News: Two whistleblowers find themselves vindicated
Two whistleblowers, one employed by the UK’s Care Quality Commission and the other a US former banker at UBS, both found themselves vindicated in their actions this week. Dame Jo Williams, who stepped down as chairman of the health regulator last week, was forced to apologise to a hearing of MPs for making public allegations […]
Talent Spot: Karen Gill, co-founder of everywoman
Karen Gill knows all about the hard work and knock-backs entailed in setting up a new business. Thirteen years ago, with the help of a friend, Maxine Benson, she established everywoman, a women’s membership organisation that aims to increase the number and status of females in business. The organisation, which today has 40,000 members, […]
Blog: Recruitment – The growing trend of asking curveball questions
HR professionals are often swamped by candidates that look similar on paper, with similar work experience, education and qualifications. When faced with equally qualified candidates, it can be difficult to find a point of differentiation. Obscure interview questions such as ‘how do you fit an elephant into a fridge?’ or ‘why are manhole covers […]
Blog: Do jerks really make it to the top?
Recognise This! – Jerks can only rise so high in their careers. Considerate bosses actually achieve the CEO office more. A disturbing news trend I’ve been seeing during the last several months since the untimely death of Steve Jobs is the rise of the “jerk” boss – an aggressive, in-your-face, even insulting management style being […]
Infographic: UK workers lose faith in senior management
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Talking Point: Do you believe in the magic of storytelling?
Memorable speakers and inspiring leaders tend to be great storytellers. If you listen to them presenting, they have one key aspect in common – they all use stories to illustrate their main points. Have you ever sat at a conference listening to someone bombard you with facts and figures, confusing industry jargon and tired […]
News: Whitehall to relaunch grad hiring scheme with Facebook Q&A
The civil service has revamped its ‘Graduate Fast Stream’ recruitment programme and plans to relaunch it next week by offering candidates a live question and answer session with a government minister on Facebook. The Q&A session will take place with cabinet secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood on Thursday 20 September and is intended to provide potential […]
News: HR ‘must find fresh ways of developing tomorrow’s leaders’
HR must avoid traditional “sheep-dip” management training approaches and instead find fresh ways to develop the new kind of leader required to thrive in today’s knowledge-based economy. According to a report published by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, these leaders are necessary to build a positive workplace culture that is able to get […]
Blog: Learning resilience from going with the flow
As you are no doubt aware, Mihály Csíkszentmihályi (yes – spelling is correct!) is a key proponent of the theory of Flow – whereby Flow is described as the state when a person in an activity is fully immersed, creating a sense of energized focus, full involvement, and success. So what I hear you ask!? […]
Blog: Don’t be done yet – HR still has a lot of work to do
“I’m done.” Those words were uttered by Andy Roddick last month at the beginning of the U.S. Open. Tennis is unlike a lot of sports, where the coach or general manager lets you know in so many words that it may be time to go. Yes, in most sports they tell you when you are done. […]
Maximising your emotional capital
For 10 years the research has told us that, to besuccessful in our personal and professional lives, we need to show emotional as well as cognitive intelligence. Clear links have also been established between specific emotional skills and outstanding success in the leadership arena. Of course, as HR professionals, we’ve always known that having […]
How to ensure you get that promotion
Making the transition from an operational role into a strategic role can be one of the most rewarding steps you can make. However, positioning yourself so that you’re the one who gets hired becomes trickier the higher up the corporate ladder you climb. So here are seven suggestions to help you climb the career ladder: […]
News: Govt plans to axe employer safety checks garner mixed response
Government plans to exempt hundreds and thousands of businesses from “burdensome” health and safety inspections as part of its pledge to cut business red tape have garnered a mixed response. Under a binding statutory code that is due to be introduced in April 2013, proactive checks will no longer be routinely carried out on premises […]
News: Top internship and work experience employers revealed
Financial services firms have taken the first three slots in a league table ranking the UK’s best employers for work experience placements and internships, with professional services organisations dominating the top 10 overall. Number one in the survey compiled by RateMyPlacement.co.uk, a student review website, was Barclays Investment Banking arm, which leapt up 13 places […]
An HRD’s guide to tackling pension auto-enrolment
As the introduction of pension auto-enrolment becomes increasingly imminent for large organisations (from 1 October this year), we have attempted to answer some of the key questions that HR directors raise about the issue in a bid to help them deal with it as effectively as possible: Q. What is the timetable for auto-enrolment? […]
Blog: Punk Rock HR – Appraisals (It ain’t what you do, it’s the way that you do it…)
This is the fourth extract of my new book “Punk Rock People Management – a no-nonsense guide to hiring, inspiring and firing staff”. Here's an extract on the topic of appraisal: I have had the privilege of working with ‘Honorary Punk Rock Leadership Professor’ Dennis Tourish, who asks audiences of HR professionals “Who enjoys their […]
Blog: Is HR doing a good job of delivering learning to workers?
Our major new global research project, ‘Agile Learning: Living with the Speed of Change’ examines how HR leaders around the world are delivering learning at a time when there is huge pressure to deliver new employee skills to the front line more rapidly, more often and with much greater impact than ever before. The findings illustrate the […]
Ask the Expert: How can we avoid ageism claims over gym membership?
The question The way that our business is currently set up is as an Industrial Provident Society, which means that employees can buy a share in the company and also receive free gym membership for a friend or family member (employees already have membership themselves). But we are now having to change our legal […]
News: Thinktank and nurses’ leaders dispute impact of regional pay deals
Although a think tank has claimed that national pay rates are unfair to public sector workers, nurses’ leaders attest that local pay rates will result in thousands of professionals leaving the NHS in protest. According to a report by the right-wing Policy Exchange, a huge £6.3 billion of public money could be freed up by […]
News: “Real likelihood” of coordinated strikes by year end, warns Unite
The leader of the UK’s biggest union has warned that there is a “real likelihood” of a fresh wave of coordinated public sector strike action before the end of the year. Speaking on the eve of the annual TUC Congress, which opens in Brighton on Sunday, Len McCluskey, Unite’s general secretary, said that the pensions […]