HR News November 2009

HR news for November includes a review of the Softworld exhibition held in October - the UK's largest and most established HR and Payroll Software exhibition. Other stories include the need to organisations to prepare for a second wave of Swine flu, how job satisfaction has fallen in the UK and how HR professionals must ensure their workplace offers people the development opportunities they want.

Softworld a huge show success

Softworld, the UK's largest and most well established event of its kind enjoyed yet another successful show at London Olympia recently.  Softworld is the only show to deliver an audience with a specific interest in software solutions for the HR and payroll function.

Due to the success of this years show and increasing visitor numbers Softworld has just announced that the 2010 show will be moved to the ExCeL London from 19-20^th October 2010. The move to ExCeL is a reflection of this success and the need to expand for 2010. ExCeL's greater capacity, accessibility and facilities will offer exhibitors an even better experience and entice even more visitors. Softworld Accounting and Finance Solutions & Softworld HR & Payroll runs for 2 days and consist of an exhibition, masterclass programme and vendor seminars, all of which are free for visitors to attend.  The exhibition allows visitors to test products and see software demonstrations.  The masterclass programmes address current issues and offers impartial advice from leading industry figureheads as well as showcasing case studies from vendors. 

Organisations need to prepare for second wave of Swine Flu

Companies should prepare for staff absences in anticipation of the second wave of swine flu that is expected to occur later this year.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and the Business Continuity Institute said that firms should be prepared for a "significant" rise in staff absence rates.

There is a real danger that senior management teams ignore the threat to their business posed by a second and more serious wave of swine flu after seeing the first wave subside much more quickly than anticipated.  The report recommended that companies should plan for up to half of their staff falling sick and remaining off work for two to four weeks.

Warning about the difficulty in the event of school and childcare closures, increased parent-worker absences could have a significant impact and increase employee absence rates in some areas well above the Government estimate of pandemic-related staff absences of 12%.

Research shows that business firms have largely been unaffected by swine flu until now, and therefore, may not plan to deal with a pandemic.

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Job satisfaction falls in the UK

In its most recent quarterly Employee Outlook survey of 2,000 UK staff, the CIPD found job satisfaction had plunged from a score of 46 to 37.

More people (42 per cent) reported excessive pressures at work, compared to six months ago (38 per cent), while employees were also more likely to say they have seen increases in stress and conflict at work, as well as bullying by line managers.

Productivity and competitiveness could be undermined in firms most affected, warned the survey, putting sustainable recovery at risk.

The survey also found that workers remained pessimistic about the labour market. There was a slight reduction in the number of people who thought they would lose their jobs, but a slight increase in people who feared it would be more difficult to get a new job after redundancy.

More worrying for employers, the percentage of staff that ideally would like to change jobs had risen from 34 to 40 per cent since April.

Effective communication and consultation were "critical" to ensure employees feel motivated to go the extra mile, she said. Employers must also focus on developing the people management skills of their front line managers if they want to manage stress and encourage and enable employees.

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HR professionals 'must focus on development'

HR professionals must ensure their workplace offers people the development opportunities they want.
Latest studies show that while some firms have been forced to lay off workers, some employees are walking out on firms.
While the recession has led to redundancies, organisations are seeing staff voluntarily leave their organisations because the training opportunities provided are woefully inadequate.
The UK is facing a skills shortage and HR professionals are being urged to tackle this potential problem.  Training is still a very important to people even in a recession, where possible offer extra training, even if it is in-house. Discuss training needs and offer employees the chance to enhance their qualifications.

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