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 […]
Talent Spot: Louise Rooney, head of HR at ServiceSource
As HR manager at IT firm ServiceSource, Louise Rooney has a major recruitment job on her hands. When she first joined, the company’s headcount was about 120, but in less than a year, it had grown to 165 and there are plans to create another 100 posts over the next few months. “Sourcing the right […]
Talking Point: Is low staff turnover for losers?
Who on earth ever said that low attrition rates were the mainstay of business success? Staff turnover levels have been obsessed over for years and are still the cause of many a furrowed brow in meetings on the subject. Some teams are even trained to worry – far too much – about an issue […]
News: ‘Freedom Food’ gangmasters lose licence for alleged human trafficking
A gangmaster company that is a member of the RSPCA’s ‘Freedom Food’ welfare scheme has had its licence revoked on suspicion of human trafficking for the purposes of labour exploitation. According to the Guardian, a 52-year old man and 50-year old woman from the company, which cannot be named for legal reasons, were arrested in […]
News: Learning management systems sector is now a “buyer’s market”
A combination of increasing commoditisation and slowing growth in the adoption of learning management systems is making it a buyer’s market, research has indicated. A report conducted by Bersin & Associates predicted that sector growth was likely to drop to 10.4% globally between 2012 and 2013 compared with 14.7% between 2011 and 2012 – although […]
Do you over-think things? If so, stop it at once…
I looked at my phone and there was a text that said, “Urgent: now what do I do?” Like a lot of people in HR, I do a fair share of career counseling, especially with Gen Y. This was a call from someone who, to put it mildly, works in a terrible culture with mistreatment […]
