Blog: Back to basics – Getting to the essence of HR
Time and again we hear “if only HR could get the basics right?”. Everyone nods sagely and HR takes one on the chin! But what if we think differently about what the basics should be. There is the simple basic of “pay people correctly, on time”. Hear Hear! But is this really HR’s accountability? […]
Blog: What value do you bring to the table?
“Can we speak later? I have a big interview next week and I have some thoughts that I want to run by you. My response was that I would be more than glad to hear what is on her mind. When we spoke later that afternoon, she told me about the value that she […]
Analysis: IBM buys Kenexa to create ‘Smarter Workforce’
SuccessFactors, Rypple, Taleo, and now Kenexa. IBM has taken a leaf out of the respective books of SAP, Salesforce.com and Oracle to mount a takeover bid in the cloud human capital management applications space, by making a $1.3 billion punt for Kenexa. The acquisition target’s HR software is intended to help companies recruit and manage […]
Infographic: The impact of a misaligned HR and management team
Click on the image to view it at full size.
Diary of a misfit: Becoming a wildcard
On my own personal change curve, I appear to have progressed from misunderstood misfit to shortlist wildcard in just under a month. Result, right? So, I am in my second month of job hunting and the transformation has come about largely as a result of a new and improved CV, thanks to a panel of […]
Making a difference by mentoring
Ever thought about mentoring? According to Andy Coxall, curriculum director for Common Purpose, mentoring gives you ‘soul food’. Here, Andy speaks to Natalie Cooper about his year-long mentoring placement with Chance UK, a charity that works with 5-11 year old children who have behavioural problems. Andy offered to spend a year mentoring an eight year […]
News: HR remains “messenger” rather than co-creator of corporate strategy
A lack of involvement in devising corporate strategy means that HR continues to be the “messenger” rather the instigator, leading to a significant misalignment between employee and business objectives, according to research. A survey among 125 HR professionals and business managers conducted at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s HR Software Show earlier this […]
Blog: A final lesson from Olympians: Turning ideas into results
What fun it has been to ride the Olympics bandwagon! If we are to believe everything we read, the past weeks have been not only a world-class sporting event, but also one of the most educational fortnights in recent memory. David Cameron told the nation to use the Olympics as a springboard to even […]
Blog: One suggestion for tackling the workplace gender imbalance
Women form half the UK workforce but, according to new research from The Institution of Engineering and Technology, just six per cent of engineers are female. Change is called for as the strategically important sectors of manufacturing and engineering need to recruit 82,000 new scientists, engineers and technologists by 2016 and companies are reporting difficulties […]
Book Review: There is an I in team by Mark de Rond
Mark de Rond, professor of strategy and organisation at Cambridge University, has written a very comprehensive book on the factors that contribute to making a highly successful team. To this end, he draws on his experience as an experienced rowing coach for the Cambridge University Boat Club’s Blue Boat as well as his studies of […]
Legal Insight: How to employ migrant workers legally
Tesco could reportedly be fined up to £200,000 by the UK Border Agency for employing staff illegally. The news came to light following the Agency’s arrest of 20 foreign students at one of Tesco’s warehouses, after they were found to have been working significantly longer hours than their visas permitted. But a key problem […]
News: Age and motherhood are top two barriers to female career progression
Working women face not just one but multiple glass ceilings, with the biggest barriers to career progression comprising age and motherhood. According to a survey of 1,000 UK females in employment undertaken by accountancy firm Ernst & Young, the other key inhibitors were a dearth of role models and a lack of experience or qualifications. […]
News: UK workplace relationships hit new lows
Workplace relationships in the UK appear to have plumbed new depths, with large numbers of employees complaining about everything from abuse of power to nepotism and bullying. According to a survey conducted among 1,607 people by Canada Life Group Insurance, a huge 42% said that they had witnessed senior staff members abusing their power. […]
Legal Insight: How to prepare for pensions auto-enrolment
From 1 October this year, large employers will be compelled to start enrolling staff into workplace pension schemes. Although the exact impact is as yet unknown, it is thought that as many as 10 million UK workers who do not already have a pension, are aged 22 or over, are under state pension age and […]
Ask the Expert: What is the right terminology for family-friendly policies?
The question I am redrafting some family-friendly policies and naturally wrote "you" on the presumption that the main reader would be the person who wants to take maternity leave (although a manager might also like to read the document, just to understand their part in the process). Researching other policies, however, I noticed that […]
Blog: Humanising human resources
During our recent recession we’ve seen the demands on human resource increase massively through consolidation and downsizing. As our economies begin to regain speed this trend doesn’t seem to be bucking, but there is a choice on where to focus. To so many well performing corporations, numbers matter – I won’t argue with that. […]
The HRZone Interview: Best Companies’ Wayne Clarke on engagement
Wayne Clarke is managing partner at workplace engagement specialists, Best Companies, the firm behind the prestigious Sunday Times ‘Best Companies to Work For’ annual listing of high-performing organisations. It has identified eight key factors that are critical to be an employer that staff rate highly. They comprise: How employees feel about their leaders How […]
In a Nutshell: Five tips for creating a positive company culture
Culture is one of those nebulous things that it’s hard to put your finger on: it’s something you instinctively know is spot on or out of kilter. Get it right and you have a happy workforce who will hopefully ensure that customers are happy too. Get it wrong and there is a chain reaction in […]
News: Charity whistleblower wins “textbook” unfair dismissal claim
The finance director of the now defunct All Wales Ethnic Minority Association has won his claim for unfair dismissal, after raising concerns about financial mismanagement and bullying at the Swansea-based charity. Saquib Zia was accused of gross misconduct and sacked last year, but has now been awarded £4,010 in compensation. But by February this year, […]
News: Collaborative Justice Institute unveiled
In a bid to offer an alternative to traditional adversarial justice, a newly-created institute is aiming to promote the practice of ‘collaborative justice’ instead. The goal of the not-for-profit organisation is to bring practitioners, policy makers, leaders, scholars and other interested parties together in order to find ways of resolving conflict using techniques such as […]
