Always look on the bright side of "WERS", an increase in awards and the outcome of consultation about (redundancy) consultation
The 2011 Workplace Employment Relations Study ("WERS") commissioned by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills ("BIS"), surveyed over 21,000 employees between March 2011 and June 2012 to ascertain employees’ views on a range of issues such as their relationship with employers, work life balance, pay and training.
Since the results of the last WERS, conducted in 2004, job satisfaction amongst employees has apparently jumped by 4% from 16% to 20%*. In addition, committed employees who "share the values of their organisation" leapt from 55% to 65%. Not bad in times of potential economic meltdown.
For those who like the less cheery side of things, it was also revealed that 39% of managers have had reason to discipline an employee and 17% of managers had felt the need to dismiss an employee. Welcome news that us employment lawyers are not out of a job yet!
A further breakdown of the figures will be available in November 2013 when the Government release its "Employment Relations in the Shadow of Recession" findings.
On an unrelated note, after yet another consultation exercise, BIS has also published the draft The Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 (Amendment) Order 2013. Whilst this does not sound particularly exciting, these are the draft Regulations which aim to shorten the consultation period for proposals to make 100 or more people redundant from 90 days to 45 days, and bring fixed-term employees into the headcount. The proposed trigger date for the new period is when the proposal to make 100+ people redundant occurs on or after 6th April 2013.
And finally (finally), the new limits on certain Employment Tribunal awards came into effect on 1 February 2013. The two key changes are:
The limit on the compensatory award for "ordinary" unfair dismissal increased from £72,300 to £74,200; and
The maximum amount of a week's pay for the purposes of calculating statutory redundancy payments and the basic award in unfair dismissal claims increased from £430 to £450.
These new limits will apply to dismissals which take place on or after 1 February 2013.
*We are reliably informed that not all of the 20% of employees were questioned at 16.59 on a Friday.
These notes have been prepared for the purpose of an article only. They should not be regarded as a substitute for taking legal advice.