HR News June 2010

In this months edition of HR News we look at the recent CIPD survey, which has found that many businesses are still not encouraging fathers to take paternity leave despite their legal entitlement to do so. We also look at the importance of promoting health and well being in the workplace and reducing staff presenteeism. Finally we review the need to acknowledge that if staff training is required, it must be provided and the outcomes actively monitored.

Results of CIPD Employer Focus Survey

A recent survey by the CIPD of 800 respondents revealed that only 40% of organisations offer working fathers two weeks' pay at near, or full pay, while only 24% offer no paid paternity leave beyond the two-week statutory level.

The CIPD said: "If flexible parental leave is to become a reality, we need a step-change in the reward policies of UK organisations. This will only be achieved through cultural change - and legislation is emphatically not the answer. The new Government will have to think imaginatively if it is to nudge and lead this change."
 
Research indicates the demands on those caring for children will rise in the next 10 years. The new Government's plans to encourage a system of flexible parental leave will be welcomed by employees but businesses are going to have to look very carefully at the family support packages they offer to see whether they mirror these changing trends.
 
Employers said that the Disability Discrimination Act and age discrimination regulations had made the greatest impact on their organisations.

Streamline staff absences with TeamSpirit Human Resources Software

Investing in the Health and Well-Being of Employees

A study of FTSE-100 companies conducted by Business In The Community (BITC) and Ipsos Mori, found that firms, which actively promoted staff well-being and workplace health policies, recorded a 10 per cent boost in their financial performance.
 
This reflects the experience of leading companies who are demonstrating that holistic management of these issues results in benefits ranging from higher employee engagement, reduced absence and attrition rates, as well as reputational benefits for the company.
Coming to work when sick is estimated to cost UK employers £15 billion a year in lost productivity and is a particular cause for concern. The cost of presenteeism is one and a half times more than absenteeism, so making improvements to reduce this will make a significant difference to a company's success.

Organisations should encourage managers at a senior level to get the message across that being genuinely 'sick' is not a problem. Managing absenteeism and developing a healthy workplace ethic isn't just a matter for HR, it's a bigger issue than that and one that should be running through the 'core' of an organisation.

Produce strategic reports to ensure that your business is motivating and retaining its best people with TeamSpirit HR Software

Take Action When Training is Needed

According to the CBI, nearly two thirds of  more than 694 organisations questioned for its 'Ready to grow: business priorities for education and skills' report considered investment in skills as very important to their future growth prospects.
 
As a result, even during the current fragile recovery period, some 58% planned to maintain expenditure in this area, while 14% expected to increase investment. Only 28% expected to cut their training and development budgets.
 
But the findings appear to fly in the face of figures from the National Employer Skills Survey from the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, which indicated that the number of people in training fell to 12.8 million or 56% last year compared with 14 million or 63% in 2007.
 
For the first time since 2003, the number of people in the UK workforce who lack the necessary skills to undertake their role, increased to 1.7 million from 1.4 million. Almost seven out of ten employers also anticipated that their employees would need to learn new skills and acquire new knowledge over the next 12 months as a result of skills gaps.
 
The reduction in training over the last two years is at odds with this anticipated demand, which suggests that some employers are unwilling to invest in training, seeing it as an extra cost they can't or don't want to bear.

Failing to invest in training is  a false economy because staff who are not proficient at their jobs could have a detrimental effect on a business.

Empower your staff - allow your staff access to key training information, records, qualifications and appraisals with TeamSpirit Employee Self Service Software