In the wake of the #MeToo movement, have men finally begun to grasp how widespread the issue of sexual harassment against women is?

The answer seems to be no, according to a new study which reflects how much men in the U.S.— and 12 European countries, including Britain — underestimate levels of harassment against women. While both sexes underestimate sexual harassment, but this tendency is more pronounced among men. Men in the US were asked to estimate the levels of sexual harassment experienced by women since the age of 15 as part of an Ipsos Mori survey on the “Perils of Perception”. Their estimates were at an average of 44 percent.

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2018 was another momentous year from VinciWorks. Our team continued to innovate and exceed our targets with new courses and product updates, as well as creating new guides and policy templates to help businesses stay on the right side of compliance.

Here are some of the highlights from 2018.

420,000course completions

We continued to deliver outstanding training with the number of training course completions more than doubling in 2018. GDPR is the most popular course, accounting for almost 25% of course completions, with anti-money laundering continuing to be a mainstay in most of our clients’ onboarding plan for new staff.

100,000 GDPR training completions

In the two years leading to the EU-wide General Data Protection Regulation coming into force on 25 May, VinciWorks made sure businesses were ahead of the game with their compliance tools and training. GDPR: Privacy at Work comes complete with a course builder, ensuring the most relevant training was delivered to each individual user. For users who required refresher training, or who were in lower-risk positions, GDPR: The Basics guides users through the changes being applied as a result of GDPR. Compliance is an ongoing process and VinciWorks continues to record around 5,000 GDPR course completions a month.

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Competition law training screenshot
Competition Law: Know Your Market contains three modules on cartels, prices and competitors

VinciWorks has just released a new course as part of its Market Rules series. Competition Law: Know Your Market drops users into a set of immersive scenarios to test their knowledge, understanding and ability to comply with UK competition law. The course is broken into short modules that cover different aspects of UK competition law, including price-fixing, cartels and meetings with competitors. Each module contains simulations of real business dilemmas with key learning points related to the scenario.

Each set of scenario questions is illustrated with real life examples and the latest news concerning enforcement action from the Competition and Markets Authority. Users come away with a comprehensive understanding of the UK Competition Act, the Enterprise Act, and how to apply their knowledge to everyday situations.

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Road closed signs amid flooded water

The unthinkable has happened and you’re busy gathering your business continuity team together to manage the incident. You pop your head around the door to the Head of HR and they say they have no idea that they’re meant to be on the team. The Head of Legal says the same. You’re already in a high-pressure situation as time is against you and now you need to explain to these people how the team works when what you really need is for them to mobilise quickly and perform their role.

Many organisations have detailed business continuity plans sitting on their shelves and the board, the auditors and often the insurers are expecting that the team will be able to respond quickly should an incident occur. However, many business continuity teams have never even met, let alone understand their role or what they will need to do in the heat of an incident. Tabletop exercises are an essential part of the business continuity process. However, many organisations may not have the experience or buy-in to conduct this training. Part of the issue in convincing organisations of the true value of these sessions is a lack of understanding of the benefit these exercises can bring.

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The Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA) has been finalising a package of reforms designed to provide solicitors and law firms with greater flexibility over how they operate, making legal services more accessible to the public.

These include the new Price Transparency Rules set to be introduced on 6 December 2018, the Insurance Distribution Directive and reforms to the SRA Handbook including revised Account Rules.

In our recent webinar, Richard Williams, Policy Associate at the SRA, Ruth Cohen, Legal and Research Executive at VinciWorks and Gary Yantin, Director of Best Practice at VinciWorks explored the upcoming changes to the SRA Handbook. The webinar explored the implications of the SRA reforms and gave guidance and tips on how to be SRA compliant.

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The headline is sadly too familiar. We’re told how many more victims have now come forward since the first allegation of sexual misconduct against the previously well-respected celebrity. Victims who knew the perpetrator in a professional capacity with accounts that stretch back to when they, now in the twilight of their career, were in their youth. The reader’s suspicions are confirmed that the abuse was either left unnoticed, ignored, or sadly, but most likely, swept under the carpet for decades. Of course, the unfortunate reality is that for every celebrity in the headlines there are many more non-celebrities whose acts are equally appalling but not newsworthy.

In acknowledgment of this, on May 10th, 2018 the Stop Sexual Harassment in NYC Act was passed with the aim of protecting all employees in New York from sexual harassment in the workplace. The Act places a requirement on New York employers to review their policies and procedures relating to sexual harassment and provide annual anti-sexual harassment training to their staff.

Read more: A guide to the New York sexual harassment laws

What we learned from #MeToo

VinciWorks realized that sexual harassment was an issue that was vital to address from a compliance perspective when the #MeToo movement revealed the shocking prevalence of abuse within society. We began by conducting some research into why workplace sexual harassment was still rife and worryingly found that 50% of respondents didn’t think their organization would deal with a report of sexual harassment very seriously. It confirmed what we already suspected – harassment is a topic that needs to look at the end point first and ask the toughest question: is there a culture of sexual harassment within this organization?

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As the next cold snap looms, we’re looking at the tricky topic of temperatures in the workplace – and the impacts that extreme spells of hot and cold can have on employees.

Before we look at the challenge of cold workplaces, it’s worth noting that MPs recently rejected requests to create a law to define a maximum workplace temperature for British companies. Their formal rejection was in response to a report suggesting that heat-related deaths may treble by 2050.

Beyond the threat to lives, ministers report that productivity declines during heatwaves: “In 2010, approximately five million staff days were lost due to overheating above 26°C resulting in economic losses of £770 million.”

Despite recognising the serious threat from a warming climate, ministers argued that the existing statute already provides protection for employees. Specifically, the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992 create an obligation for employers to provide a reasonable temperature in the workplace. Guidance for employers also encourages them to take a common-sense approach to things like relaxing dress codes, alternating work, providing more breaks, and ensuring employees always have access to cool drinking water.

Although there is no legal limit on workplace temperatures, the guidelines do state that the typical workplace should be at least 16°, or 13° if the work involves lots of physical activity.

Health conditions and extreme temperatures

There are some serious health conditions that can be caused by working in extreme temperatures, including:

  • Heat exhaustion
  • Cold exposure
  • Hypothermia
  • Dehydration
  • Sunburn
  • Frost bite

Some health conditions and medical issues can be aggravated by working in extreme temperatures:

  • Heart disease
  • Kidney disease
  • Thyroid conditions
  • Diabetes
  • Skin cancer

Employees should be encouraged to mention any existing health conditions that may make them susceptible to extreme temperatures.

Your workplace policy on extreme temperatures

Given that heatwaves are predicted to be more common by 2040, it makes sense to think about how your company cares for employees during the hottest days of summer – and the extreme dips in temperature during the winter months.

Where possible, employees should be encouraged to use a range of simple measures to remain comfortable.

Dress codes – when possible, give people the flexibility to add or remove layers so that they can work comfortably.

Breaks – during hot spells, your colleagues may need more breaks, or just a chance to get out of the sun.

Protective clothing – are your colleagues given gloves or hats for winter wear? Or perhaps people need hats to shield them from the summer sun.

Changes to work – if your workplace has some unavoidably hot or cold areas, can you rotate colleagues to give people respite?

Health and safety eLearning from VinciWorks

Want to know more about protecting your employees during extreme weather? Our suite of health and safety eLearning solutions includes courses on personal safety, risk assessments and working safely. You can either choose our eLearning courses as off-the-shelf packages, or we can tailor the content to suit your organisation. And because eLearning can be delivered conveniently at your own offices, using your existing PCs, it’s easy to keep your colleagues updated with the latest health and safety information.

Retail Competition Law

Competition law is a series of rules and regulations which seeks to maintain fair competition in an open market and regulate anti-competitive conduct by companies. One of the key aspects of competition law is price fixing. This is an illegal activity that can result in huge fines, criminal convictions and imprisonment.

What is price fixing?

Price-fixing is agreeing with a competitor what price customers will be charged. It can also include agreements not to sell something below a minimum price or agreeing not to undercut a competitor. Price-fixing leads to inflated prices and customers being overcharged.

4 types of price-fixing:

There are several types of price-fixing:

  1. Horizontal price-fixing: This type of price-fixing happens when competitors of a particular product agree to set a minimum or maximum price for their products. For example, two or more competing fast-food chains agree to sell hamburgers for the same price.
  2. Vertical price fixing: This involves an agreement between members up and down the supply chain, for example, an auto manufacturer and its dealers.
  3. Agreement to raise prices: This involves competitors agreeing to raise the price of a product by a certain amount.
  4. Agreement to freeze, or lower, prices: This involves participants, such as governments, agreeing to freeze prices in order, for example, to stop inflation and restore consumer’s confidence in the economy. It is generally only used as a last resort when monetary policy, i.e., a central bank’s actions that manage the money supply, fail.

Price fixing doesn’t always have to involve agreements to set the same price. Businesses can also be guilty of price fixing if they:

  • Agree to offer or withhold the same discounts or shipping terms
  • Agree on a common formula for changing prices
  • Set a production quota or capacity

Who is covered by price fixing regulations?

Competition law applies to online markets as well as traditional sellers. It also applies equally to small businesses as well as large ones.

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