Infographic: What are the main challenges facing customer support?
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! Research into the customer support field in the UK has highlighted a juxtaposition emerging based on the level of importance being placed on contact centres vs the relative […]
Six recruitment challenges that retailers must conquer
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! Job seekers have always been attracted to the retail industry because it offers opportunities, variety and flexible working. However, recruiting and retaining the right staff is often tougher in retail […]
Tech has transformed the customer experience – it’s time it did the same for retail staff
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! The breadth and pace of modern retail innovation amazes me constantly. For example, my neighbour Jones, a sprightly 75 year old retiree living in East London, recently announced that he’s […]
Five minutes with Alexander Snelling, HR Director, Cath Kidston
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! We caught up with Alexander Snelling, HR Director at Cath Kidston, on the challenges and opportunities in the retail sector, and what Cath Kidston are doing to innovate their people […]
“As in-store experience becomes ever more important, the need for improved service skills grows.”
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! We caught up with Tony Gilbert, Head of Executive and Strategic Reward at KPMG UK, about the challenges in recruiting and rewarding retail staff. Tony has been at KPMG UK since […]
WHSmith’s plan to increase number of ‘mental health first aiders’
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! ‘We all need to look after each other and ourselves.’ This is the mantra that is driving WHSmith, as we seek to deliver a comprehensive mental health wellbeing strategy that will […]
Four robots that are taking retail jobs
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! The age of automation is here and it’s growing at a blistering rate. While there’s talk of robots replacing lawyers, automating knowledge work is far harder than manual labour. As […]
Automation in retail: what’s the endgame?
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! To deliberately misquote William Gibson, “Automation is here – it just isn’t very evenly distributed yet”. There is no doubt that the face of retail is fundamentally changing and that […]
Hello, Future: is there a place for retail workers?
We caught up with Doug Stephens, founder of Retail Prophet, on what role people will have in the retail market as automation hoovers up many of the manual tasks that retail workers have been doing for years. Will there be a place for humans in retail in the future? When retailers recognise the primary intent […]
The disintegrating retail economic model and the dual-pronged approach that will replace it
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! We caught up with Doug Stephens, founder of Retail Prophet, on the breakneck pace of the ecommerce market, the changing nature of consumer knowledge and why a dual-pronged approach to […]
What your voice in the workplace says about you
In business we usually get things done by talking. But how well are you doing this? Kate Laws from people business Connor takes a look at why it’s important to assess your communication and influencing skills at work. When it comes to business, talk isn’t cheap. From the board room to the shop floor, the […]
The stark nature of wisdom – and what you need to know to have more of it
There's so much rich insight coming out of the academic sector that HR professionals need to know. At Academics' Corner we feature the best HR researchers that tell you what they’ve found and what you need to do differently on the back of the research. Get connected to the academic sector through Academics’ Corner and […]
“We are beginning to have conversations about ‘good enough’ managers.”
Hedda Bird is the founder and MD of 3C Performance Management, a company focused on taking a 'whole organisation' approach to performance reviews, conversations and processes. They are particularly focused on helping HR professionals engage senior leaders, provide managers with the skills and resources to have effective performance management conversations and enabling people to take […]
How is customer experience affected by employee engagement?
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! When it comes to the root causes of customer complaints, evidence demonstrates that it is staff performance that is the biggest culprit. A survey of 3,000 consumers by […]
Coffee Break: Email, purpose and why employees resist change
Allow us to beckon you away from your desk for five minutes and regale you with tales of news and opinion from across the HR industry. Let us know what you think of the articles we've shared, and feel free to tell us what you've enjoyed reading this week too. Change – Future of work […]
The digital black hole – why HR needs to urgently digitise and socialise talent management
Every three months, the editors at the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) compile their list of new words and phrases which should be included in this age-old language resource. It’s a considered process; thousands of researchers gather evidence from a wide range of independent sources in order to prove that these new phrases are widely used […]
Man against the machine: the struggle against unconscious bias
Artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, robotics, self-driving cars – the debate around these innovations is raging. And much of this debate surrounds the power of the ‘machine,’ the fear of job redundancies, the ethics of new technologies and the prospect of unemployment for those who can’t keep up. But is it all that bad? Is […]
What learning experience would you like to find in your company?
For over 10 years now, I’ve been working in Learning & Development, defining training strategies, doing instructional design and developing learning content for clients. Throughout these years, I’ve been able to see the paradigm changing from single, one time training events to having learning content at the point of need. Being a strong advocate of […]
Why your creative employees are more likely to be risk-takers
“Five years from now, over one-third of skills (35%) that are considered important in today’s workforce will have changed.” “Creativity will become one of the top three skills workers will need.” – World Economic Forum, 2016 In the most popular TED talk of all time, Sir Ken Robinson delivers a powerful argument about the way […]
Why employees resign: recognising disengagement, and what to do about it
Martin Baker is the Chief Executive of the Corporate eLearning Consortium. He’s recognised as being one of the top ten most influential people working in learning technologies in the UK. Here he shares an analysis from the Toolkit for Managers on the work of Leigh Branham – a key contributor to the debate on employee […]