Opinion – Page 11
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Opinion
Ksenia Zheltoukhova: What (new) challenges do organisations face when engaging millennials?
While academic research frequently dispels the myth of generational differences at work, there is an appreciation that the role of employment changes across the different stages of our lives. As some 'millennials', who first entered the workplace two decades ago, are reaching their 40s, employers would be wise to revisit ...
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Opinion
Joanna Mason and Anna Henderson: What is next on the to-do list for gender pay gap reporting?
Now that the dust has settled on the first gender pay gap reporting deadline, HR professionals could be forgiven for breathing a sigh of relief that the storm has passed, hopefully with little damage. Certainly, the thousands who adopted the tactic of waiting until the last minute to publish may ...
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Opinion
Karen Holden: What should employers consider when distinguishing self-employed workers?
Recent media attention has raised the question: 'Are you an employee or genuinely a self-employed contractor?' BBC presenter Christa Ackroyd was held liable for tax in excess of £400,000 because the courts considered her to be an employee of the BBC, despite her services being paid through a separate limited ...
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Opinion
Rita Trehan: How the gender pay gap harms engagement and productivity
In spite of the dedication and work of many, the majority of medium-sized and large organisations pay higher wage rates to men than women. That was the conclusion drawn from The Gender Pay Gap briefing paper, published by the House of Commons in April 2018, which found that at 78% ...
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Opinion
Luke Menzies: Are organisations playing by the gender pay gap reporting rules?
As employers’ 2017 gender pay gap statistics slowly drip in to the government’s website, I and my fellow gender pay gap nerds are reading the reports with interest. With only around 1,600 reports in so far and approximately 8,000 left to go, with only a few days until the deadline, ...
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Opinion
Sarah Kaiser: Gender pay gap reporting has to be a whole business focus
With annual milestones such as International Women’s Day, Girls in ICT Day and Ada Lovelace Day now featuring as regular diary fixtures, one thing is clear; we are getting much better at celebrating the achievements of women, as well as proactively increasing the profiles of girls and women in underrepresented ...
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Opinion
Lovewell's logic: Equal pay claims gather pace
Is it just me, or does it seem rather apt that in the same week as International Women’s Day (8 March) several equal pay claims were brought by current and former female employees against well-known UK brands?Earlier this week, law firms representing the claimants announced they would be bringing claims ...
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Opinion
Amy Richardson: Tesco is in the firing line over equal pay claims
It seems like a week cannot go by without gender pay being in the news, and this time it is the turn of Tesco to be in the firing line.The huge equal pay claim that Tesco is facing will look at a comparison between shop employees, who are predominantly female ...
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Opinion
Nick Willis: Employers need to join the debate on employment status to avoid potential penalties
The government’s response to the Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices was issued on 7 February 2018, comprising of four separate consultation papers on workers’ rights. An immediate reaction is to think that we have a very long way to go before some very basic questions on employment status are ...
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Opinion
Kate McGough: How does Carillion's situation impact employment law?
In January 2018, various Carillion organisations went into liquidation, putting at risk around 20,000 jobs in the UK.In a normal liquidation, the impact on the organisation's employees is quite drastic. The organisation stops trading straight away and its employees are automatically redundant at the same time. If the organisation cannot ...
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Opinion
Lovewell's logic: Is cutting male pay the solution to gender pay inequality?
Would you agree to a cut in pay if it meant others within your organisation could enjoy a rise, thus placing you all on a more equal footing?This may not sound like a particularly appealing or realistic option, however strongly they may feel against pay inequality. Yet, several BBC presenters ...
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Opinion
Paula Bailey: Gender pay gap reporting is not about equal pay
2018 is set to be a hugely challenging year for big employers, with issues such as worker status and rights, and the gender pay gap firmly on the agenda. What is more, it looks like these crucial issues will be played out under the full glare of the national press.We ...
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Opinion
James Medhurst: When to panic and when to relax about holiday pay
The November decision of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in King v Sash Windows Workshop and Dollar provoked the usual media panic about employees making historical holiday pay claims, dating back for several years. But the decision was unusual in that it considered a claim made using regulation 30 ...
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Opinion
Rita Trehan: Should employers be required to report on broader diversity pay data?
Mandatory gender pay gap reporting is a great start to highlighting the issue of inequality in the workplace. But simply reporting statistics will not lead to transformational change. Real change can only happen when organisations embrace diversity in its fullest sense.For too long, we have lacked ambition and action when ...
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Opinion
Maggie Stilwell: Should employers be required to report on broader diversity pay data?
It is now a commonly accepted fact that a diverse workforce operating in an inclusive environment creates a better business performance.Our experience is that goals, targets and measures set by regulation can help an organisation work towards that. For example, the gender pay gap regulations provide an opportunity for organisations ...
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Opinion
Nick Willis: Clarity around employment status could lead to dramatic impacts on gig economy
Perhaps the oldest question in employment law is 'when is someone genuinely self-employed?' The question remains a difficult one to answer and it is becoming difficult to keep up with the pace of developments on this very basic issue.One of the latest pieces of news is the publication of a ...
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Opinion
Ed Stacey: Holiday pay for workers could place them in a better position than employees
This month saw the anticipated ruling from the European Court of Justice in the case of King vs Sash Windows Workshop. The key question in the case was whether a worker who fails to take paid annual holiday, due to their employer refusing to meet their obligation to provide it, ...
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Opinion
Sumita Ketkar: What can employers learn from gender pay gap reporting?
It is hardly a revelation that employers are not enthusiastic about announcing their gender pay gap figures, even as the April 2018 deadline approaches. As of the first week of November 2017, only 204 of 9,000 organisations based in the UK had announced their figures, and only a small minority ...
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Opinion
Paul Quain: The chance to learn from equal pay experimentation in the US and UK
Equal pay laws have been around for decades, yet the gender wage gap persists. According to the US Census Bureau's Income and Poverty in the United States: 2015 report, published in September 2016, in the United States (US), women earn approximately 80% of the pay received by their male counterparts. ...
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Opinion
Jennifer Millins: A dry run of gender pay gap metrics can help flag up vulnerabilities
Larger employers have until 4 April 2018 to disclose their gender pay gaps.Many businesses are still gathering data. Ascertaining which staff are in-scope, and calculating weekly working hours and hourly rates of pay can be challenging, particularly when long-term absences and atypical working arrangements arise. Bonuses, share plans and flexible ...