News: HR Forum in Rotherham

The HR Forum established by Rotherham recruitment experts, Elevation, and international law firm, Irwin Mitchell, is holding its next event in Rotherham.

Business owners and HR directors from across the region are being invited to attend a complimentary breakfast seminar that will provide practical insight into the consequences of regulatory non-compliance.

The HR Forum was established last year to help human resources practitioners from around the region build a network for sharing knowledge and establishing relationships.

The next event is on April 29 at the New York Stadium in Rotherham at 8am and the complimentary breakfast seminar is entitled: "The real cost of Regulatory Non Compliance."

The costs of regulatory non-compliance can be severe both financially and reputationally for any business, large or small. The ability for a company to recover its costs, even when acquitted, in criminal proceedings, has now largely been abolished and so the focus must shift to ensuring it avoids, wherever possible, those costs in the first place.

Aimed at MD's, senior HR and senior finance professionals, this seminar will provide an update on the Bribery Act, its key provisions and what businesses need to do to ensure compliance. It will also look at the cost recovery scheme introduced by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), provide an overview of the scheme and give some guidance as to what a business can and should do if they find themselves facing a potential invoice from the HSE.

Sarah Barron, associate director at Elevation, said: "Our advisers will also offer tips on dealing with the employment aspects of formal investigations, including when internal investigations and processes should begin, and dealing with investigations and disciplinary proceedings involving senior employees."

Emma Windle, a Sheffield-based lawyer in Irwin Mitchell's Regulatory and Criminal Investigations Group who will be speaking on the day, added: "Events like this give business owners and HR directors a great opportunity to learn about the key changes in legislation which affect them the most.

"We're delighted to once again partner with Elevation on this event and look forward to helping attendees get to grips with significant issues that they simply cannot afford to ignore."

For more details and to book a place visit the Elevation Recruitment website

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News: Solicitor's warning over equal pay ruling

A recent legal case for equal pay could impact on small businesses according to Rotherham solicitors Oxley & Coward.

The case in question involved 251 classroom and nursery assistants comparing their terms of employment with male manual workers (refuse collectors and groundsmen). The men were paid substantial bonuses on top of their basic pay and the women claimed paying such bonuses to men doing jobs of 'equal value' was discriminatory.

When the case reached the Supreme Court, the judges ruled the tribunal's approach was exactly right and that whether or not it was feasible for the men to work in the same workplace as the women was irrelevant.

Having won the right to compare themselves with their male counterparts at other sites, the way is now open for the women to establish their work was of 'equal value' to those men they chose to compare themselves with. While another triumph for equal pay, the ruling could well impact on pay settlements in other sectors - with small businesses the most vulnerable.

Recommended reading: 4 Crucial Steps for Handling Small Business Redundancies Without Facing a Tribunal

Amy Cusworth, employment law specialist at Oxley & Coward, said: "The decision should be seen as a warning for all businesses to take a long hard look at their attitude to pay. Clearly it is now going to be a dangerous approach to favour one employee over another, thinking such things are private, when as this case shows, the reality is they rarely are.

"Having a pay policy that withstands transparency is going to be the safest route for the future. If the policy you have fails this test, then now might be the right time to start reviewing your approach to equal pay."

Oxley & Coward website

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News: Apprentice gains the right tools for the job at SNA Europe

A young apprentice is seizing the opportunity created by SNA Europe and Rotherham College of Arts & Technology (RCAT).

With a UK office in Bramley, SNA Europe has been designing and manufacturing tools for over 150 years and their Bahco brand offers high quality and ergonomically designed hand tools.

Before starting her Business Administration Apprenticeship, 19 year old Louise Simmonite was working in a full time job. She had tried studying A Levels at Sixth Form but found that she wanted to work and earn money rather than study full time.

However, after working in a shop for a year she decided it was time to go back into training so she could pursue a career that was right for her. Through RCAT, Louise enrolled on an apprenticeship so she could learn on the job and earn money while she trained.

Louise started her Level 2 qualification at SNA Europe in the Human Resources department with great success. Louise won the Apprentice of the Month award from Rotherham College after only being in her Apprenticeship for two months through excellent work in arranging a training course that included organising travel for staff from five other countries.

Since then she has gone onto a Level 3 apprenticeship and has further plans to develop.

Louise said: "I decided that I wanted to work and gain some qualifications at the same time and an apprenticeship would be the best way. This would also give me the experience I needed to progress.

"With the skills I have learnt during my apprenticeship I plan to carry on and go on to do HR qualifications and progress with the HR Department."

Stephen Casey, head of Business Improvement at Rotherham College, said: "This is a perfect example of how an Apprenticeship can support both the learner and the business. Louise has excelled at work and in her studies with great benefit to SNA Europe."

Michelle Clark, HR manager at SNA Europe, added: "Louise is an asset to our Business, she always gives 110% to both her work and studies, and is now a key member of our HR Team."

RCAT is currently more than half way through the 100 in 100 campaign, part of a national initiative which aims to get 100 apprentices into training over 100 days. Over the last three years the initiative has been a great success in South Yorkshire.

SNA Europe website
RCAT website

Images: RCAT

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News: Hawkins Thompson win major contract

Rotherham specialist recruitment business, Hawkins Thompson has secured a major contract with a logistics firm.

Based at RiDO's Fusion @ Magna business centre, the enterprise specialises in the placement and development of human resources professionals throughout Europe.

One of the UK's leading third party logistics firms has confirmed Hawkins Thompson as a preferred supplier of their temporary and permanent HR recruitment until 2014.

The unnamed client awarded the contract after some stiff competition from other boutique HR specialists and a number of corporate recruitment companies throughout the country.

Nigel Hawkins, managing director at Hawkins Thompson, said: "Hawkins Thompson is delighted to be supporting such a major business across the UK.

"Winning a major contract for an organisation who delivers EBITDA results in excess of £600m is recognition for the hard work and commitment of the Hawkins Thompson team. This contract is well within our capability and will complement our client portfolio perfectly."

Fellow director Adrian Thompson recently came a close second after being listed for HR Director of the Year 2012 by the World Trade Group for the employee engagement work carried out at Northern Rail.

Hawkins Thompson website

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News: Fit 4 Business in Rotherham

Rotherham-headquartered national recruiter, Stafforce, is aiming to help South Yorkshire employers get Fit 4 Business at a free breakfast event.

Held at client, Stelrad's site in Mexborough on March 7, it will cover reducing costs, increasing productivity and lifting operating efficiencies through three core "fitness" themes - legislation and compliance, lean operations and staff health and financial wellbeing.

The roadshow will focus on Agency Workers Regulations, which came into force on 1st October last year and affects anyone who takes or supplies temporary staff.

Fit 4 Business will also cover workplace health and financial wellbeing, which can foster a happy culture of secure, motivated staff, where low turnover and absenteeism and high productivity are the norm. Stafforce will share the success of the BeingBetter project, which ran in Rotherham and was funded by the European Economic Development Fund.

Ian Anderson, chief executive of Stafforce, said: "For many firms today, the only way to defend margin, never mind grow, is take out unnecessary cost and poor practice. Fit 4 Business will help them to do just that.

"As our clients and their markets have become more sophisticated, we have evolved too. We're not simply about recruitment, but also help firms become profitable, sustainable and effective.

"Pressures on employers have been ramped up by both the recession and legislation and we see it as our job to help them achieve full compliance with employment law, the ever more exacting audits of their clients and reasonable staff expectations."

Anyone wishing to attend Fit 4 Business should call Frances Slack on 0114 384 0100 or frances.slack@stafforce.co.uk

Stafforce website

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News: Stafforce acquires CenFRA

Stafforce Personnel, based in Rotherham, has acquired CenFRA (the Centre for food robotics and automation), based in Doncaster.

CenFRA was formed with assistance from Yorkshire Forward in 2007 as the UK's centre of excellence for all robotic and automation activities relating to the food and drink industry. The organisation provides consultancy and research and development services to support and promote business growth and sustainability for food and drink manufacturers across the UK.

Ian Anderson, chief executive of Stafforce, said: "Our business is moving from strength to strength and acquiring CenFRA will give us the opportunity to add even more value to the services we offer to our clients. Specifically, this strategic acquisition will enhance our existing consultancy services and help us to improve the profitability of businesses in the food, drink and other industries."

Steve Cann, general manager of CenFRA, said: "There is a very close strategic fit between CenFRA and Stafforce. Over the past four years, we have pioneered continuous business improvement in the food and drink industry and helped to create and safeguard a large number of jobs. As part of a larger group, we see many opportunities to extend our expertise within the sector and enable even more food and drink businesses to benefit."

CenFRA will retain its established brand and its services will be integrated into the Stafforce portfolio.

The organisation provides support through extensive industry knowledge, engineering expertise and project support skills. It is unique as it is driven by industry experts for the benefit of the industry and counts senior management from ARLA Foods and Guenther Bakeries UK amongst its board directors.

Since CenFRA was established in 2007, the organisation has created 50 jobs in the food and drink industry, safeguarded 243 positions, helped 117 businesses to improve their performance and engaged 74 businesses in worthwhile collaborations with partners.

Ian Anderson added: "This is the fourth acquisition in the past 12 months for Stafforce, as we continue to expand our offer and enhance customer service. With the expertise and skills of CenFRA we are looking forward to further developing business opportunities as a direct result of this acquisition."

Stafforce website
CenFRA website

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News: Oxley & Coward discuss temp workers’ rights

Businesses need to prepare to deal with new regulations controlling the rights and benefits temporary workers are entitled too, says Rotherham's Oxley & Coward Solicitors LLP.

After October 1, any workers supplied by a temp agency who have worked for 12 weeks with the same company, will become entitled to the same rights and benefits as workers hired directly by the company.

This means temp staff will be entitled to the same wages or salary, the same overtime payments, the same annual pay increases, the same holidays and rest breaks as permanent workers of a similar grade hired directly by the company. Temps will be entitled to certain benefits, such as use of the canteen or crèche, although they will not be entitled to join the company's pension scheme or be entitled to redundancy payments.

Amy Cusworth, commercial law solicitor at Oxley & Coward, said: "Employers will need to act fast if they have not yet made preparations to comply with the regulations. They must look at their employee benefits and consider which are covered by the regulations and which are excluded.

"If they rely on agency workers to a substantial extent they must look at how they comply and what the cost of compliance will be.

"With planning, there are ways in which companies can take charge of the situation," added Amy. "For example, they could decide to change what is offered to permanent employees, or they could consider whether it is feasible to change their policy and use workers who are genuinely self-employed instead of agency workers, which would take them outside the scope of these Regulations.

With well over a million temporary/agency workers in the UK, many business stand to be affected by the changes and Amy also has a warning for any employer who thinks they can sidestep the rules in October: "What companies cannot do, is move agency workers between different jobs or to change their job description every 12 weeks. These are obvious ruses that are prohibited and will attract a fine."

Oxley & Coward website

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News: Rotherham recruitment firm named Yorkshire's Most Promising New Business

Rotherham recruitment consultancy Hawkins Thompson Limited was named Yorkshire's Most Promising New Business in the regional heat of the British Chambers of Commerce's Chamber Awards 2010.

Hawkins Thompson was launched in July 2009 at RiDO's Fusion @ Magna business centre in the midst of a recession. A sales target was established for year one to take into account the UK's flat recruitment market but the professional and bespoke human resources recruitment firm went on to smash their targets and exceed expectations in the first year of trading.

Exclusive agreements and preferred supplier contracts were won and the results saw the business beat the original first year forecast by 130%.

Over the years, the Directors, Nigel Hawkins and Adrian Thompson have built professional working relationships across the UK with a strong focus on ethics, transparency and delivery.

Mr Hawkins has a significant HR recruitment background and Mr Thompson is a HR practitioner with extensive experience at Board Level. The pair realised that they had the same values, enthusiasm and drive but also very different and complementary skills and saw the opportunity to form an alliance that is today Hawkins Thompson.

Nigel Hawkins, Managing Director said: "This wonderful accolade is the result of lots of hard work and dedication by the team and the support of all HR professionals that have worked with us, not just in Yorkshire but across the UK. We are really excited about the future and continuing to provide the first class service that our clients and candidates deserve."

Bob Langley, Business Adviser for RiDO added: "This is an excellent accolade for the company and one that is fully deserving of their hard work and enterprise. It also continues a current run of our business centre companies winning regional and national wards."

Having won the regional title, the company is now in the running for the national award in its category, as well as the chance to collect the Award for Outstanding Business Achievement – with a top prize of £25,000 and runners up prizes of £15,000 and £10,000. The national winners will be announced at a ceremony at London's Hurlingham Club on November 25.

Hawkins Thompson website
Rotherham Investment and Development Office

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News: HR boost for Rotherham businesses

Rotherham Investment & Development Office (RiDO) the regeneration arm of Rotherham Borough Council, has recruited a new human resources specialist – so it can extend the free recruitment and employment advice it already gives to firms in the borough.

Nicola Nicholson is an experienced HR business consultant, whose background ranges from setting up an overseas investor's first personnel, training and health and safety department to working with national insurance and stainless steel companies. She is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development.

Nicola said: "Using my experience to ensure firms already here, or looking to invest here, get all the detailed employment information and support they need is an exciting project."

"Rotherham has a lot of potential and offers not just great business space – it also has a workforce with the desirable skills that companies are looking for. Wrapping that up into an individual pre-recruitment package that suits each business will be my job and I'm looking forward to it."

She adds her experience to that of RiDO's already well-respected HR business consultant, Sarah Wilkinson, to offer companies help with recruitment, training and development advice.

RiDO’s head of business development, Tim O'Connell, said: "We're delighted to have someone with Nicola's experience and professionalism join our team. The value of getting recruitment, training and HR right is often underestimated but it can make a big difference to any business."

Rotherham Investment & Development Office
Rotherham

Images: RiDO

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News: Horbury Group adds Elevation Recruitment as its tenth subsidiary

Rotherham based construction specialists, The Horbury Group has contined its expansion by adding Elevation Recruitment to its nine existing companies.

Elevation Recruitment help businesses find and recruit key staff at all levels, offer skills testing for all sector disciplines as well as provide career coaching. The company has six individual areas of specialism; accountancy and finance, practice, executives, secretarial, sales and construction.

The company is run by Greg Parkinson and Matt Linley who between them have clocked up 22 years experience in the recruitment industry. Greg spent seven years in accountancy recruitment and was the Horbury Group's recruitment account manager, whilst Matt has 15 years experience recruiting at senior management and board level.

Trevor Wragg, managing director of The Horbury Group, said: "We are thrilled to welcome Elevation Recruitment to The Horbury Group and we look forward to driving their development plans. They bring a great deal of knowledge to their field, providing professional support and guidance to help people meet their career goals.

"An increasing diversification and expansion of the Horbury Group means that we can service a broader range of clients with even greater efficiency. This latest addition will contribute to this and allow us to further our expertise."

Greg Parkinson, co-director of Elevation Recruitment, said: "As with all the companies within the Horbury Group, Elevation Recruitment aims to be the best in our market. We aim to get there through quality of service, trust from our clients and candidates and a happy, rewarded work force.

"Elevation has ambitious growth plans to develop niche brands within key market sectors, before expanding into other geographical regions. We believe our position within the Horbury Group will help us achieve this."

Based at South Grove House, in the Moorgate area of Rotherham, The Horbury Group has worked on prestigious construction projects including the Manchester Civil Justice Centre, the Beetham Hilton Tower in Manchester and grade A offices and housing developments in Rotherham.

Rotherham

Images: Horbury Group

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News: Rotherham glazier competes for prestigious award

Glazing specialist Solaglas Windowcare, has been shortlisted as a finalist in a prestigious award for innovation in human resources practice.

On June 30, the Rotherham-based company will go head-to-head with global giant McDonalds, housebuilder Barratts Developments and the world's largest media services group Zenith Optimedia for the Best Talent Management award in the HR Excellence Awards at a black-tie event in London. The awards celebrate effective and innovative practices in human resources.

Solaglas impressed judges with the commitment that they made to their employees through the implementation of their innovative Developing Management Potential (DMP) programme. The scheme, which is gaining interest across parent company Saint-Gobain, provides the support and training to spot talent and uncover the company’s managers of the future.

Running over a 12-month period, the scheme has been well-received by those taking part and significantly contributed to the improvement in the company’s performance over the last year.

Ian Davy, managing director at Solaglas Windowcare said: "Being shortlisted for an HR Excellence award is testament to how committed we are to providing our employees with the support to develop their skills as effective leaders within the business. The DMP programme ensures that we get the best out of our employees and in turn they feel motivated and valued by us."

Sologlas website
Rotherham

Images: solaglaswindowcare.co.uk

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News: HR Forum for South Yorkshire businesses

Creativesheffield is to host the next of its quarterly HR forums on Tuesday February 17 at The Source, Meadowhall. These free events attract attendees from a wide range of public and private sectors, including financial services, law, telecommunications, manufacturing, contact centres and government departments. Creativesheffield are recognising the importance of supporting the HR function of local businesses to see them through the recession and to ensure that they and the city are well placed once the economy recovers. David Fletcher, Business Investment Director at Creativesheffield, commented: "These HR Forums provide an opportunity to take on new ideas, network with other businesses facing similar problems and a chance to share experiences and approaches to HR strategy. Some companies forget the importance of HR to the overall success of a business as it can be viewed as purely an internal function. This is your chance to discover how you can adapt your HR strategy to the changing market and how it can be used as a differentiator for your business." The next event will hear from Craig Moffatt, of Thomas Rotherham College, who manages South Yorkshire’s £25 million Enhanced Fund which supports businesses of all sizes and in all sectors to improve the skills of existing employees to aid overall business performance. There will be other speakers from Eras UK, ACAS and HMP.

Creative Sheffield website
Rotherham

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