REPORT ON HUMAN RESOURSE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN

UNITED KINDOM

PRESENTED BY ROLL NO
1] PANKAJ DUBEY 1606
2] FARMAN KHAN 1619
3] POOJA PRASAD 1645
4] TILAK SALIAN 1653
5] POOJA SINGH 1660

ABOUT UNITED KINGDOM

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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United
Kingdom (UK) or Britain,is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western
coast of the European mainland, it includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the
island of Ireland, and many smaller islands.Northern Ireland is the only part of the UK that shares a
land border with another sovereign statethe Republic of Ireland.Apart from this land border, the
UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to its east, the English Channel to its
south and the Celtic Sea to its south-south-west, giving it the 12th-longest coastline in the world.
The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland. With an area of 242,500 square kilometres
(93,600 sq mi), the UK is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in
Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million
inhabitants.Together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European
Union.

The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The
monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952. The capital of the UK and
its largest city is London, a global city and financial centre with an urban area population of 10.3
million, the fourth-largest in Europe and second-largest in the European Union.Other major urban
areas in the UK include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester.
The UK consists of four countriesEngland, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The last three
have devolved administrations,each with varying powers,based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff
and Belfast, respectively. The nearby Isle of Man, Bailiwick of Guernsey and Bailiwick of Jersey
are not part of the United Kingdom, being Crown dependencies with the British Government
responsible for defence and international representation.

The relationships among the countries of the United Kingdom have changed over time. Wales was
annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty
between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which
merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.There are fourteen British Overseas
Territories.These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s,
encompassed almost a quarter of the world's land mass and was the largest empire in history. British
influence can be observed in the language, culture, and legal systems of many of its former
colonies.

The United Kingdom is a developed country and has the world's fifth-largest economy by nominal
GDP and ninth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. The UK is considered to have a high-
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income economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index, ranking 14th in
the world. It was the world's first industrialised country and the world's foremost power during the
19th and early 20th centuries.The UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural,
military, scientific and political influence internationally.It is a recognised nuclear weapons state
and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world.The UK has been a permanent
member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946. It has been a leading
member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community (EEC), since
1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a national referendum on the UK's membership of the EU
resulted in a 51.9% vote to exit. The UK is also a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the
Council of Europe, the G7 finance ministers, the G7 forum, the G20, NATO, the Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Economy of UK

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The United Kingdom is the fifth-largest national economy in the world measured by nominal gross
domestic product (GDP) and ninth-largest in the world measured by purchasing power parity (PPP),
comprising 4% of world GDP. It is the second-largest economy in the European Union by both
metrics. The UK is one of the strongest EU countries in regards to GDP growth, job creation and
unemployment.

In 2015, the UK was the ninth-largest exporter in the world and the sixth-largest importer, and it
had the second-largest stocks of inward foreign direct investment and outward foreign direct
investment.It is one of the most globalised economies,and is composed of (in descending order of
size) the economies of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The service sector dominates the UK economy, contributing around 78% of GDP; the financial
services industry is particularly important, and London is the world's largest international financial
centre.Britain's aerospace industry is the second- or third-largest national aerospace industry
depending on the method of measurement.Its pharmaceutical industry plays an important role in the
economy and the UK has the third-highest share of global pharmaceutical research and
development. Of the world's 500 largest companies, 26 are headquartered in the UK.The British
economy is boosted by North Sea oil and gas production; its reserves were estimated at 2.9 billion
barrels in 2015, although it has been a net importer of oil since 2005.There are significant regional
variations in prosperity, with South East England and North East Scotland being the richest areas
per capita. The size of London's economy makes it the largest city by GDP in Europe.

In the 18th century the UK was the first country to industrialise, and during the 19 th century it had a
dominant role in the global economy,accounting for 9.1% of the world's GDP in 1870. From the late
19th century the Second Industrial Revolution was also taking place rapidly in the United States and
the German Empire; this presented an increasing economic challenge for the UK. The costs of
fighting World War I and World War II further weakened the UK's relative position. In the
21st century, however, it remains a great power and has an influential role in the world economy.

Government involvement in the British economy is primarily exercised by Her Majesty's Treasury,
headed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial
Strategy. Since 1979 management of the economy has followed a broadly laissez-faire approach.
The Bank of England is the UK's central bank and its Monetary Policy Committee is responsible for
setting interest rates, quantitative easing, and forward guidance.

The currency of the UK is the pound sterling, which is the world's third-largest reserve currency
after the United States dollar and the euro, and is also one of the ten most-valued currencies in the
world.

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The UK is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the European Union (although it has voted
to leave), the G7, the G8, the G20, the International Monetary Fund, the Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the
World Bank, the World Trade Organisation, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the United
Nations.

Human resource practices in united kingdom

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 The UK, as its full name implies, is a united kingdom comprising four nations:
Scotland,England, Wales and Northern Ireland, each with certain distinctive cultural
characteristics.However, they also share many common values and institutions which bind
them together.The British are highly individualistic and greatly value their individual liberty;
at the sametime they care for their community and engage in collective action when for
instance they disagree with certain government policies.This collectivism is manifested also
in the UKs strong trade union traditions whose roots can be traced to the 18th and 19th
centuries.
Union membership is craft based and cuts across firms and organisations. As a result there
are likely to be several unions represented in the same factory or office, bargaining not just
with employers but against each other.British unions, unlike their counterparts in some other
European countries such as France and (pre-1989) Poland, are more pragmatic in their
approach.They fight for better pay settlements and better working conditions within the
present economic and social system rather than engage in class struggle and ideological
battles for the overthrow of the systemThey see their role as one of representing the
workforce, pushing for objectives that are consciously desired by the workers themselves.
Since the1980s, a combination of decline in membership and anti-union legislation has
greatlythe powers of the trade unions.
Individualism appears also to influence the relationship between employees and their bosses
and their work organisations. This relationship is strictly contractual.British employees,
unlike for instance their Japanese counterparts, do not expect their superiors to look after
them and to help them with their personal difficulties. This would be an invasion of their
privacy.To thema manager who is concerned with the employees well being is one who, for
instance, provides them with up-to-date equipment so that they can perform their tasks
better.In other words,managers and workers have an impersonal and task-oriented
relationship with one another
British employees, similar to the Americans, are career-oriented and join another company
if better prospects beckon. However, unlike in America, managers tend to spend much
lesson employee training.As a result, the British workforce has far lower productivity rates
thanthe Americans, and indeed workers in many other leading economies.In Hofstedes
(1980) study Britain scored low on power distance relative to many other nations, but people
do not really care as much about equality as they do about liberty.Both inside and outside
the workplace the Britons are deferential to their seniors; opposition to authority is usually
indirect and sometimes wrapped up in humour rather than direct challenge. Yet at the same

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 time, they do not like to be ordered about and hate to be dictated to. In effect, they respect
authority only when it is used well.
The acceptance of power inequality is also noticeable in the British class
consciousness.Almost everybody one speaks with can place themselves in one class or
other.Family background,education, and even accent betray peoples social class. In
organisations, the class system is mirrored in the different treatments accorded to manual
workers and low-level office workers, on the one hand, and to managers and other high-
ranking office staff on the other.Managers and other white-collar employees have normally
greater advantages over manual workers in many respects, such as power, status, pay,
physical working conditions,eating places, rules for lunch and tea breaks, and holidays.
Shopfloor workers and low-rank office clerks are subject to a tighter control at work
They have to clock in and out at specific times, work in some cases, e.g. on an assembly line
conveyor belt, at a predetermined speed,and produce a specified number of units per hour
and so forth.The managers, by contrast, can come in and go out of the company premises
whenever they like and can do their job as they see fit, provided that they achieve their
performance targets.Their holiday entitlements, pension schemes, bonuses, share-options
and the like are disproportionately far greater than those of the shop floor employeesThis
dual-treatment tradition has created a hostile them and us attitude among the workforce
which has for a long time bedevilled theBritish industrial relations.

Employment terms and conditions

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Employment terms and conditions are set by employers under the supervision of the Employment
Act 1996. In 2013, the UK legislature made changes to the 1996 Act which are to be enforced from
2014 onwards. Employees have a maximum of 48 working hours allowed by law. Employers cannot
force anyone to work more than 48 hours a week and there is also an opt-out allowance. There are
some exceptions to the number of hours one can work, and it can be any time of the day or night as
long as the 48 hours are not exceeded.

Managers have the option of being in control of their hours and can work longer hours. Armed
forces, police, and emergency services in certain circumstances can be required to work more than
48 hours in a week. Domestic servants, security and surveillance, and places with 24 hour staffing
might have to work over 48 hours a week. Individuals who work on ships that run on the inland
waterways may also be exempt from the 48 hour rule.

There is an opt-out option in which anyone over the age of 18 can decide that they want to work
more than 48 hours per week. If this option is chosen, the contract must state the time period during
which it is enforceable, and the employee must sign the contract. Workers are allowed to cancel the
opt-out clause at any time, but must give seven days notice. Leave Benefits

Sick pay, holiday pay, and maternity leave are three types of paid leave. There are always
exceptions to sick pay in that an employer does not have to offer it. If an employer offers a sick pay
package, then the amount a person is paid is typically based on their salary.

Sick pay usually comes with the request that the person provide a doctors note indicating they were
too ill to work for the time they were not at work. If a person is off work for 4 days or more, then a
note is definitely needed and there is potential of being paid Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) for up to 28
weeks. Serious illness is covered under SSP. All other sick pay options, such as covering one or two
days off for being ill, are determined by the employer.

UK employment laws state that workers are entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid holiday leave in a calendar
year. An employer can count any bank holiday as part of this leave time. The law also states that
any employee who works five days a week should receive 28 days of paid leave per year. Part time
workers are entitled to the same 5.6 weeks, however the leave is often less because part time
workers are paid for a smaller number of hours during a week.

Bank or public holidays do not have to be included in holiday leave; this decision is left up to the
employer. There are eight bank holidays in a typical year for England and Wales. Scotland has nine
bank holidays and Northern Ireland has ten.

Maternity Leave
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Maternity allowance is paid for those who do not qualify for Statutory Maternity Pay. This means
there are two ways a person can get paid for maternity. It is possible to obtain pay for up to 39
weeks. The pay is 90% of an average salary or 136.78 per week. Maternity Allowance is given to
those who are pregnant for 26 weeks, and the payment can start 11 weeks before the baby is due.
There are plans to allow men to share maternity leave with the mother; at present, men are entitled
to just a few weeks paternity leave.

Company Pension Schemes

Any employer can offer workplace pensions, but not every place will have a package on offer.
Expats may not be able to take advantage of the pension schemes if they are temporary workers.
Typically, pension schemes are set up for the benefit of full-time employees. A pension scheme
works by putting a percentage of earnings into a pension account. The money is added to the
account as long as a person works. The government can also add to the pension account to increase
the amount of income one has at retirement. There is an option of taking a lump sum tax-free upon
retiring. The amount that is untaxed is 25% of the total. The rest will require taxes paid through the
Income Tax sheet. Money cannot be taken out of a pension until a person is 55, unless they have a
serious illness.

Retirement age has changed from 65, although this is still considered the default age. The age for
accessing a state pension ranges from 61 to 68. Retirement age was phased out for most workers
due to the need to work longer and gain more income now that people are living longer.

Unions and Membership Options

Trade unions are available to join and are still fairly common among certain industries like teachers,
miners, and rail workers. There is nothing wrong with joining a union in these industries and in
most cases it will be compulsory in order to protect workers rights and ensure big changes to
companies do not mean a loss of job. Unions can also protect employees from unfair redundancy.

Redundancy

Employers have the right to put an employee on a trial period, in which notice of termination has to
be given. During the first 30 to 90 days of employment, an employee is on a trial period. Once that
period is over, a formal offer of employment outlining the full time contract should be signed. This
contract can include redundancy in which an employer can offer a more suitable position in the
company to a worker should the job they were hired for not be suited to their skills. Redundancy
was started in order to protect against unfair dismissal.

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LAW IN UNITED KINGDOM

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Lawrite annual subscriptions are used by many in-house HR professionals to ensure they have up to
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access to telephone legal advice from employment lawyers when it is required.

Thousands of management hours valued at millions of pounds are lost to the UK economy each
year due to workplace disputes.

Research by the CIPD found that on average organisations devote more than 350 days in
management time a year to managing disciplinary and grievance cases.

Many employers still make the mistake of thinking that because they are a small business or only
have a few employees they need pay little attention to employment law compliance or HR.

In reality the majority of private sector employers are small to medium-size businesses, and
employment law and health and safety law applies as much to them as it does to bigger businesses.

Our free pdf e-book HR, employment law and your business explains exactly what your
employment law and health and safety obligations are, and why having the right HR policies and
procedures in place can make your business more efficient and improve productivity, not to mention
freeing up the management time spend dealing with disputes and grievances that could often have
been avoided.

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