Findings show that UK businesses are not doing enough to support their caring workforce – therefore running the risk of a talent retention crisis. In a survey of 1,000 consumers and 100 employers, research found that 40% of carers don’t get the support they need from friends, family and their employer and only 38% of employers monitor the caring responsibilities of their workforce. Despite the need for more support for carers at work, there were some positive results from employers. Of the 100 HR managers questioned, one in three (33%) said they have specific policies or communications targeting their carers at work and most of the organisations had wider benefits that would support carers, with the most popular methods of support being:
Access to an employee helpline or assistance programme (80%)
A culture that is supportive of flexibility (80%)
Provision of technology to work remotely (77%)
Paid time off to deal with family emergencies (71%)
In the survey of 1,000 consumers, it found that many felt that while their employer focussed heavily on the childcare responsibilities of their workforce, very few had procedures in place for those carers of parents, grandparents, siblings or partners. 35% of employees said they rarely or never have any kind of support network available to them – unlike new parents who tend to build a network of people going through the same ‘ages and stages’ as them. According to enei, almost 7 million adults in the UK are providing unpaid care to a sick, disabled (of any age) or elderly person. Over 3 million people combine this care with paid work, which means around 1 in 9 of the UK workforce has caring responsibilities. The rise in pension age and an ageing population means the number is growing rapidly. The results of the research, along with a resource pack containing guidance on how to support carers at work can be found here.
Collective Redundancy Consultation - Insolvency 11 June 2015
A call for evidence has been published seeking views on how to improve consultation and information sharing between employers and employees when a company is faced with insolvency.
The Insolvency Service is seeking views from industry and the public on the challenges faced by businesses around consulting employees about potential redundancies surrounding insolvency and how to make consultation more effective to improve the outcomes for both the employer and employee.
The call for evidence - Collective Redundancy Consultation for Employers facing Insolvency will run for 12 weeks and is asking views on:
understanding of the current requirements, their purpose and benefits factors that facilitate or inhibit effective consultation ensuring timely notification and effective consultation
Background Employers proposing to make more than 20 employees redundant at an establishment within any 90 day period must consult them and inform the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills about the proposals. Consultation can mean that unnecessary redundancies are avoided or the impact mitigated. Inadequate consultation can lead to a Protective Award being made against the employer by an Employment Tribunal. If the business is insolvent some or all of the Protective Award may be claimed from the National Insurance Fund. In some high profile cases the cost of this to the taxpayer has run to tens of millions of pounds.
CIPP comment The Policy Team will be studying the call for evidence, and if appropriate will issue a survey in due course.
CIPP Policy News Journal
25/04/2016, Page 103 of 453
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