News: employees still fear redundancy in 2013
Around one in 12 employers fear they may need to make redundancies in the next six months as the stalling economy fails to ignite growth. This 8% figure represents a marked slide in confidence from 2012 when just 2% of employers were unsure whether redundancies would be needed, according to a survey of 783 […]
Talent Spot: Kath Austin, HR and Marketing Director, Pizza Hut
Like so many graduates, when Kath Austin, HR and marketing director at Pizza Hut, left university in 1997, she wasn’t entirely sure which direction to go in. Joining a graduate training scheme seemed like the sensible thing to do and British Airways a good brand to work for. It turned out to be an inspired […]
News: UK jobs market remains in rude health
The UK jobs market remains in rude health and growing steadily, despite dire warnings of torrid times ahead for job seekers and fears of a triple-dip recession. Defying the doom and gloom merchants, the UK jobs market is up a third compared to 2010 after three years of steady growth, according to Reed Jobs […]
Is that an auto-enrolment time bomb ticking?
Auto-enrolment is a “ticking time bomb” that could leave 30,000 mid-sized firms with a big, costly mess to mop up, warned a benefits expert. Companies falling into the 60 to 249 employee bracket have neither the time, money or resources of larger firms to tackle this major shake-up to pensions legislation, warned Michael Whitfield, […]
News: UK firms turn to temporary staff
UK firms are taking on more temporary workers, finds a survey by staffing firm Venn Group. The Venn report noted a 5.2% increase in hiring levels across the UK, but the picture varied greatly according to region and industry. Altogether, temporary vacancies in commerce and industry across the UK soared 32.% between the fourth […]
HRZone Interview: Andrew Kakabadse, Cranfield University School of Management
HR directors have a unique position in the boardroom as the only members of the senior team who need to think and act like a chief executive or chairman. HR alone needs that broad understanding of issues that cross departmental boundaries, believes Andrew Kakabadse, Professor of international management development at Cranfield University’s School of Management. […]
In a nutshell: core values communication
Monica Walls is vice president of HR a Nexenta Systems, a Californian storage software firm with a worldwide presence. Here she describes the steps she takes to ensure that the company’s core competencies are communicated worldwide using its performance management system. 1. Core values It was essential to identify the core values and […]
Talent spot: Lorraine Makepeace, head of amazing at The Chemistry Group
‘Head of amazing’ is a job title you’re unlikely to come across very often, but The Chemistry Group is not interested in following the crowd. This unusual job title was created especially for Lorraine Makepeace to reflect her skills of dealing with people and communicate the simple idea that “Amazing people do amazing things.” […]
Woman crack the boardroom, but not the pay gap
More women have made it onto the board but the gender pay gap has widened, a report by Hay Group reveals. European boardrooms were still dominated by men, the global management consultancy found, with women securing only 17% of director roles. In addition, barely 2% of non-executive chairs in Europe were female. There […]
News: Happy people, happy workforce, happy times.
You might think we’re all miserable right now, but apparently workers are happier and more committed to their jobs, despite the rocky economy, according to a new survey – sponsored by the government. Or rather workers were happier back in 2011, which is the year covered by the latest Workplace Employment Relations Study (WERS). […]
HRZone interview – Linda Holbeche, director The Holbeche Partnership
A chance meeting at a conference between Linda Holbeche, director of HR consultancy The Holbeche Partnership and Geoff Matthews, vice president for HR at Merck KGaA, led to a collaboration on a book that has become shortlisted for the CMI management book of the year. The idea behind the book, Engaged, unleashing your organisation’s potential […]
News: Unilever volunteers staff for volunteering
Unilever is offering staff paid time off to volunteer as part of a scheme designed to build relations with local communities and increase staff engagement. If staff decide to use their holiday entitlement to volunteer, Unilever will now match their time off with paid leave, as well as giving them an extra day’s pay […]
Unemployment falls again
Unemployment levels have fallen to an 18-month low while the number of people in work has reached a record high, in spite of a jittery economy. There were 2.49 million people unemployed between September and November 2012, a fall of 37,000 over the previous quarter, according to the Office of National Statistics (ONS). Meanwhile, […]
News: Bad careers advice is harming next generation of workers
Poor careers advice and lack of understanding about the workplace mean young people are ill-prepared to enter the jobs market, warned the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). More than half (53%) of the employers surveyed by the CIPD believed youngsters careers advice was inadequate, while 63% said their young recruits lacked insight […]
Job confidence tumbles?
Job confidence has tumbled 5% as the New Year brings fresh worries about job security. Just under three quarters (73%) of UK workers believed their job was secure, a 5% drop from October 2012 and a 2% slide since January 2012, according to the latest Legal & General Job Security Index. Those fearing redundancy […]
Business meet HR, HR meet the Business – you’ve got a lot in common!
A failure to demonstrate strategic value is damaging HR’s reputation with business leaders, warns a new Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) report. HR is perceived as implementing rather than devising strategy by business leaders, according to the CIPD survey of 369 business leaders and 107 senior HR professionals. This means […]
News: Capping unfair dismissal payments is “soundbite politics”
The Government’s announcement that unfair dismissal awards will be capped at a maximum of one year’s salary has met with a mixed response. Martin Patt, associate at law firm Lester Aldridge LLP warned that the announcement appeared to be “soundbite politics”. He pointed out that the average award for a straightforward unfair dismissal claim […]
News: Management on the move in 2013
Almost a third of UK senior managers are looking to switch jobs this year, according to an independent report commissioned by career advisor AGM Transitions. The research found that the desire for a new job was high among senior managers, prompted by the prospect of better pay (37%) as well as a fresh challenge (18%). […]
British workers beat the blues
Blue Monday, the so-called most depressing day of the year, will claim fewer victims this year, as workers say they are happier and more secure in their jobs in 2013. The third Monday in January, which falls today, has been dubbed the most miserable day of the year. But despite the cold snap in the […]
Talent Spot: Monica Walls, vice president of Human Resources at Nexenta Systems
Monica Walls, vice president of HR at Nexenta Systems loves working for startups. “You can have a bigger impact and see results much quicker,” she says. “I fell in love with working for startups and and cannot imagine going back to working for a company with 13,000 employees.” Walls has her work cut out feeding […]