Employers are preventing 1 in 5 workers from working from home. They are a huge untapped resource in a growing area of the world of work. Many workers have jobs that require them to be in a specific place and many other workers do not want to work from home, but 4.5m people who want to work from home are being prevented from doing so by their employers.
The TUC offers 5 reasons why work-from-home and its flexible work patterns should be tried out: better staff recruitment and retention; improved motivation and productivity; improving the quality and reputation of the service; reduction of sickness absence and travel costs; and infrastructure cost savings.
The 4.5m figure is from the Work-Life Balance Employee Survey carried out by BERR. WorkwiseUK is a not for profit initiative behind 'Work From Home Day' the day on which the TUC offered its 5 reasons.
Showing posts with label working time. Show all posts
Showing posts with label working time. Show all posts
Wednesday, 6 October 2010
Thursday, 18 June 2009
Unemployment Up To 7.2% At 2.26m
The number of unemployed was up 232,000 to 2.26m in the 3 months to April and up 603,000 from last year. The unemployment rate was 0.7% up to 7.2% in the 3 months to April and 1.9% on a year earlier. The number of long-term unemployed was 515,000 in the 3 months to April, 54,000 more than in the 3 months to January. There were 695,000 unemployed 18-24 year olds in 3 months to April, up 74,000 from the 3 months to January. The claimant count in May was 1.54m or 4.8%, up 39,300 or 0.1% on the month and up 726,000 or 2.2% on the year. The number of people claiming key out of work benefits was 4.53m in November 2008.
The employment rate down to 73.3% in 3 months to April, 0.8% down from 3 months to January and 1.5% down on the year. The number of employed people was down 271,000 to 29.1m on 3 months to January and 399,000 on year. 21.61m of the working population were in full-time employment. Of these, 6.02m were in public sector employment, up 15,000 from December 2008. In the private sector there were 23.09 people employed down 286,000 on December last year. There were 31.19m workforce jobs in March 2009 down 108,000 on the quarter and 455,000 on the year. The manufacturing sector showed the biggest decline at 78,000 jobs less than the last quarter.
Total working time over the 3 months to April came to 918.9m hours, down 16.8m on January. Average weekly hours worked in 3 months to April were 31.6. The number of inactive people of working age is up on 3 months ago. There were 7.89m in April. The economic inactivity rate was 20.8%, up 0.2% on 3 months to January.
Whole economy average earnings rose by 2.7% on the year. Earnings growth, excluding bonuses was down, but earnings growth, including bonuses, was up 0.8% on year.
In the 3 months to May 2009 there were 38,000 fewer vacancies than in February, down 230,000 on year, to 444,000. There were 1.7 vacancies for every 100 jobs. 302,000 people had become redundant, up 36,000 on quarter and 191,000 on year.
The employment rate down to 73.3% in 3 months to April, 0.8% down from 3 months to January and 1.5% down on the year. The number of employed people was down 271,000 to 29.1m on 3 months to January and 399,000 on year. 21.61m of the working population were in full-time employment. Of these, 6.02m were in public sector employment, up 15,000 from December 2008. In the private sector there were 23.09 people employed down 286,000 on December last year. There were 31.19m workforce jobs in March 2009 down 108,000 on the quarter and 455,000 on the year. The manufacturing sector showed the biggest decline at 78,000 jobs less than the last quarter.
Total working time over the 3 months to April came to 918.9m hours, down 16.8m on January. Average weekly hours worked in 3 months to April were 31.6. The number of inactive people of working age is up on 3 months ago. There were 7.89m in April. The economic inactivity rate was 20.8%, up 0.2% on 3 months to January.
Whole economy average earnings rose by 2.7% on the year. Earnings growth, excluding bonuses was down, but earnings growth, including bonuses, was up 0.8% on year.
In the 3 months to May 2009 there were 38,000 fewer vacancies than in February, down 230,000 on year, to 444,000. There were 1.7 vacancies for every 100 jobs. 302,000 people had become redundant, up 36,000 on quarter and 191,000 on year.
Tuesday, 3 February 2009
Tea And Sympathy
British industrial relations are traditionally voluntarist. They centre on collective bargaining and the voluntary regulation of the employment relationship. Workers' representatives usually negotiate pay and conditions on behalf of staff though employee involvement can vary greatly. There are usually two or more parties with different opinions of what the outcome should be and they are most often management and employees often represented by a trade union. Research into negotiations has tended to focus on the negotiations themselves rather than the contexts. During negotiations negotiators arrive at key decision points at which they must decide what to do. Behaviours are usually competitive or collaborative. One is distributive in that one side's gain is the others side's loss, whereas integrative bargaining tries to increase the overall rewards for all. The most effective negotiators show some concern for the other parties as well as their own (Arnold, Cooper and Robertson, 1998).
Choice of management style affects strategies and practices. Management strategies might be inclusive or exclusive of unions. Other dimensions such as status and contract or high and low strategic integration and individualism/collectivism can be added to give matrices of different styles. Collaborative arrangements appear to perform well but the political climate can affect the choice of styles (McLoughlin and Gourlay, 1992 and Hyman, 1997 in Bratton and Gold, 1999). Trade unions have several responses to these developments: opposition, passive co-operation, a bargaining approach and partnership (Bratton and Gold, 1999). The newer HRM models are inconsistent with traditional industrial relations models involving trade unions.
There are more options than conceding or not conceding. It is as well to remember that it may be necessary to work with the other parties again in the future so maintaining a good relationship and listening to them may be important. Willingness to compromise shows concern for the other party. Negotiations are often necessary in disputes over pay and conditions not least over working time, rest periods, breaks and holidays. The voluntarist tradition has been circumscribed in recent years by government legislation and European Directives. The negotiations over the Working Time Directive carried out in the European Parliament, for example, required several amendments and derogations had to be negotiated for many different sectoral interests.
The Working Time Directive of the European Union sets out the hours of work for employees within the European Union. Council Directive 93/104/EC, of 23 November 1993, amended by Directive 2000/34/EC of 22 June 2000 of the European Parliament and of the Council is concerned with hours of work, rest periods, breaks and paid holidays and night work in respect of health and safety. In particular it sets down a minimum of 11 hours rest in every 24 hours, a day off every seven days, a break every six hours as determined by collective or social agreements or legislation, four weeks annual paid holiday, a maximum 48 hour week including overtime. Also night work periods should be no more than eight hours in any 24 hour period with free health checks available. There is a general principle of adapting work to man especially where the work is monotonous with quick repetition. Derogations are allowed for continuity of service or production, such as in hospitals, agriculture or press and information services.
A satisfactory outcome to negotiations is obviously preferable. Failing to arrive at a settlement is usually unacceptable to all. Coming away with an unsatisfactory one-sided arrangement is also unacceptable and it may be necessary for the negotiator to persuade the rest of the team that what they came away with is acceptable (Arnold, Cooper and Robertson, 1998).
There is no single strategy that can be adopted for negotiations over workers pay and conditions. The traditional voluntarist method is being eroded by legislation from the government and Europe and also by changes in trade unions structures, bargaining power and relationship with New Labour. The hard HRM model threatens further union decline leaving the possibility that the soft HRM model may be a way to find mutually beneficial arrangments in future (Bratton and Gold, 1999). After all, we all want our tea breaks and our holidays.
Choice of management style affects strategies and practices. Management strategies might be inclusive or exclusive of unions. Other dimensions such as status and contract or high and low strategic integration and individualism/collectivism can be added to give matrices of different styles. Collaborative arrangements appear to perform well but the political climate can affect the choice of styles (McLoughlin and Gourlay, 1992 and Hyman, 1997 in Bratton and Gold, 1999). Trade unions have several responses to these developments: opposition, passive co-operation, a bargaining approach and partnership (Bratton and Gold, 1999). The newer HRM models are inconsistent with traditional industrial relations models involving trade unions.
There are more options than conceding or not conceding. It is as well to remember that it may be necessary to work with the other parties again in the future so maintaining a good relationship and listening to them may be important. Willingness to compromise shows concern for the other party. Negotiations are often necessary in disputes over pay and conditions not least over working time, rest periods, breaks and holidays. The voluntarist tradition has been circumscribed in recent years by government legislation and European Directives. The negotiations over the Working Time Directive carried out in the European Parliament, for example, required several amendments and derogations had to be negotiated for many different sectoral interests.
The Working Time Directive of the European Union sets out the hours of work for employees within the European Union. Council Directive 93/104/EC, of 23 November 1993, amended by Directive 2000/34/EC of 22 June 2000 of the European Parliament and of the Council is concerned with hours of work, rest periods, breaks and paid holidays and night work in respect of health and safety. In particular it sets down a minimum of 11 hours rest in every 24 hours, a day off every seven days, a break every six hours as determined by collective or social agreements or legislation, four weeks annual paid holiday, a maximum 48 hour week including overtime. Also night work periods should be no more than eight hours in any 24 hour period with free health checks available. There is a general principle of adapting work to man especially where the work is monotonous with quick repetition. Derogations are allowed for continuity of service or production, such as in hospitals, agriculture or press and information services.
A satisfactory outcome to negotiations is obviously preferable. Failing to arrive at a settlement is usually unacceptable to all. Coming away with an unsatisfactory one-sided arrangement is also unacceptable and it may be necessary for the negotiator to persuade the rest of the team that what they came away with is acceptable (Arnold, Cooper and Robertson, 1998).
There is no single strategy that can be adopted for negotiations over workers pay and conditions. The traditional voluntarist method is being eroded by legislation from the government and Europe and also by changes in trade unions structures, bargaining power and relationship with New Labour. The hard HRM model threatens further union decline leaving the possibility that the soft HRM model may be a way to find mutually beneficial arrangments in future (Bratton and Gold, 1999). After all, we all want our tea breaks and our holidays.
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