Ask the Expert: How do we deal with a post-work event rape allegation?
The question What is an appropriate disciplinary charge for an incident that has led to a criminal investigation outside of work, allegedly involving another member of staff following a work event? Here is an outline of the situation: Following a corporate event, a group of people went back to an employee’s home and continued […]
News: Repeal of equality legislation will “let bad bosses off the hook”
The government’s decision to repeal sections of the Equality Act less than two years after their introduction has been branded by unions as an attempt to “let bad bosses off the hook”. Provisions in the Equality Act 2010 that make employers liable for the harassment of their staff by third parties such as customers or […]
News: Kite marked pensions required to plug employer “advice gap”
A kite mark system should be introduced in order to help employers find value for money pension schemes and help plug the current “advice gap”, a report has recommended. If change does not take place, millions of workers signing up to the government’s auto-enrolment scheme, which came into force for large employers on 1 October, […]
Blog: Social recruitment – Stop hunting, start fishing
Accepting that there are ‘lies, damned lies and statistics’ it is claimed that over a third of the people in the world are registered members and users of social networks. In developed, highly networked regions such as the US and Western Europe that figure can approach eighty per cent. Furthermore, once you have accounted for […]
In a Nutshell: Seven songs to ensure career success
Peter Cook is a management consultant who uses his three passions of business, music and science to engage his audiences at corporate events and conferences. By drawing parallels between the music and the corporate worlds, his aim is to communicate key lessons to business leaders in a way that is more accessible than bombarding them […]
The HR Headmistress: How to weed out litigious job candidates
The world is full of bounty hunters. Their game is to exploit any holes left by careless employers that could give them a chance to sue for big bucks. Most of the risks involve candidates alleging some form of discrimination on the grounds of a protected characteristic. Anti-discrimination legislation was created to help […]
News: Financial services firms scoop up at race diversity awards
Financial services organisations topped the charts this year in terms of accolades for promoting race diversity and equality in the workplace. Business in the Community’s Race for Opportunity campaign hosted its annual awards dinner at the London Hilton on Park Lane last night, in which four out of nine of the winners came from the […]
News: Celebrity campaigns help reduce mental health stigma at work
Less stigma is being attached to mental health issues than a year ago following a number of TV and press campaigns and celebrities talking openly about their conditions, research has found. A survey among 1,000 employers and 1,000 staff conducted by insurance provider Aviva, published to coincide with World Mental Health Day, revealed that just […]
Blog: World Mental Health Day – How to deal with depression
British workers are apparently the most depressed in Europe. According to a new study, the Impact of Depression in the Workplace in Europe, one in four British workers (26 percent) will take time off work for depression – compared to around one in ten across Europe. We’re also likely to be off work for longer, […]
Blog: What Boris can teach us about resilience
As nights draw in during early October, and the rain beats down outside, another political party conference season continues and we see some leaders blossom while others blunder! While George Osborne spreads apocalyptic doom across the country of slashed benefits spending and ever worsening public finances, we can rely upon Boris Johnson to raise our […]
Talking Point: Do you know what stress looks like?
Health and Safety Executive figures show that 10 million working days are lost in the UK each year to stress. Each case of stress-related ill health leads to an average of 30 days off work, resulting in an annual cost to British business estimated to be in excess of £5 billion. And the problem […]
News: Sickness absence down, presenteeism and mental illness up
Although average employee absence levels have dropped by as much as a day, job insecurity has led to a rise in presenteeism and mental health problems such as anxiety and depression. According to a survey conducted among 667 employers by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and health insurance provider Simplyhealth, staff absence levels […]
News: UK’s most satisfying HR software to be unveiled at Harrods
The great and the good of the UK business software industry will gather at the Software Satisfaction Awards‘ traditional venue of Harrods this week to hear who this year’s winners are. Organised by HRZone‘s publisher Sift Media in association with Intellect, the SSAs comprise the UK’s biggest survey of opinion among business software users – this […]
Blog: The shares-for-rights conundrum – A fair exchange?
Is the lure of owning an amount of shares, and not paying capital gains tax on the profit that those shares make (if any) a fair exchange for surrendering some of your employment rights? The Chancellor’s proposal has about as much detail as a child’s sketch of a cloud so let’s consider the following scenario: You […]
Blog: The World of HR – Today’s frustrations, tomorrow’s dreams part 1
Imagine this scenario. You’re a few years retired from your role as HRD of the ACME company. You’re enjoying the fruits of your labours, perhaps sipping on an Elderflower cordial whilst sitting in your favourite chair and bouncing your grandchild on your knee. She looks up at you and says, “When you had a […]
CEO Insight: Spencer Ogden’s David Spencer-Percival on engagement
The workforce of 2012 is a fluid one. Gone are the days when a job was for life. But even in this time of increased job insecurity, when you would assume that most employees would cling onto their positions for dear life, the rate of staff turnover is high. Figures vary according to industry, […]
Five considerations for carving out a successful HR career
Our research identified five important questions for HR professionals: What is your company looking for? What are the table stakes? What stage is your career at, so what do you need to focus on today? What do you need to develop for tomorrow? How do you build depth and breadth? 1. What is your […]
News: Chancellor’s shares-for-employment-rights scheme ‘open to abuse’
The Chancellor’s plans to enable staff to sell employment rights in exchange for company shares could be open to abuse by unscrupulous employers, experts have warned. George Osborne in his Conservative party conference speech today said that, as of April next year, employees who are given company shares worth between £2,000 and £50,000 will no […]
News: Sheila Lawlor – Scrap “family-unfriendly” maternity leave
The UK should scrap paid maternity leave because it creates a “perverse incentive” for women to return to work and replace it with an unpaid career break instead, the head of a right-wing think tank has said. Sheila Lawlor, director of Politeia who will chair the organisation’s fringe ‘Women in The Boardroom’ event at the […]
Ask the Expert: What to do about a serious staff/manager rift?
The question Within the business, we have an employee and a line manager whose working relationship has completely broken down. The line manager has been with us for 20 years and has an unblemished record. The employee has been in post for three months, but has had no previous employment issues and her references […]