Issue 640
Public Affairs Ireland
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This weeks update on public sector news features a range of topical updates including...
A?report?on gender pay disparities?published?by 15 Government Departments,?Minister for Integration Roderic O’Gorman said on Monday that a defined group within the asylum process will have to be established to take in those fleeing their homes for climate reasons, and with legislation due to come the debate over evolving business and employee needs is taking time to settle but remote working landscape should become clearer in 2023.
This week seen the results of reports on gender pay disparities?published?by 15 Government Departments.?Reports cover about 20,000 directly employed staff on a wide range of Civil Service grades
The report found that men are paid a higher average hourly rate than women in all but one of 15 Government departments which have published gender pay gap reports in recent weeks.
The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth reported a mean gender gap for the year to June 2022 of minus 3.6, indicating the women were receiving a higher amount per hour on average than their male counterparts.
All 14 of the others to file reports indicated higher hourly averages for male employees, indicating men occupying the bulk of better paid positions. However, the gaps at all but four departments – Transport, Defence, Foreign Affairs and Environment – come in at below the most recent Eurostat figure for Ireland’s average pay gap across all sectors of the workforce of 11.3 per cent.
21 February 2023: 10.00am - 1.00pm
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Minister for Integration Roderic O’Gorman says defined group within asylum process will have to be established for those fleeing homes over climate.
A Coalition rift has emerged over proposals to expand the asylum system to include a new category for climate migrants, while some Opposition members have also criticised the plans.
Minister for Integration Roderic O’Gorman said on Monday that a defined group within the asylum process will have to be established to take in those fleeing their homes for climate reasons.
“I think that’s something I would like to see but I think that’s something that would have to be done at an international basis,” he told the Irish Examiner newspaper.
Mr O’Gorman also said the visa system should be widened to allow more economic migrants into the country in the coming years to fill jobs where there are currently skills shortages.
7, 14 & 21 March 2023: 9.30am – 4.30pm
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24 February 2023: 9:30am - 4.00pm, (Online Delivery)
Single-use plastic items including cutlery, plates and polystyrene cups are set to be banned in England by the end of this year.
Environment secretary Therese Coffey is to announce the move which aims to cut down on single-use items that end up in rivers and seas and harm wildlife.
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The department for environment, food and rural affairs (Defra) said it comes in response to a public consultation on a plan to ban the supply of single-use plastic items and polystyrene food and drink containers. This ran from November 2021 to February 2022.
29 March 2023: 9.30am – 3.00pm (In Person Delivery)
23 March: 9.30am - 4.00pm, Masterclass (In-Person Delivery)
Debate over evolving business and employee needs is taking time to settle but the remote working landscape should become clearer in 2023
With legislation due to come and many companies starting to settle on longer-term policies, the remote working landscape should, according to experts in the area, become much clearer over the course of this year.
The Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill, currently in the Seanad, is expected to provide a legal framework for workers to request to work remotely and appeal to the Workplace Relations Commission related decisions which they believe breach a code of conduct yet to be drawn up.
However, the need to attract and retain staff in a tight labour market and a desire to achieve some sort of certainty in a much changed post-pandemic environment will do more to drive companies to settle on policies, says employment consultant Renate Kohlmann, who has previously worked with Dell and Wayfair.
A survey published by employers’ lobby group Ibec in October suggested that many people will get their way, with human resources executives representing 329 companies of various sizes across a range of sectors indicating that attracting and retaining the right staff were their two top priorities at the moment.
Almost three-quarters of respondents identified the use of hybrid working as a key “talent management strategy”, with providing for full-remote working a reality for 14 per cent of them.
Some 38 per cent said employee expectations around hybrid working would impact their organisations.?
Mary Connaughton, director of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development Ireland, says?most companies are still figuring out precisely what will work for them but that many realise there is no real option at the moment other than to offer significant flexibility if they want to attract and retain staff.
“It’s not settled yet whether companies look to have people in the office for two days or three days. They are changing their patterns and working on ways that when people are onsite they are doing things that are collaborative and not sitting there on Zoom calls with people who are not onsite,” she says. “We are seeing things like core days, anchor days, collaborative days, offices breaking into particular communities so people are not spread out over a big space and not connecting at all.'
28 March 2023: 9.30am – 1.00pm (Online)
13 February (Online), 20 February (In-person), 23 February (Online):
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