THE HUB RETAIL RECRUITMENT’S MONTHLY NEWSROUND
- Date: 26 October 2016
- Posted By: admin
October seems to have flown by, and here we bring you some of the top stories the month has thrown up: Child slave labour in Turkey; John Lewis appoints its first female MD; MPs want Philip Greene ‘defrocked’; supermarkets find themselves in the employment hot soup; and other news.
Child slave labour in Turkey: ASOS and M&S, are being supplied by manufacturers in Turkey who are using Syrian children on less than a £1 an hour – so says a BBC documentary aired on Monday. All the retailers implicated said they had processes in place, including physical monitoring of these suppliers, to ensure such practices don’t exist, moved quickly to put in remedial measures to address the shocking claims, and to try and repair their damaged reputations. Ethically sourced clothing is really important to UK customers, so these revelations are bound to shake our confidence in the High Street.
John Lewis appoints its first female MD: The recent speculation about who will replace Andy Street when he leaves JLP this month to pursue a political career, is over. It will be Paula Nickolds who takes over in January. Not surprisingly, Ms Nickolds is a JLP ‘lifer’, having started her career there over 20 years ago – JLP always recruits its top people from within. Having started at JLP on the shop floor, and then moving into buying, Ms Nickolds is currently JLP’s commercial director. As you’ll see from this article, she was responsible for the 2013 Christmas ad. Talking of which – we’re waiting with baited breath for the 2016 one.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/oct/25/paula-nickolds-john-lewis-retail-profile
MPs want Philip Green ‘defrocked’: MPs voted overwhelming to have Philip Green stripped of his knighthood. More insults rained down on Sir Philip – Iain Wright, who chaired the Parliamentary Select Committee that hauled Sir Philip over the coals this summer about the demise of BHS said ‘He took the rings from BHS’s fingers’. It isn’t for the MPs to strip Sir Philip of his gong though, that’s down to a committee of civil servants, which it is felt will wait to see if Sir Philip makes good his promise to fill the huge hole in BHS’s pension pot. So this one continues to rumble on.
https://www.ft.com/content/1dc06529-a97a-3613-860a-ef9e88ddcf40
Supermarkets find themselves in the employment soup: Leigh Day, a firm of solicitors, is representing both Tesco and Asda staff in making discrimination claims over pay. A Manchester Employment Tribunal has ruled that women working inside Asda stores can compare themselves to men working in the retailer’s distribution centres. This then opens the way for the women to make their claim for pay discrimination as the men in distribution get paid more than women working in the supermarkets. And as we reported earlier in the month, a claim has been lodged by Tesco staff, saying that the changes to pay, which were agreed with the union, also amount to discrimination. These two cases will have far reaching implications for the retail sector should they be upheld. A case that has been upheld, and which has implications for businesses right across our economy, is the case that’s been running for 5 years – yes, 5 years! – about whether holiday pay should include commission. The Court of Appeal says that it should, although it isn’t clear about how far backdated claims can go, or what other elements of variable pay could be included. Here’s some articles that cover all three cases.
http://www.cipd.co.uk/pm/peoplemanagement/b/weblog/archive/2016/10/10/court-upholds-holiday-pay-ruling-but-key-questions-left-unanswered.aspx?utm_medium=email&utm_source=cipd&utm_campaign=cipdupdate&utm_term=68296&utm_content=191016-7397-20306-20161026053031-Court%20upholds%20holiday%20pay%20ruling%20–%20but%20key%20questions%20left%20unanswered
Other news: Breaking news this morning is that Apple – the biggest company in the world – has reported a drop in profits by 14%. It’s a situation we’ve seen throughout the month with retailers increasing sales but losing profits; Vodafone is to be fined £4 million by Ofcom, the communications regulator, for failing its customers – apparently, Vodafone is the most complained about mobile phone retailer; Carpetright has said it might have to increases prices as its sales drop; and Ed Burstall is leaving Liberty. Here’s an article on each of these stories.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-37770432
http://news.sky.com/story/vodafone-hit-by-multimillion-pound-fine-over-litany-of-failures-10632230
Liberty Says Farewell to Burstell, but Who Will Replace Him?
So lots of stories for you to catch up with today. We hope you’ve found something of interest. Next week will be our first Weekly News Snippets of November, so we look forward to seeing you back here on Wednesday 2nd November. Until then, have a great week – an enjoy your Halloween!