The document provides a weekly summary of top HR and management stories, including: 1) Changes to UK agency worker regulations that will require equal pay and conditions after 12 weeks, prompting companies to reassess their workforce. 2) Falling numbers of skilled work visa applications in the first month after new restrictions were introduced, contrary to employer concerns. 3) Stable median pay rises of 2.5% in the UK, though below inflation, and a drop in average sick leave days per employee. 4) Indications that the government may scale back plans to outsource public services and extend recommendations on fair pay beyond the public sector.

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This week in HR
A round-up of the top HR and management stories
Week ending 6 May 2011
PEOPLE MANAGEMENT
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Change in temp rules
affects labour mix LINKS
The forthcoming agency workers  rec.uk.com
regulations (AWR) are an opportunity for
companies to reassess their workforce Government guidance:
planning, a conference heard on Thursday. bit.ly/juj9f4
Allied Milling and Baking – the maker of
Kingsmill and Sunblest – is aiming to
“significantly” reduce its reliance on agency
staff as a result of the legislation and a review
of its resourcing, according to the company’s
HR director, Nigel Toon. The regulations – the
government published its final guidance today – will come into force this October,
and will entitle temporary workers to pay and conditions equal to that of permanent
staff after 12 weeks’ employment.
Read the full stoRy at bit.ly/jGEtI4
Comment: Can we ever cut the front line?  Thousands of nursing jobs ‘at risk from cuts’
Read the full stoRy at bit.ly/jcC5V9 bit.ly/dYrffm
PM recently reported the Royal College of Nursing motion of no confidence in
health secretary Andrew Lansley – that “up to 40,000 NHS posts, half of them
doctors and nurses, could be lost in the proposed reform of the health service”.
RCN said that it had “exposed the myth that front-line care and services would be
protected” when in fact the cuts would “have a catastrophic impact on patient
safety and care”. But Iain Mackinnon asks: are they right?
Work visa applications fall under new rules  UK Border Agency
Read the full stoRy at bit.ly/lrOFMB ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk
Employers’ concerns that immigration visa restrictions for skilled workers would
stop talent coming to the UK appear to be unfounded, as the first month’s
allocation leaves visas going spare. Of the available 4,200 restricted certificates of
sponsorship for skilled workers (as the work visas are known), only 1,028 were
taken up, according to figures from the UK Border Agency.
Wage rises hold steady at 2.5 per cent, figures show  Incomes Data Services
Read the full stoRy at bit.ly/kJzvAp incomesdata.co.uk
Median UK pay rises have stabilised at 2.5 per cent, new data has revealed,
although the deals lag far behind RPI inflation, which is 5.3 per cent. The latest
figures from Incomes Data Services found that, on average, pay awards had
remained the same in the three months to March 2011.
Public service privatisation plans ‘to be scaled back’  Public-sector cuts ‘could create HR outsourcing boom’
Read the full stoRy at bit.ly/iYYZJN People Management bit.ly/iutsD9
The government has ruled out the “wholesale outsourcing” of public services
to the private sector, a report by the BBC has claimed. A leaked memo
obtained by the corporation said such a move would be politically “unpalatable”,
as the coalition embarks on its efficiency drive to transform services and slash
public spending.
Average sickness absence falls  Fit note starts to reduce absence rates at DWP
Read the full stoRy at bit.ly/myrsAr People Management bit.ly/9XVgxH
The number of sick days the average UK employee is taking has dropped by 1.7 to 5
days a year, research has revealed. Furthermore, 45 per cent of employees did not
take any days off sick in 2010, according to the 2011 Sickness Absence Survey from
manufacturers’ organisation the EEF and Westfield Health. ☛ MORE NEWS ON NEXT PAGE

2. ☛ PEOPLE MANAGEMENT ‘THIS WEEK IN HR’ CONTINUED...
LINKS
Comment: A royal wedding and staff engagement  Engaging for Success: enhancing performance through
Read the full stoRy at bit.ly/kicfut employee engagement
The British have always struggled with the notion of heroism, pomp and ceremony. bis.gov.uk/files/file52215.pdf
How ironic then that, when they embrace the positive qualities of their national
characteristics, they are actually capable of putting on a show without equal.
Comment: Happily ever after for the couple?
Read the full stoRy at bit.ly/ih3Q0K
It’s already a year since David Cameron and Nick Clegg stood in the rose garden at
10 Downing Street to seal their historic political partnership. But with economic
and social tension almost certain to intensify in the coming months, the likelihood
is that this political marriage has yet to encounter its most rocky patch.
Employee satisfaction hits record low in downturn  cipd.co.uk/research
Read the full stoRy at bit.ly/jz76cZ
A drop in living standards and job security
has plunged workplace morale to record
lows, according to the latest CIPD
quarterly employee survey. The study of
2,000 UK employees found that staff
satisfaction, and employee confidence and
trust in senior leaders have dipped as
economic conditions damage job security
and standards of living. Staff satisfaction
on the CIPD index – which measures the
difference between positive and negative answers – dropped to +34 from +39 last
quarter. This is the lowest level recorded since the survey started in spring 2009
and a large fall from satisfaction scores of +42 just last November.
EU ruling could limit sick leave holiday accrual  Employers face additional burden as ECJ grants holiday
Read the full stoRy at bit.ly/lNzC2L during sick leave
A European Union ruling is set to clarify the limits of annual holiday rights for staff People Management bit.ly/bU06Ac
on sick leave, with broad implications for UK employers, law firm Eversheds has
said. On Wednesday, the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) was to decide how long
holiday entitlement could continue to be accrued for and carried forward if a
worker has been off sick, in the case of KHS AG v Winfried Schulte.
‘Embrace change to boost employment for all ages’  Older workers beef up business at McDonald’s
Read the full stoRy at bit.ly/ihTYyE People Management bit.ly/k0zZr6
Employers and staff must “embrace the changing shape of UK work” to increase
employment for all ages, the head of the Employers’ Forum on Age (EFA) has told
PM. Denise Keating, chief executive of the EFA, said that the workplace was in the
midst of a transition that meant there was “more work to be had”.
Hutton: fair pay proposals ‘could extend to private sector’  Fair pay as ‘just desert’ – an interview with Will Hutton
Read the full stoRy at bit.ly/lrn1GI People Management video bit.ly/mbp6oP
Government departments have been given until the end of July to suggest how
they would implement the Hutton review on fair pay in the public sector, People
Management has learnt. There are indications that this approach could soon be
extended throughout the public sector, and that the government is considering
whether to apply at least some of Will Hutton’s proposals to the private sector
as well.
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