Blog: Four survival tips for when the company loses its CEO
Recognise This! – Build a strong culture based on core values that mean something to individual employees. We’ve all read the stories of the new CEO stepping into a strong company culture. The good CEOs express various concerns around wanting to preserve what is strong in the culture and company, etc. Now think how […]
Blog: Babies in the office – Will it work?
The BBC series ‘Babies in the Office’ has been an interesting insight into the prospect of parents bringing their babies and toddlers right into their workspace. As an experiment the program is brilliant, but for me the long term potential of this concept seems limited. I suppose that they chose a call centre […]
Going for gold with former Olympians
In sport terms, 30 years of age is probably the equivalent of 50 for everyone else. By 35, most sports people are nudging retirement. But what do they do after that? For a significant number of ex-Olympians and other sporting legends, the next move is into training and consultancy, sharing the secrets of their […]
News: Govt launches 3-step mental health plan to save employers £10bn
Ministers have called on employers to take three steps to boost the mental health of their workers in a bid to save the UK economy £30 billion per year in lost productivity. Mental ill health such as depression and anxiety costs UK business more than £1,000 per employee each year, mainly in lost production as […]
News: Border Agency strike on eve of Games called off
Industrial action by Border Agency staff has been called off at the eleventh hour following union claims that the Home Office now intends to create 1,100 new jobs. The move came only an hour before the government was due to launch a high court challenge against a planned one-day strike by members of the Public […]
Blog: The power of story-telling
“Once upon a time …” You say those words to any child and they visually go into a trance. These were the words that were always used to tell a story. When my children were small, my wife would give them their bath and I was the story teller. I would come into the […]
Talent Spot: Philippe Ferrie, head of HR at Vallourec
When a global company has a decentralised culture, it can be hard to persuade people to accept standardisation that is handed down from head office, even if it makes their work lives easier. This was the situation that Philippe Ferrie, worldwide employee relations coordinator at Vallourec, found himself in when the company chose to implement […]
Blog: Seven reasons to employ a pregnant CEO
Last week’s announcement that Marissa Mayer had been appointed CEO at Yahoo! while pregnant should send a message to the Lord Sugar brigade; business leaders who believe that you shouldn’t employ women of a certain age in case they get pregnant. We’ve been thinking about the benefits that employing a senior woman while she is […]
In a Nutshell: Four tips for creating a positive company culture
Hilti, a major supplier of fastening and demolition systems to the construction industry, takes the idea of company culture very seriously and devotes 10 million Swiss francs and 30,000 working days per year to building and nurturing it. But Eivind Slaaen, the firm’s head of people and culture development, believes that, when you get down […]
News: Number of women on FTSE 100 boards leaps by a third
The number of women with a seat on the board of FTSE 100 companies has leapt by a third over the last year following the introduction of voluntary targets, according to the government. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills revealed that females now hold 16.7% of all board positions in such organisations, up from […]
News: Sick days cost UK employers £89m per year
Although sick days cost UK employers £89 million per year, the average number being taken has been on the decline for the last five years. According to a survey of 343 organisations by XpertHR, every member of staff took around 6.4 days due to illness in 2011, in a move that cost their employer £618 […]
Talking Point: Is it better to outsource training or offer it in-house?
Although employee performance may have improved over the last two years, individuals are still not working to their full potential, a recent poll of HR directors revealed. With the economic climate as it is, however, it is clear that employers must ensure that they get the most out of the talent they already have. […]
Blog: Are employers offering fathers enough support?
Research shows many fathers are dissatisfied with the amount of time they spend at work and the amount of time they spend with their children. Some 54% of fathers with children under one feel they are not devoting enough time to them, while 42% of fathers feel they are not able to spend enough time […]
Blog: Three ideas for retaining young talent when career paths are scarce
Recognise This! – Boomers are about to surpass Gen Y in the workplace. Steve Boese (another go-to blogger of mine for anything relevant and important in the moment in HR) recently pointed out this alarming statistic: For the first time since these things started being tracked (1950), we are on the cusp of the number […]
Academic Insight: Charles Handy on leadership, work and well-being
Charles Handy, an author and philosopher who specialises in organisational behaviour and management, is described as a storyteller. Over the years, he has written a number of books that contain rich tales and showcase his ideas on the meaning of life, business and purpose. Here, he opens up the floodgates and asks each of […]
How to tackle your first 100 days as HR director – Part 1
We live in a rapidly changing world in which the political and economic outlook for the next 12 months is very unclear. In this unstable commercial environment, uncertainty about the future feeds a growing sense of urgency in the here and now. As a result, judgments are made much more quickly. This means that […]
News: HMRC to probe recruitment industry’s £390m tax avoidance scheme
HM Revenue & Customs is to crack down on UK recruitment industry practices following allegations that hundreds of agencies across the country are running multi-million pound tax avoidance schemes. The organisation plans to launch an investigation into claims that agencies are using “travel and subsistence” expenses systems for temporary staff, which are believed to both […]
News: Employers delude themselves over staff engagement levels
Employers appear to be deluding themselves that workplace relations are positive and staff morale high when in fact two thirds of employees don’t trust their bosses and 58% are indifferent to their work. According to a survey entitled ‘Facing the Future’ undertaken among 319 employers by the CBI and recruitment consultancy, Harvey Nash, just under […]
Blog: Cracking employee communication codes QR-style
In spite of how you might feel about technology, you must admit that it’s making some aspects of employee communication much easier and improving communication between employer and employee. Let’s look at the QR (Quick Response) codes for example…used properly and following a few basic rules, these little barcodes can create a huge impact […]
Blog: Five ego traits to drop if you want to become a better team player
We all claim a positive ego when we admit we have one. When discussing the ego we often refer to a healthy ego, which means having in place healthy boundaries, or a good sense of self, or having a clear identify. The free dictionary describes the ego as: 1. The Self, especially as distinct […]