American tech entrepeneur Vivek Wadhwa on diversity, the future of education and Apple’s innovation model
Vivek Wadhwa is an American technology entrepreneur, thinker and academic. He is a fellow at the Rock Center for Corporate Governance and wrote the 2014 book 'Innovating Women: The Changing Face of Technology.' Vivek is a regular columnist for the Washington Post and Bloomberg BusinessWeek and he is a strong proponent of greater diversity in organisations. […]
Essential presentation skills for introverts
Those of us who try to go through life unnoticed will often panic at the thought of having to give a presentation. It doesn’t matter if it’s to a small board, a book-club, or a major conference audience with hundreds of people, we simply don’t like having to get in front of a group of […]
Coffee Break: Swearing, gratitude and what you need to know about the freelance economy
It's time for us to top up your plate with some fresh helpings of HR news, opinion & research. We've got another great selection of articles & blogs from across the industry for you to peruse over your 10 minute break, so get comfortable and start reading! Recruitment – 4 things recruiters need to know […]
Helping employees manage their emotional investment
Some jobs require a great deal of emotional investment, such as being front of house with the necessity to be perpetually polite and perky. But what does it cost the said staff member to put up this façade day in and day out? Are they simply soaking up negativity like a sponge with long-term impacts upon […]
Personality in sport: British Olympians on and off the field
As the Olympic Games opening ceremony draws near, the world is immersing themselves in the details about the athletes that are representing their countries and latching on to their favourites. Scanning the competitor pool, it’s easy to see there are as many different individual personalities types represented in the games as there are countries. Looking […]
HR must shift its focus to enhance agility: leadership development is king
Agility – a term discussed more and more in boardrooms, particularly as businesses operate in an increasingly global environment, driven by consumer choice and innovative technologies. It’s the ability to anticipate new opportunities and respond and transform effectively. In our experience, organisations that fail to grasp the importance of agility will fall behind competitors and ultimately […]
Getting to day 1: HR’s crucial role in the E.ON carve-out
Corporate transformations may be increasingly common, but that’s little consolation to those charged with executing them. E.ON’s recent split into two companies was about as complex a transformation as one can imagine, with an almost impossible timetable. The results speak volumes about the importance of good strategy, planning, and execution. They also serve as an […]
How to get the best value from apprenticeships
Employers increasingly view apprenticeships as a rich source of future talent; securing the right candidate gives an organisation young learners who they can nurture into keen and loyal staff, eager to learn new skills from day one. In fact, the value of an apprentice’s lifetime contribution to a company has been placed at £105,000 by researchers at […]
Coffee Break: Dress code, employee perks and the case for changing your job title
We've spent another week sifting through the mountain of HR articles and blogs to find the best nuggets for you to read over your lunch break or morning coffee. Let us know what you think, or if you have any other articles to recommend! Recruitment – For employee retention, there's no place like home (Fortune) – […]
The ‘gig economy’: how does HR need to adapt to this new breed of employee?
The “gig economy” has firmly entered employment vocabulary, becoming a catch-all term for anything from Uber taxi drivers and Airbnb hosts to freelance professionals. But what does this highly flexible way of working mean for HR? Until recently, the only people who looked to get a “gig” were musicians. The rest of us found “proper” jobs that […]
Coffee Break: Internships, workers rights and the link between sleep quality & success
Time to get up to speed with the week's HR going-on – take a look through our handy round up of news and opinion, and as ever feel free to let us know what you think in the comments! Recruitment – Recruiting Gen Z: 'It's like Tinder, but instead of a date you get a job' (The […]
In defense of night: we treat it with disdain yet spend 26.5 years asleep
Society is starting to pay attention to sleep. This is important because for something so critical to our survival and wellbeing, sleep has a chequered history with researchers. “Scientists in the 1950s said that ‘sleep is of no medical importance,” says Guy Meadows, Clinical Director at Sleep to Perform. “That’s an actual quote. Now in […]
Red light for BA performance appraisal system
Industrial action is nothing new to British Airways, Britain’s flagship airline. No surprise then when we hear of possible action over the introduction of a new performance appraisal system. For BA’s Director of People and Legal, Maria da Cunha, this must be a disappointing result given her commitment to a more engaged workforce. In […]
Make employee feedback more actionable and productive
Most organisations support their employee engagement programmes with an annual employee survey – using the resulting engagement scores to measure success. While this provides the ability to track engagement over time, and potentially benchmark against competitors, there’s now a drive to gather faster, more specific and actionable feedback that delivers more value. With generic, standardised […]
Shoring up employee relations in the Brexit aftermath
The Brexit revolution continues to send reverberations throughout UK workplaces. The political turmoil creates understandable uncertainty and anxiety in organisations of all shapes and sizes. Employees are unsure of the future and this presents both an opportunity and a risk for employers seeking to provide reassurance to staff on the road ahead. Trust and confidence […]
Employee engagement at a 100-year-old retail motor group
Helen Burrows is HR Director at Marshall Motor Holdings, which comprises two businesses, Marshall Motor Group and Marshall Leasing. Marshall Motor Group is a top-ten UK motor dealer group which was established in 1909. It currently operates more than 100 franchised dealerships, representing 24 different manufacturing brands in 25 counties across England. It has a […]
Here’s why your digital transformation is failing
This article was co-written by Aoife Kilduff, European Insights Lead at YSC, and Nikita D’Souza, Research Consultant at YSC. The ‘digital age’ is not a new era. It is the world we have been living in for the past 20 years. However in recent years, the effect the ‘digital age’ has on the way we live […]
What are the causes & nature of employee disengagement?
According to Gallup, just 13% of employees are engaged at work. Increasing this number and finding out what makes people engagement at work is therefore high on HR's priority list. But the first step is really understanding workplace disengagement and the factors that causally contribute to poor perceptions and experiences in the workplace. These reports, articles, […]
Employee engagement trends: our curated list of insight reports
Employee engagement trends continue to point to a significant and evidenced link between the levels of engagement and overall organisational performance. With this in mind, we've collated some of the best and most respected reports into employee engagement trends in one place so you can access what you need. Whether you're building a business case […]
Wearable technology: HR’s newest great tool or just a fad?
Anything that promises to improve employee engagement, productivity and profitability in an organisation will naturally grab the attention of HR and business leaders. That’s why we so often hear that wearable technology – electronic devices that can be worn on the body – is the latest must-have addition to an organisation’s HR technology toolkit. A […]