News: Living Wage Week – Labour to offer employers financial incentives

The Labour Party intends to make the ‘living wage’ issue a core economic policy going into the next election and is currently evaluating what financial incentives might encourage employers to take it up voluntarily. According to an article in the Observer newspaper to coincide with the start of Living Wage Week (Sunday 4 to Saturday […]

Blog: Punk Rock HR – Will NLP decide the US election?

As the US Elections draw to a climax, I thought I’d highlight some of the tactics of influence used by leaders.   Many world leaders are thought to be exponents of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), which has mixed views.   On one side, NLP is seen as an effective tool of win-win influence. On the other side, […]

Blog: HenryTalk – Any answers for all your questions Part 2

We’ve had a busy couple of weeks again in Any Answers and were keen to pick out some more highlights.  All of these discussions are still active so if you have any thoughts, please do head over and weigh in!   First up is Isobel, who is concerned that her employer isn’t doing enough to […]

Age audit tool unwrapped: How ageist is your organisation?

In the blink of an eye, the default retirement age made employees go from being seen as important contributors to society to a perceived ‘burden’. The recent end of the DRA is just one element of a broader shift towards recognising the changing role, and value, of older workers.   Enabling more people to defer […]

News: Lift etiquette – What are your colleagues’ eight most annoying habits?

It’s the little things in life that can really get to you and lift etiquette at work appears to be one of those things. Here are the top eight most annoying habits of colleagues when using the lift, according to a poll of 400 UK workers conducted by online jobs board, www.CareerBuilder.co.uk. They comprise people: […]

News: ER role shifts in line with changing nature of industrial conflict

The changing nature of industrial action means that the focus of employee relations practitioners is shifting increasingly towards preventing rather than managing conflict, according to the CIPD. In its ‘Managing Employee Relations in difficult times’ report, the HR membership body revealed that the average number of days lost each year to industrial action had plummeted […]

Blog: Living Wage Week – Take-home pay is just the start of it……

Next week (Sunday 4 to Saturday 10 November) is Living Wage Week when, from this year onwards, a figure will be published for the minimum hourly rate that staff should be paid in order for them to be able to meet the basic costs of living. It’s a voluntary scheme where ‘Living Wage employers’ who […]

Lembit Opik: Three HR lessons from my life in the Commons

Anyone who’s ever watched Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons will have an opinion on the style of behaviour that we see every Wednesday at noon: it’s a bear pit.  Grown adults show apparent contempt for each other in an effort to score points – as if it were the only way to […]

Book Review: Team turnarounds – A playbook for transforming underperforming teams

The authors of ‘Team turnarounds’ – Jim Kouzes, Barry Posner, Joe Fronteira and Daniel Leidl – provide a succinct, thought-provoking and clear description of their proposed six stage developmental process, which they suggest all underperforming teams should go through in order to improve and succeed. While the cynical reader may feel that the introduction refers […]

Ask the Expert: Do staff have to attend grievance appeals if off sick?

The question After a decision to overrule a grievance raised against another member of staff, the originator of the grievance is now on sick leave due to the stressful situation at work.   What are their rights in relation to refusing an invitation to an appeal hearing while they are signed off by a doctor […]

News: Smokers cost employers £1.4bn in absence and lost productivity

While smokers cost their employers £1.4 billion per year in sickness absence and lost productivity, a growing number of workers are also worried that they drink too much. According to a report in the journal ‘Addiction’, current smokers take on average 2.7 more days off sick than non-smoking colleagues and are 33% more likely to […]

News: Low employer awareness hampering Work Programme, warns CIPD

The government must boost awareness and understanding of its Work Programme among employers if the scheme is to succeed in its aims of getting the long-term unemployed back into work, the CIPD has warned. But rather than expect the system to churn out work-ready individuals, employers also need to play their part by putting more […]

Blog: Could your business survive a Hurricane Sandy?

Thankfully in the UK we do not currently suffer from hurricanes and major earthquakes, however, with the climate changing the weather has started to have a huge impact.  Just think about recent snowy winters and the rainy summer with associated flooding we have experienced that will have caused problems for the many businesses in affected […]

In a Nutshell: Five ways to introduce change without alienating staff

As HR director of IT reseller Trustmarque Solutions, Liz Reynolds has helped steer the company through some massive change as a result of growth. Here, she shares her tips on how to manage such change without alienating staff: 1. Listen to people It’s the people on the front line doing the jobs who know what […]

Legal Insight: The implications of the SFO’s latest Bribery Act guidance

Since becoming director of the UK’s Serious Fraud Office, David Green has not wasted time.  The honeymoon period that, under the previous director allowed for self-reporting in relation to corruption and bribery, is over.   As one commentator put it: “There will be no more chats with the SFO over coffee and biscuits.” But what […]

News: BBC to investigate harassment claims after journalist’s suicide

The BBC has appointed a third party to investigate whether complaints about sexual harassment by a journalist who later committed suicide were handled properly. The family of Russell Joslin has accused the broadcaster of failing to act on the complaints of sexual harassment from a female colleague made by the reporter for BBC Coventry and […]

News: UBS bankers head to pub after being turned away at door

In what would appear a classic example of how not to do it, UBS bankers only discovered that they could be out of a job after having their passes refused on entry to the office yesterday. According to the Daily Telegraph, scores of London traders were denied access to the Swiss bank’s City headquarters and […]

News: UK HR pros least likely in world to use social media

HR professionals in the UK are the least likely in the world to use social media in order to identify prospective job candidates or communicate with staff.  According to a new study of 1,500 hiring managers and HR professionals from around the globe entitled ‘2012 HR Beat‘, less than half (47%) of UK hiring managers use […]

Blog: How to deal with equal pay after the Birimingham ruling

The recent high profile case where 170 women have been given the right to take an equal pay case against Birmingham City Council brings equal pay firmly in the spotlight. The workers, mainly women who worked in traditionally-female roles, such as cooks, cleaners and care staff won the right to seek compensation in the civil […]

Blog: Did you know that suicide is the 2nd biggest killer of young men?

Male suicide is the second biggest killer of young men in this country, yet the problem remains largely ignored.  When you think that we’re often brought up to believe that boys don’t cry, perhaps it’s not that much of a surprise that so few people feel able to talk about how they’re feeling. In an attempt to understand […]