2 July 2007

NEWS

Alan Johnson Says "No" to Employer-Accredited Qualifications

Alan Johnson, the Education secretary under Tony Blair's government, has said that although training in the workplace should be accredited, it is not up to employers to do so.  Read more

CBI Welcomes Government Changes Affecting Business

The structural changes announced by the new Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, have been welcomed by the CBI.  Read more

UK Employers Need to Prepare for an Ageing Workforce

Aon Consulting have warned employers to prepare for an ageing workforce as over three-quarters of workers say they will work beyond the age of 65.  Read more

"Golden Hellos" Double in Number as Businesses Compete to Recruit Skilled Managers

Almost one third of companies offered "golden hellos" last year to entice skilled managers into their organisation, according to a survey of more than 40,000 managers by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) and salary experts Remuneration Economics.  Read more

Tuesday Afternoons are Peak Time for Employees to Search for Jobs

A survey of 700 workers by recruitment website Fish4jobs has found that workers choose Tuesday afternoons to go online and search for new jobs, resulting in productivity slumping to its lowest at 3.15pm on Tuesdays.  Read more

More Than One in Ten Change Professions After 10 Years

A study by insurer Standard Life has found that more than one in ten workers (13 per cent) change their professionals after working for 10 years or more in one career.  Read more

Smoking Ban Comes into Force in England

The blanket ban on smoking in the workplace and enclosed public places in England has now come into force.  Read more

LEGISLATION

There is no new legislation to report this week.

CASES

Employee's Contacts Kept on Employer's Computer System Belonged to Employer

The High Court has held that a list of contacts maintained in Outlook on an employer's computer system belonged to the employer.  This was the case even though the list included personal contacts and business contacts made by the employee prior to joining the employer.  Read more

NEXT HR NETWORK EVENT

Our next HR Network Event will be our Workshop on Bullying & Harassment: the key issues.  A full list of HR Network workshops and seminars is available here.

FEEDBACK

Please let us know what topics are of interest to you by emailing HRnetwork@pinsentmasons.com. This will help us to shape future editions of this Briefing and HR Network events.

NEWS

Alan Johnson Says "No" to Employer-Accredited Qualifications

Alan Johnson, the Education secretary under Tony Blair's government, has said that although training in the workplace should be accredited, it is not up to employers to do so. 

Mr Johnson is concerned that allowing employers to accredit their own qualifications may mean that employees do not obtain transferable skills.   He believes that workplace training should be externally accredited instead.

He said: "Lots of [workplace] training could be accredited and that's what [the government] has to work at.  We need to ensure that the skills people are getting are transferable this is what the skills pledge is all about."

As reported in our earlier Briefing, 150 employers have already signed the skills pledge (pledging to train their staff with the skills necessary to compete in the global workplace).

Mr Johnson's comments followed a CBI call for companies to be allowed to award their own nationally recognised qualifications to staff, a move the CBI believes would be a vital step towards ensuring that the high quality training given to staff in the workplace is recognised. 

Susan Anderson, CBI director of HR policy, reaffirmed the CBI's call for employer-accredited qualifications in the workplace.  She said: "Such a system [companies awarding their own qualifications] would tackle the current mismatch between the competencies employers need, and what the qualifications system provides.  It would enable employers to award qualifications that reflect 'best in class' training, not just the industry average."  (Personnel Today, 25 June 2007)

To view our earlier Briefing on the CBI's calls for employer-accredited qualifications, click here.  Back

CBI Welcomes Government Changes Affecting Business

The structural changes announced by the new Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, have been welcomed by the CBI.

The CBI Director-General, Richard Lambert remarked on the changes announced by Mr Brown on 28 June 2007.  He said: "This is an imaginative re-shaping of the structure of government." 

Commenting on the new Department which will replace the Department for Trade and Industry Mr Lambert said: "The new brief of the Department of Business and Enterprise will ensure that it is able to champion the competitiveness agenda in critical areas of policy including energy, employment and regulation.  At the same time, the appointment of John Hutton as Secretary of State will provide the strong voice in the new Brown Cabinet that business was seeking so that government fully understands the realities of today's global economy."

Mr Lambert also welcomed the creation of a new Department to focus on skill development.  He said: "The creation of a Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills signals a new and much needed sense of urgency focused on the delivery of the right skills for our economic future.  All of these areas contribute enormously to wealth creation in the UK."

The CBI Director-General did, however, express some anxiety over the changes and expressed a need for caution.  He said: "We are cautious about the separation of science and industry, as the UK needs to become better when it comes to the economic exploitation of science.  Our creation and use of knowledge in the years ahead will define our ability to compete in tomorrow's global economy.  The key test will be the strength of the department's economic focus which John Denham, as the new Secretary of State, will provide."  (CBI Press Release, 28 June 2007)  Back

UK Employers Need to Prepare for an Ageing Workforce

Aon Consulting have warned employers to prepare for an ageing workforce as over three-quarters of workers say they will work beyond the age of 65.

The warning follows a study of 1,204 working adults by Aon Consulting.  It found that a quarter of workers would freely choose to carry on working beyond the age of 65 whereas 53 per cent of workers believe that they will have to work beyond the age of 65 to increase their pensions.

According to Aon Consulting, the estimated one million people currently working beyond the state pension age is expected to treble among people aged 65 to 70 by 2017.  Jon Beaumont, HR consultant at Aon Consulting, said: "An ageing workforce is inevitable with an estimated three million people likely to be working beyond their retirement age in the next 10 years.  This could be a huge benefit to organisations, so long as the key challenges are tackled sooner rather than later.  Effective performance management will be the key discipline in [turning] an ageing workforce into a competitive advantage."  (Personnel Today, 26 June 2007)  Back

"Golden Hellos" Double in Number as Businesses Compete to Recruit Skilled Managers

Almost one third of companies offered "golden hellos" last year to entice skilled managers into their organisation, according to a survey of more than 40,000 managers by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) and salary experts Remuneration Economics.

The number of employers offering "golden hellos" doubled last year, a reflection of an increasingly tight labour market where management resignations rose from 4.6 per cent to 7 per cent in the same period.  The survey also revealed that 81 per cent of employers had recruitment problems during the year to the end of January, four times the number who reported recruitment problems in 2002.    

Jo Causon, the marketing and corporate affairs director at CMI said: "The steep climb in organisations reporting recruitment difficulties, mixed with an increasing number of resignations, should be ringing alarm bells for employers.  The marketplace is clearly tipping in favour of the employee, so if organisations are serious about retaining the best talent, they urgently need to meet the needs and expectations of their staff."

The survey, produced annually, also discovered that employers are moving away from a reliance on salary increases to boost recruitment and retain staff (average earnings for all managers rose by 5.3 per cent last year – the lowest rate of increase since 1996).  Instead, employers are increasingly looking towards the provision of other benefits as an enticement, such as childcare vouchers and life assurance.  Paul Campfield, director at Remuneration Economics, said: "This year's survey shows how benefits packages are increasingly being offered to employees among all levels of seniority.  When reporting first began, in 1974, provision of medical insurance was largely the domain of directors.  Today, over 70 per cent offer the same benefit to staff across the organisation."  (Financial Times, 26 June 2007)  Back

Tuesday Afternoons are Peak Time for Employees to Search for Jobs

A survey of 700 workers by recruitment website Fish4jobs has found that workers choose Tuesday afternoons to go online and search for new jobs, resulting in productivity slumping to its lowest at 3.15pm on Tuesdays. 

The results of the survey are a warning to employers, with each respondent spending an average of 8 minutes and 37 seconds job searching once they have logged on to the search site.

The survey discovered that two-thirds of respondents had already been caught out by their employer for job-hunting at their desks.

The chief executive of Fish4jobs, Joe Slavin, said: "In our experience, Tuesday afternoons are the trigger point in the week when most employees' minds start to wander and reflect on their current job situation.  It's worrying to note that some jobseekers are blatantly looking for jobs during their current work time.  It's a dangerous game and certainly one that we wouldn't recommend."  (Personnel Today, 26 June 2007)  Back

More Than One in Ten Change Professions After 10 Years

A study by insurer Standard Life has found that more than one in ten workers (13 per cent) change their professionals after working for 10 years or more in one career.  The study discovered that the reasons for change varied from the individual facing a redundancy situation to those who simply choose an alternative career path.  (Personnel Today, 28 June 2007)  Back

Smoking Ban Comes into Force in England

The blanket ban on smoking in the workplace and enclosed public places in England has now come into force.

The ban, which prohibits smoking in virtually all enclosed and substantially enclosed public places and workplaces and in public and work vehicles, came into force on 1 July 2007 under the Health Act 2006. 

Under the Health Act 2006, and the five sets of Regulations which set out the details of the ban (the smoke-free legislation), it is a criminal offence:

• to smoke in a smoke-free place;
• to breach the requirements to display no-smoking signs in smoke-free premises and vehicles; and
• for an individual who manages or controls smoke-free places to fail to prevent smoking in the smoke-free place.

To view our update on the Smoking ban click here.  Back

LEGISLATION

There is no new legislation to report this week.

CASES

Employee's Contacts Kept on Employer's Computer System Belonged to Employer

The High Court has held that a list of contacts maintained in Outlook on an employer's computer system belonged to the employer.  This was the case even though the list included personal contacts and business contacts made by the employee prior to joining the employer. 

Mr Isles was a journalist employed as a publisher and conference chairman.  When he joined PennWell, he brought with him a list of journalistic and personal contacts.  At some point during his employment, he transferred those contact details on to the employer's outlook email system and maintained that contact list in Outlook. He then added to that list new journalistic and other business contacts made whilst employed by PennWell.   Before he left PennWell's employment he downloaded the entire contact list on to a memory stick which he took with him for future use.

The High Court had to determine whether the contact list belonged to PennWell or to Mr Isles or to both of them.  It held that where an address list is contained in Outlook or a similar programme which is part of the employer's email system and backed up by the employer, that list belongs to the employer.  It could not therefore be copied or removed in its entirety by employees for use outside their employment or after their employment ends.

The High Court recognised that many employees would not be aware of this fact and recommended that employers should devise and publish an email policy making the position clear. 

Although PennWell had an email policy which stated that employees should only use the email system for business purposes, the Court found that it had not been adequately communicated to Mr Isles.  In those circumstances, although the whole contact list belonged to the employer, Mr Isles would have been entitled to remove private family contacts, to copy key journalistic contacts which could properly be described as his personal sources whenever those contacts were made and to copy any information put on from his own previous resources.  He was not entitled to copy or remove details of any other business contacts. 

Employees will be surprised to learn that details of contacts made before their employment commenced (and therefore not for the purposes of their employment) might actually belong to their employer if maintained on their employer's computer system so that their employer can use them after their employment ends.  Employees would be best advised to maintain a separate list of such contacts or at least to maintain them in a personal folder in Outlook, rather than amalgamating them with contacts made for the purposes of their employer's business. Employers should take note of the Court's recommendation in this case that they should have email policies which have been properly communicated to staff and which clearly identify what information is considered to belong to the employer as a result of it being stored on the employer's computer systems.

Mr Isles was allowed to copy journalistic contacts even where these were made during his employment with PennWell.  This was because the Court recognised that journalistic contacts maintained for career purposes are different from sales and other business contacts maintained for the purposes of employment.  He was not entitled to copy details of other business contacts made whilst employed by PennWell and would not have been entitled to copy details of sales contacts had he had any.

PennWell Publishing (UK) Ltd v Isles  Back

© Pinsent Masons 2007

This bulletin is not intended to be a definitive analysis of legislative or other changes and professional advice should be taken before any course of action is pursued.

Should you have any questions please contact your usual Pinsent Masons advisor, your local office (see below) or hrnetwork@pinsentmasons.com

National Head of Employment

Chris Booth