The suspicious motives of the employee engagement movement
This article was written by Karen Drury, consultant with Maven International (UK) Ltd. "A wise man … proportions his belief to the evidence."(David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding) Consider the changes made to employee legislation in the past few weeks. To bring a case for unfair dismissal against your employer, you now need to work […]
News: drive to increase women into the boardroom is stalling
A new report suggests that UK-wide efforts to appoint more women to boardroom positions have slowed down. Cranfield School of Management, which publishes a yearly report, found that in the first sixth months since 2012’s report, 44 percent of new board appointments to FTSE 100 companies went to women. A further 36 percent in FTSE […]
News: widening executive pay gap over last forty years
Company directors, including CEOs, have had pay increases almost twice the size of the average UK executive over the last 12 months, according to new salary data published today by XpertHR and the Chartered Management Institute. According to the survey, these changes are mostly due to sharp percentage increases in bonus payments at the top […]
Talent spot: Arran McDowell, HR Director at Elior
Making it onto the 2013 Sunday Times Best Big 25 Companies to work for list is proof that contract caterers Elior is on the right track in terms of engagement and company culture. But HR director Arran McDowell is not resting on his laurels. One of his chief aims for this year is to maintain […]
Legal guidance: handling flexible working requests
This article was written by Sofia Syed, employment solicitor at Mundays LLP. Despite Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer ‘s announcement to all employees that ‘speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home’, flexible working remains one of the biggest changes to the workplace in the last 20 years. Flexible working can include job shares, […]
News: 80s generation ‘wakes up’ to pensions
Younger workers born in the 1980s are more ‘switched on’ to pensions than older colleagues and plan to save more, according to a recent survey for the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF). The research, which polled 2000 people, revealed that half (53 percent) of respondents aged 25 to 34 will increase the amount they […]
News: High-performing staff receive twice average pay rise
Pay differentiation – the varying of pay rewards for staff – was found in 93 percent of firms responding to recent research. According to the survey of 124 UK firms by professional services company Towers Watson, staff singled out for higher salary hikes and bigger bonuses were identified as ‘high-performing,’ receiving average base pay rises […]
Top five qualities of a successful HR Director in 2013
Stephen Archer, director of business consultancy Spring Partnerships, looks at the top five qualities HR Directors need to succeed this year and to remain focused, despite the on-going pressures they face. Commercial or Organisation purpose awarenessWithout a clear understanding of the precise nature of the organisation’s purpose and its challenges it is impossible for an […]
What Talent Pipelines can learn from Oil Pipelines
Oil pipelines have integrity and efficiency built into their construction. They’re built for one purpose: safely, successfully and economically transporting crude oil thousands of miles. Talent is a commodity organisations need to transport from one point (schools, universities, rival organisations, the ranks of the unemployed, other countries) to a second point (their organisation). Oil pipelines […]
News: Higher apprentices are ‘most employable’ young people
Former apprentices are outpacing their peers when it comes to workplace fitness, according to a new study published today. According to the study from ICM Research, which questioned 500 employers with recruitment responsibility across the UK, employers in England rate qualified apprentices as 15 percent more employable than those with other qualifications. Those who complete […]
News: Acas launches new guidance on collective redundancies
The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) today published new guidance to help employers deal effectively with collective redundancies. Collective redundancies are when employers consider making 20 or more employees redundant within a 90 day window. This situation might occur if the employer, for example: Needs to close/move all or part of the firm Reorganise […]
Are you ready for the next War on Talent?
Paula Harvey is Senior Talent Consultant at Kallidus, a leading provider of learning and talent management solutions. For further information please visit www.kallidus.com or follow @KallidusLimited on Twitter. Just over 15 years ago McKinsey & Company declared the start of the ‘war for talent’ and, as predicted, prolonged periods of intense competition for talent has […]
Analysis: 2013 changes to immigration rules and how they affect HR
UK immigration rules are subject to annual change each April. Here, immigration specialist Newland Chase summarises some of the key changes for this year, to be implemented on 6th April 2013. UK immigration practitioners are now becoming very familiar with the frequent changes to UK immigration rules and the now regular annual changes that occur […]
Web recruitment – is it worth it?
This article was written by Chris Berry, Managing Director of SaaS provider CIPHR. Pressures on organisations to do more with less have been increasing as budgets are squeezed across the board. So, as the talent pool effectively shrinks it becomes ever more important for organisations to hone their recruitment processes to identify the relevant skills needed, […]
Family-Friendly – why should employers worry about their parents and carers?
This article was written by Ben Black, CEO of My Family Care. Why should employers worry about their parents and carers? Well, a number of reasons. Firstly childcare vouchers as we know them are going. With no childcare voucher scheme to hide behind employers will need to decide just how much support their working mothers, fathers […]
News: Half of workers assume bosses would foot sick leave bill
UK workers are risking their own financial stability by failing to protect themselves in the event of long-term sickness absence. This is according to new research from think-tank Demos, which found that respondents were twice as likely to insure their mobile phone or pet as their own income. One in 100 UK workers will face […]
The five myths of organisational change
This article was written by Sarah Lewis M.Sc. C.Psychol, chartered psychologist and author of ‘Appreciative Inquiry for Change Management’ Change is a permanent feature of organisational life – so why do organisations struggle with the concept of change? I constantly hear that ‘people don’t like change’ and ‘change is hard’. Neither of these are necessarily […]
Book Review: Stretch: Leading Beyond Boundaries by James Brook & Dr Paul Brewerton
Title: Stretch: Leading Beyond BoundariesAuthors: James Brook & Dr Paul BrewertonISBN: 978-1780884189 This book was reviewed by Michael Farry, Human Resources Director at PhotoBox. There are numerous leadership books on the market today. What sets this one apart from others I have read is the fact that it is written as an engaging fable full of practical ideas, tips […]
When pennies get pinched, training mustn’t suffer
This article was written by Thomas Brown, Head of Insights at The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM). In times of economic uncertainty businesses need to do more with less. Each and every pound spent has to travel further, last longer and offer a greater return on investment. As the recession rumbles on and budgets remain tight, […]
News: ‘Best practice’ damages talent management efforts
Focusing on ‘best practice’ rather than business needs is preventing organisations from finding and nurturing staff that can drive progress. This inflexibility is also killing organisations’ ability to manage talent effectively, according to Anna Marie Detert, Head of People & Talent at KPMG. She argues in a new whitepaper that organisations are failing to take […]
