Top UK employers publish guide to improve workplace mental health
Some of the UK’s largest employers have contributed to a report making a series of recommendations on how to ensure that workplaces are mental health-friendly. Some 16 companies, including Barclays, Deloitte, Marks & Spencer and utilities provider Veolia, got together at a business summit hosted by mental health charity Mind and insurance company AXA earlier […]
How to avert a ‘micro maternity’ trend
Current employment legislation enables women to take up to year off after they have had a baby. But a recent Daily Mail report suggested that there was a growing number of women taking so-called ‘micro maternity’ leave and returning to the office just a few months after the child was born. The trend is apparently […]
Investors demand FTSE 350 go public on female board diversity
HR directors could be getting a knock on the door following letters sent to FTSE 350 chairmen by institutional investors demanding that they disclose their plans for employing more women directors. According to the Telegraph, the seven investment firms, which include Jupiter Asset Management, Insight Investment Management and Co-operative Asset Management, are “keen to understand” […]
Fewer organisations coach, but advocates use it more, says study
Although fewer organisations may be undertaking coaching activity, those that are, are doing more of it, according to a study. The survey among 332 HR professionals undertaken by the Chartered Insitute of Personnel and Development revealed that some 77% were currently using coaching techniques, down from 90% in 2009 when the body last carried out a […]
Blog: Company success entirely depends on your culture
Recognise This! – Company culture is ignored to the peril of the organisation as a whole. Yesterday I wrote about my passion for employee recognition in the workplace. Another topic I’m passionate about is company culture. Too many leaders think company culture is something that “just happens” and is beyond their control. Or perhaps a […]
Sheffield Council settles equal pay claim out-of-court
Just as an equal pay claim made by hundreds of women at Sheffield Council has been settled out of court, Birmingham Council employees have started a one-day strike over new employment contracts. Some 900 female Sheffield City Council staff, who include dinner ladies and care workers, were due to have their case heard at the […]
BT pays this year’s biggest sexual harrassment award to telesales worker
A BT telesales worker who was sexually harassed by a “dangerous” boss has been granted the highest employment tribunal award of the last 12 months at £290,000. Up to 10 women have already sued the telecoms provider for sexual harassment allegedly suffered at the hands of different men while working for its ‘Customer Street’ telesales […]
US White House launches Fellowship scheme to woo top IT talent
The White House is trying to tempt top computer science post-grads away from high-paid jobs in the private sector by creating the special new job role of Technology Fellow. The aim of creating the fresh category of positions that are due to last for two years is to increase the US government's pool of “qualified […]
Case Study: Speedy Services has ‘Big Ideas’ for boosting staff engagement
A ‘Big Ideas’ initiative combined with a complementary scheme to reward innovation has resulted in staff engagement and productivity leaping at Speedy Services. The Merseyside-based company, which provides equipment and support services to the construction, manufacturing, industrial, rail and other related industries, introduced its ‘Big Ideas’ programme towards the end of 2008. The move […]
Talent Spot: Nicholas Connell, head of HR at The Antique Wine Company
“Understand your colleagues and their individual motivations. Take the time to get to know them and how they react and that will help you in motivating them too,” advises Nicholas Connell, commercial manager at the Antique Wine Company. Connell, who qualified and began working as a commercial property lawyer five years ago, took on his […]
Microsoft paid £1 million to silence female exec passed over for top UK job
Microsoft paid more than £1 million to silence a female executive who allegedly was unfairly passed over for the top job at its UK arm. According to the Telegraph, Natalie Ayres – a married mother who had worked at the high tech firm for 15 years – missed out on getting the managing director’s post […]
KPMG to double number of school leavers on paid-for degree scheme
KPMG is set to double the number of school leavers it puts through its own paid-for degree programme as of September 2012, while John Lewis has unveiled a three-year graduate employment scheme. The Big Four accountancy firm has vowed to recruit twice the number of 18 year-olds as last year onto its six-year degree scheme […]
Stability, stimulus and solidarity key to employment and growth, says Cable
Stability, stimulus, and solidarity are key to creating employment and turning around the UK’s economic fortunes, Business Secretary Vince Cable has said. He told delegates at the Liberal Democrat conference in Sheffield that the current economic crisis was the financial equivalent of the UK being at war, adding: “It is wishful thinking to imagine that we […]
Agency Worker Regs to remain unchanged
The coalition government has confirmed that there will be no last minute changes to the Agency Worker Regulations despite David Cameron’s attempts to water them down. A spokesman at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, told the Telegraph that the law, which comes into force on 1 October and entitles temps to equal pay […]
Blog: It’s not just about the money
Retaining your best workers during an economic downturn can make the difference between success and failure for any company. When pay is squeezed and standards of living seem threatened, people naturally focus more on salary and benefits and less on job satisfaction. In a recent survey by the Institute of Administrative Management, more than […]
HRD Insight: Paul Duncan on managing change at Swissport
When I joined Swissport International as interim HR director in December 2008, the UK arm of the €1.3bn airport ground services business was in the initial stages of a turnaround. This activity was being led by chief executive Mark Faulkner, who had arrived two months earlier from another company in the Ferrovial group, which was […]
Barnardo’s wins e-learning award for staff dedication and support
Barnardo’s has won an award for best overall e-learning programme at the Charity Learning Awards this year due to both its dedication and efforts to support a large number of users compared with the size of the learning and development team. Judges were also particularly impressed with the children's charity's innovative approach to learning, and […]
Blog: Bullying, politics and manipulation – is it happening in your company?
Do you know what corporate politics, hidden agendas and manipulation are costing your business right now? You might think, "But it doesn’t happen in my company". Well, that’s why they’re called ‘hidden’ agendas. You’re not supposed to know what’s going on. If you did, you’d try to put a stop to it. You […]
Vince Cable wages war on spiralling executive pay
Vince Cable has published a discussion document proposing changes to company laws and regulations in a bid to control spiralling executive pay and stop “rewards for failure”. At the Liberal Democrat conference in Birmingham today, the Business Secretary said that, although the renumeration of chief executives at the UK’s largest public companies had risen fourfold […]
Agency Worker Regs lead to cut-price perm contracts, claim temps
Temps at a Jaguar Land Rover plant claim a recruitment agency is bullying them into signing permanent contracts to avoid paying an extra £200 per week under the forthcoming Agency Worker Regulations. According to the Liverpool Daily Post, Nottingham-based Staffline provides 686 workers for a DHL operation that supplies parts for the Land Rover Evoque […]