Welcome to issue 313 of the ukrecruiter newsletter. 

 

ukrecruiter

CONTENTS

Visit http://www.careersinrecruitment.com for the latest recruitment industry jobs.

My Favourites

http://www.shout99.com - To keep up to date with the legislation that is coming into place for IT contractors.

http://www.mondaq.com - Also covers general legal issues that may effect employees as well. 

http://www.google.co.uk  - My favourite search engine to bring up the required information I am seeking – business and personal.


This week's favourites were provided by Emma Green from 33-6 Consultancy 

Why not submit your 3 favourite web sites. See the guidelines at http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/articles.htm

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Article One: Employment and the Law – Recent Developments by Louise Fernandes

Last month saw a number of interesting employment law developments. Louise Fernandes of Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP outlines a selection below. 

Returning from maternity leave - what does the 'same job' mean?

Women who return from maternity leave are normally entitled to return to 'the job in which she was employed before her absence'. For the first time, the EAT (Employment Appeal Tribunal) has considered what this phrase means.

In Blundell v St Andrew's Catholic Primary School, the employee was a teacher at a primary school. When she started her maternity leave, she was teaching the reception class. On her return, she was allocated to teach year two instead. She complained that she was entitled by law to return to the same job she had prior to the commencement of her maternity leave. 

The EAT confirmed that teaching year two did amount to the same job. Under the Maternity and Parental Leave (etc) Regulations 1999, ‘job’ means the ‘nature of the work which she is employed to do in accordance with the contract and the capacity and place in which she is so employed’. The three main factors considered by the EAT were therefore ‘nature’, ‘capacity’ and ‘place’. The nature of the employee’s work was as a teacher, her capacity was as a class teacher, rather than a teacher of reception class, and the place of her work was the school. The job she returned to was therefore within the normal range of variability which she could have reasonably expected.

Agency – lack of detailed control over workers

In Consistent Group Ltd v Kalwak and Welsh Country Foods Ltd, the EAT has confirmed that a tribunal had been entitled to hold that agency workers were employed by an employment agency, even though the agency had no detailed control over their day-to-day work. 

The EAT considered that two of the essential ingredients for a contract of employment, personal service and mutuality of obligation, did exist between the agency workers and the agency. In relation to the issue of control, whilst the agency had limited control over the day-to-day work of the agency workers, the EAT upheld the tribunal's finding that the agency still had significant control over their working lives. The agency told the agency workers what to do, where to go and provided transport and accommodation in circumstances where the agency workers were not, in reality, in a position to refuse them. 

Whilst a lack of detailed control over the work carried out by agency workers is usually a decisive factor against inferring an employment relationship between an employment agency and a worker, it is not always a necessary condition. In this case, the fact that the agency did not have day-to-day control over the agency workers’ work did not mean that a contract of employment could not exist between them and the agency. 

Additional paternity leave and pay consultation

The consultation paper on the additional paternity leave proposals was launched last month, designed to provide working parents with more choice in their caring responsibilities.

The proposals aim to enable employed fathers to take up to 26 weeks’ additional paternity leave, some of which can be paid if the mother of the child has returned to work. This new provision will be available during the second six months of the child’s life, providing parents with the option of dividing a period of paid leave entitlement between them. 

The Government has stated that its intention is to keep the additional paternity leave and pay scheme as straightforward as possible. The earliest date that it will be implemented will be for babies due on or after 5 April 2009, although this is not a firm date for introduction.

The consultation paper sets out how the process would work in practice, identifying what is required of the father, the mother and the father's employer. Consultation closes on 3 August 2007.

Should employers help smokers kick the habit?

Smokers should be offered help by employers to quit smoking, according to the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE). As workplaces in England prepare for the forthcoming smoking ban which comes into force from 1 July, the guidance from NICE recommends that employers:

- think about allowing employees to attend stop smoking services during working hours without loss of pay;
- be responsive to individual needs and preferences and, if there is sufficient demand, ask the local stop smoking service to offer help on their premises; and 
- work with other local businesses to see if there is an opportunity to share smoking cessation support.

The controversial suggestions have been met with some scepticism. The British Chambers of Commerce commented that “The idea that businesses should pick up the tab for an individual's tobacco addiction just shows how far removed from the economic reality of the workplace NICE is”.

Louise Fernandes is the Professional Support Lawyer in the Employment Department at Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP and can be contacted at louise.fernandes@ffw.com. 

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Article Two: RetailChoice Job Board Review by James Swift, MD at Beyond Interactive Communications Ltd

Retailchoice
URL: www.retailchoice.com

Key Statistics 
Job Applications: 68,870
Visits: 236,989
Unique Users: 150,919
Page Impressions: 1,963,789
Candidate CV’s: 54,368
Emailable database: 138,373
Source: Webtrends, March 2007

Description: RetailChoice.com is a specialist retail recruitment job board. Only retail vacancies are advertised.

First Impression/appearance 
Since the site was re-launched earlier this year, the site is much more aesthetically pleasing and the large number of blue-chip homepage advertisers gives the immediate impression that you are dealing with a market leader. 

Navigation 
The primary search functionality is conveniently placed in the middle of the homepage, is extremely easy to use. It also makes it very easy to make multiple job selections that cross over into different job disciplines.  Once a search as been performed, every single job is branded with a company logo and includes a brief summary to help candidates decide whether to click into the full job description.

The toolbar on the homepage makes it easy for both candidates and recruiters to find what they are looking for very quickly and the homepage isn’t too text intensive. There is also a quick link into the most popular searches on the site which will encourage the job searching process to be much easier and faster for candidates. Jobs by email and CV registration appear to be easy to set up.

Tools on offer for candidates

  • CV registration 

  • Jobs by email registration

  • Career Advice which includes help with interviews, CV writing, online testing and helpful information on how to get the right job in a particular retail discipline (e.g. buying).

  • A healthy selection of jobs with an even balance between direct recruiters and agencies

  • A ‘text only’ site

Tools on offer for clients

  • Basic, featured and premium job listings which can be purchased individually or on an unlimited basis

  • CV access

  • Various enhancements including run of site banners, keyword sponsorship, exclusive and non-exclusive homepage buttons and sponsorship of key areas of the site (including hub pages and most popular searched pages), featured employer homepage sponsorship and a listing in the A-Z of recruiters

  • Tools that target candidates directly include jobs by email sponsorship, fully branded targeted emails and opportunities to sponsor marketing newsletters sent out by their marketing team.

  • There are also numerous recruiter forums that take place throughout the year, right across the country.

  • The site also allows recruiters to pay for jobs instantly by credit card.

Strengths 

  • Clean layout

  • Easy navigation

  • Multiple tools for both candidates and recruiters

  • Great career advice 

  • Strong online and offline marketing campaigns to attract candidates and recruiters to the site

  • Professional and knowledgeable account management 

Weaknesses:

  • High number of jobs per page at point of search

  • Too many non-exclusive rotating advertiser buttons on the homepage

  • Few ‘exclusive’ advertising options with so many advertisers using the same candidate attraction tools

Summary 
Retailchoice is extremely easy to use and gives the immediate impression of a market leader; this is reflected by their steady increase in traffic and overall market share in their sector.


James Swift is the founder and Managing Director of the digital recruitment advertising agency, Beyond Interactive Communications Ltd (www.beyondinteractive.co.uk). James’ main role is to help clients embrace and implement new, innovative online attraction and conversion solutions which are tailored to their overall resourcing strategy. He has worked in the online recruitment industry since 1997 on both the media and agency sides of the fence

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Don't Miss This (sponsored by http://www.alljobsUK.com "The UK’s Jobs Portal")

REC News Roundup
These are links to a selection of press releases the Recruitment Employment Confederation (REC) have produced since the newsletter was last sent.  

Press Release: Northern Based Business to have pick of IT Talent
"Companies taking advantage of regional Development Agency grants to set up offices in Northern England and Scotland are set to benefit from the pick of the UK’s IT talent. According to a new report from CWjobs.co.uk a leading IT recruitment website, 88 per cent of IT workers in the South East say they’re considering relocating within the next five years. Less than half (46 per cent) of IT workers in the South East still believe the best IT jobs are based in London. Google and IBM top the wish list of employers who have a presence in the North – 69 per cent of those questioned said they’d be interested in working for these companies."

Discount on Lander Associates course
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Press Release: O2 Rewarded for Scottish Recruitment Drive
"The UK’s leading mobile services provider, O2, has won a prestigious award in recognition of its successful drive to recruit up to 1500 employees at its flagship contact centre based in Glasgow. Last night, O2 won the Industry Recruiter of the Year Award at the Scottish Recruitment Awards 2007, which recognises achievers in the recruitment industry who have excelled in the marketplace. The accolade recognises O2’s implementation of a new recruitment process to attract additional high-calibre staff to its contact centre which was researched, designed by an external company and supported by management in-house in Glasgow."

This section is sponsored by http://www.alljobsUK.com "The UK’s Jobs Portal"

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Discussion Board Summary

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Online Recruitment Update (sponsored by http://www.broadbean.co.uk for "the UK's favourite job posting system")

Hitwise top 10 Recruitment Sites, week ending 2nd June 2007
The most visited UK recruitment sites last week, starting with the most popular, were www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk, www.jobs.nhs.uk, www.totaljobs.com, www.monster.co.uk, www.jobsite.co.uk, www.reed.co.uk. jobs.tes.co.uk, www.jobs.ac.uk, www.friendsreunitedjobs.co.uk and jobs.guardian.co.uk. Hitwise don't aggregate data from sites who form part of a network such as fish4.co.uk For more information about Hitwise, visit http://www.hitwise.co.uk

Louise's UK Recruiter blog
Since the last newsletter I've posted the following: 

You can read Louise's UK Recruiter blog at http://ukrecruiter.typepad.com.  You can keep up to date with other the recruitment blogs from the UK via the UK Recruiter - blog watch page at http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/blogs.htm.  

This section is sponsored by http://www.broadbean.co.uk; "the UK's favourite job posting system".

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Regards
Louise Triance
UK Recruiter http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk

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