Equal Opportunity issues

Most of these don't just apply to staffing matters, but it is often where you come across them first.

• Equality Direct (link problem Sept 08) Designed to give business managers easy access to authoritative and joined-up (free) advice on a wide range of equality issues, such as providing better access for disabled people or equal pay. Use the web site or phone 0845 600 3444 (Mon-Sat 8am to 8pm, Sun 10am-4pm).
  
  
• Commission for Racial Equality, Disability Rights Commission and Equal Opportunities Commission are now merged into Equality and Human Rights Commission (Oct 07).
  
  
• SCVO's Equalities web pages.
  
  
• Race On The Agenda (ROTA) is a policy development information and research service for the Black voluntary sector in London.
  
  
• Gender equality issues, including pay parity.
  
  
• Equality Commission for Northern Ireland Has taken over the functions of Commission for Racial Equality for Northern Ireland, the Equal Opportunities Commission for Northern Ireland, the Fair Employment Commission and the Northern Ireland Disability Council.
  
  
• JobCentrePlus should be able to provide information and advice to employers in the adoption of good employment policies and practices in the recruitment, retention, training and career development of disabled people, through Disability Employment Advisers.
  
  
• The government's Disability pages on direct.gov.uk.
  
  
• Employers' Forum on Disability is funded and managed by member organisations, to "make it easier to recruit and retain disabled employees and to serve disabled customers".
  
  
• Harassment Law UK This web site has been designed to provide practical information and relevant web links for anyone who is the victim of harassment or who has been wrongly accused of harassment, whether it is racial or sexual harassment, or bullying at work.
  
  
• National Statistics has produced classification guidelines on ethnicity and national identity.
  
  
• AnserHouse (link problem May 08) runs the annual Diversity awards (November), as well as publishing New Impact journal.

Web Sites and Facilities

• ACEVO#, the chief executives body, has set up an Employee Assistance Programme service, working with Worklife Support. This provides employee (and their families) access to such things a cousnelling, advice services (legal, debt etc), career and job support, management consultation and coaching. Phone 020 7554 5200, email: info@worklifesupport.com
  
  
• Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development for professional personnel practitioners. Info on the site for non-members is restricted, but worth checking, especially their factsheets. You can also book their short courses online, but they aren't cheap. From £200 plus VAT for organisational membership (1 rep, less than 250 employees, at Mar 04), this could be a good way of getting access to personnel information on a regular basis. CIPD House, Camp Road, London, SW19 4UX, phone 020 8971 9000, email: cipd@cipd.co.uk
  
  
• Croner have various materials available online but at Oct 05 there is less freely available material and more which requires payment to download. Also see HumanResource Centre, which links through to news, links, and basic info covering employment law, HR, training and development, pay.
  
  
• The HR Council for the Voluntary/Non-profit Sector is the home of the HR Toolkit, which "offers practical tools and information on human resources management". A Canadian site, so legal issues will obviously differ but material will be of interest.
  
  
• Fenman has a wide range of relevant training resources. Phone 01353 665533, email: service@fenman.co.uk
  
  
• GetFeedback provides an online HR questionnaire facility - for appraisals, team development etc.
  
  
• HRZone
  
  
• HRLook 'For the HR professional'
  
  
• Institute of Employment Rights bills itself as 'a think tank for the labour movement', 'acting as a focal point for the spread of new ideas on the field of labour law'.
  
  
• Investors in People There is a perception that signing up for IiP is only for the larger organisation, as it involves a fair bit of paper work. It is about improving peoples performance, flexibility and motivation, particularly in times of change. At Jan 01, there are some 366 charitable organisations with the standard, which has 4 key principles: commitment to develop employees to achieve business goals and targets, planning to review training and development needs required in context of the business, action assuring relevant step are taken to meet the needs, evaluation measuring the outcomes of training and development for individuals and the organisation.
  
  
• London Voluntary Service Council has PEACe: Advice and Conciliation service for personnel and employment matters for London's voluntary organisations. Phone advice free, hourly rates related to group size; phone 020 7700 8147, email: peace@lvsc.org.uk Other larger CVS may have similar facilities.
  
  
• OneClickHR An online bureau for employee info management - recruitment, safety, admin, pay etc.
  
  
• PeterHoney.com Online questionnaires and e-learning modules on personal development. (That's Honey as in Honey and Mumford Learning Styles).
  
  
• Putting People in the Picture from SCVO (Scottish support body) provides guidance on "identifying and meeting learning needs in voluntary organisations".
  
  
• Trades Union Congress - TUC Their site has information on employment rights, health and safety etc. as well as the organising/joining trades union information you would expect.
  
  
• Maybo Managing Conflict and Violence in the Workplace has taken over a previous web site. Looks like it still has useful resources on the subject.

Briefings, checklists, facts

NCVO will send you model standard and fixed term employment contracts if you send an sae to the Helpdesk, NCVO, Regent's Wharf, 8 All Saints Street, London, N1 9RL (phone 0800 2798 798).

Chancellor Formecon is one of a number of commercial organisations providing a variety of Personnel Management forms, posters, manuals etc. Minimum quantities can be a pain, but quality is fairly reliable. Phone 01270 507300, email: sales@chancellor.co.uk

CIPD research (Feb 00) found an average absence rate in the voluntary sector of 1 in 20 working days (5%), compared with 1 in 30 elsewhere. 37 per cent of absences were down to 'Monday morning blues'. (Quoted in ThirdSector, 22/3/01)

Voluntary Sector Workforce Development Plan, published Voluntary Sector National Training Organisation, Feb 01, (see Training Resources or NewsReview) includes a round-up of useful statistics for the sector in England/Wales/Scotland (most from Skills Matter report):

20% of staff are managers and administrators, 18% in clerical occupations.

25% are educated to degree level, compared with 23% in public sector, 10% in commercial.

A third of organisations with paid staff reported difficulties filling posts, particularly managerial.

Skills gaps identified: 44% had some amongst current employees; 50% lacked understanding of effective IT use; 40% planning and forward thinking skills missing; 38% basic IT skills; 48% fundraising.

Limited recruitment pool in rural areas.