A typical HRD: Part 2 – The third sector
As the economic landscape has changed over the last four years, so too has the typical profile of an HR director in the third sector. Historically, in some circles, the industry was regarded as a bit of a backwater – a pleasant environment in which to work, but not at all ‘cutting edge’ from an […]
News: Union requests clarification on whether HP to cut 30,000 jobs
The Public and Commercial Services Union has written to IT supplier HP "demanding immediate discussions" in light of press reports it plans to shed as many as 30,000 positions globally. The union said it wants to determine "what impact this will have on our members who work for HP in the UK". These "latest cuts" […]
News: Stringfellows’ dancer goes back to tribunal
The epic case of topless dancer Nadine Quashie will be heading back to the employment tribunals after a judge ruled that she had been an employee at the Stringfellows club in London. Quashie, a former accountancy student, lost her unfair dismissal case at an employment tribunal in late 2010, which found that she was self-employed. […]
News: Cable blasts Beecroft Report as “complete nonsense”
The Business Secretary has blasted plans to make it easier for firms to sack under-performing staff as “complete nonsense”, warning that they would leave a “dead hand of fear” hanging over workers’ heads. Vince Cable told the BBC that it was not the job of government to “scare the wits” out of people by introducing […]
News: Major UK employers sign up to CIPD youth work experience campaign
Leading employers such as Marks & Spencer, Nestle and Deloitte have signed up to a campaign to provide young people with work experience in order to make them more employable. The aim of the ‘Learning to Work’ initiative, which was launched today by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, is to work with both […]
Blog: 10 recommendations for boosting employee engagement
How do you improve the engagement culture within your organisation? Employee engagement is big business these days. A recent internet search I carried out highlighted 5,370,000 results on Google and 2,005 books on Amazon. (By the time you read this, those numbers will probably have increased!) There are also a multitude of surveys that […]
Video Interview: Bright Purple Academy aims to inspire next generation business talent
I spent last Thursday touring Edinburgh promoting entries from Scottish entrepreneurs for our small business competition The Pitch 2012 with £50,000 worth of business support up for grabs. During the day, I visited several organisations to discover how they are supporting small business owners. The first meeting was at the offices of recruitment company Bright […]
Blog: Social media – Opportunity or danger?
And so it was that recently I took part in the People Managements webinar entitled Social Media: Opportunity or Danger? expertly facilitated by PM‘s Editor in chief Rob McLaughlan and Digital Marketing Manager Zoe Bearne. I was one of three ‘speakers’, the other two being Al Shah, Social Media Demand Manager for GlaxoSmithKline and Lucy Turner, […]
Ask the Expert: When can restrictive covenants be enforced – or not?
800×600 Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 The question I think that I am familiar with the general issues surrounding the enforcement of restrictive covenants, but would welcome advice on this specific matter: If the covenant is part of an employment contract that an employer has unlawfully breached (for example, where a […]
How to deal with a hostage situation
“Get down on the ground or I’ll shoot.” Just imagine: one minute you’re making a cup of coffee in the office, the next you’re being gagged and bound and forced to the floor. Being held hostage is one of the most terrifying experiences that anyone could be faced with. Of course, most people think […]
Living Leader Learnings: How can I make all of my team equally motivated?
The challenge: The manager of operations and logistics for a national vehicle leasing company asks: “I have always believed that I am a pretty good motivator, but the performance levels across my team differ significantly. A number of people always exceed expectations, but the rest of the team are just not stepping up in […]
Give & Gain Day: Lloyds’ talent director Richard Buxton on volunteering
Thousands of employees from across the UK – and throughout the world – are donating time to the communities in which they live or work today by taking part in the world’s only national day for employee volunteering – Give & Gain Day 2012. Now in its fifth year, Give & Gain Day is run […]
News: Some apprenticeships of “no real benefit” to anyone, rule MPs
Some apprenticeships are so short as to be “of no real benefit” to anyone, while the amount and quality of training provided by others is questionable, a parliamentary committee has warned. The Public Accounts Committee pointed out that, of the schemes that it had evaluated, about 20% lasted for only six months or less – […]
News: Unions ballot bus drivers for strike over Olympics bonus
Unions are balloting bus drivers on whether to take strike action over demands for a £500 bonus payment for working during the Olympics because of an expected hike in passenger numbers. Unite has sent out ballot papers to its 20,000 members, after off-duty drivers protested yesterday outside Transport for London’s head office. The union […]
Blog: Lessons from JP Morgan’s Jamie Dimon – Admit your mistakes
“We know we were sloppy. We know we were stupid. We know there was bad judgment. We don’t know if any of that is true yet. “Of course regulators should look at something like this, that’s their jobs. So we are totally open to regulators and they will come to their own conclusions. But we intend […]
Blog: 10 learning tips for National Learning at Work Day
Today, Thursday 17 May is National Learning at Work day, with events promoting learning at work happening across the UK. To support the day, we’ve created these Top Ten Tips for Learning to help and encourage business to make learning fun and relevant in order to motivate and engage employees: 1. Make learning social – […]
The HR Headmistress: How to select candidates for redundancy pools
In a redundancy situation, it is really important to implement a fair process in order to avoid unfair dismissal claims. Part of this activity involves identifying an appropriate redundancy pool and ensuring that the selection criteria used are not tainted by discrimination. 1. Defining a redundancy pool There are no set rules about […]
TV Review: The Apprentice Week 9 – Focus and a consistent brand message are key
And so another Wednesday came around and I was licking my lips with anticipation at what our remaining hopefuls would be asked to do by Sir Alan and his gang, especially now we are in the ‘business end’ (no pun intended!) of the show. This week the candidates had to come up with marketing campaigns […]
News: 120 public servants sacked after snooping for personal data
At least 120 public servants have reportedly been fired over the last couple of years for illegally accessing personal data held in a confidential Department for Work and Pensions‘ database while at work. This is the claim made by an IT news site that says the staff were sacked for “abusing their access rights to […]
News: Two out of five civil servants to home-work during Olympics
Up to 40% of Whitehall staff will be asked to work from home to help ease congestion on London’s transport network during the seven weeks of the Olympic and Paralympic Games this summer. According to the Telegraph, other employees may also be asked to change their working times or take annual leave from 21 July […]