How many times have you heard someone say we have to deregulate employment law to help stimulate the economy? Not many? You obviously don't watch Question Time, listen to Any Answers or watch the politics show or watch anything with a politician in it. That's ok. Politicians are full of crap and this is an excellent example.
One of the many roles I am involved with is hiring and firing. In order to hire someone you offer them a job, give them a start date and ask them to bring along their P45 and a couple of pieces of id. This onerous process is fraught with potential danger. Luckily you get twelve months to change your mind. At any point during the first twelve months you can dismiss the lucky candidate on a whim. This usually follows a four week trial period for which our new valued employee has worked for free in order to prove their worth.
The spanner in the works occurs when an employee has a track record of sticking around or a medical condition. Things can get pretty awkward then. Those unreasonable employment law people have decided that such an employee has 'rights'. This makes it very difficult to pull the trigger. It's not impossible to fire someone in this situation but it means you have to start jumping through hoops to do it. Could this be the red tape that needs to be trimmed?
This brings me to the subject of works contracts. It used to be the case that the contract worked in the employee's interest. It basically said if you turn up to work regularly and don't be a complete tool you will have a job. Now the contract is just another weapon in employee relations. Examples of typical clauses put into work contracts or statements of particulars are 'seeking permission to engage in work elsewhere', 'come in to work when we tell you', 'you will get fired if you so much as sneer at the boss.'
A major burden shovelled onto the shoulders of our employer is the fact that they have to pay their staff. And that even though they pay them for it, they can't run them for 24 hours a day. That darn 48 hours per week limit is a real affront to the right of workers to do what they are told. Hard work is character building, if we could pay them less they would have to work more which means they would be thoroughly decent. People you could almost respect.
Have no doubts, when people talk about bureaucracy and employment law, they are talking about your working conditions. About getting rid of that pesky minimum wage, about the limit to the standard working week, about health and safety. Deregulation normally means placing the burden of a cost associated with some business onto the tax payer. In this case it's cashing in on the rights of the disadvantaged in order to promote growth. Basically making money by exploitation. A policy theoretically abandoned in 1833 with the Slavery Abolition Act.
One of the many roles I am involved with is hiring and firing. In order to hire someone you offer them a job, give them a start date and ask them to bring along their P45 and a couple of pieces of id. This onerous process is fraught with potential danger. Luckily you get twelve months to change your mind. At any point during the first twelve months you can dismiss the lucky candidate on a whim. This usually follows a four week trial period for which our new valued employee has worked for free in order to prove their worth.
The spanner in the works occurs when an employee has a track record of sticking around or a medical condition. Things can get pretty awkward then. Those unreasonable employment law people have decided that such an employee has 'rights'. This makes it very difficult to pull the trigger. It's not impossible to fire someone in this situation but it means you have to start jumping through hoops to do it. Could this be the red tape that needs to be trimmed?
This brings me to the subject of works contracts. It used to be the case that the contract worked in the employee's interest. It basically said if you turn up to work regularly and don't be a complete tool you will have a job. Now the contract is just another weapon in employee relations. Examples of typical clauses put into work contracts or statements of particulars are 'seeking permission to engage in work elsewhere', 'come in to work when we tell you', 'you will get fired if you so much as sneer at the boss.'
A major burden shovelled onto the shoulders of our employer is the fact that they have to pay their staff. And that even though they pay them for it, they can't run them for 24 hours a day. That darn 48 hours per week limit is a real affront to the right of workers to do what they are told. Hard work is character building, if we could pay them less they would have to work more which means they would be thoroughly decent. People you could almost respect.
Have no doubts, when people talk about bureaucracy and employment law, they are talking about your working conditions. About getting rid of that pesky minimum wage, about the limit to the standard working week, about health and safety. Deregulation normally means placing the burden of a cost associated with some business onto the tax payer. In this case it's cashing in on the rights of the disadvantaged in order to promote growth. Basically making money by exploitation. A policy theoretically abandoned in 1833 with the Slavery Abolition Act.
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