News: research suggests high stress levels among UK office workers
Two new pieces of research, both from small business supplies company Viking, point to high levels of stress among UK office workers. Viking questioned 2000 office workers on their levels of stress throughout the working week. In the separate study, 200 volunteers answered stress-related questions and had their body temperatures measured at different times of […]
Pension reform falters as workers proclaim they are too poor to save
The success of government pension reforms hangs in the balance as Britain’s cash-strapped workers say they can’t afford to save for retirement. Almost half (45%) of the 4,720 public and private sector employees interviewed in Aviva’s Working Lives report blamed their failure to pay into a workplace pension on lack of funds. Despite […]
Blog: why Marissa Mayer is right to ban remote working
This week the world has been horrified, apparently, by a leaked memo from Yahoo!’s HR team that instructs staff that they should be working from the Yahoo! offices and not from home. Cue the web coming alive with people criticising the move, including via Twitter, motivational luminaries such as Dan Pink. Some of the criticism […]
Ask the Expert: what is harassment and victimisation based on religious belief?
Question: “Can anyone tell me what’s happened to the f***ing Pope?” is shouted twice across a busy newspaper editorial office by an undoubtedly stressed editor trying to hurry a story up about the Pope, at the time of his 2010 visit to the UK. The story, in the vernacular of the paper, is referred to as […]
Acas seeks views on flexible working for Code of Practice
Acas is seeking input from employers and workers for its draft Code of Practice on the new extended rights for flexible working. The Government announced changes to flexible working rules in November 2012. A key change is that the requirement to be a parent or carer to apply for flexible working will no […]
More hoops for job seekers to jump through
Job hunters must jump through more hoops – and higher – plus endure longer interviews to land a new job, research has found. Post-recession employers can afford to be choosy and are grilling candidates for their long-term potential as well as their ability to do the job advertised, according to research by recruitment firm […]
Poor data hampers HR’s boardroom reputation
HR risks losing boardroom credibility as their “rear view mirror” approach to analytics fails to provide useful business insight, a KPMG white paper warns. Too anchored in the present and past, too generic and too operational – these are just some of the charges outlined against HR’s application of analytics in the white paper, […]
Talent Spot: Tim Hadfield, co-founder of Inaccord Engagement Partnership and HRzone blogger
For Tim Hadfield, co-founder of engagement specialists Inaccord Engagement Partnership, there’s no mystery surrounding engagement, it’s simply common sense. But that doesn’t mean companies don’t need his help to get it right. “The big challenge is, managers know about engagement, but knowing it and doing it are two different things,” he observes. And that’s where […]
Social media not delivering strategic HR results
Organisations are not achieving the full potential of Big Data and social media as part of their HR strategies and need to re-examine their policies surrounding such tools. That’s one of the conclusions of the Global Assessment Trends Report, a study based on the results of an online survey conducted in late 2012 and completed […]
Yahoo boss bans remote working
Marissa Mayer, the recently appointed CEO of US internet firm Yahoo, has decided that she's none too keen on remote workers and wants all Yahoo employees to report for work at company facilities. And if anyone's not happy about that, then from June onwards they have a simple choice: comply or quit. Yahoo is headquartered in […]
Stress slays two in five staff in smaller firms
Stress is taking a huge toll on UK smaller businesses, affecting morale, absence levels and performance, finds a report. More than 40% of the 500 senior managers from UK small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) said that stress had impacted their business in 2012, according to Zurich Insurance’s SME Risk Index. One in five of […]
Gender politics: woman losing out in the UK, but on top in France
UK women’s grip on positions of power in politics and public life is slipping away dramatically, claims a report. Sex and Power: Who Runs Britain? by Counting Women In, a coalition of five organisations including the Fawcett Society and Hansard Society, found damning evidence of British women losing representation across politics, the judiciary, police, media […]
British Gas goes green with recruitment
British Gas is offering 1,000 unemployed youngsters a chance to train for skilled ‘green’ roles at the company over the next three years. The energy giant has joined forces with Accenture and environmental charity Global Action Plan to offer free sustainability training to 1,400 17 to 25 year olds not currently in education, training […]
Book Review: Stories That Move Mountains: Storytelling and Visual Design for Persuasive Presentations
STORIES THAT MOVE MOUNTAINS: Storytelling and Visual Design for Persuasive Presentation – Sykes, Malik & West (2012) I work in management by day wearing variety of hats, but by night I am a fiction writer. Among the very first things to understand, if you want to sell your work, is that you must create convincing […]
Blog: Doing that Pope thing!
When I got in my car the other morning, the news flash that came through was that Pope Benedict XVI had resigned. This was big news since apparently a pontiff has not resigned in the past 600 years. That is quite a record since the last resignation was by Gregory XII in 1415. As […]
Carry on first aiding: HSE says no need for matron
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has published new draft guidance to help employers get to grips with proposed changes to workplace first aid. Two pieces of guidance have been published on the HSE website following a consultation on proposals to amend the First Aid Regulations (1981) and remove the requirement for HSE to approve […]
Are employers up to speed on failing Work Programme?
"Extremely poor." That’s the damning assessment from a committee of cross party MPs of the government’s flagship, multi-billion pound Work Programme to get the long term unemployed back to work. But is the Programme failing as a result of poor communication and marketing to employers, without which it cannot hope to succeed? The House of […]
Taming the raging bull
Can the Power of Emotional Intelligence be used to deal with a ‘classic’ type of boss? Philip Gimmack, Director Certified EQ & NLP Coach at eqworks says yes. What is Emotional Intelligence and EQ? Someone’s Emotional Intelligence is the balance of their personal, social and coping skills. These are based around their awareness and management of […]
UK workers set to run out of money due to lack of pension savings
UK workers are the worst in the world at saving for retirement, data from a new report into global savings shows. According to the HSBC report, “The Future of Retirement: A New Reality”, the average UK citizen will spend 19 years in retirement but with savings that will run out after just seven. In other […]
The rise of the stunningly mediocre
Sir Alf Ramsey is quoted as saying that: “The best team is not necessarily made up of the best players.” Despite this wisdom from an acknowledged authority on succeeding at our national team-sport, there are still many flat-earth recruiters and talent managers who believe that appointing ‘the best individuals’ will always lead to success. Many […]
