Prime Minister’s advisor attacks work ethic of UK managers
An Indian steel tycoon and key advisor to the Prime Minister has attacked the work ethic of UK managers, accusing them of failing to ‘go the extra mile’ and being too keen to clock off at 5pm. Ratan Tata, who is a member of David Cameron’s Business Advisory Group and co-chairman of the UK-India CEO […]
Appeal for HR panel to oversee ‘gagging orders’ at Suffolk County Council
The leader of the Liberal Democrats at Suffolk County Council has called for the creation of an HR panel to oversee the payment of ‘gagging orders’ following huge increases in expenditure to silence disgruntled staff. Councillor Kathy Pollard told the Bury Free Press that she was concerned but not surprised after it emerged that secret […]
SuccessConnect: IT ying to the HR yang
If the world had been a different place, Doug Dennerline might never have been at SuccessFactors – he was certainly reluctant at first even to meet up with the firm's larger than life CEO Lars Dalgaard thanks to an earlier career move. “I had a small stint at Salesforce.com,” explains Dennerline. “I had been eleven […]
SuccessConnect: all you need is love – and some investment in customer support
Lars Dalgaard's got a lot of heart – and he wants you to know it. The ebullient Danish CEO of SuccessFactors has clearly ideas about how he wants to run his business and work with his customers and it's all about the heart – to the extent that he's insisted that – Eurovision-like – a […]
Air tax increase could cost 77, 000 jobs
Coalition government plans to increase air passenger tax would blow a £475 million hole in the UK’s £115 billion-a-year tourist trade and cost up to 77,000 jobs, a report has warned. The study commissioned by budget airline easyJet predicted that proposed changes to Air Passenger Duty rules would lead to an estimated drop of […]
Development focus welcomed by employees
In a happy marrying of priorities, three quarters of employees would be keen to undertake more on-the-job training, while four out of five HR professionals are making staff development a key focus this year. A three-year research project commissioned by Middlesex University’s Institute for Work Based Learning among an average 4,300 workers per annum […]
Facing the challenge of business transformation – Societe Generale
Luz Helena Rojas is an elegant, vivacious woman who stepped before the SuccessConnect audience with a bold smile and a joke to open her presentation about how she has implemented a new HRIS to help achieve the key business aim of a global company in an extremely challenging atmosphere and sector: the French bank, Societe […]
A guide to benefits: the basics
Employee benefits are an important part of the employee package for recruiting and retaining employees. When it is difficult to recruit suitable skilled people, having a benefits package can often give an organisation the competitive edge. Andrew Walker, Head of Business Development at Croner looks at the different ways of incentivising staff and the key […]
The HR Headmistress asks: Overtime – is it bad for business?
From being a fact of working life, overtime has become a very emotive subject. Perhaps that’s the influence of the rise of the work-life balance lobby. Setting aside business owners, for whom 30-40 hours overtime a week is the norm, in the main there are two discrete groups of workers who regularly work overtime. Historically, […]
Learning at work day highlights skills gap
A workshop on how to be a guerrilla artist and a seminar on how to bake bread are among the activities taking place today as part of this year’s Learning at Work Day. The theme of the Day, which is co-ordinated by Campaign for Learning, a charity that believes learning is key to social […]
Long hours are bad for your health, study reveals
Staff who work more than 11 hours a day are two thirds more likely to suffer heart disease than colleagues working a standard seven to eight hours, research has found. The study undertaken by researchers at University College London tracked the health of 7,095 civil servants aged between 39 and 62 over an 11-year period. […]
Public servants co-ordinate strikes to fight cuts
The first of a series of co-ordinated national strikes in protest at coalition government budget cuts is expected to take place at the end of next month, with more than a million public servants due to take part. The UK’s largest civil service union the Public and Commercial Services Union is expected to vote overwhelmingly […]
Immigration loophole exposed by MPs
Employers could face a crackdown on bringing foreign workers to the UK using intra-company transfer visas, after MPs criticised the UK Border Agency for its current “lack of control” over the system. The Commons Public Accounts Committee said that checks to the scheme were “much more limited” than in other parts of the immigration system, […]
Pay inequality growing – and bad for business
Pay inequality is rocketing in the UK, with top private sector bosses set to earn a massive 214 times more than average wage earners by 2020, an investigation has found. According to an interim report published by the High Pay Commission, which is funded by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, executive renumeration is now “out […]
Gordon Ramsay faces family employment tribunal
The ongoing feud between Gordon Ramsay and his wife’s family has taken a new twist after it emerged that his mother-in-law intends to take him to an employment tribunal. According to the Daily Mail, Greta Hutcheson’s son Adam and grandson Christopher Luke also plan to join her in suing the celebrity chef for alleged unfair […]
Publishing company forced to pay uncontracted intern
In a groundbreaking case, a publishing company has been ordered to pay an intern £1,000 in damages after an employment tribunal ruled that she was classed as a worker under the law, despite having no written contract. Former intern Keri Hudson, 21, who had worked for two months at the My Village web site last […]
Employment law changes ‘creating uncertainty’
Employers groups have warned that the coalition government’s continued “tinkering” with employment legislation is creating “huge uncertainty” and undermining its goal of encouraging businesses to take on new staff. The criticism came following the launch of a “modern workplaces” consultation by Business Secretary Vince Cable and Home Secretary Theresa May yesterday, which outlined four key […]
Fleet life: Tackling the fuel price problem
Despite experiencing “pump shock” from soaring fuel prices, businesses can take practical steps to minimise the pain at the pumps and strengthen the appeal of car benefits, says Paul Hollick of multi-marque car leasing company Alphabet. The sharp increase in pump prices – fuel prices have increased by 40% in real terms over the last […]
Timelords and talent management: 8 reasons your talent is like the Doctor
Why your key talent is as amazing – and annoying – as a Timelord, and how engaging and keeping your talent can be as frustrating as being a Doctor’s assistant. They won’t stay still. Even in a recession, real talent moves. For some, it’s like there was never any recession, they have continued in their […]
Coalition to spend £60 million on private sector apprenticeships
In a bid to deflect criticism over scrapping a £1 billion fund aimed at tackling youth unemployment, the coalition government has pledged to spend £60 million on creating apprenticeships and work placements in private companies. The ‘Supporting Youth Employment’ scheme is intended to fund 250,000 apprenticeship places for 16- to 24-year olds over the next […]
