An enjoyable evening was had by all at the Bristol Rugby and Peninsula Group Networking evening. Macey and Vicky talked through the strategy for the next game with Club Captain Roy Winters and Flanker Redford Pennycook!

11/03/2010 16:47:01

Following the passing of new draft legislation to extend fully paid maternity leave to 20 weeks across Europe by a committee of the European Parliament, experts warn this will increase the chances of mothers being made redundant following their maternity leave and increase the cost to businesses.

Currently UK employees are entitled to 52 weeks statutory maternity leave. Those who qualify for statutory maternity pay (SMP) receive 90% of their pay for the first six weeks, and then the next 33 weeks at either the standard SMP rate of £123.06 or 90% of their average gross weekly earnings - whichever is the lowest. The remaining time is unpaid.

Juice Recruitment attend the recent CIPD meeting in Bath, where this week’s ‘Soap Box’ question was ‘Is the increase acceptable or a step too far?’. 27 attendees agreed that it was a step too far, with just 7 thinking it was appropriate.

Tony Ward, Partner at Withy King, said: "The proposal from an EU committee to extend the minimum period of maternity leave in the EU from 14 to 20 weeks, and to make the leave fully paid, has provoked concern about the additional cost to UK businesses as a result"

"The Institute of Directors estimate that it could reach £2 billion a year. The poll taken at the CIPD meeting reflects a widely held view that businesses should be spared this expense until the economy picks up and businesses are in better shape."

The proposals will go before the full European Parliament early next month.

10/03/2010 09:48:57

Last week Juice ran a competition where their clients had to predict who would win the Leading Man and Leading Lady Awards at the Academy Award Ceremony last night in LA. Clients had to guess both winners correctly and the client taking the prize is SunIsle Holidays in Bristol. So well done to them for having such great movie knowledge, knowing that Jeff Bridges' and Sandra Bullock would take the Oscars last night.
Tickets to the movies and a Gong of their own will be making their way to their Bristol offices soon.

08/03/2010 10:04:19

The recruitment industry is being urged to promote the value recruiters collectively bring to the recruitment process.

The call comes from Jim Albert, Managing Director of Modis International, following research by Modis that showed 72% of companies did not believe recruiters currently delivered value for money. The research also showed that 1 in 3 companies want to develop deeper relationships with their recruitment consultancies and focus more on developing true business partnerships, rather than employing low cost transactional recruitment models.

"This research is a definite wake up call for our industry to prove its worth," Albert said. "Over the past 18 months the recruitment industry has become a margin conversation as employers looked to drive down costs. But as we recover from recession, employers are once again demanding that recruiters deliver a true value-added service. As an industry, we need to shift our focus from a cost-based cycle to a value based approach going forward. We are at a point where we have a terrific opportunity to reframe the conversation with our clients."

Juice Recruitment have continued praise from their clients in all of the Cities they work and believe understanding the clients needs and requirements is key to offering a prestige service. We are committed to both our candidates and clients, ensuring all are involved and dedicated to making the whole process of recruitment as straight forward as possible.

Testimonials have included "Thank you for the excellent service you have provided in finding us what is hopefully going to be a fabulous new Customer Services Manager. You have made recruiting easy and taken all the hard work out of it for us. Going through the process with you we have been able to improve on our interviews techniques, define what type of candidates we are looking for and have some fun along the way! You have been fantastic to work with, a very professional service. Thank you once again”

"We have used Juice Recruitment for many years & literally would not use anyone else! More recently we started a new company & getting the right people in is paramount to its success. Juice delivered an extremely high grade of candidate for a number of positions including Graphic Designers, Software Developers & Administration staff. Combining the candidate put forward & the level of follow-up service from the team at Juice, they are second to none"

As the economy continues its path to fragile recovery, the role of recruiters will become increasingly important as organisations look to attract the highest calibre people to help their business grow and develop. High touch recruitment consultancies will once again help drive that activity and become the standard bearer for the recruitment conversation.

Albert said: "By focusing on the core concerns of our clients around quality, the effective use of time, and growth, we will be able to open the door to deeper conversations around the value of recruitment. Those conversations will inevitably translate into more productive and effective relationships, and ultimately a greater reputation for our industry."

Part Source: Recruitment Today

04/03/2010 11:08:33

How often do you dream that your business has a culture that is unbeatable - where you’ve recruited the best staff who you have trained to the highest standards and are totally engaged in their work - where your advertising and marketing is award winning - where you have many, many happy and loyal customers and where your P&L is healthy?

And then you wonder how you can turn that dream into a reality - especiallyin the current climate where the kind of advice you need usually comes with a high price tag. Juice Recruitment and Whynot? Coaching are hosting a special “speed mentoring” event to help local businesses realise some of these dreams. The evening will enable people to tap into the expertise of some of the best business brains in Bath! And the great bit is that it is absolutely free!

We have Mentors that include Martin Powell, Managing Partner at Withy King, Patrick Sargeant of Response One, Andrew Pinnell MD of Impress Media, Keith Seeley from Target, Richard Roberts HR Consultant, Alec Howard from Hall & Woodhouse and Simon Hares Training Manager of Future Publishing. Alongside Emma Summers of Juice and Liza Hughes of Why Not?Coaching. So lots of experience and advice available.

If you would like to attend let us know.

Email tamara@juicerecruitment.com

03/03/2010 11:43:07