How green is your office?
We all know we need to do more to help the environment, but at work we often forget and act in more wasteful ways than we would do at home. However, being green and encouraging your employees to do the same can save resources and money. Take our quiz to find out if you are […]
Does social recruiting actually deliver?
We’ll be considering the questions most often asked of any recruiter (or ‘recruitment guru’) who espouses the benefits of using social media in recruitment. Does it actually work? Can I actually hire somebody by using Social Media? Where does direct sourcing fit into this mix? Is it really an integrated approach or just another series […]
Just having a job gives satisfaction
Despite rising levels of stress and falling standards of living, job satisfaction is on the up as staff attach more value to simply being in work than they do in less uncertain economic times. According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s quarterly Employee Outlook survey undertaken among 2,000 workers, job satisfaction – which […]
A right royal wedding – how will the extra bank holiday affect you?
Prince William and Kate Middleton will tie the knot on 29 April 2011 and, to the delight of the Nation, the day has been declared an additional public holiday. From an employer’s perspective, careful consideration must now be given to how to implement this holiday in their workplace. Here, we answer some of the questions […]
Survey: Shared services – more with less?
The implementation of Shared Services across organisations, especially in the public sector is being seen as one solution to cuts and belt-tightening despite the historical challenges and obstacles facing those wanted to deploy such a solution. In the ‘age of austerity’ many organisations are beginning to overcome these challenges. Traditional issues of cultural differences […]
Two-thirds poor at leadership development
Although effective management will be crucial to exploiting growth opportunities presented by the changing face of globalisation, just over two thirds of global employers admit to being poor at leadership development. A survey undertaken among 700 chief HR officers and senior executives in 61 countries around the world by IBM’s Institute for Business Value revealed […]
Gove reforms will not provide employability
A financial services employers’ body has slammed the Education Secretary’s plans for school reform, claiming that a renewed focus on academic rather than vocational subjects will not provide employers with the skills they need. Education Secretary Michael Gove outlined his plans for reform to Parliament earlier this week, indicating that there should be a return […]
The future’s bright – the future’s online…
Online learning returns as training providers and HR acknowledge past limitations writes Dell Education Services’ Martin Hill. In the late 90s the rise of out-of-classroom, electronically-supported learning and teaching, commonly known as elearning was seen as the future of training. For IT managers stuck with ineffective, out-of-date IT infrastructure, it was […]
Treasury probe into CSR fairness impact
The Equality and Human Rights Commission is to carry out a formal probe into whether the Treasury met its legal obligations to consider the impact of the Comprehensive Spending Review on racial minorities, women and the disabled. The move follows the filing of papers with the High Court in August by the Fawcett Society, a […]
Earned value: cost-effective e-learning
How can businesses ensure efficiency in elearning and maintain employee development? Paul Deed examines the role that earned value can play in cost-effective employee training to ensure business success. Earned value has been used to manage and measure projects of varying size and scope for many decades. It began to gain popularity in […]
Social learning: L&D for the 21st century
Here The Internet Time Alliance discuss the role of trust in social learning and the how it fits in with other types of more traditional learning. Analysing social learning Most 20th Century workplaces had two types of learning: formal learning through training, and informal learning (about 80% according to research) which just happened by accident or […]
Sainsbury’s upskills with food colleges
Sainsbury’s has opened the first of six in-store ‘food colleges’ in a bid to boost sales by enhancing the skills of staff working on its food counters and in its cafes. The supermarket chain will invest millions of pounds in developing more than 8,500 personnel across the UK next year, the equivalent of 5% of […]
If you don’t ask you don’t get – why do women fail when it comes to negotiating?
The movie “Made in Dagenham” may not be completely accurate in its depiction of the actual event in 1968 when the women at the Dagenham Ford plant went on strike, but close attention to the scene of the final negotiation with labour minister at the time, Barbara Castle can teach women a valuable lesson in […]
How will the 2012 pensions reform affect your business?
Rod Milne looks at how HR managers should prepare for the upcoming pensions reform. As someone with responsibility for human resources you will be well aware of the impending 2012 introduction of the National Pensions Savings Scheme (NPSS). The new rules will impose a requirement on all employers, large and small, to contribute financially to […]
SMEs the place to be, say interim managers
Many interim managers would prefer to work for small-to-medium-sized businesses even if they have to take a 50% pay cut to do so, according to research. A survey of 1,500 interim managers commissioned by specialist provider Interim Partners found that 31% would prefer their next role to be in a small business compared with only […]
Migration cap open to abuse, say critics
The coalition government’s annual cap on the number of skilled non-EU migrants is a “blunt tool” that will do nothing to prevent current abuse of the intra-company transfer system, critics have warned. The Home Secretary Theresa May announced the cap yesterday, indicating that as of next year, there would be an annual cap of 21,700 […]
More women taking senior civil service roles
As the heads of some of the UK’s largest companies backed an initiative to increase the proportion of females at board level to 30%, it emerged that the number of women in senior civil service positions grew slightly this year to just over a third. The founding members of ‘The 30% Club’ have set the […]
Christmas temp labour shortage
Although growing numbers of employers are looking to take on temps in favour of permanent staff over the next 12 months, high levels of demand for temporary labour are creating shortages in the run-up to Christmas despite rising unemployment levels. According to a survey among 600 employers undertaken by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC), […]
Ask the expert: Restrictions on taking annual leave?
This time the experts, Esther Smith and Martin Brewer give their advice on what restrictions can be placed on employees taking annual leave. The question: Annual leave restrictions? Is it possible for us to specify in our contracts that the employee can only take as much holiday as they have accrued? I know that […]
The bribery act – what is a gift too far?
Next April will see the implementation of the Bribery Act which will consolidate existing laws on bribery and reform criminal law to create a set of specific offences designed to combat bribery in the public and private sectors. While the Act provides a much more effective legal framework to combat bribery it also presents HR […]