CONTENTS

• Weekly Tips (Twitter Poll)
• Article One (Employment and the Law - Recent Developments by Louise Fernandes-Owen)
• Article Two (Redundancy by Don Mitchell)
• Online Recruitment Update (Hitwise Top 10 Recruitment Sites - Louise's UK Recruiter Blog - Discussion Board Summary - Vacancies from UKRecruiterJobs - PR: Jobsite clients benefit from record number of applications)
• Don't Miss This (PR: New Book Helps Job Seekers Find Jobs)
• Subscribe/Unsubscribe
• Feedback & Advertising Information

Visit http://www.ukrecruiterjobs.co.uk for the latest recruitment industry jobs.

Weekly Tips

From the start of the year we have been using this part of the newsletter for some new features.  The final one we are introducing is a regular survey.  This week we are asking....

Twitter?  Where do you stand on it?   You can answer the poll here. We'll provide the results in a future newsletter.  

If you have no idea what I'm talking about you can find out more here and if you want to follow me on Twitter I'm at http://twitter.com/louisetriance 

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-Owen

Louise Fernandes-Owen of Field Fisher Waterhouse LLP examines recent key employment law developments. 

Holiday rights for long-term sick

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has recently handed down its long-awaited decision on holiday rights for workers on long-term sick leave. 

In Stringer and others v HMRC, together with the joined case of Schultz-Hoff v Deutsche Rentenversicherung Bund, the ECJ examined the scope of the Working Time Directive and confirmed a number of key points, summarised below:

· A worker on sick leave continues to accrue holiday entitlement during his absence.
· Whether paid holiday can be taken during a period of sick leave, or should be carried over, is a matter for national courts to determine.
· Where a worker has been on sick leave for the whole or part of the leave year, the right to paid annual leave is not extinguished at the end of the leave year (which is effectively the position under the Working Time Regulations 1998). The worker must be able to take his holiday at a later date. 
· Where a worker has been on sick leave for the whole or part of the leave year and has not been able to exercise his right to paid annual leave before his employment is terminated, he is entitled to a payment in lieu of any outstanding statutory holiday entitlement. This payment must be calculated at the normal rate of pay (i.e. so that the worker is put in a position which is comparable to the position he would have been in had he exercised the right during the employment relationship).

This decision will not be welcomed by employers, due to the potential cost of addressing long-term sickness in the workplace. The Stringer case will now return to the House of Lords. They will have to, amongst other issues, decide whether a worker should be allowed to take annual leave during sick leave and also consider amending the Working Time Regulations to allow holiday to be carried forward. 

Compulsory retirement age 

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has confirmed that although a rule which required partners to retire at 65 was potentially justifiable, it had not been justified in this case as there was no evidential basis for the assumption that a partner's performance would deteriorate at that age. 

In Seldon v Clarkson, Wright and Jakes, a partner in a firm of solicitors issued a claim under the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 after he was compulsorily retired at the age of 65. Although setting retirement ages of 65 or above is not discriminatory in the case of employees, this does not apply to partners. Any provision in a partnership agreement which requires partners to retire at a particular age could therefore be discriminatory unless it can be objectively justified. 

As reported in January last year, the tribunal held that although the retirement provision was directly discriminatory, it was a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim and was therefore justified. The legitimate aims included: 

· ensuring that associates were given the opportunity of partnership after a reasonable period; 
· facilitating the planning of the partnership and workforce across individual departments; and
· limiting the need to expel partners by way of performance management and contributing to the congenial and supportive culture in the firm.

The EAT held that whilst the tribunal was entitled to conclude that the first two objectives were legitimate, the last objective was problematic. Although it justified the adoption of a compulsory retirement age, the tribunal was not entitled to hold that the objective itself justified fixing that age at 65. There was no evidence for the assumption that partners should be retired at 65 because performance drops off at that age. Although employees may be compulsorily retired under domestic law at 65, this is adopted for national labour market considerations rather than because performance is deemed to deteriorate at that age. The case was returned to the tribunal to consider whether the firm's policy could be justified on the first two objectives alone. 

Temporary Agency Workers Directive 

The Temporary Agency Workers Directive has been published in the Official Journal of the European Union. The Directive will provide agency workers with the right to the same basic working and employment conditions as comparable permanent employees (although, in the UK, this will be subject to a 12 week qualifying period).
Although member states have been given a three-year implementation period, the Government has recently announced that it hopes to introduce the legislation necessary to implement the Directive during the current Parliamentary session, following a full consultation with interested parties. 

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

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Article Two: Redundancy by Don Mitchell

Having been on both sides of the table when it comes to redundancy, I can tell you that neither side is a pleasant place to be. They both suck. Being made redundant is a pretty awful experience for most - although some do see it as a release, and others as a new start - and being part of the process that ultimately decides who stays and who goes is fraught with personal dilemmas. 

I've been made redundant twice, both times in the early 90's while in a different career. Both of my experiences were handled pretty badly. I understand why the decisions were made, but the execution (maybe that's not the best word) left me feeling pretty used. It doesn't need to be this way, provided some basic rules are adhered to. If you need to think about making some cuts in your headcount, here is my advice on what you need to consider.

Be clear in your objective
Why are you planning redundancies? It may seem a little obvious, but have you considered the alternatives? I once worked for a large firm who recruited in hospitality. Following 9/11 the market was hit badly, and has never really fully recovered, so far as I can tell. The CEO sent out a note offering the option of salary reductions versus redundancies, and the vast majority of employees opted for the former. This was then worked up to include specific timelines for financial reviews of company performance, with a payback plan for those who performed built into a revised bonus plan. Just a thought.

Communicate
If making redundancies is your only option, then make sure that your workforce is aware at the earliest opportunity. Given the economic climate, unless your senior managers regularly hold long meetings behind closed doors, then your staff will know that something is up. They're not stupid, and being left in the dark will lead them to draw their own conclusions. At a time when you need productivity to be at its highest, the time lost through office gossip and surreptitious job searches will only add fuel to the fire. Tell them that there needs to be some changes and that you are reviewing the options. Let them know when you expect to be able to give them more information, put a date in the diary and stick to it.

Know the law
And know it well. Do the research you need to as it applies to your own situation, then talk to your lawyer to make sure that you understand it correctly. I know this adds extra cost, but it may well save you a fortune in the long run if you don't apply the basics rights that an employee has.

Establish your criteria
This may seem like a great opportunity to get rid of Johnny in the accounting team. After all, you don't like each other, and with him gone you won't have to face his banal questions in the weekly meeting. But is getting rid of Johnny going to have any effect other than the salary saving? If you have a competency structure and have used this through your recruiting and performance evaluations, then this should be pretty simple. If not, then now's the time to put one together. It needn't be exhaustive, but think about what areas of performance are going to be essential in getting you through the downturn and building again in the future, and grade each member of staff according to these areas. This way you have a fair and balanced way of understanding where the decisions you make will have the biggest impact. Make it measurable, this is no time for anecdotal evidence that would only be used to make sure that Johnny leaves the building. 

Communicate again
Once you know your criteria, let the staff know. At this stage you may not want to break it down into specifics, but let them know that any decision is going to be based on a formula that will apply to all of them. Let them know how long the grading process will take, when they can expect to know the outcome. Again, put a date in the diary and stick to it.

Offer voluntary redundancy
At this point it may be appropriate to make an open offer to those who wish to accept voluntary redundancy. You may lose some of those who you would have wanted to stay, but if they make this choice then at least you are choosing from a pool that is more engaged.

Deliver it well
The day you deliver the news will be horrible, for everyone. Regardless of how you plan to deliver the news, there will be mixed feelings on both sides of the table. Opting for the individual meeting approach could drag out the feeling of dread in the office, and a better solution may be to divide the groups into those who will be staying and those who will be made redundant and holding separate meetings. Explain the situation to each group and then make arrangement to meet all on an individual basis to discuss how it affects them personally. Holding these meetings with those who are staying is equally important, as the team dynamic will change and you need to let them know what is expected of them in the new organisation. For those who are to be leaving, make sure that you have all the paperwork prepared in advance. No sense in dragging it out.

Support the ones you are losing
Do some research on the areas that most commonly affect people who have lost their jobs, and offer them all the information that they need. However, it's important to set a boundary on how far you are prepared to go, and assistance should really only go as far as advice. Make your offer of support consistent and don't do any favours for particular individuals if you are not prepared to do it across the board.

So there you have it. It may seem that these principles only apply to companies that have big teams and need to make sweeping cuts. However even if you are a very small organisation, making your process structured and transparent will go a long way to making sure that it remains fair, that all those who are affected are left with clarity on why, and gives you your best chance that those who stay remain engaged.

Don Mitchell is a recruitment professional with over 10 years experience across a diverse range of industries. Currently the Talent Acquisition Director of a company operating in construction across 16 countries, he is responsible for recruitment process and employer branding. He has previously worked in-house for multi-national corporations, and before that was an agency recruiter for several years. 

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Online Recruitment Update  (This section is sponsored by http://www.1Job.co.uk; "the leading UK job search engine")

UKRecruiterJobs: Traditional, On-line and Corporate HR Recruitment Job Board 
For the latest job opportunities in recruitment or to find recruiting professionals, go to www.UKRecruiterJobs.co.uk.  Here is a selection of the latest vacancies on the site:
- Permanent Secretarial Recruitment Consultant
- Managing Consultant
- Recruitment Consultants for HR Consultancy
- Sales Recruitment Consultant
These are just a few of the jobs on the site.  Visit www.ukrecruiterjobs.co.uk to browse or search the database.  For information on posting vacancies to the site email info@ukrecruiterjobs.co.uk or call us on 0845 004 1717.

Hitwise top 10 Recruitment Sites, week ending 24th January 2009
The most visited UK recruitment sites last week, starting with the most popular, were www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk, www.jobs.nhs.uk, www.jobsite.co.uk, www.reed.co.uk, www.totaljobs.com, www.linkedin.com, www.monster.co.uk, jobs.guardian.co.uk, www.tes.co.uk and www.jobrapido.co.uk. For more information about Hitwise, visit http://www.hitwise.co.uk

Louise's UK Recruiter blog
Since the last newsletter Louise has posted the following: 
- Getting the most from LinkedIn - for Recruiters
- Hiring and Firing Trends Survey
- Can you spell your job title?
- Innovantage - Enabling Intelligent Recruiting
You can read Louise's UK Recruiter blog at http://ukrecruiter.typepad.com  You can keep up to date with other recruitment blogs from the UK via the UK Recruiter blog watch page at http://www.ukrecruiter.co.uk/blogs.htm.  

Discussion Board Summary
Don't forget to visit The Discussion Board. Current topics on the site include:
- US Rec to Recs
- Holiday Pay
- Advice needed
- hotonline
You do not need to be registered to post or view messages on the discussion board.  Any postings you or anyone else makes will be included in the weekly digest (sign up for the digest here). Visit the site, ask questions and share your knowledge.  

Press Release: Jobsite clients benefit from record number of applications
"Jobsite’s January brand campaign has seen immediate results with a record number of applications made in the first week. Jobsite’s clients have benefited from 223,000 applications from Monday 12th to Sunday 18th January - the highest number of applications ever recorded in a week on Jobsite. Clients using Jobsite’s CV database are also seeing immediate positive effects of the January brand campaign with an additional 42,000 searchable CVs being uploaded during the first week. These CVs represent candidates from all sectors and regions, so whatever vacancy you’re looking to fill you can now find even more relevant candidates on Jobsite. In addition, the brand campaign is helping Jobsite to become the UK’s best known online recruiter – one of the core objectives behind launching the campaign. During week one of the January burst, the number of people typing the phrase “jobsite.co.uk” into a search engine increased by 186%. This demonstrates that the heavyweight advertising across TV, print and online media is raising awareness of Jobsite amongst consumers and ensuring that we’re front of mind when they’re searching for a job. The second phase of Jobsite’s national brand campaign launched on Sunday 11th January and runs until 8th February. www.jobsite.co.uk"  

This section is sponsored by http://www.1Job.co.uk; "the leading UK job search engine"

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