News

  New Working Time Directive laws have just been announced by the European parliament. After much discussion with interested parties and employers groups, including the Confederation of British Industry, the EEC have agreed a common set of standards across the community for long-distance drivers. The new laws cover maximum weekly working time, rest breaks and night work. The Directive, which must be implemented in the UK by 2005, states that drivers can work a maximum average of 48 hours per week and no more than 60 hours within any one week.  There will also be a limit of 10 hours for night work.  One good piece of news is that the Directive will not apply to self-employed drivers until January, 2009. As the British and European leader in Time and Attendance and Access systems, Tensor have provided new features in the WinTA software to track, record and maintain compliance with the Work Time Directive. WinTA is the worlds first Smart Card Time & Attendance system that meets the requirements of the new legislation. Many of our competitors have not even addressed the problem!

  Lightning Survey, the ultimate questionnaire and surveying software package was launched today simultaneously in the UK and the United States of America. The two web sites www.lightningsurvey.co.uk and www.lightningsurvey.com provide all types of organisations, Government departments and businesses with a unique tool to enable them to seek the views of a large number of people in the shortest possible time.  �For business, enterprises and institutions � large and small � Lightning Survey will become an essential business tool, as the Word Processor, Spreadsheet or Mobile Telephone have been in the past�, said Nigel Smith, Chief Executive of Tensor plc, at the launch of Lightning Survey in Hyde Park, London today.  �We have had a lot of interest from all types of organisations eagerly awaiting the arrival of this product,� he said. Lightning Survey Ltd, part of the Tensor plc group of companies; have spent over � million pounds in developing the new product during its year and a half development cycle. 

The European Commission has put forward proposals that would require temporary staff and agency workers to receive the same terms and conditions as permanent employees in the end-user company – including pay, pensions, holiday and other benefits. Currently in the UK, the primary employment relationship for agency staff is between the agency and the staff they employ. These proposals would force company�s who take on agency workers to afford them the same pay and benefits they give to their own staff.  A move which will obviously increase administrative costs and remove the incentive for using agency workers in the first places.  As the British and European leader in Time and Attendance and Access systems, Tensor have provided new features in the WinTA software to track, record and maintain compliance with the Work Time Directive. WinTA is the worlds first Smart Card Time & Attendance system that meets the requirements of the new legislation.

  Part 12 of the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 dealing with corruption came into force in the UK on the 14th of February. The Act now means that any corrupt payment that would be unlawful in the UK is now illegal if it is paid abroad, even if the payment is legal in the country concerned.  There are potential difficulties in interpreting the new law however, and also practical problems in implementing it both for companies and government. Parliamentary time will have to be found to address these difficulties and for the wholesale reform of UK corruption law to take into account of  the Council of Europe’s Criminal and Civil Law Corruption Conventions which the UK is signatory to but has not yet ratified. In addition, as part of the OECD’s peer-review process, the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act will be reviewed by OECD members – led by UK and France – in early March.

  Lightning Survey Small Business Edition the ultimate questionnaire and surveying software package can now be tried FREE (Limited to 500 responses). The two web sites www.lightningsurvey.co.uk (for United Kingdom users) and www.lightningsurvey.com (for USA & Rest of the world) provide a unique tool to enable you to build surveys online and view the results in real-time. You can use an unlimited number of Surveys and do not have to pay for the first 1,000 responses. There is also special introductory prices on annual registration fees for a limited period. The free trial is for all those who respond between 21/3/02 and 30/4/02. Details of the pricing is available from the site. Lightning Survey Ltd, part of the Tensor plc group of companies; have spent over � million pounds in developing the new product during its year and a half development cycle. 

  The Government has just announced that in future, any new UK Employment Legislation will be introduced on one of two implementation dates each year. These will be 6th April and 1st October. The purpose of this move is to make it easier for employers to plan ahead and prepare themselves for any new legislative changes, much of which these days comes from Brussels.  Tensor�s newsletters (Tips & Advice and Tensor News) will carry bullet points of any imminent changes well in advance of these two dates so that busy executives are reminded of any important laws that may affect them. If you haven�t yet signed up to receive the newsletters� you can do so now.

The EEC has taken a decision to force the UK to fully implement the European Working Time directive. Britain has an opt-out until next January (Jan �03) for certain workers. In particular, white-collar staff and those who partly work unmeasured time, especially where there are no contractual hours. These employees also do not have to measure their rest breaks.  The opt-out, negotiated by Prime Minister John Major, is set to cease on 31st December 2002. The EC have given the Government until the end of May 2002 to toughen up the regulations; or face further action taken against it. The Government has not responded and will now be forced to implement the legislation in full by 1st January 2003. Employers who are thinking about Attendance Monitoring for their office staff should contact Tensor now. The Directive provides a fairly complex set of employment rules that govern the number of hours an employee can work which ultimately dictates the way all companies must operate. For example, to comply with the Directive, did you know that you need to provide time and attendance verification of working rules to ensure that?  Shift breaks are taken where more than 6 hours are worked. There are different rules for different categories of young workers Groups of employees working shifts have to be ensured a minimum rest period of 11 consecutive hours per 24 hours. Groups of employees working shifts have to be ensured a minimum rest period of 24 consecutive hours per 7 days.  Shifts for night work are limited to an average of 8 hours work per 24 hours for a defined reference period.  Weekly average (17 week average!) hours do not exceed 48 hours per 7 days for a definable reference period not greater than 4 month. (Annual leave and sickness are not included in this average calculation).  Tensor have complete systems that start from �1,495 and they all have special EEC Working Time Directive software to help you stay within the law.

  Employers need to be aware and start putting procedures into place for the new Flexible Work legislation, which becomes law in April 2003. Employers will have to follow a new statutory procedure for dealing with requests for flexible working from parents of children under the age of 6 or disabled children under 18. The new procedure is, An employee can make one request a year. If accepted by the employer, it will mean a permanent change to the contract of employment. Employers must arrange a meeting to discuss the request with the within 28 days. At the meeting, the employee may be accompanies by a companion. Employer must write to the employee within 14 days of the meeting to either agree to the new work pattern together with a start date, or decline the request. If declined, then the employer must provide clear business grounds for doing so. The employee has 14 days to appeal their employer�s decision. (internal appeal) Dissatisfied employees can take their case to an Employment Tribunal, where the employer will have to demonstrate they have followed the procedure correctly.

  The English FA have announced that clubs must now have a system in which all players injury, treatment and medical information can be stored. The information must be easily available so that any investigation can be completed quickly and easily. The new procedure are the direct result of the court case ruling in which a club did not have the information to prove that a players injuries were dealt with in a professional and timely manner.  Tensor ClubPersonnel is simple, inexpensive and will computerised you existing manual personnel records. It is ideal for sports clubs, with its comprehensive reporting on all personnel data, especially for injuries, treatments and medicals. It handles a lot more than just storing personnel records though, including:- Full employee/player records including photo ID if required. Club diary for employees, players, sections, departments and sites. Salary modelling to determine the cost of pay awards. Health & Safety monitoring for sickness and absence. Training; courses, course planner, trainers, costs. H & S refresher courses requirements. Integral word processor for bulk/individual letters. Easy retrieval of all employee/player correspondence. Tensor Personnel also has the added feature of a user friendly screen designer, enabling you to add additional tabs of data to existing forms, and create your own new forms and tables. This will enable you to log vital information about player injuries, treatments and medicals as well as all criteria for complete personnel records. Depending on the number of records you require to hold on a personnel system, Tensor can cater for all size of clubs and associations. To start with, you can install �Small Business� version, which is designed for organisations wishing to store up to 50 personnel records. At �160.oo this represents excellent value for money! If you require any additional information or a demonstration, please do not hesitate to contact enquires@tensor.co.uk.

Despite Europe’s working time directive, more people are working in excess of its 48-hours-a-week limit than they were ten years ago, with managers and professionals topping the long hours league.

Jail for a total of 84 days was the result for a woman who stole money from a poppy collection. The amount of cash in the poppy boxes when they were stolen by Iulia Olteanu is unknown. The owner of one of the premises affected by the crime, Peter Woods, said the thefts on Remembrance Day were “disgraceful”. When she appeared before magistrates Olteanu admitted three theft charges and one count of failing to answer bail. Shops can receive help in tackling crime with technology from security experts Tensor. Barriers from Tensor fully integrate with our access control systems giving you full jurisdiction over movement and access in and around your premises. Immediately able to recognise and allow or deny access to personnel, Tensor’s parking barriers cater for all sizes of sites. automatic barriers are capable of operating alongside any installed ticketing systems. Optional extras include a folding arm mechanism, an impact release mechanism, hanging racks or barrier skirts and pedestals.  

Members of the civil service have voted to walk out in a dispute over job losses. The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) said that 61 per cent of those who voted in a national ballot chose to strike. Of those who voted, four-fifths were in favour of forms of industrial action other than striking. In response, the government said the results of the ballot were “disappointing”. A PCS statement said the government is “trying to rip up” basic working conditions. Mobile or wireless technology based Time & Attendance for employers from Tensor ensures a company is kept up to date with who is missing at the workplace. WinTAnet is a proactive system that keeps managers abreast of events. It does this by automatically emailing or SMS text messaging both employees and system users on various issues. For example, on matters of: employee holiday request authorisations; and supervisor notifications of employees who have not clocked in after their start core time.