Back to Business Club

Positive moves to get people back to work are to be applauded. So, although public speaking isn’t my most favourite thing, I was pleased to accept the invitation to present to members of the newly-formed Back to Business Club.

Launched by the Greater Peterborough Partnership, the club is aimed at professionals who have been made redundant and are now looking at their options.

Our involvement was sought from the outset, as an agency which deals with the kind of professionals the club is aimed at. And, having met some of the people using the club, I’m delighted we made that commitment.

During the session which I tagged ‘Signposting the journey back to work’, there was a really good rapport and people obviously found ‘comfort’ if you like in the fact that they were all in the same boat. Job clubs aren’t for everyone, as I’ve said before, but they can provide a valuable focus while offering constructive and relevant advice – and the networking value shouldn’t be dismissed either.

We talked about the current jobs market, the importance of being methodical and organised in your job search and places to look for jobs that aren’t always obvious.

Moving forward with the project we plan to continue feeding relevant job adverts through to the club and its members.

Sessions are held every Thursday from 2pm to 5pm at Peterborough College of Adult Education.

http://www.gpp-peterborough.org.uk/backtobusiness.php

Breakfast briefing a success

An early start this morning – it was the annual Employment Law Breakfast Briefing which we run with Hegarty LLP Solicitors.

With an incredible 40 per cent increase in the cases of unfair dismissal filed since April – the majority of which were related to redundancy procedures – and the continuing difficult times for a lot of companies, redundancy had to be at the top of the list of subjects for discussion.

Around 200 delegates – mainly HR professionals and business people – gathered to listen to employment law experts Martin Bloom and Tim Thompson. As ever, they did an admirable job of updating us with current thinking, procedures and the law – this year in regard to redundancy and fair selection.

One of the key points I came away with was ‘Polkey’ – a House of Lords precedent which dates back to 1988. Polkey has been resurrected over recent years and often comes into play at tribunals, according to Martin. Basically even if an employer has engaged in a redundancy process which a tribunal finds to be procedurally unfair the tribunal can rule in favour of the employee but not make an award if it believes the same redundancy decision would have been made anyway. I thought that was an interesting point for employees to bear in mind when deciding whether to take a former employer to tribunal.

Besides that, there was all sorts of useful information about redundancy procedures and also some positive thoughts about how companies can change terms of contract to try and stave off the threat of redundancy, while staying within the law.

A useful couple of hours, as always.

Redundancy matters at top of briefing agenda

We’ve put redundancy at the top of the agenda for this year’s Employment Law Breakfast Briefing and, not surprisingly, it’s proved a big pull.

We have almost 200 people – HR professionals and business people from the Greater Peterborough area - who have signed up for the event on Tuesday – September 22.

Partners in Hegarty LLP Solicitors Martin Bloom and Tim Thompson will be the speakers, as usual. They’re going to be covering redundancy and fair selection – unfortunately still very relevant topics in the current climate.

The briefing is taking place at the Cambridge Suite, at the East of England Showground and includes breakfast.

I’ll be there bright and early to introduce the event. Thankfully that’s all I need to do – Tim and Martin are the experts!

There will be quite a few of the Anne Corder Recruitment team there too – it’s a good opportunity to catch up with clients and contacts.

We’ve still got room for a few more people so do feel free to get in touch if you’re interested in coming along - info@annecorder.co.uk

Back to Business

If I can see some real benefit in a recruitment-related initiative – to individuals, companies or the area as a whole - I’m always happy to lend a hand if required. So I was delighted to accept the invitation to be involved in The Back To Business Club which has been launched by the Greater Peterborough Partnership.

The club is aimed at professionals who have been made redundant and who are keen to get back to work or explore alternatives such as setting up on their own. It is hoped the club will help maintain the confidence and motivation of the jobseekers who attend by keeping them in touch with similar-minded people in the same situation.
We regularly deal with the kind of professionals the club is aimed at so it made perfect sense for us to be involved.

Peterborough MP Stewart Jackson opened the first session which saw about 30 people through the door.

What we don’t want is the club to be seen as ‘exclusive’. At the same time people are recognising that, in the current climate, there is a need for a service specifically targeted at managers and professionals, many of whom may not have been out of work before.

‘Job clubs’ aren’t for everyone and I understand why some people may feel reticent to attend. But as a word of encouragement having met some of the attendees at the first session, if nothing else I think the networking opportunities it offers are worth exploring.

If you want any more information you can click on the link Back to Business or pop along to a session – held every Thursday from 2pm to 5pm at Peterborough College of Adult Education.

Signs of recovery

A media frenzy has greeted the August Report on Jobs – a regular report published by our governing body the Recruitment and Employment Confederation and KPMG. It suggests the labour market is showing signs of recovery – so it’s hardly surprising the newspapers, tv and radio stations have been quick to pick up on it!

We submit data to that report and our findings are in line with the overall picture the key points of which are:
• marginal increases in both permanent and temporary staff appointments
• candidate availability rose at weaker pace
• permanent and temporary staff pay fell at slower rates

The REC’s chief executive Kevin Green told the BBC that employers are becoming ‘more confident in their hiring decisions’. Again, that’s something we would agree with. After many months of clients hanging back from making long term decisions about taking on permanent staff, we are now seeing movement in that market.
The good thing is those now actively seeking staff have a very definite need - companies aren’t just trawling the labour market on spec.

Kevin said: ‘For the first time in 17 months, this month’s report shows signs that the UK jobs market is improving. There has been an increase in permanent recruitment and growth in temporary placements for the first time in over a year.”

And that, as everyone in recruitment and HR would agree, is very welcome – and very good – news.

How green are we?!

Eighteen months ago we came up with the concept of a paperless working environment. Looking round our office in Park Road the idea was almost laughable. We had dozens of filing cabinets, hundreds of paper files and thousands of pieces of paper. Our only concessions were the banning of Post-It notes and the shredding and recycling of used paper.

But… not only have we achieved it – WE’VE WON AN AWARD FOR IT!
We’ve scored a Green Apple Award for Environmental Best Practice run by The Green Organisation.

The awards have been going for 15 years so are well established as one of the major environmental recognition schemes not just in the UK but internationally too. The Green Organisation supports the work of other environmental groups that play the role of environmental watchdog while concentrating more on the positive aspects of environmental endeavour – they describe it as looking at the carrot as well as the stick!

Our entry described how The Paperless Office Project required a substantial financial and time investment but how the benefits across the board have already exceeded expectations.

We’ve reduced costs and waste, streamlined office procedures, freed up valuable staff time and future proofed the office. And we’ve become quite evangelical about it all – talking to clients and other companies we network with about the benefits in the hope we can encourage them to adopt at least some of our proven methods.

We’re off to London in November to pick up our award.
Well done us!