News: Count your immigrant workers, says Milliband
Overseas-only employment agencies would be banned and an early-warning system set up to highlight areas where locals are "dominated" by an influx of overseas labour, under new plans proposed by Labour. Following a u-turn on immigration policy, Labour leader Ed Milliband woudl insist that firms where more than one in four staff is from […]
News: MPs accuse Beecroft of employment “policy by parable”
The man behind the controversial ‘compensated no fault dismissals’ proposals appeared before a committe of MPs yesterday and got a hostile reception. Entrepreneur Adrian Beecroft appeared before the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill committee theoretically to discuss proposed new legislation, but instead found himself having to defend his stnace on previous recommendations. Opposition MPs questioned […]
Strategy: 5 things to consider when adopting HR shared services
HR Shared Services centres are posited as a way to reduce costs and increase efficiencies in administration, but setting up such arrangements can be a daunting task. HR case management firm Dovetail Software has identified five areas that it says are often overlooked but critical to success. These are: Standardizing common HR processes including […]
Blog: Isn’t the ‘seven second’ performance appraisal throwing the baby out with the bath water?
An article in People Management regarding the new approach by mining company, First Quantum Minerals, which hangs on the idea of a ‘seven second’ performance appraisal form, reminds of the appeal associated with those ‘2 second’ pop-up tents you see advertised. It’s the promise of convenience, ease, speed and time not wasted doing something you are not […]
Ensuring collaboration works
With new and updated HR legislation coming into effect all the time, HR departments need to stay on the ball to remain compliant. Mistakes in this area can have serious consequences and a negative impact in both a regulatory and employee well-being sense. As a result, it can help if HR executives put their […]
Public sector struggles to recruit top talent
Public sector organisations face increased problems in recruiting and retaining staff – particularly at more senior levels – as skilled individuals shy away from the sector as the impact of the cuts is felt and the image of the sector wanes. So argues the latest annual snapshot of the state of the UK recruitment market […]
UK employment trends see more self-employed
Almost 4.2 million people were registered as self-employed over the three months to April, the highest figure since records began in 1992, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). That number also represents a rise of 84,000 over the previous three month, a surge which appears to reflect the difficulty of gaining permanent roles […]
HR is completely out of touch?
HR professionals are shown to be completely out of synch with the thoughts and feelings of their employees, according to a study by HR specialists Kenexa. Kenexa argues: "This disconnect between HR professionals and employees is not a sign that HR doesn’t fully grasp the effects of its decisions, but rather that HR has become […]
Blog: All the small things – Getting your PR right in HR
HR often finds itself at the interface between the business and the outside world. As such it is responsible for the external image that the business portrays. I want to share a story that happened last week, which has important lessons for all those who have to deal with the media as part of their […]
Blog: who holds the real keys to the organisation anyway?
What is the narrative of your movie reel? The rank-and-file workforce had weathered layoffs, had their commissions slashed, and on top of that, their salaries had been frozen over the past five years. However, the chief executive’s decision was this — let’s have the senior management team take a lavish trip down to Bermuda and […]
Expert voice: reaping the value of soft benefits
It’s a basic fact of human nature that we all like to feel valued and nurtured. But with tight budgets making it increasingly difficult to reward staff with big pay rises, organisations are, in many instances, looking at offering so-called soft benefits instead. And office perks such as sporting activities, gym membership and in-house […]
Blog: 3 tips for better feedback reception
Recognise This! – How you receive feedback is as important as how you give it. We can’t be great 100% of the time. Yes, we all work hard and want to do a good job, but sometimes we miss the mark. Or perhaps the “mark” moved on us and we didn’t adjust in time. Frankly, […]
Social Media Guide Part 2: How to tweet more effectively
Having set up your Twitter account(s), you will now want to start using it/them to begin pushing your message out and interacting with your new social community. At this stage, you will probably find it useful to begin using a system like http://www.tweetdeck.com/ or http://hootsuite.com/ – these are social media ‘dashboards’ that enable you to […]
Talent Spot: Michael Doolin, HR director at DHL’s Tradeteam
“I swore blind I wouldn’t end up doing what my father did and, 34 years later, I am,” laughs Michael Doolin, HR director at DHL’s Tradeteam. His father had been a shop steward before moving into industrial relations, which meant that there had been lots of very dull-looking manuals hanging around at home that had […]
Book Review: The road to innovation by Cris Beswick and David Gallagher
I particularly enjoyed the punchy and concise approach that Beswick & Gallagher adopted when writing “The Road to Innovation”. The book successfully integrated seven key themes – which are key to HR professionals in any business context. Moreover, the way in which each section asked questions of the reader made it a thought-provoking read […]
Beecroft fire at will proposals stung by dismissal
Fire at will proposals proposed by the Beecroft review look to be dismissed themselves following a ‘call for evidence’ by the government. Venture Capitalist Adrian Beecroft had proposed allowing employers to fire staff without explanation in return for a basic pay-off. Out of 135 responses by businesses, 38% called for the plan to […]
In a Nutshell: Five ways to structure your presentation effectively
How many dull presentations have you sat through – or worse still, delivered? To ensure that this awful situation doesn’t become a reality, it’s very important to structure your argument so that it has every chance of really engaging the audience, regardless of topic. Therefore, in order to prepare an effective presentation, it’s useful to […]
Blog: leadership personified by inspirational mothers
Whilst watching Breakfast News last week, I was completely in awe of two mothers, Grace Idowu and Margaret Mizen, who have both experienced the dreadful pain of having a son killed in an unprovoked knife attack. Their courage and compassion bowled me over and I was struck by how, as a result, they decided to […]
A typical HRD: Part 5 – The interim HR director
When asked to talk about what the typical HR director would look like in the interim market, my first thought is: ‘just how long is a piece of string’. Today’s professional interim HR director is far from that over simplistic profile of simply being an independent consultant, a professional on their way to retirement or, […]
Blog: how to comply with fire safety at work
In light of the recent news that Asda have been fined more than £55,000 for fire safety breaches they might have wanted to have a closer look at how to comply with fire safety. Having an affective fire action plan in place can help your company to evacuate quickly and safely and help to minimise […]