strikes decline

There was a period, back in the 1970s, when ongoing strikes seldom fell below 300 a month. I was working at the time as a journalist for the UK’s leading IR journal. It was my habit to take quotes from

France: Macron Labour Reforms

The French government has announced the outcome of its recent talks on labour reforms. The agreed changes include:

* A new facility for employers and workers to reach agreement at a company level. Negotiations with a non-elected employee (not approved

Russia: “Safe” data transfers

It is curious that Russia, one of the states most ready to invade personal privacy, also regulates the transfer of privacy to other countries providing a “sufficient level” of protection for personnel data. That is perhaps why two of the

Comment: Disturbing trend lines

A phenomenon little known outside the realms of psychologists is the “Flynn effect”. This concerns the constant increase in IQ test scores over time. The average rate observed is about 3 points per decade. This does not sound much, but

UK: Voluntary overtime and holiday pay

The UK Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) has ruled that regular voluntary overtime should be included when calculating holiday pay. What constitutes “regular” will be a matter of judgment or agreement, but the ruling also has implications for other regular payments

FedEE Customised legal service

We have just launched FedEE Law?  This provides members with customised legal services – such as the drafting of employment contracts, the drawing up company policies or reviewing and updating of employee handbooks. The new service offers a fast turnaround,

UK: Tribunal fees discriminatory

A challenge to the lawfulness of current employment tribunal fees in respect to discrimination claims has been found, in itself, to be indirectly discriminatory by the  UK Supreme Court.The case, brought by the trades union Unison, may have the effect

Comment: LDTs, TAD – and after

In my last comment column I pointed out how labour displacing technologies (LDTs) were already an inexorable force throughout the advanced economies. But where will this trend take us? For instance, repeated warnings by Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX and

Tunisia: State control of collective bargaining

The Tunisian government has now taken control of collective bargaining in many sectors, although they still consult with “social partners” before altering pay rates. The Prime Minister, Youssef Chahed, has signed an order increasing basic gross pay rates in 21

EU: Brexit hits UK economy

Industrial production rose over the year to May 2017 in the European Union by 4% – with durable consumer goods (+6.8%) and capital goods (+6.1%) leading the way. All this has been achieved in a highly energy efficient way –