Ex employee held to ‘non-compete’ agreement by judge
A judge has barred the former government team head of Microsoft’s Dynamics CRM business from taking on a similar role at Salesforce.com but said that he could do something else instead. Washington’s King County Superior Court Judge Kimberly Prochnau extended a temporary restraining order preventing Matt Miszewski from looking after Salesforce’s US-based government accounts as […]
HR bonuses higher than expected
Higher than expected bonuses for the UK’s 148,000 HR professionals saw pay-outs nearly double from £680 million to £1.5 billion last year, boosting their total renumeration by 12%. The sharp increase followed a year of job creation in the sector, with the number of HR positions rising by 6.7% between the second quarters of 2009 […]
Online recruitment sites ‘not accessible’
UK recruitment agencies must take urgent action to improve the accessibility of their web sites, an equality and diversity specialist has warned. The report entitled ‘Recruitment Equality – Accessibility, Equality and Diversity on Recruitment Websites’ revealed that 97% of web sites from both large and small providers failed to provide equality and diversity information in […]
Scottish unions grapple with councils over redundancy and pay
Scottish trade unions have denied that a deal has been struck with the Scottish Government and local councils to protect public sector jobs in return for pay constraint. The move followed reports that an agreement was close, but unions seeking more assurances over the deal accused the Scottish Government of “jumping the gun”. Although a […]
Talent top priority for CEOs
Talent management has become the number one preoccupation among chief executives at global organisations this year because skills shortages are becoming increasingly apparent as they gear up for renewed growth. According to a survey among 1,201 chief executives in 69 countries undertaken by management consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers, emerging Asia-Pacific markets are being viewed by bosses in […]
Help your boss manage – by managing them
Employees must be encouraged to proactively ‘manage upwards’ if they are to support their bosses in performing more effectively, research has revealed. According to a survey undertaken by management and sales training consultancy Krauthammer, some 36% of workers feel that their bosses act in a penalising or dismissive fashion. Although 95% would like their managers […]
‘Enterprise zones’ could make unwelcome return
The coalition government’s widely anticipated plans to revive enterprise zones in a bid to regenerate local economies and boost employment will prove costly and “ineffective”, two leading think-tanks have warned. The return of the zones, which were widely used by the last Conservative administration between 1981 and 1996, is expected to be announced in the […]
A step change in benefits delivery: the future for flex
How did we get here? The road to flex was paved with good intentions, explains George Farrow, from the paternalistic Victorian idea to today’s austerity. Flexible benefits were born in the mid 90s out of the necessity to take a fresh look at core benefits. The paternalistic industrialists of the Victorian era built homes and […]
TrainingZone Live returns
On 16 May, TrainingZone takes over the modernist confines of Dexter House in the nation’s capital to usher TrainingZone Live into its sophomore year. Here in Bristol’s medialand that is Siftmedia, a thought ocurred to us. The events team, editors and salespeople attend a lot of conferences and events over the course of a […]
Immigration cap is hindering UK business
As demand for non-EU migrant workers increases despite rising levels of unemployment, the coalition government’s temporary migration cap is hindering employers’ ability to fill key positions, an HR body has cautioned. The warning came as the Office for National Statistics revealed that the level of net migration into the UK increased by 36% last year, […]
Women in boardroom targets get mixed reaction
Recommendations that FTSE 100 companies set voluntary targets for women to make up a minimum of 25% of their boards by 2015 rather than being subject to quotas have met with a mixed response. Further proposals included in Lord Davies of Abersoch’s ‘Independent Review into Women on Boards’ were that heads of all FTSE 350 […]
23 minutes on a conference call – that’s your limit
Concentration starts to wane after workers have spent an average of 23 minutes on a telephone conference call, with many resorting to doodling and checking or writing emails while others simply fall asleep. A survey, undertaken among 4,800 individuals in the UK, India, Spain, Germany and Singapore by telecoms provider Cable & Wireless, revealed that […]
Tackling tribunals – coping with the changes
The Government’s consultation document ‘Resolving workplace disputes’, published at the end of January, proposes a number of changes to the way in which the employment tribunal system currently operates with a view to ensuring that the process is as swift, user-friendly and effective as possible. The consultation, which closes on 20 April, also seeks […]
Sickness absence rates back at pre-recession levels
Absence rates due to sickness had returned to pre-recession levels by the end of last year, but in overall terms have fallen over the last decade, official figures have revealed. ____________________________________________________________ Download a free guide to absence management from Access here to discover ways to record and analyse absence___________________________________________________________ The Office for National Statistics found […]
How to: support dyslexic employees – spot the signs
Sharon Goldie, consultant at iansyst Ltd (www.re-adjust.co.uk), looks at how to recognise the signs of dyslexia and offers simple strategies which Human Resources can utilise to ensure they create a dyslexia-friendly workplace. What do Richard Branson and Steve Jobs have in common with Walt Disney, Salma Hayek, John Lennon and Pablo Picasso? In addition to […]
Creating a resilient workforce: management hold the key
Robertson Cooper’s research has shown that the amount of support provided by managers is related to how resilient people perceive their organisations to be. Of all working respondents, just over half (55%) felt that their manager provided either ‘a lot of support’ or ‘a fair amount of support’. Of those respondents who felt their organisation […]
Global talent management in action: Siemens – success through business execution
Creating a global talent management system used by 400,000 users across 80 countries working in 20 different languages in a period of 18 months; it’s a daunting challenge but one achieved by electronics giant Siemens working in partnership with SuccessFactors. Using Cloud Computing and Business Execution principles, the German firm has brought about global transformational […]
TUPE still protects workers in bought out company
Workers are fully protected under TUPE regulations if their employer comes out of administration and is purchased by another company, an employment tribunal has ruled. Bruce Caldow and Paula Skinner, lawyers with commercial law firm Harper Macleod, welcomed the findings in the case of AE Olds versus Late Editions as much needed clarification of the […]
50 thousand NHS staff to go by 2015
More than 50,000 doctors, nurses and other NHS staff are set to lose their jobs over the next four years, according to the largest survey undertaken since the coalition government came to power. The study is based on a series of Freedom of Information requests asking for “confirmed, proposed or potential” job losses over the […]
Many employers missing the benefits of social media in recruitment
Restrictive corporate policies and poor organisational understanding of the potential benefits of social media as a recruitment tool mean that many employers are not exploiting the channel as effectively as they could. According to a global survey of HR professionals undertaken by talent acquisition and management software provider StepStone Solutions, three out of five organisations […]
