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 […]
News: Ex-Apple exec sues over alleged ‘job for life’ promise
A former employee is suing Apple for emotional distress after being dismissed last December, claiming that co-founder and chief executive Steve Jobs had promised him a job for life. Ousted executive producer Wayne Goodrich alleges that, during a one-to-one meeting in 2010, Jobs, who died last October after a five-year battle with cancer, had told […]
Blog: Settlement agreements explained
In June, business secretary Vince Cable announced that settlement agreements would be brought in as part of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill which is currently undergoing its second reading in the House of Commons. Settlement agreements are the latest in a long list of employment law reforms drafted by the coalition government in a […]
Blog: AT&T – Taking talent management to the next level
Advancing technology is having a radical impact on the skills that companies need to attract and retain talent, particularly within the media and communications industries. There is no disputing the power of social media, and because so much online conversation relates to events happening in real time, traditional marketing and advertising companies need to keep […]
Talent Spot: Karl Jolly, director of people at the Welcome Break Group
Karl Jolly has spent his whole career in the hospitality and food and drink industries. Today, he is director of people at Welcome Break Group, helping to ensure that the 80 million people who pass through the motorway service station and hotel operator’s doors have as good an experience as possible. “About 98% of 80 […]
News: North Tyneside ditches shared services plans to save jobs
North Tyneside Council has ditched plans to go for shared services in favour of outsourcing in a bid to save 360 jobs that would otherwise be at risk. The aim of the local authority’s four-year plan is to save £47 million and two preferred bidders have already been selected to pitch for its business. […]
News: Few employers exploit youth digital skills worth £6.7bn
Even though the UK’s unemployed youth have underexploited digital skills estimated to be worth about £6.7 billion, less than a quarter of employers plan to take them on despite a lack of in-house expertise. According to a survey undertaken by mobile phone operator O2, although organisations expect to generate about a fifth of their revenues […]