Mental Health (Discrimination) Bill is Passed
28 / 02 / 2013
One in four people in the UK will suffer from a mental illness at some point in their lives. Even if you never suffer from mental illness, it’s likely that you’ll know someone who does. Mental illness is a significant problem in the workplace and is estimated to cost employers over £30 billion a year through lost production, recruitment and...
Reasonable time off for dependents
27 / 02 / 2013
Employees have a statutory right to take a reasonable amount of time off for human dependants. The time off is to enable them to deal with a variety of unexpected events affecting their dependants, and to make any necessary longer-term arrangements for their care. When deciding on the length time that "reasonable" might constitute, employers sometimes concentrate on the disruption...
Tackling the Workplace Waistline
26 / 02 / 2013
If you didn’t already know, February is National Heart Month, the British Heart Foundation’s annual awareness and fundraising campaign. The heart is arguably the most important organ in our bodies and therefore looking after it by getting regular exercise and healthy eating is very important. Today the supermarkets are full of processed foods containing high quantities of saturated fats and...
Establishing the evidence – what the Oscar Pistorius investigation can teach employers
22 / 02 / 2013
On the 14th February, it is alleged that the ‘Bladerunner’, Oscar Pistorius, murdered his girlfriend, the model Reeva Steenkamp. The case has been profoundly shocking for the South Africans who had warmed to the Paralympic champion’s determination to succeed. It has been reported that Mr Pistorius was found by security guards, the first on the scene after the shooting, standing...
Bridging the Gap between School and Work
21 / 02 / 2013
Yesterday we heard in the news that unemployment figures had dropped again, though only by around 14,000. On the same day we hear that almost 2000 people applied for the eight places to make coffee in a Nottingham cafe. Sorry – they applied for the desirable new career path of being a barista at a Costa Coffee. Well done, Costa;...