Health and Safety: businesses need to keep defibrillators to hand
More than half of UK businesses lack defibrillators despite their modest £1,000 cost and proven ability to increase cardiac arrest survival rates by up to 75%. IOSH research reveals companies often overlook the equipment due to lack of awareness rather than expense, though installation could prevent workplace fatalities and associated costs.
Ask the expert: Adjusting an offer letter to reflect a change in Ts & Cs
Learn how to properly document a temporary change to an employee’s contract by amending their offer letter. This guide covers what information to include, such as the time period, salary adjustments, and holiday entitlement changes, plus best practices for getting written acknowledgment.
Redundancies on the up – but so are salaries.
UK organizations anticipate increased redundancies in 2013, with over a third planning cutbacks, yet simultaneously expect healthy salary increases averaging 3%. The mixed outlook reflects efforts to maintain competitiveness while retaining top talent despite economic uncertainty.
Salaries did rise in 2012 despite downturn
UK salaries increased across most regions in 2012 despite economic challenges, with retail seeing the strongest growth. The job market showed particular improvement in northern England, reflecting employer demand for skilled talent.
Commentary: Education sector HR goes beyond the horizon
Education sector HR faces significant challenges as institutions shift away from state funding toward tuition fees and cost reduction. Key issues include managing immigration sponsorship to attract international students and implementing complex changes to employee terms, conditions, and benefits while maintaining positive industrial relations with heavily unionized workforces.
Ask the Expert: strategies for mental wellbeing
One in four British adults experience a diagnosable mental health problem annually, yet stigma prevents many from seeking help due to career concerns. A consultant psychiatrist shares expert strategies for HR professionals and individuals to support mental wellbeing and reduce workplace stress.
Mental health reform brings HR implications
The Mental Health (Discrimination) Bill has received final approval, removing legal barriers that previously prevented people with mental illness from serving as jurors, MPs, and company directors. The legislation aims to reduce stigma and discrimination while requiring businesses to reassess employment policies for directors with mental health issues.
Best practice: Staying mum at Merrill Lynch
Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s ‘Returning Talent’ programme helps stay-at-home parents and carers re-enter professional careers after three or more years away. The three-day initiative offers practical training in CVs, interviews, and industry updates, while building confidence through mentorship from bank executives. Half of last year’s participants found employment.
Best Practice: Royal Mail delivers better recruitment
Royal Mail overhauled its recruitment process to better identify operational staff suited to its customer-focused strategy. The new approach combines screening questions, online assessments, and structured interviews completed in 30 minutes, helping the organization efficiently evaluate 170,000 annual applicants for 10,000 positions.
Blog: Gravitas means knowing when to go
Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation after 600 years reflects a broader principle of leadership: knowing when to step down. While the term sparked debate about timing and communication, his decision mirrors a growing trend in business and public life where leaders recognize when it’s the right moment to move on, often driven by age, experience, and personal circumstances rather than scandal.
Talent Management: how to channel the force of social media
A SilkRoad study reveals that 60% of workers check social media daily on mobile devices during work hours. Talent management professionals should embrace this trend by channeling social technology productively, with recruiting and hiring, learning and development, and performance management emerging as top applications.
Blog: Valentine’s Day and workplace romance
Workplace romance requires careful management by employers. While relationships can boost productivity, they may also lead to favoritism, harassment, and low morale. Clear policies, disclosure guidelines, and robust procedures help minimize risks while respecting employees’ personal lives.
Hearts and flowers and sexual harassment
Valentine’s Day can trigger sexual harassment claims in the workplace through unwanted romantic advances via email, text, social media, or in-person gestures. Employers are liable for employees’ behavior and must act quickly when advances are deemed offensive, while navigating the blurred lines between welcome gestures and harassment.
Talent Spot: Marcus Powell, HR Director at Nuffield Health
Marcus Powell, HR director at Nuffield Health, spent 16 years at Marks & Spencer as a buyer before pivoting to HR and organizational change. After six years consulting for companies like the BBC and Unilever, he joined Nuffield Health in 2008, drawn by its values-led mission and visionary leadership.
Best Practice: wellbeing initiative proves healthy for Ipswich Building Society
Ipswich Building Society’s employee health and wellbeing programme has cut absenteeism by 48% and staff turnover to record lows over four years. The initiative, costing just £2,000 annually, combines physical challenges and mental health activities, with 80% of staff participation and measurable productivity gains.
Poundland’s graduate shelf-stacker wins back-to-work ‘slavery’ appeal
A university graduate has won a Court of Appeal case ruling that forcing jobseekers to work unpaid at Poundland violates human rights law. Cait Reilly successfully challenged the government’s back-to-work scheme, which required her to abandon voluntary museum work for free retail tasks or lose her benefits.
Vocational training wins SME backing
Small and medium-sized enterprises increasingly back vocational training and apprenticeships as an effective way to recruit skilled staff and improve business performance. An SME survey found 86% of companies reported better performance with vocational staff, while 77% saw improved retention rates.
HR and the CEO – not quite good enough yet…
While Western European CEOs value HR relationships, most don’t see HR leaders as strategic partners. Only 38% believe their head of HR plays a key role in strategic planning, with concerns that HR focuses too much on process rather than understanding the broader business.
Blog: do we really want charismatic leaders?
Charismatic leadership faces renewed scrutiny following financial scandals, but rejecting charisma entirely risks ineffective, uninspiring leaders. True authentic charisma—built on self-esteem, awareness, vision, and balanced energy—differs fundamentally from the reckless behavior associated with corporate failures.
Employees don’t get the benefit of not being 9 to 5
HR professionals need to better communicate flexible working’s personal benefits, as most UK employees wrongly believe it’s primarily a cost-cutting measure for employers rather than an opportunity to improve work-life balance and reduce commuting time.
