News: Holiday season stress levels rocket for colleagues stuck at work
While some may be off relaxing in sunnier climes, it appears that the rest of us are having to pick up the slack – and are likely to need a holiday of our own when they get back to de-stress. According to a survey among 200 UK-based HR directors conducted by recruitment agency OfficeTeam, a […]
News: Strikes to become “increasingly routine” over year ahead
Although industrial action at the end of last year represented an “acute high water mark”, strikes are becoming “increasingly routine”, which means that employers must implement robust contingency plans, a legal expert has warned. According to figures from the Office for National Statistics, almost 1.4 million days were lost to labour disputes last year, four […]
Blog: Me and my Blackberry are on holiday….
One of the things we often hear from our HR alumni and network is that, however much they’d love to change the way they and their teams or functions ‘do’ HR, they simply don’t have time. The daily dilemma: you may have found a new way to help their clients solve their business problems, but […]
Ernst & Young uses strengths-based assessment for graduate recruitment
Research from HM Treasury published prior to the release of this year’s A-level results has shown that a record number of young people are seeking alternatives to university and are turning instead to apprenticeships or on-the-job training schemes. But with more job candidates on the market than ever before, the importance for HR directors to […]
In a Nutshell: Five ways to run a successful apprenticeship programme
The world of higher and further education is changing. Graduate unemployment rates are up and recent reports reveal that applications to English universities are down by 8.8% compared with 2010. As a result, young people are looking for alternative ways to enter into a career and, after opening their A-level results today, more than […]
News: Pearson unveils business-based higher education college
Publishing house Pearson has unveiled its new higher education college and at the same time has become the first FTSE 100 company to directly offer degrees in the UK. The college, which belongs to the owner of Penguin Books and the Financial Times, says that it is keen to recruit entrepreneurial students in a bid […]
News: End of “Olympics effect” could see unemployment leap by year end
Although unemployment has fallen to its lowest level in almost a year due to the “Olympics effect”, the end of demand for temporary labour could see joblessness jump 0.3% by the close of the year. According to data released by the Office for National Statistics, the UK’s unemployment rate stood at 8% for the three […]
News: HR pros ‘most likely to share a secret’
The average HR professional spends about half an hour each day nattering to colleagues about non-work-related issues and is more likely than any other profession to share a personal secret. These are the key findings of a survey conducted among 2,000 office staff by Mars Drinks Office Connections. It revealed that, while an average […]
Blog: Why the performance appraisal system is in trouble
Performance appraisals are in trouble and sinking fast. They negatively affect workplace relationships and they do not support goal achievement. I recently wrote an article on survey answers on performance management in which I demonstrated the impact of this systemic failure. Everyone from employee to manager to human resources practitioner dislikes them. It is […]
Talent Spot: Prithvi Shergill, global head of HR at HCL Technologies
Prithvi Shergill, global head of HR at offshore IT and software development provider HCL Technologies, decided while still at university that HR was the career for him. “It was quite evident to me that I enjoyed this area – I was part of a student-run association, ISEC [International Student Education Council], on the national committee […]
Infographic: Some Olympic facts
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Blog: Attracting and retaining talent across borders
As the world has become more interconnected with globalisation, it’s inevitable that there has been a rise in the number of employees working across borders. The question is though, do we have the right talent in the right roles? This issue was highlighted in a recent Financial Times article, which looked at how institutions […]
News: EU – Employers must assess staff well-being during redundancy
Employers may have to assess the psychological health of their staff if considering whether to make any of them redundant in future, according to draft European Union proposals. The proposed new directive, which the European Parliament is scheduled to vote on in November, would also mean that bosses had to evaluate the impact of job […]
News: Google’s 10-year “death benefits” have legal implications, warns lawyer
Employers thinking of following in Google’s footsteps and offering staff so-called “death benefits” must protect themselves against a range of potential pitfalls including possible discrimination claims, a legal expert has warned. Laszlo Bock, the search engine giant’s chief people officer, told Forbes magazine last week that it had introduced a policy last year whereby, if […]
Blog: What are your staff non-verbals really saying to customers?
What do your employees unwittingly communicate to customers about how important they are to the company? Despite the focus on customer service, customer experience and more recently customer engagement, the following examples of employee behaviours are still common – and of course impact how customers feel about the company: 1. It’s Too Much Trouble I was […]
Blog: Recommended reading on HR, culture, recognition and engagement
Recognise This! – To truly lead others, we must never stop learning. Recently, I received an email from Sudan asking me for my recommendations on top 3 books in HR. I thought this was too good of an opportunity to pass up and open up to you, my readers, for a bit of crowdsourcing as […]
The HR Headmistress: Is it time to change the way we train HR pros?
There has always been debate about the best way to train entry-level workers in the necessary skills for any given occupation. Historically, there have been three ways of learning a trade. These are: qualification by experience, which is gained over time a mix of experience and study carried out while working intensive study, followed […]
Do you get commercial?
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development has been pushing the idea that HR professionals need to become more business-savvy for some time now. As a result, we interview Debbie Pask, founder of specialist HR recruitment consultancy, Paskpartnership, in order to find out why being able to demonstrate commercial nous is becoming vital for every […]
News: Social media undervalued as employee comms tool
Most employers are failing to take advantage of social media as a means of improving their internal communications despite high levels of staff interest in them doing so. According to a survey conducted among 1,500 employees by recruitment process outsourcing provider hyphen, a mere 17.4% said that they were aware of any attempt by their […]
News: Employers face “make-or-break” in next 12 months
If the economy fails to pick up over the next year, employers will face a “make or break moment” as many are forced to axe skilled labour, sending unemployment levels soaring. According to the Labour Market Outlook survey of more than 1,000 employers conducted by YouGov on behalf of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and […]