You are currently browsing the monthly archive for September 2011.
With average pay increases falling well behind inflation, and (dare I say it) Christmas heaving into view, it wouldn’t be surprising if the number of workers taking second jobs were to rise. Many employers permit moonlighting so long as it doesn’t conflict with employees’ duties and loyalties. But these situations can prove an extra job of work for the employer as much as for the employee. More
Average weekly earnings in the private sector rose by 3.1 per cent in the year to July according to Office for National Statistics figures published today. Pay growth in the finance and business services sector is astonishingly high at 6.3 per cent, continuing the momentum established a year ago. Earnings growth elsewhere in the private sector has picked up from some of the low figures seen earlier, especially in construction and wholesale and retail, where pay growth was negative in April and May. More
The Retail Prices Index (RPI) measure of inflation rose to 5.2 per cent in August up from 5.0 per cent in July. The Consumer Prices Index (CPI) which excludes mortgage costs and council taxes also rose, from 4.4 per cent in July to 4.5 per cent in August. More
In an old episode of The Simpsons, Homer tries to set up in business selling sugar, neglecting his job at the nuclear power plant in the process. When his boss phones to find out where he is, he tells Homer that if he doesn’t report for work on Friday, he needn’t bother turning up on Monday. ‘Woo hoo!’, shouts Homer. ‘Four-day weekend!’ Homer Simpson is not, of course, noted for his grasp of the subtleties of language. But the legal implications of an ambiguous dismissal have taxed brighter minds than his. More
The current idea that big bonuses and high salaries result in better company performance is just a ‘myth’, says a new report from the High Pay Commission (HPC). The report – What are we paying for? – is an in-depth examination of the relationship between boardroom pay and corporate performance over the last 10 years. Based on research supplied by the IDS Executive Compensation Review (ECR), the report shows that between 2000 and 2010 the total earnings of all FTSE 350 executive directors went up by 108 per cent, while over the same period the value of these same companies went up by just 8 per cent. This represents a 100 percentage point mismatch between how much directors earned and the worth of their companies. More
