“Institutional inertia” leads to slow progress on female board directors
“Institutional inertia” is to blame for the fact that only 33 FTSE 100 companies have heeded Lord Davies’ call to set targets for increasing the number of female directors on their boards. A progress report due to be unveiled at a Downing Street reception this afternoon will also reveal that, of the 33 firms that […]
Location, location, location – and what it means for shared services
The creation of an HR shared services centre can lead to savings of between 20% and 40% depending on location, with the majority coming from reduced labour costs. According to Josefien Glaudemans, marketing director at specialist location services consultancy Buck Consultants International, the workforce generally accounts for 80% of any organisations’ expenditure alongside other factors […]
Biggest drop in household income for 35 years will see child poverty leap, says study
A 7% drop in average real incomes over the next three years combined with the Coalition Government’s decision to peg welfare payments to consumer rather than retail price inflation will result in absolute and relative child poverty jumping by 23% and 24% respectively within a decade. According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, the Government’s […]
Blog: Agency worker regulations and how legitimately to avoid them
As an HR type, I’ve used agency temps plenty of times. The main attraction of agency workers is the flexibility for employers, particularly in the current economic climate. They form a key part of the ‘flexible workforce’ which means that employers don’t have to commit to employing anyone, just in case the business goes […]
How to nip unfair dismissal claims in the bud
Each year in the UK, there are approximately 50,000 unfair dismissal cases – the equivalent of just under 1,000 per week – that end up being taken to an employment tribunal. That’s a headline measure of just how big an issue this is for the UK economy. Unfair dismissal has been the largest single matter […]
Oracle unveils enterprise social media tool
Oracle‘s chief executive Larry Ellison has unveiled a suite of enterprise social networking tools, which have been integrated with the software vendor’s HR applications in order to enable colleagues to collaborate more effectively together. The company’s Oracle Social Network enables business users to identify and collaborate with the people that they need to within the […]
Blog: Steve Jobs – lessons in talent management
The business world lost one of its most influential leaders last week, and while the technology world mourns its industry mogul there has been repeated talk of how Apple will not be able to cope without him. Steve Jobs was the man behind Apple, he made it what it is today but he did not […]
Cost a factor in disability discrimination claims, landmark ruling reveals
Employers can take cost issues into consideration when working out what constitutes a ‘reasonable adjustment’ for disabled employees, an employment appeals tribunal has clarified for the first time. The ruling was made in the case of Jane Cordell against the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and is the first time that cost has been put at […]
Public sector job cuts hindering not helping deficit reduction, warns CIPD
Chancellor George Osborne has been urged to postpone continuing public sector job cuts because they are a “false economy” that is hindering rather than helping deficit reduction plans. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development today warned that the Coalition Government was cutting too far, too fast, after a survey by the organisation revealed […]
Legal Insight: How to tackle a Tevez
These days, it seems that footballer Carlos Tevez is never far from the latest controversy. During a recent Champion’s League match against Bayern Munich, the Manchester City player apparently refused to come on as a substitute, ignoring his manager’s request to do so (although he put it down to a misunderstanding). While his antics […]
O2 pilots shift-switching initiative for frazzled working parents
O2 has started piloting a scheme to enable parents working at three of its stores to swap shifts among themselves in order to better meet their childcare needs. The so-called ‘Working Families’ Contract’ enables groups of between two and four working mums and dads to decide between themselves how to cover their shifts over the […]
Blog: Business innovation – your talent management strategy is key
On Friday as I backed out of my driveway, I heard news tidbits on the radio about a company that was possibly announcing bankruptcy. As the news recycled, it was announced that it was Kodak that was possibly going to make the announcement. Also this week, Amazon announced that yes, they are getting into the […]
Ask the Expert: Is nicking something from the fridge corporate theft?
The question This is a bit of an odd situation that I’ve not come across before. Employees have been commenting for a while that food has been going missing from the fridge in the staff room. In fact, one member of staff stuck a note on a tub of salad saying ‘if you like […]
Personal touch is key to talent management success
Recent research revealed that organisations taking a segmented and personalised approach to managing their talent improve total shareholder return by up to two thirds. But, despite the development of numerous models designed to help organisations define and nurture key employees, getting it right remains notoriously difficult. To try and understand what ‘getting it right’ […]
HRD Insight: M&S’ Tanith Dodge on boosting customer service via staff engagement
Employee engagement and good customer service are integrally linked, believes Tanith Dodge, HR director of Marks & Spencer. The idea is that if staff are demotivated and unhappy, they will not be inclined to go the extra mile or care about the impact of their behaviour either on individual customers or the brand image of […]
Steve Jobs: ‘Insanely great, he created a nursery for young talent’
Veteran ICT journalist John Lamb pays tribute to Steve Jobs who died today: The death at 56 of Apple founder, Steve Jobs, is a blow to all those who have grown up with the IT industry. Together with Steve Wozniak, Jobs – catch phrase “insanely great” – produced the first mass-produced home computer in the 1970s, a […]
Blog: Dumb things managers say and what to do about it
Recognise This! – Improving manager capabilities is critical to increasing employee engagement. Bnet recently published a list of “The 32 Dumbest Things That Real-Life Managers Said.” There is a lesson to be learned in all of them, but these three particularly struck home with me: 1. “Don’t worry, give it a try. You have […]
HR must become more strategic, warns study
In order to meet the needs of the increasingly complex, globalised business of the future, HR professionals must assume a more strategic role or risk being sidelined, a study has warned. A global survey of 226 senior managers in 42 countries – about 32% of whom worked in HR – revealed that 91% believed HR’s […]
Talent management – broadening out the talent pool
Despite commonly held views to the contrary, effective talent management does not have to be expensive. It also does not have to be all about measuring, tracking and recording the activity of high achievers to the apparent exclusion of everything else. A key question in this context is that, if there is any truth to […]
HRD Insight: McDonalds’ head of people on staff engagement
McDonalds’ decision to make its people strategy part of its business strategy has not only polished up a previously tarnished employer brand but also seen staff engagement levels leap. The rationale behind integrating rather than aligning the two policies was a simple one, however, said Jez Langhorn, vice president of people for the UK and […]