HUMAN Md. Shahidul Islam

RESOURCES Program: MBA (Regular)

MANAGEMENT Semester: Fall 2011

ID: 136-34-22

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD):

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) is Europe's largest HR and development professional body. As an internationally recognised brand with over 135,000 members across 120 countries, we pride ourselves on supporting and developing those responsible for the management and development of people within organisations.
We know what good HR looks like and what you need to know and do at every stage of your HR career, wherever you are in the world. With over 135,000 individual members we’re in the business of supporting you to keep up to date with the latest thinking and best practice, as well as providing you with products and services to help you do your job including:
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CIPD has links with over 100 similar global institutions and associations and are active members of the World Federation of People Management Associations (WFPMA), the European Association for People Management (EAPM) and the International Federation of Training and Development Organisations
CIPD is setting global standards for HR and supporting the development of HR professionals and building HR capability within organisations around the world.

Our members represent over 120 countries throughout the world and are supported by a network of 48 branches, led by volunteers, in the UK and Ireland. There’s also a growing network of international groups, led by professionals in the industry which provide networking and learning opportunities as well as a forum for sharing experiences and discussing topical issues and are run for CIPD members

For the Profession:

We’re advancing HR globally and driving HR capability within organisations. As the world’s largest Chartered HR and development professional body our role encompasses supporting, promoting and influencing change for the sustainable development of HR capability within organisations. Our work to support the profession includes:
We’re developing the professional capability of future HR leaders through our Next Generation Senior Leader Programme. This year-long development programme brings together cohorts of the very best global HR directors and senior leaders in the profession. Its purpose is to help these individuals challenge and rethink how to help their organisations, both large public and private institutions, become truly sustainable. Each senior leader becomes part of an alumni whose aim is to shape the evolution of the profession in a direct way by helping evolve HR excellence in practice.

The programme is built on four principles:

1) Next Generation HR Content:

A collection of tools and ideas are presented and discussed focusing on Next Generation HR capabilities.

2) Disruptive Experiences:

Each senior leader is provided with real and complex challenges to learn through an experience rather than just theory.

3) Real Time Application :

Ideas to enrich each leader’s HR strategy and enhance the capacity of their HR organisation to build long-term sustainable performance are applied in very specific and timely ways.

4) Embedded Learning and Support:

Each leader is provided quality one-to-one coaching in addition to mentoring support from progressive senior HR directors from other organisations. HR’s future is as the 'insightful' function:

The next stage of HR’s evolution is to become an “insight-driven” function, drawing understanding from data and using it to fuel sustainable business performance, delegates were told.

Sophie Ireland, CIPD consultant and director of Mirror HR consultancy, told the conference that HR is in a “unique position” to garner knowledge relating to the people side of the business, and should use these insights about risk, challenges and opportunities to help their organisations become “more change-ready”.

NEWS FOCUS (Employment law):

TRIBUNALS – Proposals for ‘protected conversations’ in employment law draw a mixed response from lawyers
The government has confirmed it will consult in the new year on putting “protected conversations” into employment law.

The concept of frank discussions between employer and employee is not new. “Without prejudice” talks, where both parties agree the content won’t subsequently turn up as tribunal evidence, already exist under common law and are often used with compromise agreements to terminate employee contracts while reducing the risk of tribunal claims. Acas guidance on Working without the default retirement age, published in March, suggests employers should have similar “workplace discussions” to manage employee performance and future work plans.

Now business secretary Vince Cable says he wants to create “protected conversations” that would “allow employers to raise issues such as poor performance or retirement plans in an open way, free from the worry it will be used as evidence in a subsequent tribunal claim”.

Sarah Rushton, a partner at law firm Payne Hicks Beach, thinks the new approach won’t add anything. “That you’ve had a protected conversation doesn’t mean you’ll remove the threat of unfair dismissal – unless you have some sort of no-fault dismissal mechanism.”

Naeema Choudry, a partner at Eversheds, says “protected conversations” will be helpful in dealing with performance issues. “The whole point of this is that both parties can have an honest conversation without fear of recrimination.” She says Acas “workplace discussions” are not being used because of “how they may be interpreted in potential future litigation”.

Stephen Levinson, a partner at Radcliffes LeBrasseur, who will lead the Employment Lawyers Association’s response to the consultation, envisages a number of technical issues. “Without prejudice” conversations lose their immunity if, for example, an employer makes discriminatory remarks during them and Levinson believes there must be similar safeguards for “protected conversations”. Not having this, he says, “might cause a number to say this is a licence to bully. The fear among those who act for employees is that employers will abuse it. It needs a lot of thinking through.”

Agency worker Q and A

Your questions answered on workers’ rights under the new regulations
The Agency Workers Regulations 2010 (AWR), which came into force on 1 October, have prompted a number of calls to the CIPD members’ employment law helpline. Here we answer some of the most frequently occurring questions.

Do agency workers have the right to be considered for vacancies in the same way as permanent employees?
No. They are only entitled to be informed of relevant job vacancies within the hirer’s organisation (although this will not apply when a hirer is restructuring or redeploying to prevent redundancies). This right only applies to the provision of information – the hirer has the freedom to choose how it will treat any applications.

Are agency workers entitled to enhanced payments, such as company sick pay or company maternity pay?
The AWR specifically exclude certain payments that a hirer might offer its own staff. Agency workers are not entitled to occupational sick pay, pensions, maternity, paternity or adoption pay, redundancy pay, pay for time off for trade union duties, guarantee payments, loans, expenses, payments or rewards linked to financial participation schemes (for example, share ownership schemes), benefits in kind offered as incentives or long service rewards, and bonuses that do not relate to the individual’s work.

Our productivity bonus scheme applies to our permanent employees after six months in the job. How will this affect our agency workers?
Agency workers will be entitled to join the scheme after six months because this is a payment which directly relates to the amount of work done by the individual. The six month time period will run from the first day the agency worker starts work with the hirer.

What additional rights do pregnant agency workers have?
After completing a 12-week qualifying period, pregnant agency workers are entitled to paid time off work for antenatal care.
The agency should also carry out a risk assessment in relation to a pregnant worker’s assignment. If the assignment is unsuitable for her, and reasonable adjustments cannot be made, the agency should seek suitable alternative work. If there is no alternative, the agency may need to pay her for the remainder of an assignment.

What rights do agency workers have if they were in an assignment before 1 October?
The regulations are not retrospective. These agency workers have ‘Day 1’ rights but they must complete a 12-week qualifying period starting from 1 October to be entitled to equal treatment with regard to other basic working and employment conditions.
Do the regulations mean that I will now employ agency workers?
No. The AWR are concerned with providing rights to equal treatment and do not change the legal status of an agency worker. That will depend on the actual relationship between the parties.

Can agency workers now claim unfair dismissal?
Ordinarily, this right only applies to employees who have one year qualifying service with an employer, so it may be possible if an agency worker is employed by the agency. A temporary worker who is an employee of the agency will be regarded as automatically unfairly dismissed if the reason for the dismissal is related to rights or proceedings under AWR.
Would the regulations apply to our own bank of temporary staff?
If you directly recruit your own staff, and are not supplying them to work under the supervision and direction of another hirer, then the regulations will not apply.

We use an external company to provide our cleaning service. They supply the cleaners and manage their work. Will the regulations apply?
This type of arrangement is often referred to as a ‘managed service contract’. If the contractor supplies workers, but is also responsible for supervising and directing those workers and determining how and when the work is done, then the regulations are unlikely to apply. If, however, the contractor supplies workers to work under your supervision and direction, then the AWR may apply.

Can I move agency workers around our various sites to avoid them acquiring a 12-week qualifying period of service?
Working in different locations for the same hirer will generally not break the qualifying period, unless the role that the agency worker does is also substantively different.

Do we need to allow temporary agency workers to attend our staff Christmas party?
No, this would be entirely at your discretion. An office party would not be considered to be a collective facility or amenity and would not be classed as a Day 1 right for agency workers.

Alison Harper is an employment law consultant with RBS Mentor Services, which provides the CIPD members’ Employment Law Helpline (0844 535 0010).