Employers vs employees – What both parties want to see
New research reveals there is a perception gap between the skills employers are looking for from prospective employees and the skills jobseekers believe to be important. There is a particular divergence of views when it comes to workplace skills such as teamwork, communication and dealing with customers. The findings show just one in ten […]
Minister: UK employers should favour UK unemployed
Little seems to have been learned from Gordon Brown’s ‘British jobs for British people’ populist sloganeering – Employment Minister Chris Grayling has taken a similar tack this weekend. On Sky News this weekend Grayling said that that young British people out of work should be given priority over immigrant applicants, including those from Eastern Europe. […]
Workfare critics are job snobs, says Chris Grayling
Tesco is to hold crisis talks with employment officials as criticism of the Government’s ‘workfare’ scheme continues. As Employment Minister Chris Grayling branded critics of the scheme as “job snobs”, Tesco’s nerves seemed to be growing after one of its stores in Westminster was forced to close by protestors. Under the scheme, the unemployed […]
HR’s critical role in shaping company culture post-M&A
As soon as a merger or acquisition is announced, the culture of both entities begins to change as people start to think about, and behave towards, their immediate environment in a different way. This means that HR directors need to act quickly to help guide these changes and ensure that the transaction fulfils its original […]
Blog: Why is staff engagement in decline globally?
Recognise This! – Employees worldwide are disengaging at work, leaving organisations at a competitive disadvantage. Recent research out of Kenexa is showing employee engagement on the decline globally. “EEI scores declined, not only in the aggregate of these economies, but in each individual country as well. The pattern of scores over time is fairly […]
Ask the Expert: When should we CRB-check our site engineers?
The question We are currently looking into whether we need to undertake CRB checking for some of our site engineers, but are not 100% sure if we require it? As a company, we occasionally (and I have to highlight that it is only occasionally) send engineers out to schools or attend calls in […]
Tesco accused of “exploiting” workers in ‘free work’ row
Tesco has blamed a job advert for an unpaid permanent night shift worker on an “IT error” after outrage in the twittersphere led to claims that the supermarket chain was “exploiting” workers. The advert, which was posted on the Jobcentre Plus website, said that Tesco was looking for a permanent night shift worker for a […]
Could more effective workforce management replace redundancy?
As uncertainty over the Eurozone crisis continues to dampen confidence and fears of a double-dip recession continue to loom, it appears that UK organisations will need to keep on tightening their belts for some time to come. And as downsizing strategies go, few measures ever seem to receive the same amount of airtime and […]
Analysis: SAP and SuccessFactors – A marriage made in heaven?
A new transatlantic special relationship has formed since SuccessFactors and SAP finally became one – and HR directors must now wait to see what happens next. SAP’s $3.4 billion purchase of SuccessFactors – a Software-as-a-Service firm that focuses on selling human capital management applications – had been extended beyond its offer deadline three times while […]
Blog: Fraud – Who do you think they are?
Do you know how easy it is to lie about your experience or qualifications on a CV and get away with it? Actually it is extremely easy, simply because the people doing the interviewing are not doing their job properly. And this backed up by the latest US TV hit from Dave, Suits, where a […]
Dept of Health apologises for paying senior execs via limited companies
The Department of Health has apologised for misleading the opposition about paying senior figures via limited companies to help them avoid income tax. According to one insider, the 25 cases identified by The Guardian could be “the tip of the iceberg”. The comment mirrors that of AccountingWEB member, The Black Knight, who commented on […]
Network Rail’s travel time-based redundancy policy branded “unfair and arbitrary”
Unions have branded Network Rail’s decision to make workers redundant if they do not live within 75 minutes of its new offices as “unfair and arbitrary”. The Transport Salaried Staff Association claims that 800 staff from Kent, Surrey, Sussex and Hampshire will be affected by the policy, although the owner of the UK’s rail infrastructure […]
Blog: How to network effectively
Networking – why do it? Are you doing it? Are you any good at it? Did you know that you can greatly enhance the performance of your team and your company through networking? One of the things about networking is that there can be a lot of mystique attached to it. There is the […]
Legal Insight: How to avoid getting sued when making redundancies
In today’s financial climate, it is generally not particularly difficult to persuade an employment tribunal that a company needs to make redundancies. But if an employee challenges the reason for their dismissal, the employer’s reasoning will come under much closer scrutiny than it would in an ordinary unfair dismissal case. This means that, ideally, […]
UK unemployment continues ‘steady crawl’ to 9% by year end
Although the latest official unemployment figures were better than expected, the UK is continuing its steady crawl towards jobless levels of 9% by the end of the year, experts warn. According to the Office for National Statistics, worklessness rose by 48,000 in the three months to December, bringing the number of people without employment to […]
Talent Spot: David Kast, head of HR at Hogg Robinson Group
When David Kast first started working in a branch of travel agency Hogg Robinson Group in the early 1970s, he had no inkling that he would still be working for the same firm 39 years later – or that his career would have veered off into HR and training. Kast had left school unsure of […]
Blog: Why is coaching still an elitist sport?
Nearly every respondent to a recent survey of 250 UK companies said coaching in the workplace has helped individuals and their organizations. As I wrote in my previous blog post on coaching culture, they cited improved personal skills, better communication, higher confidence levels and greater motivation. With so many benefits, one might expect all […]
Talking Point: Is the fit note fit-for-purpose?
The fit note was introduced in April 2010 and replaced the ‘all or nothing’ classification of the traditional sick note, under which people were either ‘fit’ or ‘unfit’ for work. Based on the premise that you don’t need to be totally ‘fit’ to do some kinds of activities, establishing a third option of ‘may be […]
Training budgets first to be cut due to unclear business value
Learning and development budgets are among the first to be cut when times are hard because it is unclear what value training brings to the organisation and what return on investment it generates. According to a survey among 104 learning and development managers undertaken by managed learning company, KnowledgePool, three out of five said that […]
HRD Insight: Enterprise-Rent-A-Car’s Donna Miller on graduate recruitment
Enterprise-Rent-A-Car puts a huge focus on graduate recruitment schemes, with the aim of encouraging fresh thinking and bringing new ideas into the company. The firm, which was set up in 1957, has a culture of promoting from within. It recognises that providing employees with clear opportunities for advancement motivates them and encourages them to […]