Glasgow's Jellyfish 'Pay Monster'
Here is my final selection from 'Managing the Jelly Fish' - an article on good practice and equal pay from the external consultant (Steve Watson) who helped Glasgow City Council design its WPBR pay scheme.
- In the future, with increasing requirement to not only achieve pay equity but also demonstrate common sense justification, pay structures will need to be more thoughtfully developed
- Pay structures will be monitored through pay transparency and understanding and perhaps tested through the courts.
- This may cause more stinging pain earlier on (but be careful, jellyfish stings may lead to paralysis) but it is good for the longer term health.
- Will the apparent success of the independent litigants produce a growth in tentacles? (I forgot to tell you about the jellyfish tendency to group together)
"How much did senior council officials pay in consultancy fees for developing the WPBR?" - they can't tell us, so they claim.
"What were the Terms of Reference for the WPBR and who finally signed off on its recommendations?" - again senior officials claim there are no proper records to explain 'who did what and when' in Scotland's largest local council.
If you ask me, the scandal of equal pay in Glasgow raises serious questions about the City Council's governance and its use of public money.
Glasgow's Jellyfish 'Pay Monster' (19/03/18)
A regular reader is decidedly unimpressed at the 'words of wisdom' from the external consultant Glasgow City Council brought in to help devise their WPBR pay scheme.
Hi Mark
I've just read Steve Watson's take on equal pay with his jelly fish quotes. I can't believe an organisation as big as Glasgow city council used this guy I honestly think the guy was smoking ******* when he wrote this load of pish.
M
More to follow later today - so watch this space.
Here are some more 'words of wisdom' from Steve Watson on how employers should manage equal pay in the modern workplace.
Yes, the same WPBR pay scheme that was heavily criticised by three senior judges in the Court of Session, Scotland's highest civil court, who agreed (unanimously) that Glasgow's WPBR is 'unfit for purpose'.
I plan to publish the whole of Steve Watson's 'Managing the Jelly Fish' article in the next day or two, but please read in small doses - because there's a chance you could die laughing if you try to absorb everything in just one go.
At the time of writing this post, I believe that all of Glasgow senior council's officials are still in their jobs but are unable to find the 'Terms of Reference' and other important documents relating to the WPBR - nor are they able to explain how much the exercise cost the council taxpayer.
What a shower.
If I were to tell you that the 'architect' of Glasgow's thoroughly discredited WPBR pay scheme once compared Equal Pay to a Jelly Fish, what would you think?
Would your reaction be: "How interesting" or would it be more along the lines of "How can anyone spout such rubbish?"
Well here's an extract of an article written by a chap called Steve Watson who worked for Hays HR Consulting back in 2007.
Now Steve is credited, if that's the correct word, with devising the WPBR and its complex 'rules' along with the City Council's senior officials.
Although it's fair to say that the City Council's officials have recently gone all 'shy' about their involvement with and responsibility for the WPBR, perhaps because it has been condemned as 'unfit for purpose' by the Court of Session, Scotland's highest civil court.
Glasgow's Jellyfish 'Pay Monster'
Here are some more 'words of wisdom' from Steve Watson on how employers should manage equal pay in the modern workplace.
- The jellyfish of Equal Pay is anesthetising those bravely swimming close in order to co-exist whilst largely ignoring those safely paddling away.
- Despite some high profile organisations making a virtue out of their jellyfish husbandry
- “Mess with pay and you’ll rue the day”. Equal Pay would be fine if it made the jellyfish smile but despite significant payouts many people are finding the changes uncomfortable.
- Lets be realistic, it’s a jellyfish not Royal Jelly!
Yes, the same WPBR pay scheme that was heavily criticised by three senior judges in the Court of Session, Scotland's highest civil court, who agreed (unanimously) that Glasgow's WPBR is 'unfit for purpose'.
I plan to publish the whole of Steve Watson's 'Managing the Jelly Fish' article in the next day or two, but please read in small doses - because there's a chance you could die laughing if you try to absorb everything in just one go.
At the time of writing this post, I believe that all of Glasgow senior council's officials are still in their jobs but are unable to find the 'Terms of Reference' and other important documents relating to the WPBR - nor are they able to explain how much the exercise cost the council taxpayer.
What a shower.
Glasgow's Jellyfish 'Pay Monster' (15/03/18)
More revelations will follow later today about Glasgow's Jellyfish 'Pay Monster' which I wrote about earlier this month.
I have to admit I find it astonishing that Glasgow's most senior officials were taken in by this Jellyfish nonsense and not just because they are (and were) all very well paid, experienced and should have known better.
But the most important reason is that the Glasgow is Scotland's largest council, by far, and its senior officials consider themselves to be at the very top of the class in Scottish local government - the head boys and girls, you could say.
Yet here we are with a WPBR pay scheme for which senior officials claim to have no proper records and which has ben condemned by the Court of Session, Scotland's highest civil court, as 'unfit for purpose'.
What a joke.
I have to admit I find it astonishing that Glasgow's most senior officials were taken in by this Jellyfish nonsense and not just because they are (and were) all very well paid, experienced and should have known better.
But the most important reason is that the Glasgow is Scotland's largest council, by far, and its senior officials consider themselves to be at the very top of the class in Scottish local government - the head boys and girls, you could say.
Yet here we are with a WPBR pay scheme for which senior officials claim to have no proper records and which has ben condemned by the Court of Session, Scotland's highest civil court, as 'unfit for purpose'.
What a joke.
Glasgow's Jellyfish 'Pay Monster' (06/03/18)
Would your reaction be: "How interesting" or would it be more along the lines of "How can anyone spout such rubbish?"
Well here's an extract of an article written by a chap called Steve Watson who worked for Hays HR Consulting back in 2007.
"Managing the Jelly Fish
"Equal Pay is like a jelly fish; straightforward in concept, slow, and gender neutral. A somewhat amorphous body that has long and difficult to see tentacles. A jellyfish will ponderously seek its prey out, sting, immobilise and draw it into the fleshy translucent centre to feed. However, jellyfish are not inherently dangerous to humans although it is best to be wary of the obvious dangers. Live and let live. Biodiversity."
"Equal Pay is like a jelly fish; straightforward in concept, slow, and gender neutral. A somewhat amorphous body that has long and difficult to see tentacles. A jellyfish will ponderously seek its prey out, sting, immobilise and draw it into the fleshy translucent centre to feed. However, jellyfish are not inherently dangerous to humans although it is best to be wary of the obvious dangers. Live and let live. Biodiversity."
Now Steve is credited, if that's the correct word, with devising the WPBR and its complex 'rules' along with the City Council's senior officials.
Although it's fair to say that the City Council's officials have recently gone all 'shy' about their involvement with and responsibility for the WPBR, perhaps because it has been condemned as 'unfit for purpose' by the Court of Session, Scotland's highest civil court.
I've never seen the word Jellyfish spilled as two separate words before, I have to admit, but I've never come across a pay scheme as useless and discriminatory as Glasgow's WPBR either.
Yet the City Council's senior officials say they can explain the cost of the WPBR, the terms of reference for the WPBR or how the WPBR was procured back in 2005/06/07.
I'll be sharing more equal pay insights from 'Managing the Jelly Fish' later today - so watch this space!
Yet the City Council's senior officials say they can explain the cost of the WPBR, the terms of reference for the WPBR or how the WPBR was procured back in 2005/06/07.
I'll be sharing more equal pay insights from 'Managing the Jelly Fish' later today - so watch this space!
