BEERG Bytes

In this episode Tom Hayes chats with Dave Kamper, author ofthe book “Who’s Got the Power: The Resurgence of American Unions”. Dave writes extensively on labour relations and is currently a senior strategist at the Economic Policy Institute, a progressive-leaning US think tank. Tom opens by asking Dave why the US labour movement is a pale shadow of what it once was? currently a senior strategist at...

Auret van Heerden and Alan Wild join Tom Hayes to discuss what is happening in the world of corporate due diligence and social responsibility. They explore the emergence of what seem to be two contradictory trends. While the EU and US roll back on due diligence legislation... we see companies facing greater prosecution risks in their supply chains...

Auret Van Heerden joins Tom to discuss the rollback of EU due diligence laws.... but this does not mean the issue has gone away. They explore how competition and tax authorities - such as those in France and Italy - are pursuing due diligence breaches. They also discuss the problem of rogue and criminal involvement in labour supply and what HR management should be doing now,

Tom Hayes chats with Dr Guy Burton, academic and global political analyst and host of the 10 Minutes On podcast about the "twin track" Chinese economy and China's evolving relations with Europe and the U.S.

In this episode Tom chats with IBEC's Dr Kara McGann about the EU's Pay Transparency Directive. Is it the game changer that some hope... or is the reality that the gender pay gap arises between categories and between occupations... not within them, which is the focus of the Directive. They discuss barriers to workplace equality and focus on the growing issue of elderly care in society.

Tom is joined by Auret van Heerden, global supply chain expert, to discuss why Brussels walking back regulations like CSRD and CSDDD after positioning itself as an ethical standard-setter? Auret shares his insights... including his conclusion that situation with forced and child labour is worsening, despite widespread corporate policies against such practices.

Tom Hayes chats with the highly experienced global HR executive Rick Warters . Rick talks about his early days as a HR manager and then reflects on key HR issues in the U.S. and worldwide, looking ahead to the impact of a Trump II administration on global HR and business

This is part two of our special two part BEERG Byte series focused on the employment law agenda of the new U.K. government, which is just over 100 days in office. Tom chats with three key members of Lewis Silkin LLP's employment law team: David Hopper, Kerry Salisbury and Vince Toman about what PM Keir Starmer's govt plans. In this episode they explore the reforms on collective bargaining and plan...

Tom chats with members of the Lewis Silkin LLP employment law team about the reforms being introduced by the new Starmer govt. The discussion is in two parts. In this episode they look at changes to boost UK trade unions. In part two they consider Fire and Rehire. .. and Fire and Hire others.

Tom Hayes discusses the U.K Labour government's recently published Employment Rights legislation with London based international Labour and Employee Relations professional, Philip Bickerstaffe . They discuss whether the new law will shift the balance of power away from employers to employees... or, does it broadly reflect what most good employers already do?

In this episode Tom Hayes throws an eye over the EU's legislative agenda as it impacts labour and HR issues. With a particular focus on the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and the Gender Pay Transparency Directive. This podcast follows on from last week’s HR Policy Global Europe newsletter

In this episode Tom Hayes discusses the Status of Platform Workers Directive with Colin Lecky of Lewis Silkin LLP. Colin sets out how political compromise was reached in the Council of Ministers with the EU leaving key issues up to Member States to decide. You can read Colin's analysis on the Lewis Silkin website

Though BEERG is now known as HR Policy Global Europe... we will stick with BEERG Bytes as the name of this series of Podcasts for HR professionals. In this first episode of 2024, Tom Hayes looks at the items on the EU's legislative agenda for 2024.

In this episode Tom Hayes looks at the EU's legislative agenda on HR and labour relations as both the EU Parliament and Commission near the end of their 5-year mandates. Though things will quieten down from April to June 2024, there is plenty on the agenda after that. There is a "third wave" of information and consultation obligations coming, via directives and initiatives on: Platfo...

This episode looks at technical issues rather than policy ones. Tom chats with Daniel Beuster , Project Manager with Context, about the technical options and solutions for the growing number of interpreted EWC hybrid and remote meetings and best practise in making these meetings as productive as possible for all participants. Context is a technology driven Language Services Provider with a strong...

In this second in our BEERG reflections series. in this Podcast, Tom Hayes is joined by Rick Warters, a long experienced senior HR professional, to discuss Remote Work/Working from Home. Though Tom and Rick come at this issue from different perspectives, their thoughts on what the future holds overlap on several important points. This discussion is based on a BEERG reflections paper setting out th...

This is the first is a new series of "BEERG Reflections" an occasional series of personal reflections by Tom Hayes on issues of interest to HR professionals. These "reflections" are informed by over 50 years in labour and industrial relations. This script is available to download as a PDF from this link: https://www.beerg.com/wp-content/uploads/Reflection-No-1-Negotiations-and-...

This is part 2 of a two part series on how the coming third wave of EU laws on Due Diligence, AI, Platform Workers effectively mandates some form of information and consultation process. Though their implementation is still a few years away, Tom would advise companies to start preparing now for these laws, which mandate the selection/election of employee representatives.   This episode was recorde...

In this episode Tom Hayes talks about the coming “third wave” of European Union laws which mandate information and consultation and attempt to promote collective bargaining and ask what challenges they will pose for management.   This is part 1 of an a two part series of related episodes. Part 2 will be published around June 7th

Today's Knowing Me, Knowing EU comes to you on the day when the European Parliament adopts new rules on binding pay-transparency measures. This is one of the most important recent pieces of social and employment law - and Tom Hayes sets out why companies need to start preparing for this law now. He also discusses the EU Commission's ongoing work to reform the EWC directive and looks at oth...

In this episode Tom discusses the EU's planned new AI and Due Diligence laws and their impact on HR/IR decision making. He also explores the risk of EU policy makers being so focused on due diligence requirements that it risks driving investment to places such as the US, where President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act is attracting many US businesses to return home.

In this first Knowing Me, Knowing EU of 2023 Tom Hayes looks at the EU's 2023 legislative program in the area of social policy and employee relations. It will be a hectic year with initiatives on platform works, gender pay, and use of AI in the HR area. These are in addition to the other changes to which HR professionals were becoming accustomed.    

Tom chats with head of Bloomberg beta, and noted writer about the future of work, Roy Bahat about his view that the US model of labor relations is broken and must be fixed. See Roy's blog here: https://also.roybahat.com/  

In this first BEERG Byte of 2023 Tom Hayes chats with dr Burkard Göpfert of Kliemt. HR lawyers in Munich about the social media strategies should employers adopt when dealing with collective bargaining and other potentially contentious situations. It is based on this article from Kliemt. HR/Ius Laboris: https://iuslaboris.com/insights/ten-top-tips-for-using-social-media-in-collective-bargaining-si...

Among the topics explored by Tom Hayes, in this third instalment of BEERG's monthly stream of short podcasts on issues of interest to labour relations professionals, from across the European Union, are: Progress in EU moves to increase the number of women on company boards EU's plans to legislate on Supply Change Due Diligence;  the risks of a creating a work/life balance divide between those...