Employment Practice

In the past it had been suggested that companies should 'account' for their human assets by historic cost (the original cost of their recruitment and hiring), replacement cost (the projected cost of replacing them by a person with the same level of skill and experience) or by using discounted cash flows. Such suggestions have not been taken up mainly due to the deficiencies each has - the figures by themselves are hardly meaningful, let alone the problems (and cost) created in calculating such figures. It seems likely, even if the exact means cannot be currently defined, that there will be some requirement in the near future to try and assess the monetary value of these 'most valuable assets'. With such evidence the perception of employees as an increasingly valuable and valued part of the asset equation can only be strengthened. In addition, if such costs are known, it may well result in even greater efforts being made to retain good employees and help minimise the cos

Sometime ago the UK government, through the Department for Trade and Industry, set up a Task Force to examine the manner in which UK employers could and should take a strategic approach to the development of their human assets in order to maximise their performance (and through their performance, their employees performance) and ways in which this could be reported on to their owners. Historically directors of companies have been required to report to their shareholders mainly on financial figures. However, that emphasis has been changing over the last decade. 'Although the reports of the directors are addressed to the shareholders, they are important to a wider audience, not least to employees whose interests boards have a statutory duty (under the Companies Act 1985) to take into account' (Cadbury Report on Corporate Governance.) 'Effective employee dialogue can help staff feel more involved and valued by their employer, make them better aware of the business climate in w

Advantages and Disadvantages Homeworkers tend to have a lower incidence of absence and higher morale, than those working at traditional workplaces, with the added advantage of a greater number of productive hours. Advantages for the Employee avoidance of the stress and fatigue of travelling; being fresh when starting; avoidance of travelling costs; flexibility to carry out domestic obligations; avoidance of normal workplace distractions (noise, irrelevant conversation, phone bells and conversations, other interruptions etc.); and contribution to domestic living costs if a dedicated room is made available and 'rent' is paid. Advantages for the Employer ultimately less office and/or other space (which, almost certainly, will be more expensive than domestic space); lower rates of pay and oncosts (particularly for city commuters) as no allowance needs to be made for travel costs; and lower overheads (e.g. reduced catering, car parking and other ancillary space, lower security costs

Until the Working Time Regulations granted it, unless it was provided in their CONTRACT, employees had no right to paid holiday even though they were entitled to be paid when taking time off in a number of other instances (see LEAVE). Legal Requirement Under the Working Time Regulations in 1998 all employees with at least 13 weeks service became entitled to 3 (now 4) weeks paid holiday in a full holiday year. The 13 weeks service requirement was subsequently scrapped so holiday entitlement accrues from the first day of employment. However, those who work a probationary period of 13 weeks do not have to be allowed to take paid holiday during that period (even though they accrue the entitlement). Contractual holiday can be offset by the statutory holiday entitlement. Employers can stipulate their own holiday year which is usually either the calendar year or the fiscal year (1st April - 31st March). Entitlement in the first (usually broken) year of service can then be related to the numbe

It should be unnecessary to have a specific policy regarding employees suffering from HIV/AIDS as the disease may be better regarded as a sickness to be covered by the employer's SICKNESS policy - although specific reference might be needed to advise employees of the fact that the employer has retained counselling and medical assistance. The ignorance and prejudice that surrounds the illness however, may make it advisable to address the problem separately. Commentary In view of widespread concern at the proximity of AIDS sufferers, such victims may need to be included as a category within the organisation anti-discrimination policy. Employees should be advised that those suffering from AIDS are rarely a risk to other employees. If despite informal re-assurances, an employee refuses to work alongside or to relate to an AIDS sufferer the employer should arrange an interview with a medical adviser to provide expert advice on the subject. If this is not effective it may be necessary to