“We hire people who want to think for themselves, who want to be a force for good.”
OVO is a fast-growing energy company based in Bristol, already making a name for themselves both as a challenger within the industry and for having strong focus on company culture and values, having grown from a handful of employees seven years ago to over 1,200 today. We headed over to Ovo’s foliage-filled office to take a look […]
How Atlassian implemented a culture of innovation and continuous improvement
Dom Price is Head of R&D and Work Futurist at software company Atlassian. We caught up with him at HR Tech World Congress in Paris to find out how he has kept and nurtured Atlassian's culture of innovation despite significant growth. From the beginning, Dom was clear he wanted to maintain a company-wide culture of innovation, […]
Reverse culture shock: hitting home when you least expect it
Returning from an international assignment is often perceived as the easy part of the relocation process – experience gained, job done and the feeling of ‘home sweet home. But increasingly individuals and big businesses alike are recognising that ‘coming home’ is more complicated than it seems. In fact, readjusting back to a culture, lifestyle and self […]
“Business leaders want HR data to be like financial data: standardised, specific and clearly linked to outcomes.”
This is an interview with Nick Shaw, Managing Director of CEB in UK & Ireland. CEB are a global research and technology business offering advice and best practice to help organisations improve corporate performance. If you're looking to strengthen and tighten your talent function, take a look at their newest report – Establishing a World-Class Assessment Function—10 Best Practices […]
Are you a punk or are you a Punk?
Blaire Palmer is CEO of That People Thing, a consultancy dedicated to inspiring leaders in fast-paced, ambitious businesses to drive change in their organisations in partnership with their people. Blaire has been described as a "secret weapon", a "business muse" and "that lady who does the leadership and team stuff". She is a regular guest expert […]
An inconvenient truth: do open plan offices stifle creativity?
They say timing is everything. Our 2016 UK Workplace Survey (WPS) launched against a backdrop of huge political turmoil in the wake of the EU referendum. The UK’s decision to leave the European Union after 43 years – the so called ‘Brexit’ – polarised the nation, and the press exposed the uncomfortable, but obvious differences […]
Systemic dialogue: a gateway to purpose-led leadership
What does leadership that serves everyone call for – in us, in teams and in our wider networks? What does it take to lead such transformation during these times of turbulent change? How can leaders identify solutions that strengthen a whole system? These are the questions that I am finding and exploring with my colleague Ed Rowland […]
HR’s role in mergers and acquisitions: before it happens
In this in-depth series, Benjamin Black of Blacklarke Consulting gives us the lowdown on how HR should handle mergers and acquisitions at every stage of the cycle. Mergers and acquisitions present a plethora of issues. Most business leaders will focus on the obvious legal and financial implications, usually including costs of employment and any issues […]
Coffee Break: ‘Unsick days’, workplace excellence and how to recruit using Instagram
Another week has gone by, and we've been busy scurrying around the internet looking for the best HR articles and blogs for you to peruse in your break time. Let us know what you think of the pieces we've shared, and tell us what you've enjoyed reading too! Recruitment – How to source and engage […]
Going beyond the stereotypes: managing employees with Asperger’s
Asperger's syndrome (AS) is a condition occurring in about 1 in 200 of the population. It lies on the autistic spectrum and until recently has been a condition about which little is known in the employment context. What is interesting about AS is that it is both a disability protected by law, and at the […]
Book review: What is global leadership?
HRZone has a range of books available for review. If you would like to receive one of our business books, free of charge, please contact the editor on editor at hrzone dot com and we can send you a list of what's available. In return, we ask for a 400-700 word review of the book, […]
The five temptations leaders must avoid
When it comes to working with leaders the most consistently lacking behaviour seems to be discipline. Now I know that most of you are reeling reading this and probably thinking ‘how dare he’ but now’s the time to be really honest with yourself – we all get a little distracted from time to time. In […]
“Engagement is about what happens at the actionable step.”
At the recent Engage for Success conference, Dr John Neil, who led the management buyout of logistics and manufacturing company Unipart, said that engagement is about "what happens at the actionable step," highlighting the importance of measuring whether engagement has resulted in a genuine improvement to process or service. He added that growth and productivity […]
How to keep team players engaged
This was authored by Patrick Lencioni with assistance from Steve Turner and Mike Snelling. With the triple whammy of austerity, exiting Europe and its uncertain impact and the need for a government to demonstrate a new type of leadership it’s no wonder that when we at The Table Group consult in organisations we are hearing […]
Coffee Break: Diversity, multitasking and why disruptive tech needs a reality check
Welcome to another one of our Coffee Break round-ups, where we'll be listing our favourite bits of news and opinion from across the HR world, like this piece earlier in the week about what it's like to work in the UK for international employees (TLDR: we drink a lot, and the tea round is fraught […]
What makes the ideal team player?
This was authored by Patrick Lencioni with assistance from Steve Turner and Mike Snelling. When it comes to visible team performance we in the UK have seen some amazing examples in recent times. From the history-making season Leicester City FC just completed to the now four-times Tour De France winning Sky team. It makes us […]
Analysing the challenges in global mobility
For a host of reasons that have dominated the news agenda over the first half of the year, 2016 is certainly starting to look like one of the most extraordinary years in recent history. However, on a slightly more prosaic level, what are the major issues dominating the global mobility (GN) agenda? The RES Forum, […]
Why do good people do bad things?
Over the last few decades, ethical scandals in business have been increasing. This could be due to increased media attention around the issue, or due to an actual increase in the number of occurrences: ultimately, it’s hard to say. After all, there are many factors which can be attributed to the rise in numbers. Digital […]
Video: what is the role of ‘noise’ in communication?
Noise, in communication terms, means any interference that makes it harder for the stakeholder to firstly receive, then interpret the message, and its meaning. Communication noise can have a profound impact on our perception of our communications – we can believe that we are doing far better than we actually are. In this video, John Edmonds […]
Our values journey: “We put them up on the wall, but we didn’t do that straight away.”
It's HR in Retail month on HRZone! We're focusing on all things retail – check out our HR in retail hub to read all our great content! Kathy Allison is Global HR Director of footwear brand FitFlop and has been instrumental in FitFlop's project to discover and embed their global values. She was previously at […]
