Blog: Engagement taskforce update – part one
Hi folks – a couple of weeks ago, a bunch of us met with David MacLeod, Nita Clarke et al to continue encouraging the engagement taskforce. What follows is a transcript of the conversations I heard. I’ll issue part one now and part two tomorrow. Here goes: Part one In groups we were asked […]
Case Study: NHS Trust saves £500,000 by managing nurses more efficiently
Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust claims to have saved £0.5m in a year by introducing software to record employees’ working hours, administer their shifts and manage their expenses claims. Managers at the Essex-based Trust, which employs 1,800 clinical staff – 1,500 of whom are nurses – are now using e-rostering, time and […]
Lack of specialised skills holds back growth of ecommerce
A lack of appropriate skills and an alarming lack of board level support is holding back the growth of ecommerce, a study has found. Three quarters of the 100 ecommerce directors questioned cited a lack of appropriate skills and resources as a key challenge to growth, according to research commissioned by ecommerce software provider eCommera […]
Customer service staff paid 34% below national average
The number of people working in the UK’s customer service sector has increased threefold in the last eight years, but pay remains 34% below the UK average. A new study by the Institute of Customer Service, published to coincide with the launch of National Customer Service Week (3 – 9 October), shows that the industry […]
Arc scheme to create 1,000 jobs in deprived London Olympics boroughs
A new initiative has been launched to support social entrepreneurs and boost employment in the London boroughs that are hosting the 2012 Olympic Games. Unveiled by Olympic medalist Jonathan Edwards in Hackney, arc, organised by Business in the Community and supported by Deloitte and BP, aims to generate 1,000 jobs for local people and support 200 […]
Two new enterprise zones created to help BAE jobless
The coalition Government is to create two new enterprise zones in the areas where BAE Systems’ workers are being made redundant. Chancellor George Osborne said the zones, which give tax breaks to businesses that set up within them, will be created near Warton and Samlesbury in Lancashire and Brough in East Yorkshire, home to the […]
Ask the Expert: Is it OK for staff to smoke e-cigs in the workplace?
The Question ‘E-cigs’ are electronic cigarettes. Basically, they look like cigarettes but work by heating a solution that contains nicotine. This produces an odourless vapour that is inhaled. The user inhales this and gets their nicotine hit. When they exhale, you see a ‘vapour’, which looks like smoke. In fact, the units look just […]
Diverse thinking
How many ethnic minorities are represented within your organisation? Do you know that? If you do, do you know what the breakdown is in terms of representation and at what levels of the organisation? How about the breakdown in terms of sexual orientation? Or faith-based segmentation? Let’s ask a different question: does all this matter? […]
Pay rises on the cards in 2012 for a third of UK firms
One third of organisations in the UK plan to up staff pay next year, according to a study by Incomes Data Services (IDS). More than half of employers are making the same settlement as last year and only 13%are planning a lower settlement, the survey suggested. The cost of living will play a key […]
UK jobs to be hit by Europe’s “terrible plan” over pensions?
The European Commission’s “terrible idea” to treat pension schemes as insurance contracts will hit UK jobs, according to the CBI chief policy director Katja Hall. In a speech to the CBI Pensions Conference, Hall said: “We need the UK Government to step up to the plate in Brussels and stop the imposition of insurance-style solvency […]
The retiring of the retirement laws – a talent management challenge?
Employers can no longer force staff to retire at 65 after the Default Retirement Age met its end on 1 October – but has UK Plc really woken up the HR challenge ahead? The Default Retirement Age (DRA) was introduced in 2006 at the same time as regulations (Employment Equality (Age) Regulations) intended to stop […]
Agency Workers Regulations: Is your HR house in order?
The Agency Workers Regulations kicked in on Saturday 1 October, giving temporary agency workers the same basic working and employment rights as full time staff after 12 weeks in a role. This applies to pay, working hours, overtime, holidays, rest periods, access to vacancies and to other facilities. With the UK reliant on large […]
How to cope with empowering line managers
A hundred years or more after its inception, it’s fair to say that HR has finally reached a crossroads. And thanks to the uncertain development of the profession to date, it’s now unsure of which way to turn. In many companies, the HR function has evolved over recent years to offer more of a […]
Navigating the choppy waters of cultural difference
What is considered polite in one culture may be considered impolite in another. But as travel and communications become ever easier, HR directors working in multi-national companies would be well advised to acquaint themselves with at least some of these cultural differences and to understand how they can affect the way that employees conduct business. […]
Double dip fears fuelling freelance frenzy
Businesses facing the prospect of a double dip recession are turning to freelancers to cut costs, according to new research from PeoplePerHour.com. The site reports a 94 percent increase in the number of UK businesses signing up to outsource work to freelance consultants in the last 12 months. There was a particularly […]
Six tips for effective talent management
With competition to retain high-potential employees at fever pitch, talent management is firmly occupying the HR, learning and development and leadership agenda. But there are six principles that organisations can adopt to make a real difference in talent management terms in order to ensure that they select, develop and retain their best performers and future […]
Creating a sustainable people strategy
When it comes to creating an environmental or sustainable policy, it seems that businesses are making the same mistakes that they did when the internet first arrived. At that time, everyone rushed to create a web site and packed it full of information. But they failed to either develop a suitable strategy or appreciate that […]
Compulsory apprentices for companies under Labour?
Companies that bid for government contracts would be obliged to hire young people as apprentices under a future Labour government. That was the commitment from Labour leader Ed Milliband in his keynote address to the party’s conference in Liverpool this week during which he pledged to take “action to put our young people back to […]
Women, depression and the workplace
This article forms part of our series on women in the workplace. Take a look at the full content series for more information, including insight into impostor syndrome, sick leave and much more. According to the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), depression currently affects 1 in 6 people in the UK at […]
Talent Spot: Dean Hunter – HRD turned MD at Hunter Adams
Becoming a bobby on the beat may not be the most obvious first step on the career ladder to becoming an HR director, but for Dean Hunter, it was all part of the master plan. After university, he joined the police with the specific aim of specialising in HR and recruitment for the force. Full […]