News: Fear of fitness-to-work test driving disabled to suicide
Fear of fitness-to-work tests are driving some disabled people to suicide and causing others mental health problems, according to the latest research among GPs. A survey of more than 1,000 family doctors in the UK revealed that more than four out of five had patients who had developed mental health issues such as stress, anxiety […]
Book Review: 90 days 90 ways: Onboard young professionals to peak performance
As a result of today’s changing working practices and economic requirements, many employers are striving to accommodate the needs of four generations of workers: Traditionalists born up to the mid-1940s Baby Boomers to the mid-1960s Generation X to the late 1970s Generation Y or Millennials in the 2000s (which will comprise the largest chunk of […]
Blog: Are British workers really the most idle in the world?
British workers are among the most idle in the world, according to a book written by five Tory MPs. In the book ‘Britannia Unchained: Lessons for Growth and Prosperity’ the authors wrote: “Once they enter the workplace, the British are among the worst idlers in the world. We work among the lowest hours, we retire early and […]
Legal Insight: How to deal with social media defamation
As proved by the viral take-off last week on Twitter of Keiran Allen’s very public resignation email, there are three fundamental concerns that employers should have about social media. These are: It’s a very fast moving environment – things happen in real time Postings are permanent – most of the time (with very few exceptions), […]
News: Staff play with fire bringing hair straighteners to work
UK employees are putting themselves at risk of fire and personal injury because they bring their personal electrical items into work but don’t get them safety checked, a survey has found. Two out of five staff members bring devices ranging from heaters and hair straighteners to fairy lights and even power tools into the workplace, […]
News: Govt plans to post mandarin’s performance goals online “damaging”
Government plans to publish the performance targets of all permanent secretaries online risk damaging the current relationship of trust between ministers and their top civil servants, a union has warned. At a speech for the Institute of Government think-tank yesterday, cabinet office minister, Francis Maude, warned that it was “unacceptable” for senior mandarins to veto […]
Blog: Five ways to move on from a mistake
How did you react the last time you made a mistake at work? Did you hold your hands up and do your best to put the problem right – or did you berate yourself for being a failure but decide there was nothing you could do to rescue the situation? According to an article […]
Blog: Five tips for plucking up the courage to pick up the phone
I was talking with a new client last week, and she explained to me that she wasn’t one of those people who found it easy just to pick up the phone and talk to people – particularly people she had not spoken to in a while. I know that one of the best ways to […]
Talent Spot: Community blogger, Peter Cook
“If I had to reduce my life to three words, they would be science, music and business,” says Peter Cook, management consultant, speaker, author, blogger, music lover and former scientist. Cook is actually managing director of two management consultancies, which he jokingly refers to as his day job and his night job. The day job […]
Talking Point: Why is HR still looking for training silver bullets?
The happy sheet – or, to give it its proper title, the ‘post-course evaluation form’ – has been part of the trainer’s toolbox for years. The problem is that they tend to offer little or no value in the long-run – not because of the feedback itself, but because of the lack of bearing that […]
News: UK workers ‘most depressed in Europe’
UK workers are the most depressed in Europe, with just over a quarter having been diagnosed with the condition, according to research. But because diagnosis levels across the continent are on average about 20%, falling to a mere 12% in Italy, it appears that the country’s dubious position at the top of the polls may […]
News: Knowing the difference between HR and HCM apps can save you money
Although it may seem like semantics, understanding the difference between HR and human capital management applications can save HR departments a lot of money, according to Nucleus Research. In a research note entitled ‘Understanding the difference between HR and HCM solutions’, the company defined the former as traditional systems that deal with personnel management, payroll, […]
Blog: Why HR needs to get out more
This is a particular hobbyhorse of mine. Put simply we don’t spend enough time in the business. HR as a profession has long been criticised for failure to really understand and contribute to business strategy or to align HR to corporate objectives. This is much more than just being able to understand the financials, […]
Blog: Was Europe’s Ryder Cup win the result of emotional intelligence?
Europe’s remarkable comeback from 10-6 down to take the Ryder Cup was not only an incredible sporting achievement, I believe it also illustrated how a great leader made an emotional connection with his team and fueled them with a desire to win. As I was listening to the interviews after the famous win it struck […]
How to work effectively with the C-suite
Many HR directors are continuing on their mission to look for ways to demonstrate to other executive leaders that they can make a strategic contribution to the business. But while such efforts are well-intentioned, it appears that they are having a limited impact. Recent figures show that only four FTSE 50 companies have board […]
What risk type are you? And why does it matter?
Arguing for the importance of self-awareness, Socrates famously taught that ‘the unexamined life is not worth living’. Arguably, the self-awareness of senior executives and managers determines whether other people’s lives are worth living – and that applies especially to self-awareness about risk type. The distance between an extreme ‘Wary’ risk type and their opposite, the […]
News: Impact of AWR 1 year on? Depends who you talk to
Research on the impact of the Agency Worker Regulations a year after their introduction has thrown up some deeply contradictory findings about the desire of employers to take on temps. One survey indicated that fewer agency personnel have been taken on as a result of the legislation, while another found that it had made no […]
News: Bereaved parents call for corporate manslaughter charges against G4S
The parents of a private security guard have called for his employer, G4S, to be charged with corporate manslaughter after their son was killed by a colleague described by an alleged whistleblower as a “violent criminal”. According to a BBC documentary entitled ‘Britain’s Private War’, which is due to be screened on BBC Two Scotland […]
Blog: Working Families Conference – How to achieve true flexible working
Matt Dean facilitated a very interesting discussion at the Working Families Conference on 25 September. We posed the following four questions: “Can we honestly say that we have created ‘flexible career paths’ (and what is stopping us)?” “Why do jobs have to take 60 hours (particularly in the current economic climate)?” “How can business alter its […]
Legal Insight: How to avoid employment tribunal claims
In an already difficult economy, employers face substantial costs in trying to deal with employee conflict and actual and threatened claims. Employment tribunal statistics for 2011-12 show that of the 186,300 claims brought last year, the vast majority were either settled or dismissed prior to the final hearing. Given that HR professionals and employment […]
