New Censuswide survey commissioned by MHR reveals retail and hospitality managers are braced for employee ‘no- shows’ in the run up to Christmas
With the Christmas rush now in full swing, 70 percent of managers in the retail and hospitality industry are battling against the problem of unexpected employee absences rocketing during busy seasonal periods, compared to a normal working week, reveals a new Censuswide survey on behalf of leading HR and payroll provider MHR.
The survey of 250 managers in the retail and hospitality sectors was commissioned to gain an insight into how they plan employee rosters in the run up to busy periods and cope with seasonal peaks in demand.
It found two-thirds (66 percent) of managers believe that employees are more likely to call in sick during busy seasonal periods. This is despite 74 percent believing they have the right number of employees available to cover shifts. When asked what they would change or implement to better manage the fluctuations in staff requirements caused by seasonal demand, 41 percent said they would hire more permanent people while 12 percent said they would employ more people on zero hours contracts.
Over half (58 percent) of managers said that a rise in absences over the busy seasonal period had a negative impact on their profits.
Stuart Price, Business Analyst at MHR, says:
“With Christmas representing the busiest time of the year for the retail and hospitality sectors, managers must optimise their rosters to meet seasonal demand and maintain exceptional customer service, while keeping a firm eye on the bottom line by minimising instances of overstaffing.
Despite their best efforts to plan ahead it seems managers accept that they are likely to experience a spike in employee absences.
Most managers would choose to improve their situation by hiring more employees, throwing more money at costly resource, rather than investing in a workforce management system which would enable them to gain valuable insights to create accurate rosters and react promptly to absences the moment they occur.”
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New statutory Code of Practice to tackle sexual harassment at work 7 January 2019
A package of 12 announcements has been launched by government to tackle sexual harassment at work, including consultations on legal protections and on additional protections for volunteers and interns.
ComRes, in their 2017 research for the BBC, claim that 40% of women (and 18% of men) have experienced unwanted sexual behaviour at work at some point.
Minister for Women Victoria Atkins said:
“Sexual harassment at work is illegal, but sadly that disgusting behaviour is something that many women still experience today. We are taking action to make sure employers know what they have to do to protect their staff, and people know their rights at work and what action to take if they feel intimidated or humiliated. Everyone has the right to feel safe at work.”
Business Minister Kelly Tolhurst said:
“It continues to disappoint me that in this day and age some women still face discrimination and harassment at work. One part of this is the minority of cases where non-disclosure agreements are used unethically, and employees may not be aware of their protections and rights. We will be consulting on these.” The government has announced that it will: • Introduce a new statutory code of practice on sexual harassment, which will be developed by the Equality and Human Rights Commission under its Equality Act 2006 powers
The Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals
Payroll: need to know
cipp.org.uk
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