Dear Subscriber,

Lifting the lid

In this series of articles, I am attempting to ‘lift the lid’ on the world of recruitment for you, hopefully enabling you to weed out those that are genuine, from those that are simply a ‘bums on seats’ service.

Following on from last month’s question on Friday afternoon sales calls:

Trade Secret No 2: Protecting your privacy – “The consultant won’t tell me who the client is, why?”

Put simply, they either don’t trust you to maintain the confidentiality of their client, or, the role has not internally been made public. In 99% of cases we find it’s because of a trust issue, they don’t want other agencies finding out who their clients are.

At this point, I would encourage you to ask serious questions of your consultant and in some cases, simply refuse to allow your CV to be sent to the client. The majority of candidates I meet list the type of organisation and the culture of the organisation as being vital factors to them in their job search. If you don’t know who the client is, how can you know this is the role for you? Don’t be afraid to say no!

Your next dream job is not just about salary or location, its much, much more than this. It’s down to you to ensure you control your details and that you make the decisions that will positively affect your career. Do not be pushed or persuaded to go forward for a position that is not right for you – we all know people that this has happened to and the adverse affect this can have.

Also please think about your privacy. This is vital; your details are personal, sensitive and should be protected. If you don’t know the company name, how can you guard them?

If you are dealing with a reputable consultancy, you will feel supported and guided throughout the recruitment process. You will feel that they are providing a true consultative, partnership service to you. They will tell you everything about the vacancy they wish to submit you for, most importantly they will tell you the company name.

Exclusive Human Resources are driven by a determination to provide the best service in the market to our clients and candidates alike and will always, as a matter of policy, protect your personal, sensitive data. Please help us to stamp out the ‘no name’ practice and say no to your details going across without first thoroughly vetting where your details will be going to.

Should you have any questions relating to “Why...” then please email me direct.

Next month: Email Subject: “Please find attached immediately available HR Manager”... I didn’t request this!

Mark Ions - Managing Director (0191 438 7989)

Written exclusively for 'HR News & Views':

Two recent decisions of the Employment Appeal Tribunal emphasise the impact of the age discrimination rules pertinent in light of the current trade conditions. As you will all know better than I, the CIPD’s latest Labour Market Outlook survey indicates that redundancies are set to increase over the next few months. A quarter of respondents to that survey stated that they planned to start cutting jobs in the immediate future.

HR practitioners will feel a cold chill come over them as they move into this process; employment lawyers will start rubbing their hands with glee.

The cases of MacCulloch v ICI plc and Loxley v BAE Systems Limited reviewed the age discrimination rules in the context of contractual redundancy schemes which fell outside Regulation 33 of the Age Regulations. For those not yet in the know, Regulation 33 allows enhanced redundancy schemes that may vary according to the employee’s age, without needing to show objective justification (otherwise required by the regulations), so long as the enhanced scheme closely mirrors the statutory redundancy scheme.

The EAT has no difficulty with the concept of rewarding loyalty by linking redundancy payments to length of service. Equally, schemes that encourage staff turnover so as to allow younger employees to grow within the business might equally be objective. Let us not forget that the age regulations apply to the young as much as they do to the old.

However there is a balance to be drawn between to the reasonable needs of any business and the discriminatory effect on an employee. Proportionality remains the key.

The moral of this story particularly in respect of those schemes which draw a distinction in age and length of service one is to ensure that the scheme does not directly and disproportionally disadvantage particular groups of employees or indeed any one individual employee.

For those of you with a little more time on your hands, you may want to have a look at the House of Lords decision in Common Services Agency –v- Scottish Information Commissioner. This is a meaningful look at the question of “personal” and “sensitive” and whilst that case was quite specific on its facts, there are some useful pointers which fall outside the remit of this all too brief article. 

Jonathon Stokes is Head of Dispute Resolution at local firm, Gordon Brown Associates. He can be contacted on 0191 230 8103, or visit the web site www.gordon-brown.co.uk

Learn how to 'Protect your Wicket' over breakfast...

14th November 2008 @ Durham County Cricket Ground

Exclusive Human Resources, Gordon Brown Associates and Three Counties present a seminar covering:

• New Disciplinary Procedures
• Sex Discrimination
• European Law re Disability
• Pension Changes
• Protecting Staff Salaries
• Recruitment and Retention
• Absence Management

To register for this free seminar please email us or call on 0191 438 7989

Following on from Septembers edition we received some very interesting, topical questions from businesses relating to reward and benefits so we put them to an expert. Dave Gibson is an Accountant and Business Advisor for Blu Sky LLP Chartered Accountants and answers as follows:

Question: Can you explain the benefits of childcare vouchers to my business and my staff?

Answer: In the current economic climate it is important for small and large businesses alike to find ways of saving money without impacting the quality and timeliness of services.

Childcare vouchers can be a helpful and tax-efficient way of helping employees with small children if you do not provide in-house childcare facilities.

In qualifying circumstances, the first £55 per week (£243 per month) will be exempt from income tax and Class 1A NIC – in other words the employee ends up with more money in their pocket, and the employer saves on national insurance.

The vouchers can be administered in-house or by a specialist provider, the second option often being cost-effective.

There are a number of rules which dictate whether the circumstances qualify. The main concerns are that:

• The scheme must be open to all of your employees based at the location where the scheme operates
• You need to keep a copy of the letter or poster used to advertise your scheme OR Your staff handbook must be updated to include details of eligibility
• The child for whom the childcare voucher is provided must be a child of the employee or a child who lives with the employee and for whom he or she has parental responsibility.
• A child qualifies up to 1 September following their 15th birthday or 1 September following their 16th birthday if he or she is disabled
• The childcare must be registered or approved.

We would however recommend that you review the full scheme details which can be found here and also talk to your payroll provider.

Blu Sky LLP Chartered Accountants can be contacted on 0191 258 7676

Each month we will be running a series entitled 'HR Doctor' where we invite one of our partner organisations to answer a series of HR related questions.

This month we welcome Deminos Director Louise Atkinson:

My organisation is considering several lay-offs for economic reasons, we have been tasked with putting together a selection criteria. There is increased pressure from our Operations Department to use “last in, first out”. What would you advise?

The “last in, first out” selection method used to be the most popular selection criteria used by employers in a redundancy situation as this used to be the easiest method to carry out, rather than the far more complex selection matrices.

With the introduction of a number of new pieces of legislation over recent years covering a multitude of discrimination regulations, the “last in, first out” selection method has become less straightforward, this is particularly the case regarding the Age Discrimination Act which was introduced in 2006.

By using the “Last in , First out” selection method you are opening up your organisation to potential indirect age discrimination claims, especially if the make up of your workforce means that most of those selected for redundancy are your younger employees.

I would advise not to use “Last in, First out” and to use a selection method that is more defined and objective. Even when using a selection criteria you will again need to make sure that you do not expose yourself to discrimination claims under the Disability or Sex Discrimination Act, which could be the case when using absence and attendance records as part of the selection criteria.
Deminos offer tailored solutions to meet employers needs in all sectors of business and commerce.

This month they are offering our readers a free healthcheck. For a limited period a Deminos consultant will come and visit and run through a 'compliance healthcheck' on your North East based business. Call now on 0191 460 1111 to book and quote reference number EXHR17

Following on from last month’s focus on HR Advisors and Officers, this month we are concentrating on HR Managers.

As always, Exclusive Human Resources’ salary surveys are derived from live, up to the minute data from a large pool of candidates to provide an accurate picture of the North East and Cumbria market. As we are in regular contact with all HR Managers registered with us, we are able to assess the market on a month by month basis to provide data that is meaningful and of real use in deciding salary levels.

Again, as with last months’ sub-sector, the title of HR Manager clearly means different things to different companies, as mirrored in the huge salary bracket covered by the role:

Range: £23,700 right through to £50,000

Average: £34,402

Benefits can include: Pension, bonus, flexitime, car, phone, gym membership, health care, laptop and share schemes

Next month we will focus on HR Administrators.

For an informal discussion on either your own salary or your HR departments salaries, or to receive our current complete salary survey, please call 0191 438 7989 or email us directly.

Gareth Harrison - Senior Consultant (0191 438 7989)
 

To read all of our current vacancies please click here or call 0191 438 7989