MANAGERS FAILING TO INSPIRE STAFF According to the latest workers index published by MORI and the Work Foundation, almost one in four employees (24%) say that their bosses don’t inspire them, and 27% feel that senior managers are failing to provide them with a clear vision. With 60% of those who are critical of their employers identifying “improving the quality of management” as the top priority for the organisation, Bravanark agrees with Gideon Skinner, Research Director at MORI who says “staff pick up on the vision (or lack of) for their organisation set out by senior management, and how likely are you to be enthusiastic about your company if your line manager can’t be”. Bravanark has generally found that one of the things SMEs often have trouble with is the translation of the business plan and vision into the practical day to day management of staff. Managers and owners often have difficulty setting objectives for staff at all levels that are both meaningful to them and link to the business plan and vision of the organisation – managers often confuse objectives with task and job lists. Effective objective setting is crucial to getting the best from your staff. Often when staff understand how their role contributes to the overall success of the business; experience tells us their motivation levels, productivity and loyalty to the company all increases. Bravanark is running a bitesize session on 19 January 2006 in Coventry. The session runs from 10am to 12.30; is called Linking the Objectives to the Business Plan; and gives no-nonsense, easily understandable tips for trickling down the business objectives into SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound) goals for individual staff members. The session costs just £40 plus VAT. Places are limited and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis . Please email courses@bravanark.co.uk for further details.

JOB SATISFACTION AND HEALTH – LINK CONFIRMED A major study by Lancaster University Management School (LUMS) and Manchester Business School has confirmed the link between employees’ health and their level of job satisfaction: in a nutshell it means that unhappy workers are more likely to become ill. "The relationship between Job Satisfaction and Health: a meta-analysis" covers findings from over 250,000 people and says that people with low job satisfaction are most likely to experience emotional burn-out, have reduced self-esteem and suffer from raised anxiety and depression, and even a modest decrease in job satisfaction could lead to problems. Factors that have a bearing on job satisfaction levels include long hours, poor management style, excessive workload and lack of autonomy. All these work practices can be addressed through the implementation of effective and consistent management tools such as performance management; the effective management of health and safety; flexible working; training and development strategies; absence management to name but a few. As Cary Cooper, professor of organisational psychology and health at LUMS says "Employers that set aside time to combat issues causing dissatisfaction would find it a “wise investment".

HSE PUBLISHES DRAFT SIMPLIFICATION PLAN 5 December saw the HSE publish its initial draft simplification plan – its response to the Government’s demand for better regulation across the public and private sectors. The government has set regulators generally the challenge of reducing the administrative burden on business whilst improving both effectiveness and outcomes. The HSE plan can be viewed here - comments are invited from all stakeholders prior to submission to the cabinet office in January 2006. Comments on the plan should be sent to:- simplification@hse.gsi.gov.uk

SMEs RATHER THAN LARGE FIRMS FILLED WITH FESTIVE SPIRIT According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s (CIPD) recent Reward Management Survey 73% of SMEs pay for a Christmas party as opposed to 40% of large organisations. And 13% of SMEs will provide some sort of a gift for their staff at this time of year in contrast to 2% of large firms. It also seems that whilst approximately 50% of UK organisations do have an alcohol policy in place it tends to be ‘forgotten’ or ignored at this time of year (slightly ironic considering it’s the party season!). If you don’t have an alcohol/drugs policy in place and don’t know where to start email HR@bravanark.co.uk for help.

MOTHERHOOD DISCRIMINATION STILL GOING STRONG According to a recent report by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), recruiters are being instructed not to put pregnant women or women of childbearing age forward for jobs. Small firms are said to be the worst culprits for this. The majority of the agencies surveyed feel the situation is not improving: 39% say it’s not changing and 22% believe it’s getting worse.

CIVIL PARTNERSHIP ACT 2004 NOW IN FORCE As of 5 December 2005 the Civil Partnerships Act came into force. This allows two non-related, unmarried adults of the same sex to register a civil partnership which has many of the same rights and responsibilities as marriage. Employers need to ensure that from now on whatever benefits they provide to married employees and their spouses must now also be provided to employees who are civil partners and to their civil partners. There are no legal requirements to offer such benefits to same or opposite sex couples who are not married or registered however if it is your custom and practice to offer benefits to partners in general, then you must extend the same benefits to non-registered same sex couples. Don’t forget to double check and update your company’s forms/handbooks/policies/guidance notes etc to ensure that wherever the terms marriage and/or spouse are used civil partnerships and/or civil partner are also included. Keep your staff informed of the changes and of the procedures for claiming any benefits that may now be due to them. Reiterate to all staff that discrimination on the grounds of perceived or actual sexual orientation is unlawful. Maintain the confidentiality of your employees – if they prefer not to reveal their sexual orientation they have the right to do so. Think about the terminology you use; you don’t have to ask staff to declare whether they are married or in a civil partnership since the benefits available to them is generally now the same, and to declare a civil partnership declares a person’s sexuality (and they may prefer non-disclosure of that). However, as part of your equal opportunities monitoring procedures you may wish to record that separate data. ACAS has just released same free guidance about how to deal with sexual orientation in the workplace. “A guide for employers and employees; sexual orientation and the workplace” can be downloaded from: http://www.acas.org.uk/media/pdf/e/n/sexual_1.pdf or call Bravanark to discuss your queries.

SCOPE OF DDA EXTENDS 5 December saw a significant loophole in the DDA being firmly closed as people with serious health conditions were brought under the protection of the law. This means that people with cancer, HIV and multiple sclerosis (MS) will now be protected even if they are not yet showing signs of their illness. The same rights of protection will also be extended to people with mental health conditions who previously have had to prove that they suffer from a “clinically well recognised” condition that has a substantial and long-term impact on their lives. It is expected that this may well open the litigation floodgates as workers suffering from work-related stress, anxiety and depression may well have claims under the DDA due to these amendments. Also from 5 December the DDA now additionally covers: private clubs with 25 or more members; sanctions for publishers of discriminatory adverts; a simpler process for people who think they have been discriminated against and new protection for local authority councillors.

AGE POSITIVE AWARDS The Department for Work and Pensions in association with Recruiter magazine has launched the Age Positive Recruitment Excellence Awards 2006. If you feel you can demonstrate good practice in eliminating age as a criteria for your recruitment and selection process this may be the award for you! There are 5 categories to choose from: Small sized businesses (1-9 employees) Medium sized businesses (10-99 employees) Large businesses (100+ employees) Best practice in online recruitment Best practice/outstanding activity by an individual The closing date for entries is Friday 20 January 2006. Download an entry form from: http://www.agepositive.gov.uk/complogos/ACF20A5.pdf or visit www.agepositive.gov.uk for further details.

DID YOU KNOW... ...that photocopier manufacturer Canon predicts that one third of its technicians called out over the Christmas period will have to deal with the consequences of staff sitting on photocopiers to take pictures of their bums! They have even increased the thickness of the glass on their machines in an effort to better cope with the strain!

AND FINALLY...... found on a box of Christmas lights: "for indoor and outdoor use only."

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