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 […]
Employees exit – and take confidential data
A huge seven out of 10 workers intend to take confidential company data away with them when they resign or are given the push because they believe that it belongs to them, according to research. A survey undertaken among 1,000 UK employees by security software company Imperva revealed that the most likely information to be […]
Cable anger over watering down of bank bonus reform
The simmering tension between the Business Secretary and Chancellor threatened to boil over yesterday, after Vince Cable issued a strongly worded response to George Osborne’s suggestion that proposed UK banking bonus reforms could be toned down. Osborne, who has been accused of giving into pressure from the City, told the BBC that it “might be […]
From personnel management to business execution: the role of technology in the evolution of human resources
Steven Hunt examines the four ages of human resources and considers the change technology could bring to today’s HR department and business. The field of human resources can be divided into two basic areas: Personnel Management focusing on administrative and legal processes associated with employment of people. This includes things such as managing payroll, […]
Battle of the sexes: Employees prefer female managers
Nearly two out of five employees prefer female to male bosses because they feel they are both more understanding and more assertive. According to a survey among 1,182 UK workers undertaken by HR consultancy Reabur, only 29% preferred having a male as their manager, while a third thought gender was irrelevant. Of those polled, just […]
UK managers lack leadership skills
UK managers are among the worst in the world in terms of leadership effectiveness, with the situation being particularly marked in government and financial services, according to a study. The survey undertaken among 29,000 employees in 21 countries by HR software provider Kenexa’s Research Institute revealed that the UK ranked 17th for managerial effectiveness, scoring […]
UK ‘too accomodating’ to immigration appeals, claims inspector
The UK Border Agency has failed to create a “hostile environment” for employers of illegal migrant workers, collecting only a fraction of the fines imposed by adopting “too accommodating” an approach towards appeals. According to John Vine, the independent chief inspector of immigration, the Agency has collected only £5.6 million of the £40 million in […]
Globalisation creates challenges for HR
Globalisation across workforces has seen exponential growth in the last two decades, and after a dip during the most recent recession, is now emerging again within HR, creating challenges as well as opportunities, and tremendous uncertainty. In a new major study by the IBM Institute for Business Value, more than 700 chief HR officers and […]
Migrant worker cut a concern
A recommendation to cut the number of migrant workers to the UK from outside the European Union by up to 25% a year has been met with concern by employers and other industry watchers. The Migration Advisory Committee, an independent body tasked with recommending suitable levels for the coalition government’s proposed immigration cap, proposed allowing […]