From the top to the tip – Undercover Boss with Colin Drummond, CEO of Viridor
Colin Drummond, CEO of Viridor, the recycling, renewable energy and waste management company went undercover to discover more about his business. Before the programme aired, we got a sneak peek at Colin’s Undercover Boss experience. Undercover Boss is one of those rare programmes which highlights relationships between bosses, employees and organisational culture to a mass […]
The HP Way: Sexual harrassment and the CEO
The fall from grace of a highly regarded CEO, sexual harassment accusations from a soft porn actress-turned reality TV contestant, some fiddled expenses and a breach of a 50 plus year old corporate ethical code: the events of the past week at Hewlett Packard, one of the founding fathers of Silicon Valley, reads more like […]
HR jargon buster: Assessment language demystified
Suzana Lopes presents a jargon buster that demystifies some of the terminology used in assessment. The world of assessment is a highly scientific one, and even the most traditional paper-based tests that have been delivered for decades are built on highly complex psychometric theory to ensure that they are the most accurate reflection […]
Profit sharing motivates employees
More than half of UK workers believe that profit-sharing or having an ownership stake in their employer’s business would motivate them to perform more effectively – although the idea is more popular among men than women. Moreover, 36% of staff that do not currently receive some form of performance-related pay think that doing so would […]
Bad press for young recruits undeserved
Although employers are becoming increasingly reluctant to hire young people, those that do generally find them well equipped for working life – despite the bad press that this demographic receives. According to a survey of 79,152 employers undertaken by IFF Research on behalf of the UK Commission for Skills and Employment (UK CES), a mere […]
Millennial training methods
Who are these ‘millennials’ and how can they be motivated when it comes to training? David Chan gives some insight into the new kids on the block. The millennial generation is broadly defined as those individuals born after 1985, who have grown up with the web and mobile communications. The impact of technology is not […]
Ask the expert: Poorly performing line manager
This week the experts, Martin Brewer and Esther Smith advise on how to handle a poorly performing manager. The question: I have inherited a poor performing line manager in my team, the issues are: There is no team motivation in his department He is not spending anytime training & developing his new team members […]
What’s the point of a training manager?
Judith Germain considers how training and HR can best work together – alone or in the same department? Function heads responsible for people are increasingly finding it necessary to justify their existence especially when companies are striving to achieve a substantial Return on Investment and generalists are looking like they will provide a better return. […]
Employees want counselling at work
More than half of UK staff would like their employer to provide a confidential counselling service to help them cope with recession-related stress. Moreover, according to a survey among 1,440 people undertaken by the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), a huge 78% now also believe that workplace stress is an acceptable reason to […]
CIPD predict 50% rise in redundancies
Redundancy levels are expected to jump by 50% over the next quarter dealing a blow to coalition government hopes that private sector employers will create enough jobs to offset swingeing public sector cuts. According to the latest quarterly Labour Market Outlook published by the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development (CIPD) and management consultancy KPMG, […]
UK managers ‘deluded’
More than half of UK managers delude themselves as to their strengths and weaknesses due to a heady mix of inadequate training and development and being pushed into roles they had no desire to take. According to a survey undertaken among 2,158 bosses by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), about 44% defined themselves as excellent […]
‘Nuclear options’ must be considered by Government to avoid strike action
The CIPD urges the government to consider ‘nuclear options’ to tackle unions if necessary but to realise that engagement and trust will win greatest advantages. The warning came only days after the RMT transport union tabled a motion to be heard at the TUC conference in September, calling for co-ordinated national strike action in protest […]
Life and work will continue to blur, predicts study
Work patterns will change drastically over the next 10 years as the boundaries between personal and professional life continue to blur, activity becomes less routine and more ad hoc and collaboration across enterprise boundaries becomes the norm. According to a report by Gartner entitled ‘Watchlist: Continuing Changes in the Nature of Work, 2010-2020’, organisations need […]
Volvo drives forward with e-learning
A car manufacturer has abandoned third party face-to-face training in favour of tailored in-house classroom and e-learning programmes based on digital video content. Volvo Cars is now incorporating video clips from 25 digital training films produced by Video Arts into its existing classroom and e-learning courses on topics ranging from customer service to communications and […]
Employment law takeaways: August
Employment law takeaways: our bitesize legal updates for busy HR professionals, provided by Suzanne Horne of Morrison and Foerster. This month, retirement caps, misunderstandings and badly-worded letters. 1. Kraft Foods UK Limited v Hastie – Retirement linked redundancy cap not age discrimination2. Worrall v Wilmott Dixon Partnership Limited – Transferred collective agreements are changed by […]
Training success: Spot the signs
On our sister site, TrainingZone.co.uk, a member asked how best to measure success of a training session for the delegates themselves and was looking for tips on things to try, things to avoid. Here’s what the community said. Observe – don’t test Both Paul Kearns and ‘Nkellingley’ suggest setting baselines prior to training and then […]
No NMW ‘loophole’ for interns
Employers are breaking the law by taking on unpaid interns and the practice should be banned in the political arena in order to set an example, according to policy researchers. A report published by think-tank the Institute for Public Policy Research (ippr) and social enterprise organisation Internocracy revealed that too many employers, particularly in fields […]
L&D split over train to gain and apprenticeships
The skills industry is split over whether the coalition government’s plans to divert funding from a vocational training scheme in order to create extra apprenticeship places would be a positive move or not. According to a survey undertaken by the World of Learning Conference & Exhibition (WLCE) organisation in June, 50.9% of respondents do not […]
10 ways to better assessment
Suzana Lopes, Pearson VUE EMEA VP Sales and Marketing, presents ten expert tips for HR professionals on how to get the most from testing your workforce. In the old days, HR professionals would place plenty of emphasis on training their staff, but relatively little on testing them afterwards. In the past, questionnaires, a show of […]
Working hours culture changed by recession
Working patterns have changed as a result of the recession, with staff moving to a “mixed hours” rather than a “long hours” culture and older workers changing career in order to stay in employment. According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), the loss of nearly one million full-time jobs and a […]
