The recent media storm regarding Gary Lineker breaching impartiality rules by posting a comment on his private social media (condemning the government) raises some serious questions about employment law.
The answer, surely, must be no. You can terminate a service agreement, or confirm you no longer require their services, or even tell them they are temporarily not required (pending a review of the issues). However, to suspend the “employee” (they are calling him “their highest pay star”—which could be construed as “highest paid employee”) could place the BBC at risk. Not to mention the debate as to whether you can impose such requirements on a non-employee. It would seem the BBC have got themselves into a right HR mess up! Dare we suggest the HR practices at the BBC may soon be shown the red card?
Time to act on ‘essential skills’ development
In recent years, we have seen growing recognition that the development of essential or ‘employability’ skills, such as teamwork, presenting and problem-solving are crucial not only for young people entering the workplace, but for workers adapting to organisational change. Research from the Skills Builder Partnership, in partnership with the CIPD, Edge Foundation and KPMG, revealed that low essential skills cost the UK economy £22bn in 2022. It also found that people with higher levels of essential skills experience improved social mobility, employment, earnings, job and life satisfaction.
Employers can adopt and use the Skills Builder Universal Framework to develop essential skills in young people and existing employees. The framework helps employers design interview questions that draw out an applicant’s key essential skills, identify workplace training opportunities to develop and embed these, and ensure people managers encourage their people to use these skills.
