It doesn’t impact Sainsbury’s significantly, as Christmas day is the day when the least people are likely to want to visit a supermarket. Therefore, it wouldn’t matter if they weren’t open on that particular day. Also, if no supermarkets are able to open on Christmas Day, no one is put at a competitive disadvantage.
Employment Legislation
I am going to be looking at:
1. Work and Families Act 2006
2. Age Discrimination Act 2006
Work and Families Act 2006
The act has doubled paid maternity and adoption leave. It has gone from 6 months to 52 weeks (a year). It has also seen the introduction of ‘keeping in touch’ days. This is where the mother is entitled to work for up to 10 days whilst on Maternity leave. This gives her the right to still claim Statutory Maternity Pay and stay on her maternity leave period. It also benefits the company as the person may be a valuable asset to them, and they could need some guidance on certain areas. By having the individual in work, it will keep things running smoothly as they know how things work, and are used to running the business. The individual being allowed to call in on certain days allows this. It will minimise disruption within the workplace, and keep the efficiency of work up.
It has given the right to fathers to take over paternity leave if the mother returns to work early. This is beneficial to both the company and the family, because the parents won’t have to pay for childcare facilities as they can ‘switch roles’ whilst either of them returns to work. Companies now have the right to contact employees in order to plan their return to work. It gives them more freedom. The right to flexible working for carers of adults has also been introduced. This allows the carers to be allocated time off of work to care for them.
Affect on Sainsbury’s and their response
In 2007, Sainsbury’s had 153,000 employees, with 58% being female. As this law is maternity related, this has a big impact on Sainsbury’s. This is because Sainsbury’s employees are mostly of childbearing ages. Therefore, they could possibly lose a large proportion of their workforce if many women became pregnant.
Also with the new legislation in place, because people are entitled to longer amounts of time off, they are obviously going to take longer. However, as the law has introduced ‘keeping in touch’ days, this is beneficial to Sainsbury’s. This is because if they play a crucial part in the running of the supermarket, they will be able to keep up to date with things, by calling in for a couple of days.
Females are more likely to return earlier to work as they can pass the childcare duties onto the father, where they will take paid paternity leave. This is beneficial to the supermarket as the costs to cover the female employees won’t be as great because they will be returning faster.
On the other hand, out of Sainsbury’s employees, 68% are part-time workers. Therefore, if female employees are off for longer than expected, they are able to easily re-arrange working patterns in order to cover the staff on maternity leave. Also, as the female employees will be working part-time, the supermarket will have fewer hours to cover.
Age Discrimination Act
The Age Discrimination Act was put into effect on October 1st. The act makes it illegal for employers to discriminate against workers because of their age. It is illegal for them not to recruit, promote or train individuals because of their age.
It gives the victims of age discrimination the legal rights against an employer for the first time. The act states that businesses can’t ask for GCSE results. This is because it differentiates between generations as qualifications change. They also cannot ask for a specific number of years’ experience in their job adverts. Companies should avoid using any language that might imply that people of a certain age are preferred. This could include using words such as ‘mature’, ‘young’ or ‘energetic’. Related to this, no age-related questions should be asked during an interview. Date of Births should be removed from application forms. Dates, such as when the candidate-started school are also not allowed, as they would allow the employer to work out their age. Supermarkets cannot promote or train someone preferably because of their age.
Affect on Sainsbury’s and their response
The redundancy policy at Sainsbury’s clearly states that age must never be used as a factor in any decisions regarding redundancy. The company say that they aim their recruitment campaigns at people aged 65 and over. Age has been removed from all of their application forms. This shows that the company have responded well to the act.
The company state that they are ‘totally committed to the Age Positive Campaign’. They say that it makes ‘sound business sense’ to employ older workers as well as young. Sainsbury’s say that they will benefit from the ‘changing demographics of Britain’. The company are dedicated to providing a working environment where all workers feel ‘valued, respected and able to contribute to the success of the business’, no matter what their age. They want to employ ‘a workforce that recognises the importance of diversity within their organisation’.
The recruitment and selection processes, as well as opportunities for promotion are based on the individual’s skill and ability specified for that particular position. They can’t discriminate against candidates purely because of their age.
The company started to put plans in place in 1986. These were produced in order to meet the demographic challenge of the ‘ageing population’. The plan was to target older workers. Flexible working arrangements were put in place in order to accommodate for the older employees. Sainsbury’s say that were keen to adopt a retirement scheme for their workers. It did not at any stage of the employment cycle encourage any discriminatory practice.
Sainsbury’s discovered that workers aged 50+ would want to reduce their time spent working gradually. They want to receive a greater work/life balance. However, they did not want to just manage on a part-time wage. They also didn’t want their pension to be affected.
The company recognised this, and decided to introduce a retirement plan. They also provided pension protection mechanisms. This enabled members to partially draw on their pension, in an attempt to top up their existing reduced salaries. The retirement plan allows older employees to reduce their hours, without the need to significantly decrease their net income. The money they get from their pension will also continue to be contributed to their pension up to the age of 75. With the introduction of the new pension plan, it allows the company to facilitate the recruitment and retention of workers aged 65 and over.
- Sainsbury’s have been targeting the over 65’s with their new recruitment campaigns. It is entitled ‘We can teach you a thing or two’.
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The company say that age is not a factor in their redundancy decisions. Full redundancy will be received by anyone that is recruited up until his or her 65th birthday.
- They have an age diversity policy, which includes career breaks, flexible working and flexible pensions. These are all important to a mature workforce. They hope it will attract the right candidates.
By carrying out good practice, Sainsbury’s mixed aged workforce has led to:
- Improved customer satisfaction as the workers better reflect the profile of their customers.
- A workforce that is more flexible.
- A workforce that is better motivated that feels more valued and more willing to contribute to the success of the business.
- Increased productivity so reduced business costs.
- A workforce where 14.7% are over the age of 50, and 1.2% over the age of 65.
- Having an active colleague in their 90s and also colleagues in their 50s on their management training schemes.
Therefore, the company find the move to employing more mature workers beneficial to the company as different age groups can relate better to one another and it keeps customers satisfied with the service they are receiving. Older people prefer someone of a similar age to them to serve them, and young people prefer this too.
Data Protection Legislation
I am going to be looking at:
- Data Protection Act 1998
- Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003
Data Protection Act 1998
This act has been created in order to replace the Data Protection Act 1984. The 1998 Act has also replaced the Access to Personal Files Act, 1987, as well as some sections from other acts. This is because they were only basic. They only covered electronically stored data. The act has now been extended so that data should be kept in ‘relevant filing systems’. This could mean either electronic or paper based.
Businesses should follow eight main controls put into place by the Data Protection Act 1998:
- Personal Data should be obtained fairly and lawfully.
- The data should only be used for specified and lawful reasons.
- Personal Data cannot be used or disclosed in any manner that isn’t for the purpose for which it was held.
- The amount of data held should be adequate, relevant and not excessive.
- The data must be accurate and up-to-date.
- Personal Data should not be kept for longer than is necessary.
- An individual should be entitled to:
- Be informed by any data user if he or she is the subject of personal data. They should also be allowed access to the data.
- Where appropriate, data should be corrected or erased.
- The data user should take security measures to prevent unlawful access, destruction or loss of personal data.
The controls lay down very strict requirements for business and any business holding data on an individuals needs. The requirements must be met.
The act requires that the individual should know about the holding of their personal information and agree to the collection, preferably in advance.
All individuals have the right to see the data that is collected about them. When a business is asked for the information, they should reply within 40 days. They must also supply a copy of the data to the individual. However there are some exceptions. If the information would affect the way that crime is detected or prevented, affect the catching or prosecution of criminals, affect the assessment or collection of taxes and duties, disclose the data that was provided in confidence, as with a job reference.
Health and social organisations may have restricted access to the information. Also, there are clear rules that govern releasing data about individuals to other people or businesses. This is generally not allowed without the permission of the individual. However, if it required by law or statutory instrument, to prevent crime or detect crime or to assess or collect tax or duty, it is not required.
Affect on Sainsbury’s and their response
In order to abide to the Data Protection legislation, Sainsbury’s have created a privacy policy. The policy covers the different aspects of business.
‘Sainsbury’s (sainsburys.co.uk) site is operated by Sainsbury’s Supermarkets Ltd. We respect your privacy. Accordingly we do not sell, rent or loan any identifiable information regarding our customers to any third party without their consent. Unless otherwise stated, information given to Sainsbury’s (sainsburys.co.uk) will be shared with J Sainsbury Plc Group (which includes Sainsbury’s Supermarkets Limited, Sainsbury’s Energy and Telecommunications services) and with Sainsbury’s Bank Plc’.
This section from the privacy policy follows control numbers 3 and 2 from the Data Protection Act. The Company or subsidiaries named are holding the information for ‘specified and lawful purposes’. They are keeping the information for their business purposes only. They will not pass on any of their customers’ information to third party companies.
Sainsbury’s also state that they do not ‘sell, rent or loan any identifiable information’ regarding their customers. Therefore, this further suggests that the company are not disclosing it to any third party. They will only give the information to their Plc Group.
‘Sainsbury’s would like to share your information about you with any new companies Sainsbury’s may develop in the future, either on our own or with others. This site will be updated should we develop other joint ventures or companies in the future’.
This information says that the company may share an individual’s information with any new companies that Sainsbury’s may develop in the future. Control number 2 applies to this, whereas Sainsbury’s are only using the information for ‘specified and lawful purposes’.
Control number 3 also relates to this. Sainsbury’s are only using the information for the purpose it was held for.
‘Where you the customer, choose to redeem Nectar points with or order products from one of our affinity partners, it will be necessary to provide that third party supplier with your name and address so that they can process your requirements. You will be informed of this requirement when selecting this option’.
This again relates to control numbers 2 and 3. The information is being used for lawful purposes.
‘Any information that you give us is held with the utmost care and security. It will not be used in ways to which you have not consented’.
Control number 3 applied to this section of the Privacy Policy. It shows that the company are taking security measures in order to protect their customers’ data. It also says that the information won’t be used in certain ways if the individual hasn’t allowed for it. This shows that they are respecting their customer’s privacy.
‘We will not collect any information about individuals, except where it is specifically and knowingly provided by them. Examples of such information are:
Name
Address
Telephone Number
Email Address’
This specifies the information that the company are interested in; therefore, it shows that the company comply with control number 2. They are holding information for specified purposes. The amount of data that is being held by the company is adequate and relevant: they comply with control number 4 here.
Sainsbury’s will ask their customer’s to provide them with their personal information. Therefore, they are informing their customers: complying to control measure 7a.), but it doesn’t mean that they have to fill in the information. It is their choice. The Privacy Policy says the information is ‘knowingly provided’.
‘Should you wish to see any additional information held about you, please write to the Data Protection Manager, at Legal Services, 33 Holborn, London EC1N 2HT’.
Again, the company’s privacy policy applies to control measure 7a.), as it allows their customer’s access to any information being held by the company on them. The company are providing contact details and address for their customers if they want to retrieve this information.
‘Sainsbury’s treat all the data held with the utmost care and security. Any details you give will remain completely confidential’.
This complies with security control 8, where security measures must be taken to protect the data. The company do this by keeping details confidential, so other companies can’t find out about the individual.
Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003
The electronic sending of direct marketing messages by means such as telephone, fax, text message, and email are affected by these regulations. They also apply to the new more technological methods as they are being invented. These regulations have expanded on those of the Telecommunications (Data Protection and Privacy) Regulations, 1999.
If the business is using telephone and fax marketing, these rules will apply:
- If an individual tells the business that they don’t want to be contacted by phone for marketing purposes, the business should not do it.
- Businesses are not allowed to contact anyone by phone on the TPS or FPS lists for marketing purposes. They have opted to join the lists in order to stop receiving these types of calls.
- The business’s employees need to identify the name of the business when they make telesales calls. They must provide a valid business address or freephone telephone number for contact purposes only if asked to do so.
- If the business wants to market by fax, they must have the individual’s consent in advance.
If the business is using electronic mail marketing, these rules will apply:
- Consent from the individual must be given before the business sends any unsolicited marketing by electronic mail.
- If the company have consent, the marketing information must provide a valid address so that individuals can opt out if they wish to in the future.
The rule for opting out can sometimes be complex. It is often found that businesses use a ‘soft opt-in’ to get around this.
However, it is assumed that an individual has ‘opted in’ for the information if the business had:
- Provided a tick box on their website stating: ‘if this is NOT ticked, we will assume that you ARE willing to receive marketing information’. Individuals often can get confused by this, as they assume that if they tick the box, this is opting out of receive information.
- Been given the contact details of an individual when it sold them something else.
- Already sent information about something similar to the individual.
Business to business marketing has far less restrictions in terms of what they can or cannot do. However, they need to provide information about their identity and also offer the opportunity to opt-out. If the company do opt-out, the marketing company isn’t actually breaking the law by sending information still. It would just be foolish, as it is likely to be ignored.
Overview of the legislative changes impact on Sainsbury’s
The financial impact on Sainsbury’s isn’t very substantial. They just have to put procedures in place, which will use some money in order for the employees’ time commitments.
Here are some examples of how the time and money will be taken up:
Monitoring Changes in Legislation
In order to monitor these changes, Sainsbury’s must employ people with legal expertise in different areas e.g. Human Resources, data protection, etc. Sainsbury’s will have to keep up-to-date with legislation and make employees aware of any changes that may occur. They need to make decisions based on whether the legislation will affect them at all and if the company need to make any changes in order to comply with the new legislation put in place.
Communicating changes to the employees
Changes with the legislation need to be cascaded down to all of the relevant staff members. The information needs to be communicated clearly as to make everyone aware of the legislation in relation to his or her job roles. The changes may only need to be communicated to members of management or all of the staff.
In order to better communicate this information, the company need to put on meetings where everyone can come together and discuss the ways forward. Possible training needs may be highlighted for relevant staff. This should help them to better deliver their jobs and to become more aware of employment legislation, etc, e.g. with employment legislation only management staff that are involved in recruitment of workers need to be aware of the changed that the Age Discrimination Act will cause. These training needs have to be organised, monitored and recorded. E.g. If there are new restrictions on selling cigarettes, the company need to record that they have undertaken the relevant training as proof that this was done.
Making necessary changes
Below are some examples of changes that Sainsbury’s would have needed to make because of the legislation I have detailed in this section.
- Changing application forms to make them non-age specific
- Producing new signs for cigarette sales
- Creating a privacy policy
- Changing/amending staff rotas and responsibilities to cover maternity or paternity needs
These changes won’t cost the company a huge amount of money, but all of the costs will add up throughout the year, and they will find that they are spending a lot on these amendments.
Monitoring the company to ensure that it is continuing to meet requirements
As said before, Sainsbury’s are required to keep a logbook showing the refused cigarette requests. This is used as proof and will be used if anyone external comes into the store. It shows that the supermarket are in fact applying the rules and doing what is necessary to prevent illegal purchases of tobacco.
None of the legislation has a huge impact on the company. Because the company is a relatively large one, they will be easily able to cope with the costs of making changes to their stores. Therefore, they won’t be affected very much financially.
The company see themselves as ‘proactive’, whereby they are continually making changes to their company, without being told to. They are planning ahead both in the short and long term. The management will work closely with their staff in order to determine potential problems and opportunities for development.
Sainsbury’s believe that they provide excellent customer service and operate way above the bare minimum. They think that they operate at a higher level than the legal requirements. Therefore, this makes their job a lot easier when it comes to making changes, as many would have already been made, as Sainsbury’s are way ahead of other supermarkets in this area. It means that they don’t see the changes as substantial as other competing supermarkets might do.
The company believe in much of the legislation described in this assignment. They find that the Age Discrimination Act has benefited their company greatly since being introduced. They benefit from employing older people. This is because of the relationship between the customer and the employee. Different types of people liked to be served by people similar to them as they can engage better in conversion. Therefore, Sainsbury’s have to cater for all ages. They do this by employing older workers as well as young. The company say that the laws make Sainsbury’s a better company overall. It allows them to further develop and gain new customers.
Bibliography
References:
Data Protection Act information
Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations information
: A2 level Applied Business Textbook John-Evans-Pritchard
Sainsbury’s Privacy Policy: Corporate Website
The Work and Families Act information:
Age Discrimination Act:
Christmas Day Trading Act information
The Children’s and Young Person’s Act information: