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 […]
News: Tesco faces £200k fine for illegal working by foreign students
Tesco faces a fine of up to £200,000 after immigration officials found foreign students to be working illegally at one of its warehouses. According to the Daily Telegraph, UK Border Agency officials arrested 20 students of nearly a dozen nationalities at the site in Croydon, South London last month for alleged breaches of their visa […]
Blog: Communication is the essence of good leadership
All eyes turned towards the manager as she gave her opinion of a strategy that was being discussed. This was part of the strategic meeting with the leadership team, with the C-Level executive sitting at the head of the table. As she walked through her reasoning, everyone was nodding their head in agreement. She […]
Blog: Four arguments for why staff engagement is impossible
Recognise This! – You can’t change someone; you can’t engage someone. You can create environments of trust, appreciation and purpose in which people want to engage, grow and develop. What’s the number one most helpful (or most heard) relationship advice? I reckon it’s to remind people, “You can’t change the other person.” And this […]
How to tackle your first 100 days as HR director – Part 2
These days, an HR director’s achievements in their first 100 days of taking on a new position are routinely seen as an indication of their future leadership potential. This means that swift delivery on goals and an immediate return on investment are considered more essential than ever. So how can you ensure that you […]
How to get ahead in HR
HR professionals have been put in the spotlight over the last two years as the function became even more critical during the downturn. Most are now working to execute strategies and make changes across various business functions to come up with innovative solutions to offset business cost pressures. Throughout the economic crisis, many HR […]
News: British workers “among the worst idlers in the world”, claim Tory MPs
The UK’s “poor productivity” is down to the fact that British workers are “among the worst idlers in the world”, a group of Tory MPs has claimed. The five MPs, who are joint authors of a book that is out next month entitled ‘Britannia Unchained’, attest that the country “rewards laziness”, bails out the reckless […]
News: Govt evaluates creation of German-style “mini jobs”
The creation of German-style “mini jobs”, which enable workers to earn up to E400 per month tax-free, is being explored by the Treasury in a bid to reduce long-term employment. But according to one German think-tank, the flexible contract system, which was introduced 10 years ago, should be treated with scepticism as it has only […]