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 […]
Blog: Are your staff proud of where they work?
The UK can be proud of its hosting efforts of the 2012 Olympics as our top athletes gathered a wealth of gold, silver and bronze medals, the best haul we’ve achieved in over a century. Our athletes take pride in their work and reap the benefits when they stand on top the podium listening to […]
Ask the Expert: What happens about holiday for staff on temporarily reduced working hours?
The question If your employees agree to do a four-day instead of the normal five-day week for a temporary period of four months, what happens in regard to their annual leave and bank holiday entitlement? Normally if someone works for four days, they would receive 4/5ths of the usual entitlement but as, in […]
Blog: Should we name and shame bad managers?
Recognise This! – We publicly praise the stars. Should we publicly highlight the truly poor performers as well? Regular readers know I’m a very strong proponent of frequent and public (when appropriate and preferred) recognition of star performers as well as employees who live the values day in and day out, making it possible for […]
Cornerstone’s CEO: Taking on SAP and Oracle in the HCM apps space
The world of work is at a tipping point that apparently suits Adam Miller, chief executive of cloud-based talent management and learning software provider, Cornerstone OnDemand. He has for a while been “preaching” about the inevitable retirement of the baby boomer generation, a lack of skilled or experienced workers in the workforce combined with the […]
News: HMRC to recruit 1000 call centre agents amid low staff morale
HM Revenue & Customs is to recruit up to 1,000 additional contact centre agents in a bid to answer a targeted 90% of calls, amid the publication of a report revealing extremely low levels of staff morale. The department’s chief executive, Lin Homer, said that she planned to invest £9 million this year and up […]
News: Aegis Media turns HQ entry gates into staff feedback system
Aegis Media has turned the security gates at its Regents Place headquarters in London into a voting system, with the aim of collecting employee feedback in real-time. As each of the digital marketing and communications agency’s 1,000 staff has entered the building over the last couple of weeks, they have been presented with screens asking […]
In a Nutshell: Five ways to make the most of your older workers
The UK’s working population is aging but attitudes towards older workers – despite legislation – are taking a long time to catch up with the change. Therefore, Dianne Bown-Wilson, who set up consultancy, in my prime, to help address just such issues, shares her top tips to help employers get the most out of their […]
Blog: Punk rock HR – Reasons to be cheerful, part 3: Good job design
This is the third 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 motivation: In the words of honorary punk rockers, Rogers, Hammerstein and Captain Sensible, “Happy talk”. Yes, it’s nice to be happy at work, […]
Legal Insight: Privacy matters in the Underhill employment tribunal review
On 11 July 2012, the Honourable Mr Justice Underhill unveiled his Fundamental Review of Employment Tribunal Rules, which included recommendations and new draft regulations. One area of the Review that has attracted a lot of interest over recent months relates to matters of privacy, restricted reporting and anonymity during and after tribunal cases, particularly if […]
News: UK workers put in £157.2bn of unpaid overtime each year
UK workers are now putting in around £157.2 billion per year in unpaid overtime every year, with two thirds experiencing soaring stress levels as a result. According to a survey conducted by hotel chain Travelodge, one in ten employees are now cramming in the equivalent of an entire week’s extra work on top of their […]
News: NHS Trust fined £175,000 for publishing staff details online
An NHS Trust has been fined £175,000 by the Information Commissioner’s Office after it published a spreadsheet containing highly sensitive information about more than 1,000 of its staff online. Last April, the Torbay Care Trust posted the equality and diversity details of 1,373 workers on its website alongside their name, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, national […]
Lessons from Olympians: Seb Coe, the ultimate expert-turned-leader
The concept of an expert becoming a leader is scarcely unexplored territory. But the focus is usually on the skills that the erstwhile expert needs to acquire and demonstrate as they move from one role – and mind-set – to another. There are other attributes that are just as critical to the success, not […]