International Women’s Day: Making gender diversity a workplace reality
The aim of International Women’s Day today is to inspire women, celebrate their achievements and find ways of creating brighter and more rewarding opportunities for future generations. But in terms of the workplace, just how far has gender diversity actually come? The media is full of reports about the need for greater female equality. […]
Employers getting more relaxed about staff social media usage
The number of large organisations planning to block employees’ access to social media is continuing to drop as corporate attitudes towards social networks become more relaxed, according to Gartner. New research by the analyst organisation indicated that less than 30% of large firms intend to prevent staff from accessing social network sites by 2014 compared […]
Cable reveals coalition horse-trading over scrapping 50p tax rate
Business secretary Vince Cable has confirmed that negotiations to replace the 50p income tax rate with some form of wealth tax, or “mansion tax”, are ongoing within the coalition ahead of the Budget. Cable added that the Liberal Democrats were not "ideologically wedded to the 50p tax rate" as the Chancellor comes under increasing pressure […]
HR too focused on cost when devising policy goals, warns report
HR functions are giving insufficient attention to the potential impact of external social and political influences when designing HR policy goals and are instead focusing too much on short-term issues such as cost. These are the key findings of a survey among 52 HR directors and board members working in large corporates across Europe conducted […]
Remploy factory closures risk jobs of 1,500 disabled workers
Remploy is to consult with unions over the proposed closure of 36 of its 54 factories due to government funding cuts, which could lead to compulsory redundancies among more than 1,500 disabled workers. Remploy factories were established 66 years ago as part of the creation of the welfare state in order to employ disabled […]
Blog: Creating a company culture post-M&A
Recognise This! – Merging cultures and is as critical as merging “the books.” Be sure to give it the attention it deserves. Earlier, I offered a review of the book Building a Magnetic Culture. Nowhere is that more difficult – or more necessary – than in an organisation that has just completed a merger or […]
Talent Spot: Community blogger, Ron Thomas
Ron Thomas, a principal at New York-based HR consultancy StrategyFocusedHR and favourite HRzone blogger, always knew that business was his calling, even if he didn’t know in exactly which branch he’d end up. “I knew I was going to major in business in college,” he says. “I was always intrigued by people who came to […]
Video Interview: Sharron Davies on what it takes to be a winner
Sharron Davies, Olympic silver medalist and winner of two gold medals at the Commonwealth Games, talks to HRzone about what she believes it takes to be a winner and what set her off on her prestigious career path in the first place. Davies also shares her opinions on what constitutes effective leadership and what impact […]
Book Review: Happy Working Relationships by Simon Jones
From the very first paragraphs in the introduction, this book entitled ‘Happy Working Relationships – the small business guide to managing people and employment law’ caught my interest. It announces that its aim is to add to the selection of advisory books available for small businesses by including HR in the already well-covered list of […]
OTS pushes for simplification of employee share schemes
The Office of Tax Simplification has recommended merging approved shares schemes to simplify what is on offer to employees and reduce restrictions on UK businesses. The final report, Review of Tax Advantaged Employee Share Schemes, calls for bringing the current Enterprise Management Incentive and Company Share Option Plan into one scheme while maintaining separate limits for […]
Somerset Council pulls HR out of Southwest One shared service
Troubled shared service operation SouthWest One has hit another speedbump, with one of its customers, Somerset Council today announcing that it is to bring some services, including HR, back in-house. According to the BBC, the decision was taken after a council review concluded that it was failing to perform and it was unlikely to achieve […]
CEO Insight: Briggs Equipment’s Richard Close on staff engagement
As fears of another recession continue to mount, many business leaders are looking for new ways to either turn around their balance sheet or ensure that it grows. But all too many simply fail to look at their number one asset: their people. Over the last 20 years, I have worked with a number […]
Scheme unveiled to cut unemployment among ex-prisoners
In a bid to tackle high unemployment levels among people with criminal records, former prisoners will now have to join the coalition government’s Work Programme immediately on their release or lose benefits. At the moment, ex-offenders are not forced to join the scheme until they have been out of jail and claiming JobSeeker’s Allowance for […]
Blog: Appraisals – The menace of ‘soft marker’ managers
There are plenty of aims of appraisal or performance review programmes, but the key one is usually for managers to assess the performance of their staff, often giving them performance assessment ratings. Sounds like a straightforward enough concept – yet like so many HR initiatives, it is so often a good idea badly executed! […]
HSBC guarantees parents part-time working options
HSBC has become the first UK corporate to guarantee all new parents returning from maternity or paternity leave a part-time working option in a bid to help them improve their work-life balance. The move comes as a charity called on the coalition government to reverse proposed changes to the Working Tax Credit, which it said […]
EU proposals for female board quotas a “mistake”
A European Union-wide consultation on whether to introduce mandatory quotas to try and increase the number of women on company boards has been branded a “mistake” by the coalition government’s boardroom diversity champion. Lord Davies of Abersoch admitted that the move by the EU’s Justice Commissioner, Viviane Reding, “raises the temperature” on organisations that […]
Workers making official Olympics sportswear are abused, claims charity
Workers in Bangladeshi sweatshops are being exploited and abused while making clothes for Olympic sponsors, Adidas, Nike and Puma, an anti-poverty charity has claimed. War on Want in its report entitled ‘Race to the Bottom’ attests that the lowest-paid staff in factories that supply Adidas, the Games’ official sportswear partner, are given just 9p an […]
Blog: Does HR have the right skills to be in the boardroom?
In a pan European study undertaken by Mercer among over 300 HR Professionals across 25 countries it is revealed that 70 percent of organisations have or are planning to transform their HR functions. A big shift in the way businesses perceives HR seems to be the catalyst for this activity. HR is now seen as […]
Addressing shared HR service challenges
With public sector budget cuts still on the cards and an ever-increasing focus being placed on generating efficiency savings, it is surprising perhaps that more public authorities have not opted to go down the shared services route. But a recent survey that we commissioned among 100 UK public sector representatives from functions such as HR, […]
Ask the Expert: Can an employee legally refuse an order to move desks?
The question I am an HR Assistant and am slightly upset at the treatment of one of the girls in the office. She came on board about six months ago to act as team support and is line-managed by one of the PAs. But there seemed to be friction from the start between […]
