Employment Law Birmingham News

A recent report has revealed the extent to which women are under-represented in senior executive and management positions across Europe.

According to the data published by Mercer, the ratio of senior executives and managers that were female averages 29% in countries across Europe compared to 71% of men. Mercer has also revealed that despite organisations’ efforts to achieve a diverse workforce, the majority (71%) do not have a clearly defined strategy or philosophy for the development of women into leadership roles.
 
Sophie Black, Principal in Mercer’s Executive Remuneration team, said “Women’s representation on company boards is a big issue and there is substantial noise in the EU about board diversity. It’s not just an issue of gender, of course, although discrimination in any form is undesirable. It’s also an issue of talent as it this sort of bias in a company limits the candidate pool and skill set. A more diverse workforce reduces turnover and absenteeism and increase innovation and creativity,”

The EU is committed to addressing gender inequality and the Gender Pay Gap as part of its EU Gender Action Plan. While there is opposition to the imposition of politics into the workplace, Mercer’s data underscores the role that political intervention can play in balancing the inequalities created by market forces. According to the data, former Soviet-bloc countries have the highest levels of female participation and equality in Europe. In fact, the nine countries showing the best representation of women in senior positions are ex-communist states.
 
In Western Europe, the countries with the greatest proportion of women in the executive suite amongst the sample group were Greece and Ireland (33%), followed by Sweden (30%) and Belgium (29%). Spain, UK and France all had 28% female representation.

Quota systems to increase women’s representation in business have been in existence for several years in countries like Spain, Norway, France, Belgium and Italy. In the UK, the government is taking steps to improve women’s representation in the boardroom following Lord Davis report Women on Boards which recommends increasing the proportion of women executives on boards of the FTSE 350 group of companies to 25% by 2012.
 

In its response to a government call for evidence on TUPE, the TUC warns that changing current legislation could also lead to an increased involvement of the private sector in public services, with contractors competing for business on lower wages rather than on the quality of the service they provide.

TUPE protects employees' terms and conditions of work when a business is transferred from one owner to another. Staff automatically become employees of the new employer on the same terms and conditions as they were on before, and their continuity of service is also protected.

The TUC argues that TUPE regulations also benefit employers by creating a level-playing field for businesses and enabling restructuring to take place more easily and without disputes.

The government is considering increasing the flexibility for employers to cut pay and conditions after a transfer takes place. This could lead to a race to the bottom, warns the TUC, with companies using low wages to compete for contracts in the public and private sector, rather than by quality of service, efficiency or innovation.

Current TUPE regulations also maintain employment levels, as new employers must retain original staff when they take over a business, argues the TUC. Cutting back on this vital right means employees could lose their jobs when the owner of their company changes, which would increase unemployment and reliance on welfare benefits.

The latest Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) quarterly Labour Market Outlook (LMO) survey has found that the first quarter of 2012 will be the most difficult quarter for the jobs market since the recession, as a greater number of private sector firms surveyed are planning to make redundancies.

The report’s net employment balance, which measures the difference between the proportion of LMO employers that intend to increase total staffing levels and those that intend to decrease total staffing levels in the first quarter of 2012, has fallen to -8 from -3 since the autumn 2011 quarter. This is the report’s worst figure since spring 2009.

The results also suggest a further widening of the north-south divide in job prospects. The net employment balance for the south of England has improved modestly to -1 from -4 in the past three months. London is the only region in the UK to register a positive score (+3). In contrast, employment prospects in the north have fallen to -20 from -17 over the same period.

This follows the most recent official Labour Force Survey unemployment statistics which showed that the north east of England (+2.3%) and the north west of England (+1.2%) saw the largest unemployment increases in the 12 months to November 2011.

Other key findings of the report include:

• Organisations that are planning to make redundancies expect 4% of their workforce on average to be made redundant.
• Six out of ten LMO employers are not planning to create any new roles in the next three months.
• Looking ahead to the next five years, LMO employers anticipate an increase in demand for roles in business and development (28%), sales and marketing (24%) and IT staff (20%).
• Business support functions have borne the brunt among those employers that say they have been prevented from creating new roles during the past two years.
  

A recent survey by Croner has found that almost half of adult workers questioned feel more or much more stressed than they did a year ago.

Key factors contributing to rising stress levels include:

• higher unpaid workloads (57%),
• performance pressures (45%),
• the need to work longer hours (34%), and
• the imposition of pay freezes (33%).

Amy Paxton, a senior employment consultant at Croner, said: "The fact that 48% of the workers we surveyed say they are more stressed as a result of work than a year ago should be a real wake-up call for employers. At a time when many industries are under such pressure to keep their heads above water, or even survive, employers cannot afford to have such high levels of stress and the associated difficulties it can cause in their organisations."

She went on to say that: "Stress can be reduced by improving working conditions, restructuring jobs and allowing more flexible working arrangements. A supportive work ethos and a climate in which staff are encouraged to openly discuss their concerns can also help.”

Workplace relations body Acas has called for more employers to consider using mediation at work to help resolve disputes and avoid potentially costly and stressful employment tribunal claims. The call comes after a study carried out by Acas in 2011 found that just 5% of employers have used mediation to solve a workplace dispute.

The study also revealed that despite low take up by employers, 64% were aware of mediation, and around three quarters of businesses agreed that mediation is a good tool for resolving disputes at work, with half agreeing that mediation produces "win-win" solutions that leave both parties satisfied.

Andrew Wareing. Director of the Acas service responsible for resolving disputes between individuals and their employers, said:

"Workplace conflict can damage an organisation's effectiveness. Last week's announcement that the Government is funding a pilot scheme for two regional mediation networks will help raise awareness among employers about how mediation can help benefit their business.

“Mediation helps resolve disputes quickly and effectively, minimising distress and cost as well as preserving workplace relationships. Acas successfully resolved 90% of the mediation cases we were involved in over the last year alone."

The Government has announced the next steps in its comprehensive review of employment laws.

New plans to improve the way in which workplace disputes are resolved have been published alongside an “Employer’s Charter” – the measures are designed to give businesses more confidence to take on workers and support growth.

The TUC has published the first in a series of newsletters to help vulnerable workers find out more about their basic employment rights at work.