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 […]
From good to great: how to effect positive workplace change
Most people come to work with a set view of themselves and then proceed to work within those pre-defined boundaries. This behaviour is generally perfectly acceptable and there is even value in its consistency. The problem is, however, that it also betrays a certain mentality and state of being in which employees have ceased to […]
Three tips for managing risky employee behaviour
Risk is back on the agenda, not just from the perspective of how organisations operate, but also in terms of how individual employees behave. High profile events at News International and at Swiss banking giant UBS, following the arrest of suspected rogue trader Kweku Adoboli amid accusations of perpetrating a £1.5 billion banking fraud, are […]
Temporary workers still registering in recruitment plans
One in five employers plan to increase their use of temporary staff between now and the end of the year despite the impending introduction of the Agency Workers Regulations, according to a new report from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation. The Confederation said a survey of 600 firms also showed that just under two thirds planned […]
Whitehall needs skills revamp or reform will fail, warns report
Whitehall must build up its specialist expertise in outsourcing, contract management and procurement or the coalition Government's hopes of ambitious civil service reform will founder, according to MPs. The recommendation is contained in a new Commons Public Administration Select Committee report entitled 'Change in Government: the agenda for leadership', which accuses the Government of lacking both […]
HP axes second leader in a year
Hewlett-Packard was subject to more top-level upheaval today after announcing that the former head of eBay was to replace incumbent Leo Apotheker as president and chief executive, less than a year after he took the job. The high tech giant has appointed Meg Whitman, who has been a member of its board since January, as […]
Blog: The social recruiting slugfest – who will win?
Everywhere I turn recently I keep hearing that Facebook is the place to recruit. It’s bigger than LinkedIn, has more daily visitors, people stay on it’s pages longer, blah blah blah. But does it have more hires than Linkedin? Even more importantly can it source more great candidates than LinkedIn? Who has more future potential to […]
Case Study: LV= focuses on feedback to become destination employer
LV= has introduced a survey process for new joiners and leavers with the aim of gathering staff feedback as part of its bid to become a destination employer. The organisation, which sells mutual insurance, retirement and investment schemes, is investing heavily in trying to increase the engagement and retention of its 4,500 staff. David […]
Ask the Expert: Are staff due a holiday after sickness and maternity leave?
Question I’m looking for some guidance on accrual of holidays when an employee has been on long-term sick leave, then returns to go on maternity leave. Is she entitled to accrue almost two years’ holiday? Legal Advice Esther Smith, a partner at Thomas Eggar The short answer to this question is […]
Alternative pension proposals could undermine public sector strike case
A local authority lobby group has come up with plans that it claims could save the Government £900 million a year in public sector pensions without immediately increasing employee contributions. According to the BBC, Local Government Employers, which represents the interests of England and Wales’ 375 local Councils, has written to the Communities’ Secretary Eric […]
Legal Insight: Tackling gender pay gap reporting
The recent settlement of the long running saga of Gibson and Others v Sheffield City Council, otherwise known as the ‘dinner ladies’ case, highlights the limitations of the UK’s equal pay legislation. After 40 years of being in force, we are still seeing test cases, where legal issues relating to whether workers are entitled to […]
Blog: Restrictive covenants – fair and enforceable or a waste of time?
Restrictive covenants are a big deal in the City, but are they worth the paper they are written on? Over the summer the High Court was kept busy by a case involving a bunch of investment advisors. Employees at a firm called Edward Jones declined to stay at the business when the firm was taken […]