#UK employability

[edwisefoundation]

Top 10 Reasons to Study in the UK

Studying in the UK offers numerous advantages, making it a top destination for international students. From world-renowned quality of education to affordable costs due to shorter course lengths, the UK provides a rich academic experience. Students benefit from scholarship opportunities, work placements, and a post-study work visa, enhancing employability. The vibrant lifestyle, cultural heritage, and strong professional networks add to the appeal.

To explore the top reasons to study in the UK, visit the full article.

[reasonsforhope]

"A group of 200 UK businesses and charities have signed a pledge that company work weeks will be shortened to 4 days without a loss in pay

Including marketing and advertisement; tech, it, and software; and charity groups as well, the companies employ more than 5,000 people.

Organized by the 4 Day Week Foundation, it follows something less than a trend but more than a fad in which a mixture of employees and executives believe that a happier, more balanced workforce is key to driving productivity.

That balance, they would argue, can be achieved by far more people through the reduction of the 5-day work week to a 4-day one.

“[With] 50% more free time, a four-day week gives people the freedom to live happier, more fulfilling lives,” Joe Royle, the foundation’s campaign director, told the Guardian.

“As hundreds of British companies and one local council have already shown, a four-day week with no loss of pay can be a win-win for both workers and employers.”

This sentiment isn’t shared by all workplaces, but market competition should demonstrate over time whether or not firms that implement unorthodox work hours are in fact as productive or more so than traditional ones.

Economics says that with all else being equal, if enjoying more free time leads to greater employee retention and motivation, then these 4-day work week firms will begin to out-complete the old ones, which in turn will be forced to adapt or risk losing market share.

London firms have been the most enthusiastic, with 59% of the 200 workplaces being located in the capital. With so many firms for talented workers to choose from, it’s no wonder that some are looking to seek advantage in attracting this talent through more desirable working terms.

Last year, GNN reported extensively on a report that was released by a county government in Washington called San Juan, detailing their one-year experiment with a 32-hour, or 4-day work week. In the report, quitting and retiring decreased by 48%, while 55% of employees said their workflow wasn’t interrupted even though they lost an entire working day’s worth of time to complete it.

Even in the famously hard-working nation of Japan, a 4-day workweek seems to strengthen productivity."

-via Good News Network, January 28, 2025

[mydignityisinflames]

[spiltcandycoatedpunkblood]

thanks bro, nothing like an ultra rich racist colonialist parasite sitting on and dressed in stolen goods telling us they're gonna crack down on people trying to fucking survive and they say its because of "illicit gangs" doing this

literally sounds like when benefits fraud and food stamp fraud were cracked down on because an absolutely tiny fraction of people committing it, so now we have to punish them all instead of doing absolutely anything about the poverty and inequality created here in the first place

[thetimelordbatgirl]

The fact that Labour actually seems to be acting like disability doesn't hit you until after you turn twenty two with their idea of not allowing anyone under twenty two to get health benefits on top of the normal universial credit payments, like... Do they fucking think people under twenty two with disabilities in need of support money wise dont fucking exist??? Or do they fucking think if they do exist, that they can somehow work these disabilities off even when they cannot at all??? Let alone that employers actually exist out there for all these young disabled workers??? Because that's something THAT LABOUR STILL HAS YET TO ACKNOWLEDGE!

[clonerightsagenda]

Saw a (fake) post about someone dating their boss and I know the power dynamics are part of the appeal for many people in employer/employee ships but I have binged too much Ask a Manager to not be concerned by the HR implications. Employer/employee shipfic where the core plotline is restructuring the workplace into a co-op.

[dkettchen]

pro tip for anyone seeking stable work in the uk after long unemployment:

make sure you have proof of Stuff you've been up to/lack thereof for the last few years, ie proof of studies, HMRC letters to prove freelance income, being registered as unemployed (ie if you're getting benefits or smth)

like- if you're a full NEET for a while and do not qualify for benefits make sure you still have Something each year you can prove, because a future employer may ask for that stuff as part of their pre-employment checks and my chronically unemployed but not registered as unemployed bc didn't qualify for benefits ass had to scrape the bottom of the barrel to prove I was working/not working in this country for the past three years o.o

[canadda-uk]

"...The UK Employment Tribunal found that the requirement to take the SJT (“Situational Judgement Test”) in multiple choice form was not a proportionate means of achieving the aim of testing the fundamental competency which was to make effective decisions."

"It’s not only to consider adjustments that are put forward by the employee, but also up to the employer to decide whether any reasonable adjustments are appropriate and necessary."

[spookywriters]

Got let go suddenly from my miserable hell job today, but not TOO surprised that happened since I expected it. I'm not terribly concerned just yet since I have like...four interviews this week and now I'm extra free to attend them, so hopefully one of those leads somewhere soon.

I think for now, I sleep in, catch up on movies and in general do what I can with the severe burnout I'm dealing with rn cause MAN do I want to be able to draw things again haha.

[oneplusdesignstudio]

[judasisgayriot]

The next fob show is on my birthday (11th) so I think as a special treat for me pete should continue to escalate from the baby/love shenanigans and idk. Call patrick ‘my darling’ or something and give him a lil kiss. And heavens gate in the medley?? 👀

[widthofmytongue]

The notes I took in my department meeting (>30 people most of whom make two or three times my salary, but at least I got a salary I guess 🙃)

[thecrankiestofgremlins]

Aight imma go on a rant about employment law because that's what I'm studying and planning to put my career into. I should note this is UK law, however *some* of this shit is pretty universal. Also, obvious disclaimer, this isn't legal advice.

1. EMPLOYMENT LAW IS WRITTEN IN FAVOUR OF EMPLOYERS. THIS CAN MAKE THEM ARROGANT. UK employment law gives them a huge amount of leeway and is largely written in their favour, and they STILL regularly manage to go over the line to the point of absolute absurdity, to the point of accidentally creating beautifully complete evidence trails for employees to use in tribunal. Why do they do this? Because UK employment law is entirely enforced by individual employees and between the costs of a lawyer and the implied threat that if you take your employer to tribunal you'll never work in your field again (not universally true BTW), they assume they will never be taken to task for it. Employees are generally reluctant to take their employers to tribunal because of the above. What this means though, is if an employee *does* take them to tribunal, the evidence trail is usually extensive AS LONG AS the employee has taken steps to preserve it.

2. SAVE YOUR EMAILS. Any email sent to you by an employer regarding your employment in any way belongs to you. Send that shit to your personal email address, whether or not you think it's sketchy. For every employer. Keep your paper trail. You don't know when you might need it. This goes extra for things like performance reviews/flexible working/reasonable adjustment requests/etc.

3. NOT EVERYTHING IN YOUR CONTRACT IS ENFORCEABLE BY THE EMPLOYER. Employers *love* to stick exclusion clauses in or try to say that handbooks don't form part of your employment contract. They also like to do things like try to classify you as a self employed contractor when really, if you apply the relevant law, you are an employee and have the rights of an employee. Just because your contract says a thing doesn't mean it is the be all and end all. Think of it this way: if you only did what your employer required in writing in the contract, would they be pissed? If so, your contract is probably shit.

4. READ THE DAMN CONTRACT. Make sure you know the ins and outs of your job description, what's expected of you, your pay, overtime policy, where you're expected to work, etc. Just because you might not be able to negotiate it doesn't mean you shouldn't know what it says. This also goes for any employment handbooks. Know what the limits are, know what your hours are, know what your benefits are. Chances are good the employer will ask you to go above and beyond them, or try to pretend you don't have a contractual right to something when you absolutely do. Also, you *can* negotiate on more than you think. For example: employers are not allowed to make deductions from your pay beyond PAYE and National Insurance, UNLESS they have been contractually agreed beforehand. Check to see if they're trying to add a bunch of extra permitted deductions and *challenge* that shit if you feel able to. (My favourite is requiring supposed independent contractors to pay for a uniform. Highly unlikely that you're actually an independent contractor at that point plus fuck you if you want to control what I wear pay for it your damn self).

5. DO NOT OPT OUT OF NATIONAL WORKING TIME REGULATIONS. This is a pretty standard extra inclusion in most people's employment contracts in the UK. It shows up as an extra page of the contract with a separate signing line because they're not allowed to include that requirement as a contractual obligation (in most cases: the big exception is emergency workers) National Working Time Regs limit the amount of hours an employer can require from an adult (over 18) employee to 48 hrs on average, that average being taken over a period of 17 weeks. However, employees can opt out of this, hence the extra piece of paper. The employer cannot dock your salary/terminate your employment/treat you in any negative way if you do not sign this piece of paper. They include it with the contract so that people *assume* they have to sign it. If you're employed and have already signed it, you can opt back in by notifying your employer in writing. Generally this will mean a 3 month period before the regs apply to you again. But *do it*.

6. IF YOUR HOURS ARE VARIABLE, KEEP TRACK OF THEM INDEPENDENTLY. If you don't have a 9-5 contract, this applies to you. This is to make sure that if there's a dispute, you have a record that *you* made of those hours. Ya know, in case the employer decides to conveniently forget about them. I watched OXFORD UNIVERSITY try this shit in a tribunal and they got absolutely wasted because a) it was so obvious (they'd deleted hours spent on marking) and b) the employees had kept an independent record.

7. IF YOUR EMPLOYER DOES SOMETHING SHITTY, YOU HAVE 3 MONTHS FROM THE DATE OF THAT SHITTY THING TO SUE THEM FOR IT. It's one of the shortest time limits in UK law (remember when I said the law is written in employers' favour?), and that time is *only* paused when you involve ACAS (I'll explain ACAS in a sec) and the timer starts again once ACAS issues their certificate. It does NOT stop if you're trying to resolve the issue through internal grievance processes, and attempting to resolve the issue internally is not an acceptable argument if you're trying to extend that time (which you can, under specific circumstances, but try not to rely on that bc it's iffy at best) (yes you can also argue that there have been continuing acts but at that point you need to talk to a lawyer because there are specific rules around that too). There are. So many cases. That I've come across personally. That would be an absolute slam dunk EXCEPT they're out of time.

8. IF YOU WANT TO SUE YOUR EMPLOYER YOU HAVE TO GO THROUGH ACAS FIRST. Employment law is the only area of law where you are legally required to try to do mediation first. How much you engage with the mediation is up to you, however the more you do, the better it looks. Mediation does not mean you have to agree with the employer! It just means you get to ask them the questions you want to ask them in official channels. That said, if they roll over and give you what you want during these negotiations, you kind of have to take it: English law says that civil courts can only give you money as a remedy. As much as you might want to have your day in court, civil courts are legally only for getting money out of people, not primarily for the public administration of justice. Yes I hate this too. If you don't take it, the court won't like it and there is a potential that the court *could* award your employer their costs. ACAS can also give you help explaining how the process works etc. Make sure you contact them and start the process ASAP as soon as you decide the thing is worth suing over.

9. READ THE EQUALITY ACT 2010. There are 9 protected characteristics under UK law: age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage/civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation. Broadly speaking, your employer cannot treat you negatively because of any of these characteristics. There are qualifications and limits to how far this goes, obviously, but broadly speaking, this is the case. I'll do another post later going into some of this in more detail because the topic is huge but taking a look at the sections that may apply to you is a good start.

10. NOT BEING ABLE TO AFFORD A LAWYER OUTRIGHT DOESN'T NECESSARILY MEAN YOURE OUT OF OPTIONS. First, you *can* represent yourself. It's not an option I'd suggest before you've exhausted all your other options but it is possible. The issue is that you probably don't speak legalese or have access to legal databases, but there is still research you can do on Google. Don't trust everything you read though. Law firm websites are a good place to start, as they tend to write decent articles on the basics of a given issue and they can point you towards some case law. You can also call Citizens Advice for a jumping off point. If you're representing yourself though, the only things you can really reference in court are a) legislation, b) case law, and c) practitioners texts. Remember, case law explains how legislation actually works: it doesn't apply to every situation you might think is covered by it.

Second, most solicitors firms offer free 15-30 minute consultations, where you go in, give them the basics of the situation, and they give you some advice and can signpost you to somewhere you can get more information. This can be really, really helpful and I'd suggest it even if you're planning on repping yourself.

Third, a lot of firms also offer something called a no-win-no-fee agreement, which is about what it says on the tin: if you don't win, you don't pay. Each firm will have different stipulations regarding these, so you should ask what these are. The problem though, is if the firm doesn't think you have a winnable case, they are unlikely take it on that basis (because that means they don't get paid and that's a lot of work not to get paid for). If you do win, they generally take a piece of your winnings as payment (so sometimes they won't do it because you're not claiming enough). It's not a guarantee, but IMHO it's a good option if you have a good case.

Last, there are the pro bono organisations. A lot of places will have a regional pro bono law clinic. These may or may not be able to take your case all the way to tribunal, but if not they should be able to refer you to an org that can. London and its immediate surrounding area has the Free Representation Unit, for example (your case has to be referred to them by another org, usually one of the clinics) but if they can take up your case, they can take it all the way to tribunal and even appeals. Since Legal Aid isn't a thing in employment law (except for discrimination), a lot of these organisations have an absolutely fucking massive caseload though, so there isn't a guarantee that they'll be able to take your case.

I'm sure I'll think of more to add to this later, but this is just the bare bones basic shit that *everyone* should know. A lot of cases don't get brought because people don't know that they a) have rights, b) they don't hold onto documents, c) they don't start the claim in time, or d) all of the above. Given that employment law is only enforceable by the individual, the only way to get employers to play by the rules more often is if people start enforcing it. It's a shit way to do it, but it's what we've got at the moment.

If people find this useful and would like this to be a regular thing, lmk.

[thetimelordbatgirl]

...The way this is looking to turn PIP into the olympics for disabled people's rights to be able to survive due to being unable to work like... The fucking points system being made worser then already was??? The fact that they now trying to turn basic abilities into ways to say nope to people like sorry if you can't cook food on your own and therefore rely on the microwave, its enough to get a rejection from pip, alongside needing help washing below the waist and being reminded to go to the toilet, because....rejecting based on what halfs of the body you can wash is just logic apparently! And don't worry, definitely employers out there who will DEFINITELY support you having toilerty issues and if you accidently crap yourself during work! I just, the way they want to make it so that getting PIP is like getting a golden ticket this point....what the actual fuck....

[feckcops]

Labour turns its back on workers’ rights

“Labour has undermined the principle of universality that underpins its entire programme for employment rights. This means a tiered system of rights and entitlements will remain in place and makes the pledge to give all workers the same rights from day one impossible.

“When the New Deal was originally developed, the Labour leader, his cabinet and the party’s affiliated trade unions shared a vision. They sought to build a dignified workplace in which workers – from the moment they took up employment – would have the ability to take time away after the birth of a child or a bereavement, to enjoy a decent work-life balance and not to be arbitrarily dismissed.

“The document was a recognition of the fact that the tiered system is one of the key drivers of low pay and insecurity, responsible for 3.7 million being trapped in ‘insecure work’ who do not know when their next shift will be or if they will be able to pay their bills ... The New Deal was designed to end the most exploitative practices in the gig economy – where workers are often paid below the minimum wage, made to work in dangerous conditions and denied rest breaks. One such example is Amazon delivery drivers, who have been forced to drive through exhaustion and urinate in bottles ...

“The lack of rights and protections is not just a problem for those in insecure forms of work. It is a problem for workers and the economy as a whole. These practices put a downward pressure on wages and terms across the board, making us all poorer and facilitating a race to the bottom that is partly responsible for Britain’s poor growth and productivity. 

“The expansion of the gig economy in particular demonstrates how exploitative employment practices threaten once-secure jobs. The assault by Royal Mail against the terms and conditions of posties, for example, is a response to gig economy parcel delivery companies undercutting the postal service.”