Sep 29, 2015 | IT
Following the Government’s commitment to help women into work, pledging that women will represent 25% of non-executive boards by the end of 2015, as well as a focus on school curriculums to develop more STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) skills, especially for girls, and from a young age, women in technology remains a hot topic.
A Fall in the Number of Women in Digital Industries
A report by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills found 27% of those working in the UK’s digital industries are female (that’s down from 33% in 2002, but expected to rise to 30% by 2022). There doesn’t seem to be a solid answer to explain the drop over the last twelve years, and as Aoife Ni Luanaigh, one of the UKCES’s report creators states, the drop is despite “a number of quite good initiatives that are already happening, to encourage more girls at school to take up coding, or to get involved with computer clubs and so on”.
Educating the Younger Generation
While being interviewed about being ‘a woman at the top’, Egnyte CSO Isabelle Guis also commented on education, “I believe a major reason that we are seeing more men than women working in the technology industry is education. There are fewer women in technology graduate programmes and in the marketplace because STEM subjects are still perceived by some to be ‘male’ subjects.”
A report by Gartner backed up these findings and opinions showing the number of female chief technology officers across the industry has remained static at 14% for the past 10 years. Further to this only 4% of CEOs at S&P 500 companies are women.
Raising Awareness of The Opportunities
The BBC, across Radio 4, BBC3 and other platforms, have recently been featuring women in tech and bringing the discussion into the public eye, and there are a number of organisations around the world championing women in technology. So, despite the disheartening figures there is a lot of action to change things for the future of women in technology.
The organisation Code First: Girls, who work with companies to help get more women into tech had, over the last 18 months, 1500+ young women participate in one of their courses or events, helping companies to recruit better tech talent into their firms.
Transparency in Job Descriptions
Vanessa Vallely, founder of women’s network WeAreTheCity explained how greater transparency could be the key to attracting more women into tech roles. For example, knowing if they are to be paid the same as others currently doing the same or similar roles. She also spoke about job descriptions, explaining that underlying masculine language can be off putting for women. She said “I would urge, if you are writing job descriptions, make sure they are good, make sure they excite people and make sure they tell them what the job is.” Vallely also spoke about a number of banks which, she said, pass new job descriptions through a female focus group before they are advertised, helping to soften the language used.
The Benefits of Female Leaders
The benefits of having a more gender balanced company are endless, and the attributes women can bring to the workplace are valuable. According to the Credit Suisse Gender 3000 report, organisations with more than 10% of women at the helm had higher returns than those that weren’t gender balanced. To back this up First Round Capital, recently released a report highlighting that businesses with female founders (or co-founders) performed 63% better than those with male leaders.
An Exciting Future
All great news for women who want to join, or develop further in, the technology sector, and also great news for businesses who want to create a more balanced and apparently, more productive team. Perhaps negative figures that have been released over the last few years relating to women in technology has been the extra push to encourage individuals and organisations to put the steps in place to open the doors to more female digital employees, and we wonder whether 2016 could be a boom year for women in technology.
Sep 29, 2015 | IT
This month the Office of National Statistics released the UK’s latest employment figures. Many experts have commented on some of the key statistics, the potential implications of the rises and the falls, and what it means for the labour market and technology sector. So here’s our summary of the important facts and figures.
This ONS report shows figures for May to July 2015.
- There were 1.74 million people working full-time, 361,000 more than for a year earlier.
- There were 1.82 million unemployed people (people not in work but seeking and available to work), 10,000 more than for February to April 2015 but 198,000 fewer than for a year earlier.
- The unemployment rate was 5.5%, unchanged compared with February to April 2015 but lower than for a year earlier (6.2%).
So, compared to last year the number of people in employment is up and the unemployment rate is down – that’s good, right? Well yes, but there still continues to be a record number of job positions being posted and a large volume of candidates applying for these jobs, yet still 1.82 million people unemployed. One theory to explain this problem, is the ever discussed ‘skills shortage’, or perhaps more accurately a mismatch of skills, between available candidates and the expectations of employers.
15% of Employers Reported That They Had Employees With Skill Gaps
One recent piece of research reported that in the last year 83% of CFOs had to offer salaries above what they were originally prepared to, in order to secure the right candidate for the job, with the right skills. The Employer Skills Survey’s most recent data also found that “15% of employers reported that they had employees with skill gaps, equivalent to 1.4 million staff or 5% of the workforce.” And it’s important to point out that this is only what is reported, many employees are unlikely to admit to, or possibly even recognise, skills gaps. All of this data and evidence builds a strong case for the fact that the skills gap is a long-term problem that the country is facing.
Employers Invest £42.9bn in Training
KPMG’s ‘Report on Jobs’ for August found that the demand to fill permanent tech jobs rose over the summer, as many tech professionals felt confident enough in the market and demand for their skills, that they took the summer off completely! I’m sure there’s plenty in the industry who would contest this view, but it does seem to be true that IT is not the sector most at risk. Changes and developments in technology can be some of the most significant and fast moving changes that can lead to very specific skills shortages. However, employers invested £42.9bn in training in 2013, and Mark Beatson, chief economist at the CIPD stressed recently, the importance for employers to continue to invest in technology to avoid the prospect of increased skills shortages.
Education is often on the receiving end of complaints about the lack of skills in the UK, however the gap between choices made at school, college or university, and the options once ready for employment, can be vast. Similarly, particularly with ever developing technologies, education policies take time to implement, causing a gap there too.
The UK Population Grew by Almost 8% Between 2004 and 2014
However, it’s also worth noting that the UK population grew by almost 8% between 2004 and 2014, and most growth is down to international migration. The demand for labour is keeping up with the growth in the population well, and this year the average pay for UK workers has risen at its fastest rate for six years.
The figures are, on the whole, positive, however the underlying problems of a skills mismatch can lead to a detrimental effect on how organisations deal with their customers and manage to stay ahead of competition. Also, with more jobs empty, comes stress on other employees and increased workload. We’ll be keeping an eye on the markets and industry trends to follow the developments of the skills shortage debate.
Aug 17, 2015 | IT
Hiring the wrong person can prove to be detrimental to your organisation. Now, if you’re using one, your recruitment company will do their best to ensure the right people are in front of you to begin with, but at interview you will get a true feeling for whether this candidate is a good ‘fit’ for your business.
Well-known marketing blogger and Brand Director at Kareco Tim Tyrell-Smith conducted a survey concluding that, “interviewers’ number one concern is fit with the company’s culture.”
Similarly, technology information expert David Bradford reported on a past survey about “how people got their job” which found 56% obtained their job through a personal connection, proving that personal connections and team fit are very important factors in job placements.
So what is the best way to confirm these connections and team fits during an interview? It’s good news that the quirky, oddball, brain teaser type questions that often flummox candidates are going out of fashion. Laszlo Bock, Google’s HR chief said “if you’ve heard that Google likes to pose brain-teaser questions to candidates—like why manhole covers are round—your information is out of date. There’s no evidence that they suggest how people perform on the job.” Never the less, there is definitely a need to be creative in some respect in order to get the most out of your interview and your candidate.
We’ve highlighted some of the interview types you may come across.
Informational
These questions will include topics such as why candidates left their last role, work history and qualifications.
These are essential questions, some of which you may have basic answers to already from CVs or your recruitment agency. Gather as much of this information together before the interview and ask questions about anything you need to clarify. This way you don’t need to spend too much time on the basics.
Role Focussed
These questions will be focussed around abilities, strengths and weaknesses, technical skills and if necessary, leadership and management skills.
When asking role focused questions you may opt for open questions, allowing the candidate to speak broadly, such as “what are your strengths?” or you could be more specific and ask a question like “could you explain something complicated, but that you know well?”
Company Questions
Some organisations will choose to ask candidates what they already know about their company and how they feel they could add value.
Questions such as “why do you want to work here?” and “how would you fit into the team?” are often criticised because the reason the candidate is at the interview is to learn more and discover whether they are a good ‘fit’ for the team and business. An alternative could be to ask a more creative question such as “Can you pitch the company to me as if you wanted me to buy your product or service?”
Personal
Questions about the candidate’s personality, hobbies, interests and future goals.
“Tell me about yourself” can be a good opener to asking a few questions about the candidate’s non-work life, however it’s very vague. Questions like “where do you see your self in five years?” are popular but also perhaps a little dated. An alternative could be to ask “what’s the biggest decision you’ve had to make in the past year? Why was it so big?” This could be answered with a personal or work related answer and allows you to assess the candidate’s decision making skills.
Behavioural / Competency
These are the juicy questions that may take up a large section of the interview. They come in many forms, but essentially are “tell us about a time when…” type questions that really test a candidate’s ability to think on the spot and select relevant, quality examples of their work and experiences.
These questions can be specifically targeted around your organisation, its culture, goals and the role you’re recruiting for. For example “tell me about a time you set goals, and how did you achieve them?” or “tell me about the relationships you’ve had with the people you’ve worked with.”
The ‘Trap’
Some see these kinds of tricky/curveball questions as a way to test candidates on their ability to react under pressure and be creative with an answer.
As we mentioned, the fall in popularity for asking ‘trap’ questions is only a good thing for both candidates and employers! However, questions such as “what is your biggest weakness” remain popular and opinion is divided about whether or not these questions are useful. Tricky, but more relevant questions could include “what’s your definition of hard work?” and “tell me about a time something didn’t go as planned.”
It can be challenging to evaluate someone in an interview alone, so spending time selecting and composing the most appropriate interview questions for your business and the role you’re recruiting for is worth the investment in time. Here at Langley James we’ll work with you to find the best possible candidates for your IT and HR roles. Contact one of our consultants today for more information.
Aug 17, 2015 | IT
As we know, taking a longer amount of time to fill a job vacancy can have a negative effect on productivity and an organisation’s ability to reach goals. In order to ensure the hiring process is efficient and effective, a strategic approach to recruitment could be useful.
Research by Hired, the online marketplace for tech talent, found recently that 65% of UK tech companies foresee a negative impact on revenue due to their inability to hire the talent they need. Sophie Adelman who is Hired’s general manager said “the fact that the majority of companies are still sourcing candidates through referrals and job boards suggests that they might not be able to access, or have visibility on, the best talent for their teams. In order to thrive and compete within the global market, companies need to take a more strategic approach to hiring.”
“Instead of waiting for referrals and looking at job boards they can benefit from proactively accessing a focused and curated pool of technical talent that has been vetted for both quality and intent – this will significantly impact the efficiency of the hiring process and contribute to their overall competitiveness” she added.
Marketing and Recruitment
One notion that is often discussed is the need for the recruiter to act more like a marketer in their approach to hiring. Targeting candidates with engaging and tailored content can convert a ‘passive candidate’ with an interest in the organisation into an ‘active candidate’ who will actually apply for a role.
Susan Vitale – Chief Marketing Officer at iCIMS explains that “Technology, such as a recruitment marketing automation tool, mobile-optimised career sites, and a social media presence, can streamline processes and provide you with pools of warm talent from which to source when your organisation is ready.”
Consistency
Following on from this, consistency across the brand could be a key aspect to marketing your organisation and your roles to potential candidates. Consistency across your website, social media and during the interview process will help candidates to get a real understanding of the business. According to a recent iCIMS study, “78% of job seekers agree that the look and feel of a company’s career site is moderately to highly important to their decision to apply for a job.”
The Steps to Creating a Recruitment Strategy
Nicola Hawkinson founder of SpineSearch – highlights six steps to creating a clear recruitment strategy and said, “you need to treat the hiring process as a key business practice — have a plan, make a timeline and reach your goal”. Her steps are:
- Identify the vacancy and need before beginning the search. Identify the reason for hiring, whether it is due to expansion, increasing customers, or replacement for an existing position.
- Create a search strategy. Consider search methods, a quota of candidates to interview before making a selection, a defined screening and interview process, criteria for selection and the selection team.
- Interview slowly. Build a steady stream of applicants and interview them in groups of three to five per day for back-to-back comparison.
- Keep candidates engaged throughout the selection process.Good candidates are likely considering multiple opportunities, so you do not want to lose them at any point during the process through a lack of communication.
- Don’t ignore red flags. Contact three to five references with a detailed questionnaire tailored specifically to the business or practice.
- Design a detailed on-boarding process to improve retention. Consider detailed introduction/enrolments and possibly a buddy for your new employee.
Keeping Up to Date
We have mentioned the increased usage of social media, however one recent article from the IT Portal suggests wearable should be the new inclusion in your recruitment strategy! They suggest that, “wearing Google Glass at an interview will allow you to record it and evaluate [the interview] back.” Or that the use of “bracelets or wristbands can be worn by your employees that monitor their heart rates. If one rises abnormally high you will be alerted to it and can tell that employee to take it easy.” We may be a little away from these techniques, but these concepts are real and available, and for the tech-savvy firm could be a seen as a real completive advantage!
Taking a proactive and strategic approach to hiring should hopefully lead to better long term hiring decisions that will have a positive effect on your business. A recruitment strategy will also help to ensure that all employees involved in the recruitment process are on the same page and take the same approach.
If you’d like to speak to someone about hiring IT professionals for your organisation, get in touch with one of our experienced consultants for advise and recruitment guidance.
Aug 3, 2015 | IT
Despite the opinion of many, cyber attacks are a real threat to small and medium firms across Britain. A survey by security firm Kaspersky Lab found that many SMEs don’t believe they are at risk, with 59% thinking the information their business holds is of no interest to cyber criminals.
Last year over a third of SMEs were victim to a cyber attack, costing on average £75k – £311k. The government is urging companies to take cyber security more seriously.
Phishing, insecure passwords and IT vulnerabilities among top threats
Phishing schemes and fake emails that trick people into revealing their personal details are still around and are more sophisticated than ever. Insecure passwords are also a top risk, with employees using the same or similar passwords for multiple platforms, often without ever changing them or sharing them with colleagues.
Network vulnerabilities allowing in viruses or other malware, have affected 45% of small businesses in the UK according to the 2014 Information Security Breaches Survey. Web applications are also susceptible to various attacks including remote code execution, SQL injection, format string vulnerabilities, cross-site scripting (XSS) and username enumeration.
Involve staff, train and educate
It is vital that organisations have a strong understanding of the kind of cyber breaches that may affect them. It is important to educate the business as a whole, so employees at all levels understand the potential risks. In many security breaches, there is some element of employee involvement, for example unauthorised access to data or systems.
Mentoring is often highlighted as an important step to educate staff, experienced IT professionals can offer invaluable advice and guidance about cyber security. Board members may also be keen to see the return on their investment into security, so involving them in training and reporting on improvements could be important.
Review, plan and be prepared
You often can’t move in today’s workplace for risk assessments, however completing one to review your cyber security is vital. It will allow you to plan and implement any changes to keep your business safe. As with any risk assessment, regular reviews are vital for keeping up to date and ahead of the game.
Prevention is better than a cure
Basic steps such as downloading software updates, using strong passwords, deleting suspicious emails and using antivirus software set you in good stead to prevent attacks. Other steps may include backing everything up so any lost data can be quickly restored. However it’s important to note that portable devices such as USBs and hard drives used to back up data, can themselves be a security risk.
Consider the actions of others. For example, clients and agencies may be a link into your organisation, and hackers can target human weakness as much as software vulnerability.
Smaller businesses can also be a link to larger organisations (they may be a supplier for example) so it might not be their data hackers are after, but rather a route to somewhere else. The UK economy is highly dependent on SMEs, however SMEs are also highly dependent on the internet and IT, which could potentially leave them at risk. There are many firms out there able to provide the security that SMEs need, and many SMEs that need extra security, but there often seems to be a gap between the two. Whether it’s a lack of communication or understanding or a feeling of complacency, businesses are legally responsible for the information they hold as well as having a moral responsibility to customers to protect their information. Cyber attacks are a real threat to all businesses, but with simple steps smaller businesses can protect themselves and be prepared.
Aug 3, 2015 | IT
Last month the government announced new steps they are pledging to take in order to close the workplace gender gap. With the new national living wage and legislation requiring companies with more than 250 employees to publish details of their pay gaps, the Prime Minister said “transparency, skills, representation, affordable childcare – these things can end the gender pay gap in a generation.”
In the UK, and consistently around the world, women still earn less than men. But what does this mean for organisations, workforces and for the nation’s 28.5 million women?
Equal opportunities
The debate remains that some women may opt for more of a work life balance to the detriment of their pay packet, and not all women strive to be board members. The ILO (UN’s International Labour Organization) found that “mothers were more likely to have career breaks, switch to part-time work, choose jobs that help to reconcile work and family – which are usually lower paying – and miss out on promotions”.
However opportunities should be equal in all situations. Flexible working rights, tax-free childcare schemes, new enterprise allowances and public awareness campaigns, such as International Woman’s Day, are all factors that are helping to close the gap in equality. However, the pay gap in the UK stands at 19.1% and is above the EU average of 16.4%.
Still, there are more women-led businesses currently in the UK than there ever has been as well as a record number of women in work, suggesting things are heading in the right direction. In April this year 285,000 working couples became eligible to share maternity/paternity leave – another step towards making opportunities equal.
The benefits of gender diversity to business
One of the most prominent figures representing women in IT, Dame Stephanie Shirley champions diversity in the workplace in all forms, not just gender. She has a mission to get a million people with Asperger’s syndrome into the IT industry by 2020 and has also tackled the subject of ageism. She advised: “women must recognise and grab the many opportunities the tech industry offers.”
Diversity in general is beneficial to the workforce and is said to help business growth. Pinky Lilani, founder and chair of a number of awards which attempt to recognise influential women and leaders says: “I think women are very collaborative and they do tend to love to work together. I think different dynamics come into place when people are working together – the results are much better. Women tend to think of solutions whereas men can sometimes be focussed on proving how great they are. It is a basic generalisation, but that is the kind of feedback I get from a lot of women.”
Increasing number of female entrepreneurs
This year, the number of female millionaires in the UK increased by a third. Many women who have previously worked for large corporations, but have moved on to have families and grown tired of the politics of the corporate world, have chosen to set up their own business. Flexibility, and the opportunity to pursue a passion may also be the driving factors encouraging women into business. However, a startupDNA survey found that women are half as likely to receive venture capital funding than men.
Is there more to be done?
Despite the government’s efforts, there is still no legal requirement for organisations to act on the gender gap data they are required to publish. It also doesn’t require businesses to carry out equal pay audits, looking at similar work done by men and women and aiming to close pay gaps.
There’s a complex web of cultural, economic and corporate factors that contribute to the current status quo of women in the workplace and it’s no doubt we are in a better position than we were 20 years ago, but there are still steps to be taken to create true diversity and equality in all UK workplaces.
Jul 20, 2015 | IT
From noisy colleagues to uncomfortable chairs, the workplace is full of distractions and unfortunately this can lead to a lack of productivity and concentration. Many of these are inevitable, but a number of these day-to-day distractions are definitely avoidable. Personal financial management service Think Money’s recent report found that 759 hours each year are wasted due to workers being distracted in one way or another.
Colleagues
Noisy workplaces were the main cause of distraction along with getting side-tracked into non-work conversation. There seems to be two types of distraction – self-distraction and being distracted by others. Chatting to colleagues and engaging in some workplace banter is not always a negative thing, it can help to create a positive and productive workplace, but as an employer it can be difficult to ensure this line isn’t blurred.
Technology
Technology, unsurprisingly, was also to blame with slow computers, bad internet connection, checking mobile phones, social media and on-line shopping on the list of interruptions.
The Unplanned
Edward Hallowell, author of Driven to Distraction at Work: How to Focus and Be More Productive explains that we spend 20 minutes out of every hour dealing with unplanned distractions. This could be phone calls or impromptu meetings. He said “the mail used to come once or twice a day, now [email] comes once or twice a second. We’ve broken down all the boundaries and made ourselves literally available 24/7.”
Busy, Stressful Workplaces
Although we may associate a distracted worker with an organisation or department that doesn’t have enough work to do, it could in fact be the case that busy workplaces are just as much at risk from distraction. Those who are very busy, with a number of devices on the go (PC, laptop, phone and tablet) and need to regularly multi task could find they are doing a number of things at once, but non very well. Also those who find themselves taking on the jobs of others, or regularly helping colleagues out, will find themselves distracted from their own job.
Personal Issues
Further more, RAND found that “lack of sleep, financial concerns and giving unpaid care to family members or relatives are negatively associated with productivity.” It goes without saying that if you have personal issues affecting your life at any one time, it’s impossible to completely shut off from these at work.
Combating these distractions could be down to good self and time management within teams, so that unscheduled meetings don’t eat into people’s days for example. The layout of the office might be important, as open plan offices have a lot of benefits but can lead to noisy workplaces. Some organisations may choose to ban social media or clamp down on other distractions, but how about encouraging scheduled down time and refresher breaks during the day? Encouraging general well-being and healthy lifestyle choices at work should lead to happier, more productive employees.
Jul 20, 2015 | IT
According to research by Tech Pro conducted to report on the future of IT jobs, there is a need for IT professionals to diversify in order to stay in their current job roles. The report found that 59% of those surveyed felt worried that their current skill set would become obsolete.
Ordinarily, there are IT generalists and IT specialists, and this research suggests that today’s IT departments require their professionals to be more of a generalist, but with a broader, more diverse skill set. It seems that these professionals are already beginning to address these concerns as 57% of those surveyed are planning to obtain additional training and certifications to put them in better stead for the future.
Within SMEs it could be said that generalists already rule. In smaller businesses it is uncommon to have a number of specialists, but rather a couple of generalists who perhaps lean towards different specialisms internally, but cover all areas of IT to some degree. It is likely that the report’s findings will apply to these individuals the most, as smaller businesses grow and technologies become more advanced and in depth.
There are now such a huge amount of tools and frameworks available and some blame the ‘IT explosion’ of recent years, for changes within IT departments. However Tech Pro’s report “refutes the recent media reports on the possibility that IT jobs may disappear due to new technical advances. In fact, it’s quite the contrary with the increased complexity breeding new opportunities and furthering demand for skilled IT professionals.”
Paul Venezir uses the example of scripting and programming languages when discussing the growing need for specialists and whether the ‘do everything’ IT admin is becoming a rare breed. There are many languages and layers of frameworks within those languages, that would prove challenging for a generalist to deal with. He explains that it’s much harder now for one single IT professional to deal with so many disparate tasks and technologies than it once was.
However, there remains a demand for one or two people within an organisation that understand the whole technical landscape, internal systems and how they all work together. This role is vital, as there may be specialists working in their niche areas but without someone directing and understanding the whole process, things won’t run smoothly. After all, hiring specialist contractors is often the best option for SMEs who need specialist knowledge for a short period of time, such as new software installation or training on a new system.
There are definitely strong cases for both specialist and generalists within IT departments, but developing technologies and a competitive market build a strong argument for the need of generalists to continually develop and diversify their skills. Tech Pro conclude that “as things stand, the future of IT looks bright for both existing workers and newcomers.”
Call us to have a chat about the staffing needs of your IT department. Our specialist IT recruiters are here to help.
Jul 6, 2015 | IT
As Britain’s population hits a record breaking high of 64.6 million, a new study by The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has warned of the threat of a significant skills shortage if the older generation aren’t encouraged back into the workplace.
There are 9.4 million workers over the age of 50 in the UK, but between the ages of 53 and 67 the employment rate drops. There are many older people wanting to work but not being hired, and 4 in 10 unemployed older workers are out of work for more than a year.
With an increasing demand on services it seems silly not to utilise the pool of older, experienced and skilled workers keen to continue in work, but how?
The CIPD are urging organisations to “take steps now to reap the benefits of a more age diverse workforce”. Changing attitudes and building a new strategy that revolves around the following, is some of the key advice from this report:
- Inclusive recruitment practices
- Investing in training and development
- Supporting employee health and wellbeing
- Flexible working
- Improving line manager capability
Backing up this CIPD report comes research from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) which showed that “businesses need to adjust the way they advertise jobs and provide training opportunities or miss the best candidates in the over 55-age group.” The report commented on job adverts and the need to adjust tone of voice and leave out terms such as ‘graduate’ or ‘energetic’ that may be off putting to older workers.
According the Office of National Statistics, the rise in the population is down to both a higher number of births than deaths (46% of the increase) and positive net migration (53%). So as people live longer, they want to work for longer. Older workers have a wealth of experience and skill that they can bring to organisations as well as maturity for dealing with difficult or sensitive situations.
Age UK and the REC have teamed up to launch a best practice protocol guide which “aims to end age discrimination in recruitment and give older people a better chance of finding work.” It guides recruiting organisations in committing to offering opportunities for older workers and highlights the benefits they can bring to an organisation. This might involve upskilling or reskilling some workers or promoting flexible working opportunities.
It’s no doubt that utilising the skills, enthusiasm and commitment of older workers could bridge the gap of skills shortages for many organisations. This issue also highlights the increasing need for true equal opportunities and a ‘blind recruitment’ approach.
Jul 6, 2015 | IT
We’ve seen the movies and heard the stories, but with the field of industrial robotics booming we wanted to explore the facts and opinions that generate the heated debate of robotic employees.
According to a recent survey, three quarters of Brits believe that their jobs are at risk because of robots potentially taking over their positions in the workplace, and we must admit it’s easy to see why when software is perfecting the art of many day-to-day human tasks.
The Digital Revolution
Much of the world’s current robotic workforce come in the form of huge machines in factories, doing heavy work like lifting and moving cars or doing simple repetitive tasks. That’s what robots are good at, and is historically the main reason robots have taken over human tasks. However Brynjolfsson an economist and author of the book ‘The Second Machine Age’ believes the digital revolution is very different to the industrial revolution, although it may move a lot faster. In his book, Brynjolfsson uses the example of the photograph to demonstrate how things move on. The hundreds of people who used to be involved in the production of chemical photos, are now mainly redundant as photographs became digital and now live online on Flickr, Facebook and Instagram. However these social platforms have grown to create many more jobs and a good few millionaires. Particularly in IT and media there are many new job titles that just didn’t exist in the 80s or 90s.
A Lack of Flexibility
Robots are often very task orientated, and may be very good at completing the task they’re assigned to, but allow for no flexibility. For example a robot that knows how to pick up a pen, may not be able to pick up a piece of paper.
Jobs such as accountants and telemarketers may be the type of jobs most at risk, along with service roles in general. We have already seen the loss of many checkout operatives in UK supermarkets to machines, and a hotel opening soon in Japan will be staffed by (scarily lifelike) robots who will check guests in and take their luggage!
However, put a robot in an unfamiliar situation and it won’t know what to do. Famously clumsy, robots can make mistakes and don’t really have the ability to adjust. In many cases it may just be easier and quicker to ask a human to do the task.
Interaction and Creativity
Interaction and creativity are two very human aspects that many (if not most) jobs require. For example a robot may be able the take the job of a financial journalist reporting numbers and statistics, but not that of a creative novel writer.
Interacting with real-world environments and unpredictable situations is difficult and usually impossible for bots. These interpersonal skills such as motivating, nurturing, caring and comforting are vital in a workplace.
Better Together
A recent paper by Georg Graetz and Guy Michaels of the London School of Economics found that, despite the lack of much previous research into the impact of robots in the workplace, robots have actually been a driver of labour productivity and economic growth.
Seeing these advancements in technology as a tool to help aid workers and allow them to achieve more could be the way forward. If humans and robots can cooperate in the workplace, rather than compete, productivity could be greatly improved.
Jul 1, 2015 | IT
Employment Law Newsletter
July 2015
As the summer kicks in, so does the peak time for employees taking annual leave and this can put additional strain on any business. Not only this, but the law on calculating holiday pay also refuses to stand still! In this Employment Law Update we looks at calculating holiday pay, reporting your own misconduct, religious dress at work, collective consultation and more…
In dealing with voluntary rather than compulsory overtime the case goes beyond the ruling in Bear Scotland v Fulton but it is hardly a surprise. The European Court of Justice has made it clear time and again that holiday pay should reflect what an employee normally receives. If an employee normally works overtime then his or her holiday pay should reflect that fact.
Of course, it is not clear just what ‘normally’ means and the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal does not give any clear guidance as to when an employee’s overtime is sufficiently regular to be seen as a normal part of his or her pay. That is an issue to be saved for future cases.
The situation is not helped by the fact that the Working Time Regulations – which set out the right to paid annual leave – have now been so completely overtaken by case law that their provisions on holiday pay are practically useless. It is about time the Government updated them and gave employers something concrete to work with. In the meantime the safest course is to base holiday pay on an average of the employee’s earnings over a 3 month reference period – and take advice if that seems unduly burdensome or unfair.
Reporting your own misconduct
Many employees work for more than one employer – although employers are generally entitled to insist that employees either get their permission – or at least inform them – before taking on a secondary role elsewhere. One issue that can then arise is the extent to which one employer is entitled to know about any misconduct issues that have arisen while the employee was working for another employer.
In Basildon Academies v Amadi a supervisor took on another role at a college without telling his employer. More seriously he also failed to tell them when he was accused of sexually assaulting a student. No criminal action was taken against him – although he was arrested and bailed. He did not inform his main employer of the incident – but they found out when the police made enquiries about his employment with them. He was dismissed for what his employer said was gross misconduct in taking another job without permission and also failing to inform them of a serious allegation of misconduct that had been made against him.
The Employment Tribunal found the dismissal unfair, and that finding was upheld on appeal. The EAT held that, in the absence of a specific requirement set out in the contract, there was no obligation on an employee to report allegations of misconduct – particularly where the employee regarded the allegations as malicious or false.
This is obviously a serious issue for employers – like Basildon Academies – that have safeguarding obligations in relation to children or vulnerable adults. One obvious answer is to make sure that there is an express requirement in a contract of employment that the employee provides full disclosure of any allegations that may be relevant to his or her main employment. However even without that requirement an employer, once it has been informed of an allegation, would be entitled to investigate it to see whether it was sufficiently serious to justify a dismissal on the basis that the employee presents a safeguarding risk. This is a difficult and delicate area and it is important that employers do not take action without taking legal advice first.
Religious dress at work
Employers are entitled to impose reasonable dress codes on employees – although in doing so they should take account of any religious requirements that a particular employee must observe. Where there is a clash between the needs of the business and the religious needs of the employee then the question is whether the employer can show that complying with its rules is a ‘proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim’.
In Begum v Pedagogy Auras UK Ltd t/a Barley Lane Montessori Day Nursery Ms Begum was applying for post in a nursery and in the course of the interview the employer commented on her jilbab – a long flowing garment worn by some Muslim women. The employer thought that the particular jilbab she was wearing was slightly longer than ankle length and told her that it would not be suitable to wear at work as it would be a tripping hazard. Although the interview ended amicably – with Ms Begum saying that she would consult her family about wearing a shorter jilbab – she subsequently claimed indirect discrimination based on her religious beliefs.
Her claim was rejected. The employer had been entitled to be concerned about the potential trip hazard and had not told her that she would not be allowed to wear a jilbab at work. It was just that the jilbab she had worn at interview appeared to be even longer than usual. The employer had been open to further discussions about what kind of jilbab could be worn and would have been happy to accommodate the employee’s needs if it could be shown that wearing the jilbab at work would be safe.
Collective Consultation
An employer that is proposing to make 20 or more redundancies at a single establishment must consult with employee representatives about ways of avoiding the dismissals. Failure to do so can result in a tribunal making a ‘protective award’ of as much as 90 days’ pay to each of the dismissed employees.
In E Ivor Hughes Educational Foundation v Morris and others the EAT held that a school was proposing to make redundancies when the Board of Governors decided that it would have to close the school unless numbers improved significantly over the coming term. The fact that it was still possible that the school would be saved did not alter the fact that redundancies would be inevitable unless there was a significant change in circumstances and the employer should have begun consultations at that point.
The law on redundancy consultation does allow for special circumstances where it is not possible for consultations to take place and the school sought to argue that the special circumstances in this case were that if news of a possible closure was to leak, then numbers would fall off even more and the school would be doomed. The EAT held that there was nothing particularly special about that situation, which would be faced by many employers contemplating a closure.
As it happened the school did close as numbers continued to decline. Even if consultation had taken place, it would have done nothing to delay or alter the final decision. However, this did not affect the amount of compensation payable. Compensation in this situation is based on the employer’s failure, not the employee’s loss and so the full 90 days’ pay was awarded to each of the 24 employees made redundant.
Transfer of Undertakings
The Transfer of Undertakings Regulations – TUPE – cause regular difficulties for employers. One important thing to remember is that it is that the employer cannot simply pick and choose which employees are transferred. The process is an automatic one and all employees who are ‘assigned’ the contract or undertaking at the time of the transfer will transfer – whatever the wishes of the employer may be.
In Jakowlew v Saga Care an employee worked on a care contract that Saga Care held with Enfield Council. After a falling out with her line manager she was suspended and Enfield eventually instructed Saga to remove her from the contract – which they were entitled to do under the terms of their agreement.
However Saga took no action and the employee was still suspended when the contract was transferred to Westminster Homecare Ltd. When Saga eventually made her redundant an issue arose as to who was liable for her dismissal – Saga or Westminster?
There was no doubt that TUPE applied – the question was whether the employee was assigned to the contract at the time of the transfer. The EAT held that she was. The Council had instructed Saga to remove her, but no action was actually taken. It was not argued that the fact she was suspended in itself prevented her from being transferred. The fact that the Council did not want her to be assigned to the contract did not alter the fact that – at the time of the transfer – she was. It followed that Westminster Homecare would be liable for her dismissal.
And more from TUPE…
It is clear that TUPE applies when a client changes its service provider – but what if one of the contractors then subcontracts work to another firm – does TUPE apply then too?
In Jinks v London Borough of Havering the Council contracted with a firm called Saturn to operate an ice rink and car park. Saturn sub-contracted the car park to another firm – Regal. The ice rink eventually closed and although the car park continued to be operated for a while the Council eventually took it back in house before closing the whole site, which was subsequently passed on to an NHS Trust.
The Council did not have any contract with Regal – but could an employee of Regal’s be transferred to the Council when it took over the site? The Employment Tribunal initially said no as a TUPE transfer requires the contractor to be working on behalf of the client – the Council in this case – and the Council was not Regal’s client. However the EAT held that that was not necessarily so. A contractor in a TUPE situation may have more than one client and it could be argued that while Regal’s main client was Saturn, it was operating the car park on behalf of the Council and in that sense the Council was Regal’s client too. The issue was sent back to the Tribunal to decide the issue.
Working time and travel to work
When is a worker working? The Working Time Regulations impose limits on working time and also require employers to provide a 20 minute rest break during a working day of six hours or more, an 11 hour rest period between working days and a 24 hour rest period in every 7 days. To meet these requirements an employer needs to be clear about what counts as working time and what doesn’t. It’s also important because the employer needs to be sure that it is paying the national minimum wage throughout any period of working time.
Ultimately the question is governed by the Working Time Directive, which means that cases that come before the European Court of Justice have a direct impact on the UK. A Spanish case currently making its way through the system – Federación de Servicios Privados del sindicato Comisiones Obreras – will be important for determining whether time spent travelling to and from work counts as working time.
It is generally accepted that the normal commute to a regular place of work does not count as working time. After all, an employer does not control whether the employee lives a five minute walk away from work or on the other side of the county. Equally, it is clear that travel time during the working day should be treated as working time. An employee who needs to visit a number of clients over the course of the day is almost certainly working when travelling between appointments. This case, however is concerned with employees who do not work from a fixed location, but visit a number of sites within a geographic area. The employer treats journeys within the working day as working time but does not count the journey to and from home – seeing that as equivalent to a daily commute.
The case has not been decided yet, but part of the process in the European Court is to publish an opinion from the Advocate General which is usually highly influential on the eventual outcome. The Advocate General in this case has now said that the initial and final journeys of the day should count as working time. As home-based employees, travelling from home to the first client, and travelling from the last client back to their home is an integral part of their daily duties and should count towards their total hours worked in any week. The Court does not always follow the Advocate General’s opinion, but if it does then employers with mobile employees may have to rethink how they measure working time.
And Finally…
You might have thought that if one of your employees was given an 18 month prison sentence for GBH and resisting arrest then a fair dismissal would just be a formality. Yet spare a thought for the Fermain Valley Hotel in Guernsey which has just been ordered to pay out over £11,000 to their former head chef whose drunken rampage landed him behind bars. The case is reported in the Daily Telegraph and the employer is more than a little annoyed at the ruling. It seems that the Hotel assumed that the prison sentence justified dismissal and did not carry out any investigation of its own or attempt to interview the employee.
It is important to realise that Guernsey is not part of the UK and has its own employment law. If the case had come up before a UK Tribunal, even if there was a procedurally unfair dismissal, compensation would almost certainly have been reduced to zero to reflect the fact that dismissal was inevitable. However in Guernsey compensation for unfair dismissal is a fixed penalty of six months’ pay and the circumstances in which that is permitted are limited. As it happens the Tribunal did reduce his compensation by 25% to reflect his misconduct. Since that involved biting a police officer’s finger while resisting arrest, one has to wonder what an employee has to do in Guernsey to get a 100% deduction.
Reporting your own misconduct
Religious dress at work
Collective Consultation
Transfer of Undertakings
And more from TUPE…
Working time and travel to work
And Finally…
Jun 23, 2015 | IT
Windows 10 is on the way and whether you’re for it or against it, you’ll definitely have heard plenty about its imminent launch next month. Windows 10 will be rolled out on 29th July on a range of devices, but will also be available as a free download for anyone currently using Windows 7, 8 or 8.1.
If Windows is central to your organisation and the day-to-day tasks of many of your employees, there’s a strong case for creating a plan to deal with the changes and upheaval an upgrade or software change like this can have on a workplace and its daily practices.
Hiring support for change
A contract IT trainer could be the answer if you’re short of time, support or in-depth specific knowledge of a certain product. An IT trainer could save you time training staff (one-to-one or in group sessions), create guidelines specifically for your organisation’s practices, be on hand in the office to floor walk and answer employee queries and also could help to reduce the strain on your help desk.
Staff may become frustrated or make mistakes if appropriate steps and training are not provided to carefully implement change. Bringing an experienced professional in can open up new training suggestions and highlight fresh opportunities.
Going through an important upgrade (like the Windows 10 upgrade) or a period of organisational change (like a new or more advanced system upgrade) are more obvious reasons highlighting the potential need to hire a contract IT trainer. However there may be more subtle, nagging IT issues that could be causing a lack of productivity and wasted time where a trainer would prove just as much value.
Underused and unknown features
A 2014 study found employees only spent 48 minutes per day using MS Office applications and only a small percentage of users were considered heavy users. Since many users are unaware of the advanced features of office and other such programmes, they barely scratch the surface of what’s available to them. Investing time and effort into highlighting some of the unknown and unused features of the expensive software your business owns should not only improve the speed of tasks but develop understanding and increase efficiency.
Computer Weekly state that only “15% of North American and European information workers say they are completely satisfied with their IT department’s understanding of what they need to be successful. For the remaining 85%, there is a gap. The larger that gap, the more time staff may spend figuring out how to get the job done anyway.”
The true value of your company software
IT consultants have experience working on and implementing projects for a range of different organisations, giving them a fresh take on practices and bringing some fantastic expertise to the table. Fully understanding your IT and ensuring that your employees are using it to its full potential is key to keeping IT budgets under control and reducing unnecessary costs.
It is so important to have the right tools for the job, but ensuring your whole team understands how to use them to their full potential is just as important. Making a transition or changing something significant in your organisation’s technology will require a strategy to help make it straight forward and cause minimum disruption for employees. If you’re short of time and want the most productive outcome, hiring a contract IT trainer could be a viable and valuable decision. Remember that updates such as Windows 10 are created to ultimately make life and processes easier, but it’s important for everyone to fully understand them as much as possible from the beginning.
Here at Langley James we’ll support you every step of the way with your IT recruitment, finding the perfect match for your business requirements. Find the contractor or IT professional you’ve been searching for and get in touch with one of our team today.
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