Tuesday June 30, 2009 at 7:30am
Employers are being warned against rushing to axe staff in a misplaced bid for survival. According to employment relations service Acas, the percentage of calls to its helpline about redundancy rose from an average of 15% over 2008-2009 to 35% last February.
This is my experience as well with many clients seeking redundancy advice.
What are the alternatives to redundancy?
One alternative is to change the terms and conditions of employment. The easiest way to do this is by getting agreement fr....
Monday June 29, 2009 at 8:09am
There is a very intersting piece in a recent edition of the Guardian.
As Timothy Garton Ash writes a "surprising number of people still harbour the illusion that our leaders know what they are doing. Well, some of the time, some of them do. But if you meet them, you will often be horrified at what they don't know. And you will be amazed how superficial, arbitrary and personal can be the grounds on which they make world-changing decisions. Most readers may not be startled to learn that abou....
Friday June 26, 2009 at 9:18am
As a lawyer, mediator and trainer I get to see lots of disputes.
In a tough employmnet climate that is goiing to continue for many.
What I realise more and more is that disputes are increasingly about the parties which are engaed in. Many individuals are enagaed in disputes which they will have again albeit a more subtle level in different spheres of their lives.
Therefore at least part the problem is not out there but within.
The solution is ....
Wednesday June 17, 2009 at 12:16pm
Alex Locke, editor of the ELA Brief refers to the rolling out of judicial mediation to all Employment Tribunals in the latest ELA Briefing magazine.
Apparently certain cases wil be identified as suitable for mediation.
These are discrimination cases, ones that listed for over 3 days in Tribunal and ones where the person is still employed by the organisation.
All well and good.
Some observations.
1 As Alex points out, hardly anyone knows about the rolling out of jud....
Sunday June 14, 2009 at 8:13am
As a mediator I can assist parties in seeking to resolve their marriage break-ups.
According to the Telegraph with the average marriage split now costing couples £28,000, it can also be financially crippling. If current trends continue, one in two marriages in England and Wales will not last 10 years. Research from Norwich Union found that 62 per cent of couples have shared finances that need to be sorted out on divorcing, and almost half of divorcees are forced to dip in....
Wednesday June 10, 2009 at 4:56pm
Yesterday I attended an employment seminar run by Fox Williams which was informative on topics such as Intellectual Property, Bonuses, Age Discriminaton and finally, the Acas Code.
The new Acas Code on grievances and discipline is commenably brief but as Aron Pope of the firm pointed out there are a number of uncertainties such as:
What status/weight will a tribunal give the Guide(e.g no the Code)?
What are defined as grievances?
Can employees be su....
Sunday June 7, 2009 at 6:42am
I have recently just finished training 36 people at a leading London Council into becoming mediators.
It is quite satisfying to see a number of people develop the skills which will enable them to become in-house mediators within their organisation.
The goal is simple. By the staff being trained up they will deal with a number of grievances and hopefully lead to a positive resolution and save Employment Tribunal costs.
The course was 2 days and obtains supportive feedb....
Thursday June 4, 2009 at 2:44pm
I've just published a new White Paper Negotiating for Excellent Results which has gone down really well with delegates in a recent mediation training course I ran for managers.
Containing details of the skills you need to negotiate and suggestions on how you can develop them as well as negotiating tips and examples from expert negotiators it's a great resource and best of all you can download it for FREE.
I'm gathering feedback - so if you do download please let me know what you think and te....
Monday June 1, 2009 at 8:55am
Mediation is no panacea but The Salt Lake Tribune (of all things) has an example of how a good mediator can do the business in even the most complex disputes.As this article shows, a mediator was able to engineer a mediated settlement in a very difficult matter.43 lawyers were packed into a hotel conference room last November. And that was just the defendants' legal corps in three wrongful-death and personal-injury civil lawsuits triggered by the 2007 American Crandall Canyon mine disaster.....