HR, it’s time for the tail to stop wagging the dog
Jane Sunley is a UK best-selling business author of ‘The People Formula: 12 Steps to Productive, Profitable, Performing Business’ and Founder and Chairman of employee engagement expertise and tech provider, Purple Cubed. Few would argue that the delivery of business strategy is dependent on people; providing a set of circumstances whereby people can do this well […]
Breakfast Insight: Talent breadth v depth
Breakfast Insight is your short dose of new ideas and food for thought, perfect to watch with your morning coffee. Today we're chatting to Caroline Gourlay, an experienced business psychologist and founder of Bath-based Caroline Gourlay Consulting. Contact or ask Caroline a question on Twitter at @carolinegourlay. Caroline tells us about: Whether people are predisposed to a […]
Six things you should be doing with your workforce data
In the first article in this series, we looked at whether HRDs were effectively ‘flying blind’ – not using the instrumentation that HR analytics provides to effectively tell them where they are going (or at least plot a credible course for their organisation). HR has huge amounts of people data at its fingertips, yet many organisations have […]
Tackling presenteeism in the banking sector: the role of work-life integration
Presenteeism is an issue facing businesses of all shapes and sizes up and down the UK. The implications of this phenomenon are well known. Presenteeism has been referred to as the single biggest threat to UK workplace productivity by Robertson Cooper’s Professor Sir Cary Cooper. It poses a substantial risk to workers’ health and wellbeing, […]
Now is the time to help ‘game changers’ to transform our future
If you think game changers are a different breed, then you are right. Our research, The DNA of a Game Changers, shows game changers are unlike others – they have the potential to transform our future. In our rapidly changing world, businesses are faced with challenges from technology and new market entrants who play by […]
The hidden benefits of workplace diversity
Hedge funds aren’t exactly known for their innovative people management practices, however there are exceptions to every rule. In this case the exception is Bridgewater Associates: founded by Ray Dalio, the company’s guiding principle is one of “meaningful work and meaningful relationships through radical truth and radical transparency”. Bridgewater’s employees, all 1500 of them, are […]
Hey bae! – Why brand tone is one of the most important parts of recruitment
Many of you will have seen the now infamous email that a Microsoft recruiter sent out to interns in San Francisco, trying to be all 'down with the kids' and using the language of the trendy young things of today. It's a good reminder that trying to be 'hip' can often backfire, and that's bad enough when […]
Breakfast Insight: A new collaborative mindset
Breakfast Insight is your short dose of new ideas and food for thought, perfect to watch with your morning coffee. Today we're chatting to Karin Volo, Chief Joy Bringer and Director at Evoloshen. You can find out more about Karin on her website or contact her on Twitter at @karinvolo. Karin tells us about: A new mindset […]
We will only get truly inclusive organisations if we question the way work works
The Women and Equalities Select Committee recently estimated that a failure to use women’s skills is costing the UK £36 billion a year. This is clearly a problematic issue that we need to address as a society, but it isn’t just the skills of women that are being underutilised. It is the skills of anyone […]
Tackling bribery and corruption: where are the gaps for HR to fill?
In February this year, the Serious Fraud Office obtained its first successful conviction against a company under section 7 of the Bribery Act 2010. Sweett Group PLC pleaded guilty to a charge that it had failed to prevent an act of bribery by a subsidiary company that was intended to secure and retain a contract. […]
We can do this the easy way or the hard way…
Acas’ latest policy paper. ‘The road less travelled? Taking the informal route to conflict resolution’, encourages managers to use emotional intelligence to resolve problems at work before they get out of hand. But what challenges does the informal route present and are we equipped to come out the other side in one piece? Why is […]
Should your CEO be on Twitter?
I blogged recently about an exchange on Twitter with the CEO of an e-learning company who, in a tweetchat, referred to his staff as his "subordinates" – a description which I challenged. I won't rehash the discussion that followed here because I want to talk about something else; something related, but different. I want to […]
Employee engagement at the world’s third-largest charitable foundation, the Wellcome Trust
Deirdre Carty is Head of HR at the Wellcome Trust. Deirdre is an HR and Organisation Development generalist with over twenty years’ experience of leading and developing the people agenda and HR function in an innovative, fast moving, global charitable foundation. The Wellcome Trust is a biomedical research charity based in London, set up in 1936, and […]
What three attributes do CEOs want from their next HR Director?
According to our research*, while 81% of CEOs see HR playing a critical role in developing business strategy, only 32% of them intend to recruit their next HRD internally. Why is it that 50% of the CEOs surveyed feel it’s necessary to look outside their company to find the talent to align their people strategy […]
Looking at leadership after Brexit
Whether you are a politician, leader of a big business, in charge of a small team or anything in between, there are some fundamentals of leadership that we must all act upon. As leaders we now have some important shared duties and collective responsibilities. Whichever way you voted in the referendum, the UK is a democracy […]
Maximising productivity and performance – using your brain better by managing your body
In this series we look at an aspect of science that gets too little (in our view) attention in business and that’s what we eat, how we move our body and use our brain. Take a look at the whole series here! Maybe one reason there is limited focus on this area is it’s confusing. […]
Don’t just sit there …..learn something and move
In this series we look at an aspect of science that gets too little (in our view) attention in business and that’s what we eat, how we move our body and use our brain. Take a look at the whole series here! I find myself, probably like many of you, spending too much time in […]
When will we stop trivialising sleep?
In this series we look at an aspect of science that gets too little (in our view) attention in business and that’s what we eat, how we move our body and use our brain. Take a look at the whole series here! I’ve been a poor sleeper for years now: getting to sleep isn’t an […]
Powering performance with… turmeric
In this series we look at an aspect of science that gets too little (in our view) attention in business and that’s what we eat, how we move our body and use our brain. Take a look at the whole series here! It’s hard not to rush out and buy a huge bag of organic […]
Powering performance with… chocolate
In this series we look at an aspect of science that gets too little (in our view) attention in business and that’s what we eat, how we move our body and use our brain. Take a look at the whole series here! Rejoice, rejoice: chocolate is actually good for you. Here is just some of […]
