NI Employment Law In Brief: February 2023

This month’s 'In Brief' focuses on strikes, high executive pay and the cost of living crisis as these topics continued to dominate the headlines at the start of the year. There’s also a spot of crystal ball gazing as some writers tried to make predictions for the year ahead!

2023 Predictions for HR: From ‘Quiet Hiring’ to Help with Healing

Analyst company Gartner has issued its top 2023 predictions for HR leaders, and the appearance of hybrid working and expanding talent pools will come as no surprise. Emily Rose-McRae, senior director in the HR practice, said many of the challenges people specialists had faced in recent months would continue into 2023. “HR leaders have faced an increasingly unpredictable environment amid many organisations mandating a return to office, permanently higher turnover and burnt out employees,” she said.

Meanwhile, Ciara Fulton of Lewis Silkin looked into her crystal ball to provide an insight into what she thinks is coming down the track in 2023.

CIPD - New Code of Conduct and Ethics

On the 1st January 2023 The CIPDs new Code of Conduct and Ethics came into effect. The new Code has been brought up to date to make it even more relevant to the challenges faced by the people profession of today.

Industrial Action

There are so many strike stories to choose from – here’s a selection!

Personnel Today, among others, expressed their discontent with Westminster’s new Strikes Bill in their article ‘When the unthinkable becomes policy’. Lewis Silkin also offered their expert opinion on this topic.

More than 25,000 healthcare staff in Northern Ireland had a one-day strike as part of a pay dispute. The move from Unite, Unison and Nipsa members, involved some nurses, ambulance and hospital support staff. Workers were told they would get a 2022-23 pay award of £1,400, but unions said this would not settle the dispute as it was lower than inflation.

Amazon workers staged the first-ever UK strike against the online giant from Wednesday in a protest over pay. Members of the GMB union are walking out at Amazon's Coventry warehouse over what they call a "derisory" 50p an hour pay rise. Workers told the BBC about "severe" conditions, claiming they are constantly monitored and upbraided for "idle time" lasting just a few minutes. Amazon said it has a system "that recognises great performance".

Cost of Living

The BBC reported that pay was rising at fastest pace for over 20 years, but below inflation. They also offered some helpful advice if you fancy a pay rise yourself! If you feel like you're not getting paid enough, you're probably not alone. While average wages have been increasing, they haven't been keeping up with the rising cost of living, which means many people are finding it harder to get by. The BBC spoke to recruiters, a manager and a workplace psychologist to get five tips on how to best negotiate for more money.

Need some guidance on what your priorities should be at this tricky time? Why not book a spot at our conference Key Priorities for HR During a Cost-of-Living Crisis - Reward, Restructuring, Retention & Resilience – we have a fantastic line up of speakers ready to provide you with practical advice on:

• Which reward strategies work best in attracting and retaining staff during difficult economic times?
• How you can boost your employees and organisation’s financial resilience
• The rewards from pausing relentless recruitment to focus on talent retention
• Your people managers are key to workforce resilience – supporting your team through a crisis
• Reflecting on restructuring – lessons Covid taught us
• People Professionals – who is responsible for HR’s resilience during challenging times?

But not everyone is suffering in the cost-of-living crisis it would seem…………

High Pay Day comes early in 2023 as top leaders hit the £33k mark

The leaders of some of the UK’s most prominent companies earned more than the average worker will this year, just 5 days into the new year!

Research by the High Pay Centre shows that at 2pm today FTSE 100 company chief executives will have already earned an average of £33,000 in 2023 – the same as the median salary for a UK worker. The data is based on figures from last year, taken from the Office for National Statistics and the financial reports of publicly listed companies. The TUC has responded by urging pay committees to restore common sense to remuneration awards.