Seasonal workers – How to ensure many happy returns

Many organisations look forward to the festive season as a time of generating major revenues – and, despite the difficult economic climate, it appears that business was brisker for many in November than had been expected. To ensure that things run smoothly during this busy time, however, most rely on temporary labour to help them […]

2012 – The year in full

HRZone editor, Cath Everett, picks out the key events from what has, once again, been a challenging year for the HR community:       January   The PM’s views on popular capitalism: Employee-ownership, Living Wages etc Increasingly fragile UK jobs market was set to get worse More strikes and legal action threatened over public […]

Varied work styles lead to personality clash between HR and line managers

The personality clash experienced by many HR professionals and line managers in the financial services sector can be put down to their very different styles of working, according to a study. An analysis of the personality profiles of 5,000 financial services employees conducted by assessment system provider, Talent Q, revealed that HR practitioners tended to […]

Analysis: “We don’t plan on screwing up”, says Workday CEO

With Workday’s long-awaited stock market floatation behind it, the Software-as-a-Service provider is now looking to the next 12 months and beyond. Plans for growth include the introduction of a recruiting module and a push into the world of so-called ‘big data’ (the ability to analyse lots of complex data quickly).   The firm unveiled its […]

Blog: Workers to burn out unless something gives soon…

HR professionals will have seen more than anyone the ongoing challenges being faced by both employers and workers as the seemingly never-ending economic crisis rolls on. Some may be claiming that the green shoots of recovery are now visible but others are telling us to prepare for a triple dip recession.   Whatever future difficulties […]

In a Nutshell: Five ways for HR to be true partners with the business

As HR director of British Gas, one of the UK’s best-known organisations and a key employer of 35,000 staff, Angela Williams needs to be on top of her game. Here she shares her views on the key attributes and skills that an HR director needs to become a true, valued partner to the business: 1. […]

Legal Insight: Would you hire a reservist?

A recent government announcement that the Territorial Army and other UK reserve forces are to grow to around 35,000 by 2020 will inevitably have an impact on both private and public sector employers as most reservists also have civilian jobs. A consultation entitled ‘Future Reserves 2020: Delivering the Nation’s Security Together’ proposes measures to create […]

News: Chancellor’s Autumn Budget Statement for HR at-a-glance

Here are the key HR-related announcements of Chancellor George Osborne’s Autumn Budget Statement:  Civil service spending/job cuts   Whitehall departments will be required to shave 1% off their running costs during the financial year 2013/14 and a further 2% the following year in order to save £3.4 billion on top of existing cuts.   Another […]

News: Govt pursues shares-for-rights scheme despite lack of support

 The government has decided to press ahead with its plans for ‘employee-owner’ contracts despite a lack of support among either employers or employees. A consultation by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills revealed that most organisations would choose not to take up the new rights, which were announced by Chancellor George Osborne in his […]

Blog: Demonstrating the X Factor – 3 things to help you sparkle in a job interview

In front of the Judges…Show them the X Factor!  In today’s job seeker market there are so many different factors to consider when applying for a job – the content of your CV, the answers you give to role specific questions, psychometric profiling, assessment centres, telephone interviews and then of course the face to face […]

Blog: I’ve got an underperformer – Get them out of here!

At some point in their career, most HR profressionals and managers have the challenge of dealing with a persistent underperformer. Clearly it isn’t acceptable to get them to eat creepy crawlies in order to “Get them out of here!” – however much you may feel like it at the time.   Managing someone out of […]

Talking Point: Will shared parental leave work?

"Shared Parenting Matters." And the author of this statement? Not a parenting charity, but the government in a consultation paper.   And indeed, the concept took a step closer to reality last month after the government unveiled its proposals on the practical implementation of shared parenting leave.   But the plans, which are designed to […]

Talent Spot: Community blogger, John Sylvester

Not everyone always understands John Sylvester. The problem is that, for most people, being a motivation and employee incentives specialist requires a bit of an explanation as to what it means.   For instance, after struggling to fathom precisely what their dad did for a living, his two sons eventually hit upon the idea of […]

The emerging discipline of workforce planning

The job of managing the workforce is growing in complexity. At one end of the spectrum, demanding Millennials are now entering the world of employment for the first time, while at the other, growing numbers of employees are choosing to work past the age of 65.   In between these two extremes, however, you will […]

The skills paradox flourishes

We are in a skills paradox. On the one hand, headlines have screamed all year of redundancies, high unemployment, and graduates struggling to get a foot through the corporate door.   On the other, they have also been warning of rising skills shortages and on-going talent wars.   While there has and always will be […]

Employee engagement continues to rise up the HR agenda

Given a perfect storm this year of low pay rises/freezes, increasing workloads in the wake of redundancies and falling levels of learning and development activity, the issue of employee engagement has been rising steadily up the HR agenda. And as the difficult economic climate appears set to continue into the year ahead, it doesn’t look […]

News: Starbucks’ move to cut staff benefits sparks fresh concern

Starbucks’ decision to cut paid lunch breaks, sick leave and maternity benefits has sparked concern among staff that they are being forced to help subsidise the coffee chain’s potential tax bill increase. According to the Guardian, on the same day last week that the House of Commons’ public accounts committee branded the firm’s tax avoidance […]

News: Disclosure & Barring Service to offer “one-stop-shop” criminal record checks

A new organisation to oversee criminal records checks, referrals and barring investigations has been set up in a bid to provide employers with a “one-stop-shop” service. The Disclosure & Barring Service was formed out of the merger of the Criminal Records Bureau and Independent Safeguarding Authority in an attempt to make the checking process clearer […]

Blog: Punk Rock HR – Counting down the top 10 Christmas HR tips

In this mini series, I’m going to count down 10 HR tips as seen through the eyes and ears of Punk Rock. A kind of "HR Top of the Pops" but without the DJ.   No need to pogo whilst reading these unless you must. Punk HR refers to brevity, simplicity and purity of thought […]

Blog: Engaging for Success in the words of ITV’s Archie Norman

In my Engage for Success launch blog post last Monday about defining and measuring employee engagement, I also mentioned we heard from Archie Norman, currently chairman at ITV. Archie (I will refer to him by his first name, I hope he doesn’t mind) was invited to talk to us about what employee engagement means to him, and after David MacLeod introduced Archie as […]