Blog: How to promote workplace safety
Engaging employees in workplace safety can be a formidable challenge. Many employees view training sessions as a distraction, and they won’t pay attention if they find the materials boring or largely repetitive. At the same time, creating a safe work environment can mean the difference between a productive and profitable business and one that […]
Blog: CVs – To fib or not to fib….
CVs – to fib or not to fib? That may be the question, but to my mind it would only be worth £100 on Who Wants To Be a Millionaire, since it’s a bit of a no-brainer really. Yet it still seems to be asked a lot, usually alongside the bold assertion “Well, everyone […]
CEO Insight: Briggs Equipment’s Richard Close on how to work effectively with unions
Disputes between trade unions and employers have flooded the news in recent weeks, not least due to the threat of a tanker driver strike that would have had a severe impact across the country. Strike action is often seen as a last resort by employees when negotiating with their employers, but it is nonetheless likely […]
State of the nation: The HR recruitment market
Without doubt, the overall HR recruitment market has been going through an ‘interesting’ 2012 to date. In general terms, the increased demand for interim hires is currently driving the market while continued economic uncertainty has a sustained impact upon permanent hiring at all levels. Financial services, for so long one of the key markets […]
A typical HRD: Part 1 – Financial services
HR directors with a global or Europe, Middle East and Africa remit who occupy senior positions within the financial services sector will ordinarily have enjoyed a successful first career elsewhere, before moving across and starting their ‘second’ one. As the strategic importance of HR – and all of its constituent parts, which includes talent attraction, […]
News: Calls for ‘competency card’ after employer convicted of manslaughter
Health and safety experts have called for a mandatory proof-of-competence card to be introduced for agriculture workers after a pig farm became among the first organisations to be convicted under the Corporate Manslaughter Act. JMW Farms was fined a record £187,000 plus £13,000 in costs at Belfast Crown Court last Tuesday, following the death of […]
Blog: Workforce career development survey – Initial findings
Thanks to all who have taken part in our career development survey so far. Some 24 employers and 53 employees had participated when we took this cut of data. We’re keeping the survey open and numbers continue to grow – here is the link to the employer survey, and here is the link to […]
Blog: What makes a star performer?
We might like to think that two people doing the same job will produce similar levels of output, but in practice there can be significant differences. Certain people are twice as productive, sometimes even five times as productive, as others. In these challenging times, being able to identify, recruit and develop these rare performers […]
News: Employers ‘must collaborate to stem falling adult learner numbers’
A national body has called on employers, policy-makers, unions, providers and charities to work more effectively together in a bid to stem the dwindling numbers of adults involved in learning. An annual survey among 5,237 people undertaken by the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education to mark Adult Learners’ Week, which started on 12 May, […]
Green Office Week: How to promote workplace change
This week sees the start of the fourth ‘Green Office Week’, which is intended to encourage workers across the country to implement simple, practical, step-by-step changes in order to help make their workplaces more environmentally-friendly. Our aim in launching the event was to champion a ‘bottom-up’ approach to encouraging behavioural change by using it as […]
Why local government’s approach to temporary labour may be in trouble
Local government’s attempt to reduce spend on temporary labour is being hit by the Agency Worker Regulations. Our analysis shows that the use of temporary workers across 79 of our longest-term local authorities and public body customers – which collectively spend over £300 million a year on short-term help – has dropped by 15% over […]
News: Petrol tanker strike averted as drivers accept deal
The threat of a national fuel strike has been averted after tanker drivers narrowly voted to accept a deal aimed at ending a long-running dispute over pay and conditions. Unite said that 51% of its 2,000 members, who worked for a total of seven distribution companies, backed the deal despite a recommendation to reject it. […]
News: ‘Cameron to decimate Whitehall’ claim
The Prime Minister’s director of strategy has advised him to "road test" swingeing cuts to Whitehall in a belief that the the civil service could function effectively with 90% less staff. According to The Telegraph today, Steve Hilton, who is leaving to take up a US university post this month, has already sent officials to […]
Blog: How to get the most out of restructuring, redundancy and redeployment
For some people it must seem like a merry-go-round when they experience the upheaval of round after round of restructuring, redeployment and redundancies. Every few years the company is turned upside down and yet often doesn’t seem to gain the benefits. This must cause a lot of confusion to those in charge. They […]
Blog: Nine attitudes to help you become an emotionally intelligent leader
Emotionally Intelligent Leaders and Managers get the best results! Like learning to drive, leading and managing people is an experiential journey. My entrance onto the leadership stage was when I was promoted into the role, having stood in for the team leader from time to time. I don’t know about you, but although I […]
Ask the Expert: Is recorded third party evidence admissable for use at a tribunal?
The question While trying to sort out an employee dispute between a client and his employee (I know, stupid me!), the employee recorded the conversation that took place between us ie myself and the staff member. I was only acting as an intermediary to try and solve the dispute. But now the employee has […]
Five principles to ensure successful conflict resolution
The hidden cost of conflict is underestimated in many organisations. Indeed, one recent survey by the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution put the cost of conflict at £40 billion each year. Grievance probes that are handled by inexperienced or poorly trained investigators can also lead to a spiral of appeals and reinvestigation, but the […]
News: Government brands public sector pensions strike as “futile”
Hundreds of thousands of public sector workers took part in demonstrations and 24-hour strike action today, staging a protest over pension changes that the Cabinet Office minister has branded “futile”. The walk-out follows last November’s nationwide stoppage by more than one-and-a-half million public servants, but was fuelled by statements in the Queen’s Speech yesterday confirming […]
News: UK’s top 10 dream jobs revealed
Although all too few people are doing their ideal job due to either a lack of cash or lack of skills, the dream for most is to have more control over their own destiny. According to a survey among 3,000 UK adults undertaken by OnePoll and commissioned by Microsoft’s Bing search engine business, a huge […]
News: HRDs excluded from public company boardrooms due to “prejudice”
Prejudice against the HR function has led to HR directors being seriously under-represented on the boards of the UK’s largest public companies, with less than 1% boasting a top job. According to research undertaken by HR recruitment agency, Ortus, only five of the 595 board directors working at the country’s leading FTSE 50 firms have […]