Employment Law Briefing -Social Networking and the Workplace

I’m just back in the office following our Employment Law Briefing and I’m half way through drawing up a list of action points on the back of it!

The briefing, organised in partnership with Hegarty LLP Solicitors, was on the subject of Social Networking and the Workplace.

We know this is an area of concern for many employers in the city by the huge response we had to invitations.

From my point of view, it is the pace of change on the internet and of social networking platforms that creates so many challenges. And that was echoed by our speaker Martin Bloom, a very experienced employment law expert.

As he said, five years ago, the kind of cases tribunals are dealing with now were unthinkable. People dismissed for posting comments about clients on Facebook, issues over ownership of connections on LinkedIn, cyber bullying of former colleagues on Twitter… even that sentence would have meant very little a decade ago!

Martin touched a chord with many delegates – myself included – when he mentioned the importance of a company having a social networking policy. An internet usage policy isn’t enough.

Every employer needs to have a well thought out, detailed and regularly reviewed policy governing the use of social media at work. This needs to be written into contracts and – vitally – employees need to be trained in it.

The easiest solution may be to ban the use of social networking in work time on work equipment completely. You may also need to consider the rules you wish to set governing people using their personal mobile phones to access Facebook or Twitter, for instance, during their working day.

Of course, in some sectors, the use of such websites is necessary. In those cases, policies need to be even more specific. And again, training needs to reflect that.

Martin discussed a number of cases of inappropriate use of Facebook and emails out of hours – employees discussing clients, employees emailing former colleagues – which had resulted in employment tribunals.

Again, these issues are all relatively new and the law, courts and tribunals are having to evolve around them. Many employers are playing catch up with their staff on this but thought must be given to getting ahead.

I’d be interested to hear the stance other employers take on the use of social networking. Feel free to leave a comment.

Salary Survey 2012

The Salary Survey was one of the first ‘added value’ services we launched back in the early days of ACR. It is testament to its usefulness that it is still going strong 15 years later.

And the 2012 survey is being launched this week.

Our partners at Paydata Ltd are currently sending out the questionnaires to a number of companies in the region, big and small, from a wide range of sectors.

The data provided on the salary and benefits of hundreds of employees will be collated, analysed and used to produce a comprehensive snapshot of remuneration packages for use by recruiters and companies.

While the headline results will be published, participants will receive a detailed analysis enabling them to make a direct comparison with similar companies.

It’s this kind of information which is crucial for companies wanting to attract the very best candidates who will be looking for a competitive offer.

We have been working on this annual project with Paydata Ltd, another Peterborough company, for the last few years. They are national experts in the field so are able to see how Peterborough shapes up against other regions. Outside the public sector, they have reported seeing a modest rise in salaries across the UK so we shall wait to see if that is reflected locally.

It’s not too late to take part in this year’s survey. If you’d like further information, do get in touch.

CV lies: a lesson in why not to do it

Even the mighty aren’t immune – and what a lesson for anyone thinking they might just ‘tweak’ their CV.

We have been following with interest the case of Yahoo Chief Executive Officer Scott Thompson who, reports suggest, left the company after including a fake college degree on his CV.

He was hired in January, having previously worked at PayPal, for an annual salary of $1 million – with possible bonuses of $2 million this year.

But a discrepancy was discovered in Thompson’s educational background. In his biography he laid claim to a computer science degree which he didn’t have.

As a result of the revelation he was, it is claimed, pressured to give up his post. His experience, career, expertise and three months spent at the company proving his abilities counted for nothing when set against his lie.

This is a very real reminder of the importance of ensuring your CV is truthful. You may not be risking a $1 million salary but if you land a job and then get found out, you’re risking having to walk away in disgrace, and explain that on your CV in future.

Don’t claim to have a degree if you don’t have one; don’t claim to have a better degree than you have; don’t fill in missing gaps with jobs you haven’t had; don’t promote yourself in previous job titles.

Employers are becoming more savvy about checking CVs, by ringing previous employers, calling colleges or searching online.

When it comes to impressing future employers, honesty really is the best quality to have.

Stamford Mercury Business Awards

Guest blog by recruitment partner Karen Dykes

I was delighted to represent Anne Corder Recruitment at this week’s Stamford Mercury Business Awards.

Anne judged the Business of the Year category along with Robert Hinch from Greetham Valley Hotel, Golf and Conference Centre.

As usual the entries demonstrated perfectly the diversity of the business community in and around Stamford. They came from long established and family run firms to relatively new niche businesses making their mark both locally and nationally.

Anne and Robert spent a day visiting the short listed companies and were, as they have been every year they’ve judged the awards, incredibly impressed with the people they met. These are the entrepreneurial faces of our region who are working hard day in day out. They may be providing a service or manufacturing a product, all are creating employment and all are contributing to the economy. For all those reasons – and many more – they are to be applauded.

This year Anne and Robert just couldn’t separate two of the businesses they visited and so announced joint winners… MMT Digital and Simmons Optometrists.

While MMT Digital is at the cutting edge of web design, Simmons is a very traditional business serving the community.

MMT Digital’s success is easily seen in terms of levels of business, new clients and expanding workforce. Anne called it: “A little gem of a business now based in Rutland successfully working with very high profile clients.”

Anne and Robert were equally complimentary about Simmons. They said the couple who own and manage the business are not only technical experts in their field but commercially knowledgeable. They took over the business six years ago and since then have invested time and money in consolidating and expanding their client base.

Along with recruitment partner Nel Woolcott, I presented the awards to MMT Digital and Simmons Optometrists and it was a real honour to do so.

As usual Greetham Valley proved a wonderful venue for a very special evening of celebration marking some impressive achievements by the business community.

ACR notches up another Green Star

The Investors in the Environment scheme marked the end of its second successful year with an awards ceremony aimed at rewarding the achievements of those businesses which have demonstrated a commitment to an eco-policy.

We were one of the founder members of the scheme, organised and managed by PECT (Peterborough Environment City Trust) and were at last night’s ceremony.

There was an impressive turn out and it was incredible to hear of the impact the scheme has had. Tens of thousands of pounds have been saved by businesses through the adoption of eco-policies. Thousands of tonnes of waste have been diverted from landfill. Carbon footprints have been reduced. Recycling has increased on a huge scale. And the scheme has now become a franchise being adopted by environmental trusts as far afield as Yorkshire.

It was great to see how broad a spectrum of businesses have signed up to the scheme, from small owner-managed concerns to the Peterborough offices of Mars PetCare and Ikea.

We were delighted to once again receive not just the highest Green Award but also a Great Green Star Award. This particular certificate was given to the handful of companies which the auditors felt had embedded their eco-policy into the fabric of their business.

For us, our reduce, recyle, reuse policy has become second nature. We just do it. And that’s because as individuals and as an agency we have changed our habits. According to psychologists, it takes just a matter of weeks to change the habit of a lifetime. That’s not a long time. And as Kim Coley, the self-proclaimed queen of Investors in the Environment, said at the ceremony: “It’s about changing the world.”

How to stand out from 1,999 others

Guest blog from ACR Recruitment Partner Nel Woolcott

What do you do when your CV is one of 2,000 – and there are just 25 advertised jobs?

That’s the sobering snapshot of job hunting in Peterborough today. 

PJ Care advertised 25 jobs at its multi-million pound new care centre in Bretton Way. The first round of recruitment will see the appointment of nurses, care assistants, chefs, kitchen assistants, housekeepers, maintenance staff, receptionists and admin staff.

After advertising the positions, the company was inundated with an incredible 2,000 applications.

Such a big response hit the headlines. I was invited onto BBC Radio Cambridgeshire recently to discuss what job seekers must do to make their CV stand out in these circumstances.

My advice was centred around tailoring CVs to meet the requirements of the role. It’s simple advice, given to all our candidates, but it’s effective. Dissect the job ad and description and then highlight relevant experience to put yourself in the running.

From a Peterborough recruiter’s point of view, we’re delighted to see such a substantial influx of new jobs – the centre will eventually employ around 180 staff. And there’s further good news with the announcement of new jobs being created at Serco.

The backdrop to all this is, of course, that unemployment in Peterborough reached a 17 year high in February.

But investment of this type in the city is a real demonstration of business confidence which, I hope, will help give others the assurances they need to start looking to the future.

Moments of truth

I was invited by the Royal Bank of Scotland to address a group of business people on the subject of customer retention. My credentials? My proud admission that we are still working today with businesses and people who were among our first clients and candidates when the business was established back in 1995.

From the beginning, I was passionate about recruiting, not selling - and everyone in the ACR team shares that ethos. We’re all commercially aware but our focus is firmly on customer service.

That isn’t always easy. We have two sets of customers, our clients and our candidates, and keeping them both happy can be a balancing act. But it is one we strive to perform.

During my presentation, I quoted Jan Carlson, president and CEO of Scandinavian Airline Systems (SAS) in the 1980s and early 90s. He popularised the concept of ‘moments of truth’ for business.

A moment of truth, according to his philosophy, was a contact between a customer and an employee. In his case that might have been a passenger checking in at the airport or being served during the flight. Each moment of truth was an opportunity to meet, and if possible, exceed a customer’s expectation for quality and service.

Every business has moments of truth. We identified ours in the early days of the business. They have changed as the industry has moved on and the internet has played a much bigger role. But we still have them – as every business should.

For candidates it’s about acknowledging receipt of a CV, their visit to our office, a follow up phone call after an interview, for instance.

For clients it’s about regular meetings, appropriate feedback and invitations to our regular employment law seminars.

We have created further moments of truth by introducing an initiative called ‘touches’. Recruitment partners are required to make and measure high quality customer contact.

At every moment of truth, we maintain our professionalism which is also reflected through our branding, our marketing, IT systems and the added value we offer to both sets of customers.

Our corporate social responsibility agenda provides further opportunity for customer, and potential customer, contact.

Preparing for the talk made me think about exactly what ACR does do to retain customers. Most of it is so built in to the way we do business we barely notice it anymore – it’s just ‘what we do’.

But it was a great revision exercise and one I felt worth sharing here…