Has Britain’s public sector got talent?
Imminent pay freezes and job cuts in the public sector threaten to make the war for talent even harder to win. Faced with a gamut of challenges across the board, public sector employers need to take steps now to ensure they have the skills needed to achieve genuine reform, says Tom Marsden. In an effort […]
Making your business a lean, mean, people machine
In shaky economic times organisations naturally look for ways to stabilise and recently there’s been a strong resurgence in ‘lean’ business management. But, argues Alethea McIntosh, principal consultant at Berkshire Consultancy, the ultimate success of this efficiency-driven model depends not on standardising process but in understanding people, and more specifically diversity. In business, ‘technical’ issues […]
Tea workers expected to train cheaper replacements
Staff who are due to lose their jobs at an iconic British tea company have reacted angrily to demands that they train foreign workers scheduled to replace them next year. Twinings’ bosses announced last November that they intended to close the company’s factory in North Shields with the loss of 263 jobs. The aim was […]
Half of employers fear ‘old won’t go’
Only just over a half of employers expect to scrap default retirement ages completely when the practice is abolished in October next year amid fears that staff will refuse to go even if they are no longer up to the job. Research undertaken among 115 customers by law firm Shoosmiths indicated that only 20% of […]
Workplace trust eroded by recession
Low levels of senior management trust are particularly marked among Generation Y and legal personnel, central and local government sector workers and those scarred by office closures and compulsory redundancies during the recession. According to a survey undertaken among 5,000 staff by the Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM), those organisations that chose to cope […]
Tube strikes after ACAS talks break down
The London Underground network is set to be crippled by a wave of 24-hour rolling strikes from today after talks at the conciliation service Acas to avert industrial action collapsed last week. Some 10,000 members of London Underground’s two biggest unions, the RMT and TSSA, began preparations for strike action from 5pm on 6 September […]
HR is going into the war for talent unarmed
Employers across both the public and private sector fear that they are no longer able to offer the pay and benefits packages required to attract and retain key skills, an HR body has warned. Number two on the list of concerns relates to the ability of line managers to administer such rewards, while the number […]
Training not supporting business objectives
While a huge 86% of organisations have introduced coaching or mentoring programmes, nearly two thirds fail to directly support corporate objectives but focus instead on developing individual talents. To make matters worse, 15% of employers have put no measurements in place to assess the outcomes of their coaching and mentoring initiatives. These are the findings […]
Bosses confident growth is around the corner: podcast
Is growth in business or hiring just around the corner? A study of European business leaders has revealed nearly 40% are planning to invest in existing talent, while a quarter claim they will invest in training as this long awaited confidence makes a welcome return to the market with over half of all companies across […]
Top five tips for a sustainable business culture which sticks
Going green is good for the budget and the brand. But how can you make the green intentions stick? Follow our five top tips and if you answer our survey about how sustainable your organisation is you could win an iPad. Embrace the cloud. Allow some of your employees to work from home when they […]
How to avoid the Employment Tribunal
Statistics released recently by the Tribunal Service show that the total number of claims lodged with an Employment Tribunal in 2009-10 was 236,100 compared to 151,000 for 2008-09. This amounts to an increase in the number of claims made to an Employment Tribunal by over 56%. In this article Guy Hollebon, Head of Employment Law […]
‘Equal pay’ firms target ‘unenforceable’ pay secrecy clauses
Private sector employers should brace themselves for a wave of mass discrimination lawsuits following the abolition of a pay secrecy clause in the Equality Act. According to law firm Pannone, when the Act comes into force in October, pay secrecy clauses will become unenforceable and organisations will be unable to prevent staff from disclosing salary […]
NEST support high at 75% but teething problems expected
Although less than half of employers have currently budgeted for introducing pension auto-enrolment, just over two out of five expect to level down their contributions for new employees in order to help meet the costs. According to a survey among 210 large private and public sector employers undertaken by the Association of Consulting Actuaries (ACA), […]
2/3 public sector ‘would take pay cut’
With unemployment predicted to breach 10% outside of London and the South of England, nearly two thirds of public sector workers would now be prepared to take pay cuts to save their jobs. According to a survey of 1,600 public sector jobseekers by recruitment web site Totaljobs.com, a quarter said they would stomach a salary […]
21st century training: get better value
Trimming skills budgets might seem like a regressive move, but it might be the catalyst needed to prepare staff training for the demands of the 21st century, says Jane Scott Paul, CEO, Association Accounting Technicians. The economic turbulence over the past few years has led to training budgets being trimmed across the board. Consequently there […]
Stress and sackings mean employees should beware of the email
Emails are more dangerous than you might think – one in 20 staff have been reprimanded or sacked for sending ill-advised ones, while more than half experience increased stress levels as a result of checking them on holiday. According to the Press Association, a study among 2,000 UK workers, one in five respondents said that […]
Employing graduates: Easy as 1,2,3?
A continuing high level of unemployment among graduates, where 10% of the total graduate population failed to find any form of work last year, provokes the question: are universities adequately equipping students with the transferable skills required for the workplace? ‘Traditional degrees’ have been under fire for not properly preparing young people for the world […]
The importance of networking for HR
Judith Germain explains why it’s just as important for the HR function to network as it is for any other department. To most internal HR professionals the term ‘networking’ is assumed to relate to the activity of external consultants who need to network to find work. It isn’t something that ‘internals’ think they do or […]
Getting staff to pull in the same direction for the good of the organisation
In today’s economic environment, where reducing costs and improving productivity of employees is top of the agenda, how can we get staff to pull in the same direction in every aspect of the business to achieve the business goals? Individual behaviour, attitude and motivation, team working and alignment to objectives and values – and compliance […]
Radical immigration cap will mean major skills problems
Because training workers to plug the UK skills gap is a lengthy task, the abrupt introduction of a “radical” immigration cap would generate major skills problems for employers and lead to more offshoring. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) issued the stark warning after the Office of National Statistics’ Migration Statistics Quarterly Report […]