Two in five employers exceeded the estimates that they provided on job cuts at beginning of the year, our latest survey on redundancies shows. IRS revisited 91 organisations and found that they had underestimated the number of job cuts required in 2009 by an average of one-third.

Cutting costs is still a major driver for employers, but organisations are looking at a variety of means to make these cuts and minimise compulsory job losses, including introducing pay freezes or reductions for employees.

One reason for this move is to ensure that organisations are better prepared - in terms of skills and experience within the workforce - to meet a swift upturn in business performance.

News of pay freezes and job cuts will not be welcomed by trade unions. Our feature on trade unions’ bargaining agendas identifies pay as a key area that unions intend to target next year in annual settlements, to recover lost ground from pay freezes for members this year.

Also in this issue:

• latest IRS findings on monitoring equality and diversity in recruitment, covering 104 employers;
• a case study of one of the first NHS Trusts to pilot Agenda for Change; and
• consultant employment law editor Darren Newman's opinion on the possibilities of changes to both collective and individual employment law under a Conservative Government.

Noelle Murphy,
Deputy IRS Editor,
Employment Review

HSE stress standards limited by focus on work

Results of the first four years' experience of implementation of the Health and Safety Executive’s management standards for work-related stress include one independent report acknowledging the difficulties associated with the standards being solely concerned with work-related factors, and ignoring non-work-related factors.

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Nearly one in 10 European workers report work-related ill health

Latest findings from the recent European Labour Force Survey show that 20 million people across Europe believe they were made ill as a result of work in the 12 months leading up to the survey.

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Good practice: attendance management

Monitoring equality and diversity in recruitment: the 2009 IRS survey

Our survey of 104 employers explores the plans and procedures in place to maximise equality and diversity in the recruitment process. Employing a diverse workforce continues to be a concern to our respondents - more than half have made changes to their candidate attraction practices in the last three years to encourage more applications from under-represented groups.

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Avoiding discrimination - policies and monitoring

News

Dramatic rise in number of redundancy-related employment tribunal claims

Video

Employment law under a new Government

How to

How to deal with disclosure in employment tribunal proceedings

XpertHR gives guidance on the process by which the parties to a tribunal case inform one another of the documents they have that are relevant to the case. The article includes practical advice on which documents must be disclosed, and looks at how to deal with confidential and "without prejudice" documents. [full XpertHR subscription required].

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Guidance

Employment law under a new Conservative Government

With a general election looming, we consider those areas of employment law on which an incoming Conservative Government might focus. We look at the current indications about Conservative policy in these areas, how easy it would be to change the rules on employment law and the mechanisms that might be used.

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Employment tribunals awards and claims 2008-09

Tables showing the compensation awarded in unfair dismissal and discrimination claims and the number of claims accepted under these jurisdictions in 2008-09 have been added to the XpertHR quick reference section. This follows the publication of the 2008-09 Annual Report and Accounts of the Employment Tribunals Service.

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Casenotes

Unfair dismissal: Central & North West London NHS Foundation Trust v Abimbola

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) holds that the employment tribunal wrongly excluded highly relevant factors from its consideration of whether or not it was practicable to order reinstatement following a finding of unfair dismissal.

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Contracts of employment: Rogers v Microblade Ltd

The EAT holds that an employee’s contract of employment was terminated, not consensually varied, when the employee refused to accept changes to his shift pattern and the employer wrote to inform him that his old contract would end and that he would be re-engaged on the new terms when he signed a new contract.

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Model policies and documents

Model policy on holiday and sickness [full XpertHR subscription required]

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Legal timetable

Forthcoming law

Statutory rates

Quick reference

This week on the XpertHR/IRS blog

Launched and run by the editorial team that produces XpertHR and the IRS e-journals, the Employment Intelligence blog is regularly updated with news, comment and links to the latest employment developments. Recent posts include:

• Childcare arrangements between friends to be permitted;
• RPI inflation falls back to -1.4%; and
• The curious incident of the subdued pay awards (2009 edition).

Taking part in our IRS surveys provides a fast, free and easy way to benchmark your HR policies and practices against competitors and other employers. In return, you’ll receive a complimentary copy of the relevant survey’s findings. We are currently researching:

• HR roles and responsibilities - closes Friday 30 October; and
• pay awards.

The IRS surveys website gives details of our benchmarking projects, a link to CELRE salary surveys, and a registration facility. This ensures you’ll be invited to take part in surveys in your areas of interest.

Today's tip: take part in salary surveys

Reliable pay data is essential to any organisation seeking to manage its reward strategy effectively. By taking part in XpertHR job pricing salary surveys powered by CELRE, you can be confident that jobs in your organisation are accurately matched against similar roles elsewhere. This short video explains the benefits of participation and what is involved.

Print all articles in this newsletter

This newsletter now has a "print all" button. Before pressing it, please be aware that this uses a lot of paper. Recent editions have run to 170 pages, and others may be longer in future. For the sake of the planet and your toner cartridge, consider whether you need to use it. If you press "print all", this will send to your printer all articles linked from the newsletter. It will not print chapters of the employment law reference manual or blog posts. Print all articles.

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