Legal Insight: How to guard against constructive dismissal claims
Lord Sugar is as famous for his business success as he is for his “You’re Fired” catchphrase on ‘The Apprentice’. Seven series of the popular BBC television show have produced seven winners, but only one still works for him. However, viewers of the last series will know that the winner no longer takes it […]
Research puts migrant construction worker safety in the picture
Deaths and injury among migrant construction workers could be cut by up to 20% simply by including pictures in safety training, research has revealed. Statistics from the Health and Safety Executive show that migrants, who comprise 6% of the UK’s 2.3 million construction workers, are more likely to be fatally injured than native UK employees […]
Changes to skilled migrant rights will “cause big problems for employers”
Skilled migrant workers from outside of the European Union who earn less than £35,000 are to lose the right to work in the UK for any more than five years in a move that will “cause big problems for employers”, a think tank has warned. The move, which will be introduced from April 2016, is […]
Talent Spot: Nikki Hall, chief HR officer at SHL Group
An HR professional at an HR supplier is a pretty useful person to have around when a customer perspective is required on strategy and products. But they are likely to prove even more valuable if sitting both at the top table and at the heart of the business is par for the course. So […]
Blog: How to make the most of an international labour pool
The world is a much smaller place with communication being virtually instant and video conferencing becoming more common than long distance business travel due to its efficiency and cost benefits. So it makes sense that local candidates for jobs that have limited-to-no need for them to be physically present might not always be the best […]
Analysis: SAP’s SuccessFactors’ roadmap draws mixed analyst reaction
Even though SAP revealed initial plans for its SuccessFactors acquisition last week, analysts have mixed views as to what they are likely to mean for HR directors. The enterprise software vendor clarified that SuccessFactors’ Employee Central would henceforth be its core cloud HR offering going forward, while its own human capital management applications would be […]
Talking Point: How to eat an elephant – Moving to a strengths-based culture
The case for using a strengths-based methodology was most recently supported by David MacLeod’s excellent review entitled ‘Engaging for Success’. But moving from a deeply-ingrained competency culture to a strengths-based approach to recruitment and performance management brings to mind the question, ‘how do you eat an elephant?’ In 2003, I joined a new organisational […]
Nearly half of staff slam managers as “ineffective”
UK employers are failing to provide line managers with effective management and leadership training, even though a huge 43% of employees believe they are ineffective. Moreover, a survey among 4,500 managers, which includes 550 HR bosses, which was jointly published by the Chartered Management Institute, HR consultancy, Penna, and Henley Business School also revealed a […]
Inclusion: Reaping what you sow
From the rallying cry of the Lord Davies report calling for more women to join British boardrooms to the abolition of the official retirement age, diversity has been in the full glare of the media spotlight over the last year. Yet the story at ground level is rather different and the key theme in […]
Spiralling childcare costs risk driving parents out of work – report
Above inflation rises in the cost of UK nursery places at the same time as wages continue to remain stagnant risk forcing parents to give up their jobs because they can no longer afford to pay for childcare. This is the key finding of a study conducted by national childcare charity, Daycare Trust, and sponsored […]
Blog: Finding the right way to praise
What positive news there was in the HR press in the past week. Not only did support services firm Capita post a 6% rise in profit amid some pretty tough economic conditions, but the ‘headline news’ was the fact that the company’s Chief Executive noted that the climb was partly down to “outstanding” members of […]
Is interim HR management for you?
Leaving behind the stable world of PAYE won’t appeal to everyone in the current economic climate. But even with predictions of a second recession ahead, many HR professionals still crave a new career challenge and some are even brave enough to make big changes. One career option that commonly appeals to senior HR practitioners […]
Racism claim upheld after pub manager calls black worker “Sooty”
A pub manager repeatedly called a black employee “Sooty” and told him to stand under a light when she spoke to him so that she could see him, an employment tribunal has heard. But according to the Daily Telegraph, when the staff member, Joel Perry who is of Jamaican origin, made a formal complaint about […]
Analysis: Oracle unveils plans for its Taleo acquisition
While last week it was SAP explaining plans for its SuccessFactors acquisition, this week, it was the turn of the application vendor’s arch-enemy Oracle to talk about its Taleo purchase. Earlier this month, Oracle announced that it would buy Software-as-a-Service-based talent management and recruitment software provider, Taleo, for $1.9 billion. The acquisition is expected to […]
Blog: Diversity is good for business
I have watched with amusement these past few weeks the reaction in the sports world to the phenomenon called Jeremy Lin. Not being much of a sports fan (especially basketball), I had to delve a little deeper than the normal fan. Chinese-American and Harvard-educated does not normally equal star in the NBA — or at […]
Anywhere Working Week: Helping employees switch off in an ‘always on’ world
Workplace change has never been as rapid as it is today. Globalisation and exponential increases in the use of technology have generated a 24/7 culture, where staff are often expected to work anytime and anywhere. Yet, as anyone working in HR knows, this ‘always-on’ situation is a double-edged sword. Employees today are generally […]
Ask the Expert: Can we buy back chunks of carried-over annual leave?
The question I have recently commenced working for a company, which has a policy allowing staff to carry over their unused annual leave into the first three months of the new year (the leave period runs from August to July). If the leave is unused by the end of the three months, it is […]
Legal Insight: Can UK staff be sued for stealing Twitter followers?
Another week, another story about Twitter – this time from the US, where an employer has sued a former employee for allegedly stealing the companies followers. Noah Kravitz, who worked as a reviewer for Phonedog Media for more than four years, created the Twitter account in 2007 when he first started to work at the […]
New employers liable for prior unfair dismissal claims under TUPE
Under TUPE legislation, liability for unfair dismissal claims automatically passes to any new employer, making businesses that have sacked staff in anticipation of a transfer less attractive to potential buyers, the Court of Appeal has ruled. The Court confirmed that it did not matter whether the new employer was known, had been identified or even […]
Change programmes: Asking the awkward questions
As difficult economic circumstances continue, it seems likely that organisations of all types are going to have to find new ways of cutting costs, improving productivity and just generally fighting harder to get business. This will mean scrutinising activities that do not clearly help them meet their goals in the short-term and potentially terminating them. […]