Blog: Five ways to get demotivated staff committed to their employer’s future
Effective leaders and managers need to have enthusiastic followers. Since people are the organisation’s key source of competitive advantage, you need every single employee to be fully committed to taking the company forward and doing everything they can to make it a success in the future. Unfortunately, the recession forced many companies to alter […]
Blog: Starting out – HR’s new cost-per-hire standard
Drum roll…For the first time ever, the American National Standards Institute has, like a benevolent genie, granted HR’s wish for an industry-wide widely accepted reporting standard: cost-per-hire. Now, not just in the US, but world-wide (what happens first in the US etc) HR folk can run into the streets (or around the top table – […]
Ask the Expert: Do employers have to pay for post-natal time off?
The question A member of staff has just returned from maternity leave. She is still breast-feeding her child and needs to expel her milk at least twice a day. She works a 40-hour week, which is now being reduced by between 30 and 40 minutes each day due to this process. The employee […]
How to build a positive corporate culture
Every organisation has a culture, which is based on who its people are, what they say and how they act. But wise companies recognise the potential and power that fostering the right culture can generate. Strong, positive cultures are the basis of successful organisations because they tap into workers’ collective energy and define common […]
Can Goldman Sachs’ CEO survive “toxic culture” claims?
Questions are now being raised as to whether Goldman Sachs’ chief executive can survive the public resignation of a London-based manager who attested that he could no longer work there “in good conscience”. Greg Smith, who headed the US investment bank’s equity derivatives business for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, quit in an email […]
Government’s compensated no fault dismissal proposals garner mixed response
Coalition government proposals to introduce a ‘compensated no fault dismissal’ system for micro-businesses have met with a mixed response. The proposals, which were first put forward in Adrian Beecroft’s controversial report, form part of a wider ‘call for evidence’ around existing dismissal processes for organisations of all sizes. They would result in employers with […]
Living Leader Learnings – How do I stop a valuable employee from dominating meetings?
The challenge A divisional team leader for marketing at an FMCG manufacturer says: “I head up the Divisional Marketing team of 12, and whilst they all have different strengths one is particularly dominant. For example, during meetings I feel this individual dominates to the point that others cannot get their point across. However, when […]
Blog: Lessons on empowering staff to win
One of the things I love about being in HR is that everyone always bring you these rich stories that sometimes causes you to have an "a-ha" moment. A major retail chain this past week did something that, for a retail company, needs to be lauded. In retail, you have a workforce that is […]
HR software deployments: ‘Big bang’ or phased roll-out? Part two
In part one of this two part article, we heard from construction consultancy, Cyril Sweett, about the merits of taking a ‘big bang’, ‘all-in-one-go’ approach to introducing a new human capital management system. This second part looks at the pros and cons of taking an alternative tack, however – that of phasing in a deployment […]
The Apprentice 2012: The candidates unmasked
The BBC has revealed the latest crop of wannabe executives to compete in The Apprentice. Here are the contestants appearing in the new series of the show which starts on BBC One on 21 March. Meet the girls Bilyana ApostolovaAge: 25Occupation: Risk analystLives: London, UK Bulgarian born Bilyana started off her career […]
One in five tech employers reject candidates due to their social media profile
Almost one in five technology firms have actively chosen not to hire someone because of their social media profile, research has revealed. In previous runs of the study, around 40% or so respondents’ checked out candidates’ profiles on social media sites. But this is the first time that they have admitted to rejecting candidates because […]
Salesforce.com to make HR “a weapon for transformation”
Salesforce.com has proclaimed that it wants to make HR “a weapon for transformation” by enabling practitioners to interact with workers in a more social way. The Software-as-a-Service vendor made the statement as it launched the first fruit of its Rypple acquisition in the shape of a performance management application. The offering dubbed ‘Salesforce Rypple’ […]
Best Practice: Four tips to help HR become more business savvy
If HR professionals want to gain in credibility, they must evolve from simply being deep subject matter experts to becoming business leaders with a people specialism, the CIPD has warned. Although three out of five HR practitioners questioned for the organisation’s latest report agreed that the profession needed to increase its understanding of business issues, […]
Video Interview: RWE npower’s Adam Templeman on social recruitment
Mike Taylor, director of www.web-based-recruitment.com, talks to Adam Templeman, head of resourcing at RWE npower, about incorporating social media as a regular part of the utility provider's online recruitment strategy. He also offers advice on how to ensure that you don't waste too much time on social media attraction efforts. Templeman is a speaker at […]
Blog: Two reasons why psychometric tests suck…
Here are two biiiig reasons why I think personality or psychometric tests suck… You know the drill. Once in a while the boss decides you’ve all got to get together and find out about each other. What makes you tick, and all that jazz. So how’re ya gonna do that? Lucky you – it’s MBTI time (other tests are available). […]
Legal Insight: Employee or consultant? Lessons from the Student Loans Co
Taxation has never been a more contentious issue. Political arguments have been raging for months now over everything from the 50p rate and tax evasion among high earners to the reintroduction of a £10,000 threshold for people on low incomes. Also to hit the headlines recently, however, was the case of Ed Lester, chief […]
Four years of redundancies cost UK employers £28.6bn
Nearly 2.7 million people, or one in 10 workers, have been made redundant in the last four years, costing UK employers a huge £28.6 billion. According to a report by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, the manufacturing and construction sectors accounted for about a third of the job losses, while public administration, education […]
Case Study: Herts Council’s ‘Transformation’ programme slashes sickness absence
Hertfordshire County Council provides local services to more than a million people in the area and employs around 34,000 staff, of whom about 24,000 work in schools. Last year, it introduced a ‘Transformation’ programme – a new and radically different wellbeing strategy, aimed at reducing sickness absence and improving organisational performance. And, while it […]
National Science and Engineering Week: UK to be 2m engineers short by 2015
Guess how many engineers and scientists we’ll need to remain competitive in the next five years? Some 2.2 million. How many kids are going into engineering at the moment as a career? More like 125,000. That sobering statistic is one of the prompts behind ‘The Big Bang Fair,’ a jobs fair that hopes to […]
Blog: What makes you happy in your work?
We All Want Happiness! Today the sun is shining and the hope of a beautiful spring and lovely summer are in the air. Most of us know the feeling of happiness and wellbeing that comes with a lovely sunny day. The day made me think about happy days at work, and the happy […]
