The document summarizes top HR and management stories from the week ending March 11, 2011. Key points include: 1) A government-commissioned report recommended replacing final salary pension schemes in the public sector with career average schemes to make pensions more affordable and save £2 billion per year. 2) The government is considering replacing sick pay with income protection insurance paid by employers to incentivize earlier returns to work. 3) Employers report that mediation programs save money and better resolve workplace issues. 4) Asda launched a maternity leave mentoring scheme to support returning mothers.

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This week in HR
A round-up of the top HR and management stories
Week ending 11 March 2011
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Hutton calls for public
pensions shake-up LINKS
Final salary pension schemes in the public  CIPD Employee Outlook- Focus on pensions
sector should be replaced by those bit.ly/gd95rw
calculated on the basis of career average
earnings, the government-commissioned
Hutton report has recommended. The final
report of the Independent Public Service
Pensions Commission, led by former
Labour work and pensions secretary Lord
Hutton, also called for higher retirement
ages as part of efforts to make public
service pensions more affordable. Although benefits accrued under final salary
schemes should be honoured, the report said that a career average format
would be more sustainable in the long term, while still guaranteeing a
retirement income proportional to pay and resulting in a fairer deal for lower
earners. This move alone is expected to save the public purse £2 billion a year.
Read the full story at bit.ly/fzdwcg
Insurance alternative to sick pay considered  Stockholm Network: The welfare state after the crisis
Read the full story at bit.ly/h8bN16 bit.ly/hFEhfM
The government is set to consider a reform of the sick pay system that would
see employers opting to pay for income protection insurance for their staff
instead of providing paid sick leave. Under the income protection insurance
model, insurers would take responsibility for paying income protection when
employees were off work sick. This in turn would incentivise insurers to supply
health and well-being support to get people back to work more quickly.
Business case for mediation is robust, say employers  Acas - mediation
Read the full story at bit.ly/e03tWH bit.ly/gIMNoj
There is a robust business case for adopting mediation within organisations in
addition to the benefits of improved employee relations, the CIPD’s Conflict
Management conference heard. Both the Arcadia Group and BT told delegates
at the London event how adopting mediation practices at their firms had
secured buy-in from top executives by saving money, as well as resolving
more workplace issues.
Comment: Investing in staff pays off  John Lewis profits fund 18% staff bonuses
Read the full story at bit.ly/hjYR0z Independent http://ind.pn/eewdVt
Susanne Jacobs compares the bonus strategies of Northern Rock and John
Lewis, both of which have been in the news for the size of their payouts.
Comment: Innovative working in a Big Society  Number of ministers must shrink to realise Big Society,
Read the full story at bit.ly/h7Fm14 say MPs
With public-sector cuts starting to hit home, Somerset County Council HR Public Finance bit.ly/ieSNrx
director Richard Crouch mulls the meaning of the Big Society at local level.
Employers urge tribunal reform  CIPD survey report: Conflict management
Read the full story at bit.ly/hlNfRt bit.ly/fzq5jM
The majority of employers support an overhaul of the “broken” employment
tribunal system to minimise the burden of spurious claims, results of a new Legislative timetable – what’s new in the law
CIPD survey have revealed. Half of employers would advocate a system that People Management bit.ly/eZwGXm
awards costs against losing claimants, while 54 per cent want to see more
effective management of tribunal cases to identify “vexatious” claims, found ☛ MORE NEWS ON NEXT PAGE
the Conflict Management research.

2. ☛ PEOPLE MANAGEMENT ‘THIS WEEK IN HR’ CONTINUED...
LINKS
Asda launches maternity leave mentoring scheme  Asda: Mum2Mum help scheme launched on International
Read the full story at bit.ly/i1Z48R Women’s Day
Asda has launched a mentoring initiative for female staff on maternity leave, as bit.ly/h4OlI4
part of efforts to support them to return to the workplace. The “Mum2Mum”
scheme will assign each mother-to-be a mentor from the business, another
working mother who will give support to them over a 12-month period.
British Safety Council demands debate on HSE cuts  Leaked HSE letter shows safety checks at risk from cuts
Read the full story at bit.ly/gOYWND BBC http://bbc.in/h8PJVI
The impact of Health and Safety Executive
(HSE) funding cuts on workplace safety must
be opened up to a public debate, the British
Safety Council has said. The HSE’s plans to
reduce unannounced workplace inspections,
as part of the cuts, were revealed in a letter
leaked to the BBC this week. Under the
plans, budgets will be slashed by as much as
35 per cent, which could mean the withdrawal of surprise inspections from
entire areas of industry.
Network Rail chiefs will not receive bonuses  Network Rail fined for health & safety offence
Read the full story at bit.ly/h5Vse9 www.rail.co bit.ly/fRSY61
Top executives at Network Rail will not receive bonuses this year, the state-
funded track maintenance company has confirmed. The move follows heavy
criticism of the £2.4 million awarded to senior management in bonuses last
June, which the secretary of state for transport, Philip Hammond, described as
“very disappointing”.
Sex diversity is responsibility of business, finds HSBC  The Shape of Things to Come survey
Read the full story at bit.ly/dEKbuo bit.ly/eNkARB
Employers must take the lead in encouraging more young women to play a
role in business in the future, according to a global survey by HSBC. The bank’s Equality Act 2010 - what it means for HR
Shape of Things to Come survey asked businessmen and businesswomen about People Management bit.ly/igAx1Y
how the world of work could change to increase the opportunities for women
in the next 50 years. More than half (51 per cent) of the 258 respondents –
drawn from New York, London and Hong Kong - said the onus should be on
businesses to improve gender diversity.
State pension to be simplified  ‘Iain Duncan Smith reveals plan for flat-rate £140 state
Read the full story at bit.ly/eWI0lo pension’, The Guardian
The government is planning to radically simplify the state pension system to bit.ly/iiyAEz
make it easier for people to plan for retirement, work and pensions secretary
Iain Duncan Smith said today. In a speech to the charity Age UK, Duncan
Smith said that the basic state pension and the state second pension would be
combined into one flat-rate payment for men and women, while means-tested
pension credit would be abolished to incentivise saving.
Recruitment increased in February, says REC report  Recruitment & Employment Confederation
Read the full story at bit.ly/dZPvFh www.rec.uk.com
Job growth accelerated sharply last month, but the UK is developing a “two-
speed” labour market as vacancies in the public sector diminish, a monthly
recruitment survey has revealed. The number of permanent placements rose
at the fastest rate in 10 months, while temporary staff placements saw the
greatest rise since May 2007, according to February’s Report on Jobs from the
Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) and KPMG.
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