First published on Tuesday, December 24, 2024
Last updated on Tuesday, December 24, 2024
Welcome to HR Heartbeat, your rundown of the week’s top HR and employment law stories.
Ireland’s healthcare sector grapples with 50% turnover going into 2025
Ireland’s healthcare sector faces a challenging outlook for 2025. There’s increased demand from an ageing population, and persistent workforce shortages. While significant wage increases in the private sector and financial pressures on long-term care facilities are adding to more complexity.
Additionally, over 50% of non-EU employees leave within 18 months, making it difficult for employers to attract and retain staff. So, what can employers do?
Offering discounts, benefits, and perks (through platforms like Bright Exchange) can help attract and retain staff. Upskilling opportunities are also crucial, as 73% of workers consider learning new skills as a significant factor for staying in a role. You can do this with a digital Learning Management System that lets you assign courses and track progress.
Lidl manager sacked after…
Lidl sacked a manager for making a remark about a female employee’s suitability for warehouse work. The manager later lost a challenge to his dismissal. The manager in question had stated that “women should not work in distribution centres”, and “that [he] would not hire any.”
The manager was already on a final written warning for making suggestive comments to female staff and had recently attended a training course on dignity at work. The disciplinary officer decided to dismiss the manager outright due to his “track record” of inappropriate behaviour and broken trust, rather than extending his final written warning.
Deal with workplace discrimination can be difficult, and this case serves as perfect example of the importance of keeping written records of all previous incidents, disciplinaries, warnings, and more.
Always seek expert advice if you’re unsure about a particular case. Or try asking our superfast AI tool, Bright BrAInbox: ‘What is discrimination?’
Irish workers among the most honest globally when it comes to pulling “sickies”
A new survey shows that Irish workers among the most honest in the world when it comes to practices like faking sick days. According to the Ethics at Work 2024 International Survey, 80% of those surveyed believe taking unnecessary sick days is unacceptable.
While this is good news from a workplace culture perspective, employers still need to have fair, transparent, and compliant sickness and absence policies to treat staff fairly. Save time with compliant, expertly-written document templates from BrightBase, all at your fingertips!
And that’s a wrap. Tune in next week for more headlines to make sure you stay ahead of major employment law changes!
