CIPD and CfA to offer Higher Apprenticeship in HR management
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and CfA are to jointly develop a national Higher Apprenticeship in HR Management, after being awarded nearly £800,000 in financing by the Government. The money will come from the £18.7 million Higher Apprenticeship pot, which was announced by Business Secretary Vince Cable in December last year. The Higher […]
Analysis: Reed loses £158m ‘salary sacrifice’ case
In the latest round of the UK’s most prominent tax grudge match, the Reed Group lost a first tier tribunal appeal against HM Revenue & Customs' decision to revoke an expenses dispensation for its temps after eight years. Faced with a potential tax bill of £158m, the recruitment agency has called for a judicial review of […]
Trends 2012: Rewards
Nearly two thirds of UK private sector organisations plan to change their reward strategy over the year ahead, with almost half saying that the shift will be significant. Our recent study entitled ‘Which way now for reward?’ revealed a number of drivers behind the move, with ‘employee engagement’ and ‘ensuring a clear link to business […]
Blog: Taking a leaf out of marketing’s magic book of metrics
How defined is your brand? “I have always believed that great brands are built on improving the lives of the people they serve; I wanted to prove that maximum profit and high ideals aren’t incompatible but, in fact, inseparable,” said Jim Stengel, former global marketing officer of Proctor & Gamble and author of GROW. […]
Employers adopt ‘wait-and-see’ approach to hiring
Employers are currently adopting an increasingly cautious ‘wait-and-see’ approach to hiring new staff, with the number of graduate vacancies in particular predicted to fall by 1.2%. According to the Recruitment & Employment Confederation’s monthly JobsOutlook, January suffered a marked dip (2%) in the number of employers expecting to take on permanent staff in the short-term, […]
Ask the Expert: Is there a minimum hours requirement for lodging a tribunal claim?
The question I have a part-time employee who works 12 hours per week. He has decided that he does not like his job, does not want to do it anymore and is openly seeking another one. But the worker is being disruptive and is demotivating other team members. He has been with the organisation […]
Update: Redknapp allegedly had sole control of Monaco bank account
Harry Redknapp had sole responsibility for the Monaco bank account under the combined name of his dog and birth date, ‘Rosie 47’, into which money was paid by Milan Mandaric, Southwark Crown Court heard today. Jurors were told that the only signature on records for the account at the centre of £189,000 ‘bung’ – or […]
The Costa Concordia disaster: A personality problem?
Although it is difficult to separate fact from speculation right now, the evidence would appear to suggest that, after the Costa Concordia ran aground, its captain, Francesco Schettino, did not react well. First of all, he seemed to go into denial, before apparently falling to pieces, abandoning ship before his passengers and having to be […]
Clegg calls for urgent action in upping income tax thresholds
The Deputy Prime Minister has urged his Coalition colleagues to move “further and faster” in raising the income tax threshold to £10,000 per annum, while introducing extra taxes for the rich to fund the move. At the last election, the Liberal Democrats pledged to increase the threshold and the Coalition agreed to implement the policy […]
Blog: Cultivating a success culture
Culture is a complex concept for managers and leaders to understand. It’s hardly surprising, even ‘experts’ have different views about just what it is. Here are just a few of the definitions I found in a few minutes online: The way things are done around here The specific collection of values and norms that […]
Shift over last year in way HR viewed, reveals survey
Two thirds of HR directors believe that the last 12 months has seen a shift in the way the function is viewed, with most feeling that they now have the right level of senior management representation. Video interviews with 18 senior HR professionals from large UK private and public sector organisations undertaken by HR consultancy, […]
HRD Summit: ‘HR’s biggest failure has been an over-focus on process’
HR’s biggest single failure over the last 10 years has been an over-focus on process at the expense of outcomes, despite there being little evidence that the majority of such processes even work. This was the key finding of a keynote panel discussion at the HR Directors’ Summit in Birmingham earlier this week entitled ‘Reflections […]
EU data protection law proposals to make “huge demands” on HR
The European Commission is suggesting changes to existing data protection legislation that could see employers fined up to 2% of their global turnover if they and their workers fail to comply with it. The proposals, which will now go before the European Parliament and are expected to take as much as two years to come […]
Vince Cable unveils plans to curb excessive executive pay
Business Secretary Vince Cable has unveiled government plans to curb executive pay and address what he described as “a clear market failing”. In a speech to MPs this week, Cable focused on matters of transparency, shareholder power, diversity and good practice, saying that. although it was “not government’s role to micro-manage company pay”, there were […]
Blog: ReServe – A new way of working for the over-55s
A recent article in the New York Times featured the work of ReServe, an innovative non-profit organisation that links people over 55 with meaningful second careers. As a model for what is needed to address the nature of later life careers for a sector of the UK population ReServe appears to have much to offer. […]
HRD Summit: The art of becoming a ‘leader’ rather than a ‘manager’
To become effective leaders, HR directors must look at how they think as well as understand both the nature of responsibility and the impact of their communications. But, according to Penny Ferguson, managing partner at The Living Leader, during her keynote speech at the HR Directors’ Summit in Birmingham today, the majority of HR bosses […]
Book Review: Executive coaching – A psychodynamic approach by Catherine Sandler
Catherine Sandler is a trained psychologist with her own flourishing practice as a coach to senior executives. If I understand it correctly, her view is that in order to coach people successfully, it is essential to help each individual understand their own personality, their implicit underlying values, the experiences that have shaped their character and […]
Talent Spot: Dan Grant, head of HR at Dell UK
There’s a saying within Dell: ‘It’s not just what you do that’s important, but how you do it…’ It’s a maxim that Dell’s head of HR, Dan Grant, strives to live by. If you’re honest in the way you deal with people and keep your promises, then you can’t go far wrong, he believes. […]
HRD Summit: BT develops own internal Olympics legacy
BT is already working on the internal legacy of being an Olympics sponsor, with plans to introduce a redeployment initiative for project staff as well as a community scheme to enhance the overall working environment. The telco, which is the official communication services provider for both the Olympics and Paralympic Games, explained its rationale during […]
HRD Summit: ‘HR must hive off strategic activities to be truly effective’
To effectively take that much coveted seat at the top table, HR must follow the example of other functions and separate out strategic activities from transaction-based, operational tasks. But while departments such as IT, marketing and finance have already made the move, it is politically still not considered the right thing to say in the […]
