News: Competitive salary replaces job security as top priority for employees
A new Randstad survey reveals that competitive salary and benefits have become UK employees’ top priority when choosing an employer, replacing job security which dominated the previous three years. The shift reflects growing confidence in the job market and increasing candidate expectations.
Six top lifestyle changes for reducing stress in the workplace
Learn six essential lifestyle changes to reduce workplace stress, including managing perceptions and building resilience. Expert-backed strategies help employees regain control of their mental state and achieve better performance while maintaining physical and mental wellbeing.
Talent spot: Annabel Jones, Head of HR at Framestore
Annabel Jones, Head of HR at Framestore, attracts and retains creative talent by understanding what drives visual effects professionals: compelling projects. Her background spans financial recruitment, dot.com startups, and the music industry before joining the renowned VFX company behind Skyfall and Harry Potter.
News: organisations use career opportunities to reward talent
Organizations are increasingly adopting career frameworks to develop and reward talent, with 60% planning to implement new frameworks within the next year. These organization-wide systems define career levels and competencies, supporting talent management, succession planning, and salary progression while helping employees identify paths to senior roles.
News: Firms turn to tech for employee health engagement
Employers increasingly adopt technology like gamification, mobile apps, and social media to boost employee health engagement and behavior change. While gamification leads in current use at 62 percent, mobile technology shows the strongest growth potential, though measurement of ROI remains a significant challenge.
Building an effective onboarding process
Effective onboarding goes beyond orientation day to create a holistic process that integrates new employees into company culture, reduces turnover, and accelerates their productivity. Key strategies include realistic recruitment messaging, pre-start preparation, and scheduled relationship-building with key personnel.
Book Review: Modern Life Skills by Liggy Webb
Liggy Webb’s “Modern Life Skills” aims to help readers navigate everyday challenges through 20 practical life skills based on UNESCO’s educational model. However, this review finds the book too simplistic and lacking substantive evidence, criticizing its conversational tone and mixed credibility despite Webb’s expert credentials.
Five steps to success in difficult conversations
Master difficult conversations with five practical steps: hint before confronting, meet on neutral ground, communicate as equals, understand context, and focus on solutions. These strategies reduce defensiveness and help managers address issues effectively while maintaining positive relationships.
News: Interview technique & identifying skills key challenges for young jobseekers
Young jobseekers face significant obstacles in their employment search, with 42% citing poor interview technique and 23% struggling to identify transferable skills from extracurricular activities, according to Fish4jobs research. Additionally, over a third report discouragement from receiving no interview feedback from employers.
News: Renewed optimism in the workplace?
UK workers report increased pride in their organizations, with 58.6 percent expressing workplace pride in early 2013, up from 41.7 percent in summer 2012. The rise reflects greater managerial support and employee autonomy, with the largest gains among women, younger workers, and sales and marketing teams.
What stops intentional change from succeeding?
Intentional change fails when organizations lack leadership commitment, have entrenched cultures resistant to adaptation, and don’t address employee fears about the future. Understanding these barriers—plus workplace attitudes and readiness levels—is essential for HR to implement change successfully.
Talent Management in practice: WDS seeks global alignment for talent
WDS, a Xerox subsidiary serving the wireless industry, overhauled its talent management systems to achieve global alignment across 1,100 employees in seven operations across six countries. The company faced dual challenges of scaling talent development and maintaining consistent standards globally, prompting the search for a unified HCM technology solution.
Talent Management: The market landscape
Finding, motivating, and retaining qualified talent is the top challenge for HR leaders globally, according to Deloitte’s 2013 survey. Effective talent management—systematically attracting, identifying, developing, and retaining high-potential individuals—is critical to organizational performance and business growth.
Talent Management: vendor selection – analyst perspective
The Talent Management software market is consolidating rapidly, with vendors like Workday challenging traditional leaders SAP and Oracle. According to Gartner’s Magic Quadrant analysis, only SAP SuccessFactors, Cornerstone OnDemand, and Oracle Talent Cloud rank as leaders, while organizations increasingly adopt multiple modules from single vendors rather than piecing together best-of-breed solutions.
Supporting senior leaders with mental health issues
From April, UK employers can no longer legally remove company directors due to mental health problems. This shift reflects changing attitudes toward mental illness in the workplace, though organizations must now provide better support for senior leaders facing mental health challenges beyond traditional financial compensation.
News: Internships in London ‘out of reach’ of young people
A new study finds that 78 percent of young people aged 18-34 cannot afford unpaid internships in London, where living costs exceed £1,000 monthly. The research highlights how unpaid internships, often concentrated in media and film sectors, remain out of reach for most talented young jobseekers despite offering valuable work experience.
Interview: Sarah Banner, HR Manager at The Cavendish Hotel
Sarah Banner, HR Manager at The Cavendish Hotel in London, discusses how employee engagement requires senior leadership buy-in and alignment with company vision and values, rather than relying solely on HR department initiatives.
HR lessons from the Commonwealth Charter
The Commonwealth Charter demonstrates why organizations need clear value statements to unite diverse people and guide decision-making. Like inter-governmental bodies, employers who lack documented charters struggle with employee engagement, team cohesion, and consistent decision-making across culturally different workforces.
How PAYE changes (RTI) will affect HR professionals
Real Time Information (RTI) requires employers to report PAYE data to HMRC in real time from April 2013, significantly impacting HR professionals’ daily operations. HR teams must ensure payroll software compatibility, maintain data accuracy to avoid penalties, and communicate changes to employees promptly to manage the transition effectively.
An introduction to mobile learning environments
Mobile learning is becoming a practical reality as workforce demographics, device capabilities, and organizational readiness converge. Driven by employee demand and mobile workforce growth, organizations are adopting mobile apps and platforms for anytime, anywhere learning, though concerns about design quality and technical issues remain.
