Interview: Tom Berquist, CEO, Saba
Tom Berquist is the new CEO of HR technology company Saba Software and member of the Saba Board of Directors. He has been involved in enterprise software for many years, including nine in executive leadership roles at Corel (CEO) and Ingres (CFO). Before that, he spent a decade at investment banks Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Piper […]
Book review: will the future workplace still need you?
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, […]
Multinationals: How managers can engage employees
Throughout the majority of our engagement research, we’ve seen that immediate managers continually play a key role in employees’ engagement and commitment. The questions we’re often asked are: what makes a great manager and how can managers increase engagement? During the previous two articles I examined engagement in multinationals and outlined why engagement needs CEOs. […]
Is it time we treated candidates as consumers?
Much has been written on the subject of employer branding in recent years, especially in the context of its importance for successful talent attraction and acquisition. We know that acute competition for skills (particularly those in short supply) necessitates that HR and resourcing teams be ever more creative in their approach to finding and engaging […]
What can we learn from Denmark on happiness at work?
After years of international study, Danish workplaces continue to top polls and remain among the happiest in the world. What can we learn from their continued success? During the UN General Assembly in 2011, Jigme Thinley, the Prime Minister of Bhutan, offered to lead a panel discussion on the theme of happiness and wellbeing, inviting member […]
What can you do to defuse workplace conflicts?
What could you do to help defuse workplace conflicts? This two-part series outlines the core skills used by trained mediators in a workplace mediation. These skills can be applied on an informal basis, as a means of managing workplace conflict at the earliest stage. Following Consensio’s mediation principles, we assume firstly that your involvement is […]
Book review: Connecting People by Kate Davies
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, […]
Just what could a growth mindset do for you?
Meta-LUCID’s Mark McCarthy talks us through the concept of Fixed and Growth Mindsets in business, and their partnership with best-selling author Matthew Syed. This content originally appeared on our sister site TrainingZone. The concept of the ‘Growth Mindset’ has been around for a while but has only recently become popular in corporate performance improvement. Why […]
Creating social glue for employees without a ‘home’
We’re very used to the idea of remote workers. But what about employees with nothing to be ‘remote’ from? The speed of the shift to mobile connectivity and devices is making the traditional office and corporate HQ – with all the associated capital costs and long commuting times – look outdated and inefficient. In the US, […]
Coaching’s search for respectability
Karen Drury is a volunteer for the EMCC. Coaches are everywhere. A report published by the International Coaching Federation and PwC in 2012 estimated that there were 21,000 professional practicing coaches in Europe, generating around $900m in revenue. The growth in the industry has not been mirrored in the academic field, even if research interest […]
Would you say you’re too polite – or too pushy?
Our view of politeness is associated with not acting in a selfish or over-domineering style. People who are pushy are often perceived as being rude and arrogant, while people who are over polite can be seen as a push-over. Straying too far in either direction can disrupt productivity and negatively impact on the business. How […]
How to redesign your organisation for the future
In order to succeed in this changing world, organisations that are more agile, innovative and productive need to be created. As you’ll know from my previous articles in this five-part series, my view is that providing more freedom, focus and feedback for employees are fundamental drivers of this organisational redesign. I’ve written this article to […]
25 years’ experience, now struggling to find a job
Paul served a short prison sentence earlier this year and is still on probation. Since leaving prison in June he has applied for countless jobs, but is struggling to get past the tick box. Prior to his sentence, Paul worked for over 25 years in the financial industry. Like many others, Paul is qualified, experienced […]
Employee engagement lessons from Caesars Entertainment
Jeremy Galinat is Director, Corporate Benefits at Caesars Entertainment. We talked to Jeremy following Caesars’ win in the Wellbeing category at the 2015 North American Employee Engagement Awards and discussed aspects of the Caesars wellness programme, including the importance of comprehensive and the company’s future aspirations. Why we think we won the award… Well, we […]
Millennials at work: are we subscribing to a fantasy?
What are some of the commonly held pre-conceptions about millennials in the workplace? They vary from curmudgeonly stereotypes of the under-35s as a bunch of entitled, narcissistic selfie-takers who aren’t capable of staying in the same job for more than five minutes through to more carefully considered research which shows that millennials are in search […]
Can sponsorship help the female talent pipeline?
Women are entering the consulting industry in unprecedented numbers, but the proportion of them who’ve made it to the top of the organisation remains small. Source Information Services and nbi recently teamed up to try and understand why. “Having to sell my soul” Two-thirds of the 40 senior people in leading consulting firms around the world […]
This week in ‘I Hate My Job’ – October 14 2015
Each week in “I Hate My Job,” we bring you insights from the minds of disengaged workers across the Twittersphere. The biggest lessons is that there’s no one reason why people hate their jobs and why they’re disengaged. Dissatisfaction is driven by personality, life circumstances, day-to-day stresses and much more. This is just a glimpse. […]
Six questions to match candidate and employer expectations
Recruitment interviews are pivotal in the selection process and play a crucial part in the assessment of professional expertise, competencies, skills and motivators. Having a goal-oriented conversation, understanding the requirements of a vacant position, bringing this into the interview and extracting the maximum of relevant information needed for making a good choice, is a challenging […]
Why positive organisations win out every time
Robert Quinn is professor at the Michigan Ross School of Business and a reseacher who has spent significant parts of his career analysing organisational change, leadership and performance. From his research he has become a believer in the power of ‘positive organizations’ due to the wide evidence base – essentially, when people are happy and thriving, […]
Nine qualities authentic leaders live by every day
There has been much discussion of the idea of authentic leadership, yet while I have read and heard much about its importance, less time and effort has been dedicated to understanding exactly what makes an authentic leader. The Oxford Dictionary definition of authentic is “of undisputed origin, genuine”. So what does this mean when we talk […]