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The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has published new draft guidance to help employers get to grips with proposed changes to workplace first aid.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 […]
Blog: how not to ruin a team in 10 conference calls
Working in virtual and ad-hoc teams is on the rise. Here at Brother, employees work in changing groups that often involve people in Japan, the States and all over Europe – some from within Brother, some from external suppliers, consultants and partners. Over the last 10 years, remote collaboration has usually been achieved through […]
Legal Commentary: contract termination – it’s not cricket! (part 2)
In part one of this two part article, Andrew Yule, Assistant Solicitor at Withers LLP looked at the background to and lessons learned from the Supreme Court’s decision in Société Générale, London Branch v Geys. In this concluding part, he offers some practical advice on ways to avoid such situations arising. Let’s say your employer has told you […]
Legal Commentary: contract termination – it’s not cricket! (part 1)
The rules of cricket are notoriously complex. As a child, I had a humorous tea-towel – "The Rules of Cricket Explained to a Foreigner" – which included the following line: "Each man that’s in the side that’s in goes out, and when he’s out he comes in and the next man goes in until he’s […]
How to steer clear of office conflicts
As children, most of us would have been encouraged to ‘play well with others,’ but in later life, this advice doesn’t always govern behaviour in the workplace. It’s just a fact of business life that misunderstandings occur and personalities can clash. Even if you’re more of a peacemaker than a trouble-maker, you could find yourself […]
Blog: would turning off social media improve workplace productivity?
Productivity is a hot topic for management. Faced with reduced staffing and increased pressures on time, the workplace has become a laboratory on how to get the most from each member of staff over the course of the day. The idea of voluntarily allowing employees to spend hours chatting with their friends is routinely met […]
Talent Spot: Karen Myers, HR director for UK and Western Europe at RSA
Karen Myers, HR director for UK and Western Europe at insurance firm RSA, loves what she does. She must do, she says, otherwise there’s no way she would endure a 5.15am wake-up call and a 3.5 hour commute each way. But the company, people and culture are a “natural fit”, according to Myers. […]
In a nutshell: making changes without ruffling feathers
When you join a new company, the temptation is to change everything at once. Marcus Powell, group organisation development and HR director at Nuffield Health, shares his tips on making changes without ruffling too many feathers. Be appreciative Seek out what is working well and learn how to amplify the good things and dampen […]
Part timers worry about job security
Part-time staff are more worried about job security than their full-time co-workers, according to Legal & General’s Job Security Index. Job losses at HMV, Rolls Royce and other high-profile companies have helped knock the confidence of all workers, but the drop has been most notable among part-time workers. The Index showed that 65% […]
Health and Safety: businesses need to keep defibrillators to hand
Defbrillators should become part of regular office equipment, urges an occupational health group. A survey of 1,000 UK firms by the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) found that more than half of UK businesses do not have a defibrillator, which restarts the heart using an electric shock following cardiac arrest. While six […]
Ask the expert: Adjusting an offer letter to reflect a change in Ts & Cs
Question One of the members of staff that I manage is currently on a three day a week permanent contract (in the form of an offer letter). We have found the resources to increase this by an extra two days a week, but only for a time limited period (one year) and related to […]
Redundancies on the up – but so are salaries.
2013 promises a high number of redundancies but also healthy salary increases for UK firms, reports an Aon Hewitt survey. The survey revealed a mixed picture of the jobs market in the UK. More than a third (35%) of UK organisations said they were considering redundancies this year – higher than any other European country […]