The UK won the right to retain exemption from the European working time directive at a meeting of EU employment ministers on June 2. France, which has a 35-hour working week, led demands for the UK to step in line with the directive that imposes a maximum 48-hour working week.
Trade and Industry Secretary Alan Johnson discussed the directive during talks in Luxembourg on whether the UK should retain the right for workers to opt out of the measure, according to a Press Association report. “We strongly support the freedom for companies to have the flexibility to offer additional hours where necessary, and for workers to have the freedom to choose to work longer hours, without coercion, where it suits them to do so,” Johnson said. “In the light of this we are very concerned by aspects of the proposals in front of us.”
Meanwhile the Trades Union Congress said that the UK’s long-hours culture is actually bad for workers’ health and harms rather than boosts productivity. It estimates around 16% of the UK labour force works more than 48 hours a week, which it claims can increase the risk of a range of illnesses including heart disease and mental illness. Contact DTI 020 7215 5000 ( http://www.dti.gov.uk)
HSBC OFFERS CHILDCARE
HSBC plans to offer all 57,000 UK staff nursery places for their children and childcare vouchers for children up to the age of 16. The offer was made after the government launched a childcare scheme announced in last year’s budget, whereby parents can buy vouchers from their employer out of their pre-tax income, up to the value of £50 a week. But some employment experts have warned parents to take financial advice before taking up the offer as the benefit could be offset by losses in tax credit payments. Since the scheme is exempt from tax and national insurance payments, the bank said it would amount to a 6.5% pay rise. But union Amicus said this interpretation was misleading. “While we welcome this action, it is misleading to couch it in words that make it look like HSBC is putting up the money itself, which is not the case,” said Rob O’Neil, Amicus’ national union officer for HSBC. The childcare scheme was announced in the midst of a pay dispute and came ahead of a one-day strike in May, the bank’s first for eight years. The company said it also plans to double the number of workplace nurseries to at least 170. Contact Sue Jex, HSBC 020 7992 1572 ( http://www.hsbc.co.uk); Rob O’Neil, Amicus 020 7505 3000 ( http://www.ourunion.org.uk)
ARGOS’ BENEFITS PAY OFF
GUS’ retailer Argos was highly commended and runner up in two separate categories at the Employee Benefits Awards 2005 ceremony, which took place at the end of April. The company was highly recommended in the ‘most effective use of a voluntary benefits plan’ category, recognising it for its first-time collaboration with Homebase to negotiate special rates and offers on services. Argos was also named runner up in the ‘most successful new benefits launch’ category ( Vodafone was in first place). The benefits package is offered to all employees in the group. It includes negotiated deals and discounts for its staff on a broad range of services such as holidays, car hire, eye care and driving lessons among others. Contact Vicky West, Argos 020 7495 0070 ( http://www.gusplc.com)
CHECK OUT THE BONUS
Staff and directors at Tesco have received bonuses totalling £220m after the UK’s largest retailer reported a £2bn profit before tax last year, according to Tesco’s annual report. It revealed that 150,000 workers, from checkout staff and drivers to board directors, will share the money through incentive bonuses and share schemes. A typical shop floor worker enrolled in the company’s save-as-you-earn and profit-share scheme could expect to earn bonuses of up to £4,000 from the payouts, while the board gets to share £12.8m. Terry Leahy, Tesco’s chief executive, will receive a bonus of £2.08m made up of a £1.03m cash bonus plus £1.05m in shares. Contact Tesco investor relations, 01992 646 484 ( http://www.tesco.com/corporateinfo)
CHEQUE’S IN THE POST
Royal Mail reported a record profit in May of £537m on operations last year, triggering a £218m payout for staff and large bonuses for the executive directors. Chief executive Adam Crozier will get £1.84m under the long-term incentive plan covering the past three years, on top of his annual pay and a bonus of just over £700,000.
The £218m payout to employees is one of the biggest in history and will mean that everyone who has worked at Royal Mail for 12 months will get £1,074.
Dave Ward, the deputy general secretary of the Communications Workers Union, said that while he did not begrudge Crozier his salary there was an issue over the “disproportionate” level of executives’ bonuses compared with the workforce’s. “It is the workforce which has to carry out change, people have seen a massive upheaval in their working environment,” he was quoted as saying.
Separately Royal Mail said it will continue an initiative that rewards postal workers with new cars and holiday vouchers if they do not take any sick leave. Under the ‘be in to win’ scheme launched last August, staff who went six months without a day off sick were entered into a prize draw. The company says the promotion boosted daily attendance by almost 11%, representing an extra 1,000 people collecting, sorting and delivering mail each day. Sickness levels averaged only 5.7% compared with 6.4% in the same period the year before. Contact ( http://www.royalmail.com)
VODAFONE STAFF’S WINDFALL
Staff at Vodafone are set to share a £230m windfall this summer when the company’s bonus scheme matures. Seven out of 10 of the group’s 56,000 employees will receive about £5,000 each. The mobile phone company granted 480m options to shop workers, call centre staff and middle management towards the end of the technology stock slump in 2002, when the price was drifting to a five-year low. Contact Ally Stevens, Vodafone 01635 33251 ( http://www.vodafone.com)
Mark Felt, newly revealed as Watergate’s ‘deep throat’, famously advised Woodward and Bernstein to “follow the money” in their search for the truth. That’s not a bad motto for CSR either. As companies are first and foremost economic instruments, any examination of social responsibility should start by asking the question: who gets the money?
Yet the one thing virtually every CSR report fails to address in any meaningful way is remuneration: facts about pay differentials, low pay compared to actual cost of living, eligibility for fringe benefits, who gets stock options and ultimately the share of profits that accrue to employees compared to investors. This is all the more surprising given the reputational risks involved, with newspapers daily full of lurid headlines about fat cats, outsourcing and off-shoring to low wage countries, redundancy announcements triggering share price rises and the like.
Of course it takes a very brave CSR manager to tell senior executives their pay packets are going to be examined in the CSR report – not just the details that appear in the annual report small print but contrasted with employees and subjected to stakeholder feedback. Ouch.
Still, as we report above, the facts about earning and bonuses are out there in the public domain and the picture the numbers reveal may not be too bad. Compared to directors, £4,000 for a Tesco checkout worker or £1,000 for a postal worker may not look much, but as a percentage of basic pay it starts to look much better. And pay differentials are endemic in society: just compare what we pay nurses who save our lives with accountants who save us tax. Following the money won’t provide all the answers but it can start the debate.
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