Many small firms ‘aiming to improve environmental focus’

In order to improve their environmental commitments, many small firms are looking to focus on things like recycling, new figures suggest.

As many as 98 per cent of those polled in a recent survey published by Abbey and Alliance and Leicester Business Banking have recently aimed to take more eco-friendly steps.

Firms looking to opt for green commercial waste management services may be interested to note that 64 per cent of the businesses queried are said to have introduced a scheme to recycle their waste.

Abbey and Alliance and Leicester Business Banking’s Paula Ickinger commented that environmentally friendly measures can help businesses to save money in the long run.

Ms Ickinger, the organisations’ head of business banking marketing, noted: “It is particularly interesting that so many companies have actually made environmental considerations a higher priority since the economic downturn.”

The government’s environment secretary Hilary Benn has also recently called on UK firms to become more resource efficient.

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50% of businesses consider pay freeze

Half of employers in the UK are planning to freeze pay completely in 2010, according to data released by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).

However, the CBI’s survey also revealed that hiring freezes are starting to thaw, with the number of firms operating a recruitment freeze dropping from 61% in the spring to 37%.

“The worst of the recession may be over but firms remain ultra cautious about increasing pay. Market conditions continue to be very tough and growth in 2010 will be feeble, so pay is going to be squeezed for some time to come,” said John Cridland, CBI Deputy Director-General.

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UK Enterprises Wasting £264 Million Per Year on Mobile Costs

A survey of UK businesses has suggested that companies are wasting money by not deploying fixed-mobile convergence systems within their offices. The research showed that on average large enterprises were spending £209,150 each year on mobile calls, yet the IT directors surveyed estimated that 42% of their employees' mobile calls were being made from within the office

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Small firm working trends revealed

Over a third of small business owners are now working over 50 hours per week to try and combat the recession, according to research released by Abbey and Alliance & Leicester.The data also reveals that 15% of small firm owners are working in excess of 65 hours a week; the equivalent of a minimum of 13 hours per day over a five day working week.34% of small business owners say that they are now working longer hours than they were a year ago and the average amount of time a small business owner spends workinga week is 47 hours.”The recession is having a huge impact on small businesses in this country and many owners are sacrificing their work-life balance by working longer hours as they struggle for the survival of their business,” said Paula Ickinger, Head of Business Banking Marketing at Abbey and Alliance & Leicester.

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Tribunal service publish 2008/9 employment tribunal figures

The Tribunals Service has eventually published the final version of the employment tribunal statistics for 1 April 2008 to 31 March 2009. Key figures show major increases in claims for unfair dismissal (up 29%), breach of contract (up 31%) and redundancy pay (up 48%).

The 2008/9 figures show an overall decrease in the number of claims and an increase in the number of disposals. Key findings are as follows:

• Employment Tribunals accepted 151,000 claims in 2008/9, a decrease of 20% on the 2007/8 figure of 189,300.
• When the jurisdictional mix of the claims is considered (more than one jurisdiction in a single claim), there were 266,500 accepted jurisdictional cases, down by 10% on the 2007/8 figure of 297,000.
• There were rises in cases for unfair dismissal (up 29%); breach of contract (up 31%); redundancy pay (up 48%) and redundancy.
• The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) received 1,794 appeals compared to 1,841 in 2007/8.
• The median award for unfair dismissal was £4,269.
• The median awards in discrimination claims were: (i) £5,172 for race; (ii) £7,000 for sex; (iii) £7,226 for disability; (iv) £4,291 for religion; (v) £15,351 for sexual orientation; and (vi) £3,000 for age.
• The median award for costs was £1,000, with the maximum being £25,000.

Source: BeProfessional

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