Video Interview: SynGro’s Ken Scott on how best to exploit staff feedback
At a recent European Customer Experience World event, our sister website, MyCustomer.com, spoke to Ken Scott, director of delivery at SynGro, which develops customer insight programmes, about why ‘Voice of the Employee’ feedback isn’t being better used within organisations.
Blog: Punk rock HR – How to make learning worthwhile
Someone does not measure up to your expectations? What do you do? Fire them? Fire yourself for not hiring them properly in the first place? Well, the time-honoured HR solution to the capability problem is to train them. Nothing wrong with that at all, I hear you say? No, except there are some faulty […]
Blog: How to wear someone down when applying for your job vacancy
In the last post, we described how jobs are often reserved for someone who is a friend of an executive. In the case described, the post of communications chief was reserved for a crony of the Mayor of London. Some of you might have qualms about this. You might feel it’s wrong to waste […]
In a Nutshell: Five top tips for staying stress-free
Stress is now the leading cause of long-term sickness absence in the workplace. A survey published recently by the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development and private health insurance company, Simplyhealth, revealed that nearly two-fifths of the 592 UK employers questioned had seen an increase in stress-related absence among their employees over the last year. […]
Heathrow: Ensuring staff actions line up with corporate values
I think it was Napoleon who said that Britain was a nation of shopkeepers. It’s certainly true that we know a thing or two about queuing – it’s pretty much a national past time. So it seems strange that we could get it so wrong at Heathrow Airport. It’s not as if it’s something […]
News: Senior execs lead by example in adopting social media tools
Senior executives use social media more frequently than any other more junior members of staff, including ‘Generation Y’, new research has revealed. A European survey, which involved talking to 2,700 professionals across the UK, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain and Sweden, found that 71% of senior executives use social tools at least once a […]
News: HMRC workers vote for strike action
More than half of HM Revenue & Customs staff polled have voted for industrial action in a dispute over jobs and privatisation, which is expected to affect a range of services from tax advice to call centre support. The Public and Commercial Services union, which represents 55,000 HMRC members, said in a statement that an […]
News: Govt dismisses ‘exploitation’ of unpaid Jubilee stewards as “one off”
Downing Street has dismissed accusations about “exploiting cheap labour” during the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations, following claims that a security firm asked unpaid jobseekers who acted as stewards to sleep under London Bridge. Former deputy prime minister, Lord Prescott, wrote to the Home Secretary, Theresa May, after the incident came to light yesterday, saying that […]
Talking Point: How professionalised is the HR profession?
As the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development prepares to mark its centenary next year, the event raises an inevitable question: how has the HR profession changed over the last 100 years and where is it at in professionalisation terms today? Compared to some of the newer professions such as information technology or facilities management, […]
Blog: Lessons from The Pitch: 9 steps to building a top notch team
How is your pitch being developed? Are you ready for your pitch? This past weekend I became fascinated with the TV show The Pitch on AMC Channel. The Pitch gives an inside view of advertising agencies. Each week, two agencies compete to win a new client by giving a presentation called the Pitch. It gives a close-up […]
TV Review: The Apprentice Finale – Objectivity and gut feel are a winning combination
Most of us will have spent the majority of Sunday’s final of The Apprentice in stitches. My notes for writing this blog really don’t go beyond the moment of hiccups and bloopers of absolute comedy gold. And I’ve got a slight problem with that. Crucially, these “outtake” moments weren’t contributing factors to the final […]
Fancy a reward-ing career?
2011 was a difficult year for reward. Both permanent and interim reward recruitment began solidly. Then the Eurozone crisis arrived – and with it an adverse impact on confidence in all recruitment markets, particularly in the financial services sector in the UK and across Europe. Challenging times need to be put into context. […]
Talent Spot: Community blogger, Bob Bannister
Being stuck at airports for hours on end is one of the most energy-sapping and irritating things about traveling. Yet for Bob Bannister, managing director of training provider, iManage Performance, it proved to be fortuitous. He explains: “In the mid-90s, I was working for Philips and doing a lot of sourcing from Eastern Europe, which […]
News: Cautious hiring and low pay awards the “new normal”
A cautious approach to hiring and low pay awards are the “new normal”, with median wage rises across the economy expected to continue at around 2.8% over the coming quarter. According to a survey of 319 UK employers conducted by the CBI and recruitment consultancy, Harvey Nash, pay restraint appears to remain the norm, with […]
News: HR employers do little to keep staff despite skills shortage fears
While two out of five employers in the HR sector are worried about losing staff, around the same number are doing nothing to keep them, according to a study. Unsurprisingly then, Reed’s HR 2012 Salary and Market Insight report also revealed that nearly half of all junior HR managers were either actively searching or plan […]
Christina’s Counsel: How can I make my workplace more family-friendly?
The challenge If you are struggling to get the best people to come and work for you, have a high rate of unexplained absence or believe that your employees aren’t giving their best, not least due to stress because their work and domestic lives conflict, it may be worth reviewing how family-friendly your workplace culture […]
Blog: The employee impact of a recognition desert – survey
Recognise This! – The only qualifier for needing recognition in the workplace is being a member of the human race. Last week I had the pleasure of co-presenting with Thad Peterson the results of the Globoforce Spring 2012 Mood Tracker survey (which tracks the perceptions of full-time, currently employed U.S. workers). Now available on […]
Blog: Three ways to help new hires settle in
A new employee in the workplace is exciting for everybody. Besides the fact that there’s just something intangibly nice about having a fresh face around the office, a new employee also brings with him or her a kind of vitality to the work setting. They have a fresh perspective and a whole new set of […]
Five reasons why HR should adopt social media
Over recent years, social media has crept into the workings of many a business department, and HR is no exception. Some HR professionals have been using social media as part of their day-to-day activities for a while, but those that haven’t are likely to need to do so in the near future in order to […]
News: Lessons from IBM in going social
With the latest IDC figures predicting that the social enterprise market will reach $200 billion by 2013, it looks like social is set to become an increasingly important part of your business, according to IBM‘s vice president of social business evangelism and sales. Speaking at the Social Business Strategy Summit in London yesterday, Sandy Carter […]