HR tip: Can we withdraw notice?
We gave a worker his notice, but would now like to continue his employment. Can we take back the notice? Withdrawing notice Because our order book has dried up a bit, we recently gave notice to three of our short-serving employees but we now find that we want to keep one of them after all. […]
Equal pay: Slow burning issue of the century?
Equal pay legislation has been around for 40 years – so why are we still struggling with it, asks Ian Milton. For most HR professionals, equal pay is a topic that seems to rear its head every few years, cause a degree of concern and then quietly go on the backburner. The legislation is been […]
On the case: Can you investigate a sick person?
Continuing her regular column, senior associate Layla Bunni gives insight and advice on real life legal cases. This month, a grievance has been raised against a manager who disappears, claiming stress. How should the investigation be handled? The dilemma:An employee (Ms E) has raised a formal grievance against her line manager (Ms M). She has […]
Are we entering the pensions dark ages?
State pension provision in the UK lags behind its G7 counterparts and needs to be reformed in order to avoid today’s workers living in ‘pensioner poverty’, research from AXA has revealed. In the UK, the state pension is worth just 31 percent of the nation’s average earnings – less than half that of the Italians […]
The critical dimensions of leadership
When it comes to leadership, do you know how to set objective criteria? Christian Hasenoehrl provides insight on avoiding the pitfalls of common perception. Leadership selection through promotion or recruitment, boards and senior executives routinely focus on certain skills, experiences or traits that at least appear, intuitively, to be important. Often they look for team […]
Leadership culture: Stephen Covey speaks
Changing an ingrained culture isn’t easy, but leadership expert Stephen Covey has made it his life’s work to empower employees and improve performance. He told LeadershipZone how organisations can bring the change they wish to see. As someone who has dedicated his life to demonstrating how anybody – at any level – can […]
Meeting great expectatations
With the transformation of many HR functions to play a more strategic role, Jan Hills asks: what are the essential technical skills needed to meet business expectations? In 2007 the CIPD report ‘The Changing HR Function’ found that 53% of organisations had restructured their HR function in the previous year and 81% had done […]
Putting HR on Cloud 9
HR people really count, no matter what other bits of the organisation might think. So declared Jay Larson, SuccessFactors senior vice president, Enterprise, on day one of the Cloud business execution software vendor’s European user conference in Barcelona. Larson was a last minute substitute for the missing SuccessFactors CEO Lars Dalgaard whose last minute absence […]
Ask the expert: Does a fixed contract negate redundancy?
Does an employee qualify for redundancy pay even if they’re on a fixed-term contract? Matthew Whelan and Esther Smith advise. The question: If a three-year fixed-term contract is not renewed and the employee dismissed in the absence of other work, do they qualify for a redundancy payment? Legal advice: Matthew Whelan, solicitor, Speechly Bircham The […]
The importance of hope
Chris Howe explores the damage a feeling of hopelessness can do to a workforce and how you can inspire your employees with hope. If people lack hope, they simply give up. In the workplace this means that people stop trying, they lose creativity and will potentially leave the organisation. This is the very […]
Bonus question – what is the answer?
With the news this week that RBS, the failed bank at the heart of the banking crisis, is to be heavily reinvested in by the Government to the tune of £39m, there remains much speculation over the future of bonuses. Stephen Overell of The Work Foundation spoke to Charlie Duff about the situation. Money has […]
Defining an engaging leader
Andy Lowe provides an exploration of the kind of qualities HR need to cultivate to harvest a crop of great leaders of the future. When it comes to leadership, there are so many questions to be answered. Test yourself: what criteria do you use to decide how to you invest in tomorrow’s leaders? Do you […]
HR tip: Dishonest academic claims on CV
These questions are being answered by Learn HR, a market leader in the provision of HR and payroll training and nationally-recognised professional qualifications. Question: We took on a woman recently who said that she had a degree in marketing but we have since discovered that she merely did a correspondence course in the subject and has […]
Colborn’s Corner: What do you believe?
This month Quentin Colborn turns his attention to two recent law cases which highlight the dilemma faced when work and personal morals clash. This week has seen two newsworthy employment law cases in the press. Both relate to the legislation that protects employees from discrimination on the grounds of a deeply held religious or philosophical […]
Pick out a printer
HR can be a paper-intensive activity, so HRZone members might be interested in finding out which are the best printers and scanners for the job in the Business Buyer’s Guide to Printers. Produced in association with other online communities run by our parent company Sift Media, the downloadable guide comes in four editions and draws […]
Walk the talk with wellbeing
On National Stress Awareness Day, Rob Woollen asks if UK businesses are taking employee wellbeing seriously and considers the body of evidence suggesting that wellbeing directly affects the bottom line. Financial concerns top the list of barriers experienced by HR professionals keen to implement employee wellbeing schemes, according to a survey released this week by […]
Beat stress on National Stress Awareness Day
National Stress Awareness day is a chance for HR to show they care by helping their employees manage their stress. This year why not help your managers spot and deal with stress? Stress has become a major factor in many people's lives as the recession has increased employment and financial worries. It is reported that […]
The employer’s guide to: Immigration
Get your head around the Points Based System, sponsoring a non-EEA national and prepare for further future changes with this guide. The UK Points Based System (PBS) forms a major element in the most comprehensive overhaul of UK immigration legislation in the last 30 years. In November 2008, Tier 2 of PBS replaced the Work […]
Ask the expert: Paternity leave starts…now
If a worker is a birthing partner at a prolonged labour, where do the employers stand? Martin Brewer and Esther Smith advise on when and how paternity leave comes into effect. The question: When a woman goes into labour but does not have the baby until the following day can an […]
Make sure your business is ready for ID cards
British businesses need to prepare now to handle the UK identity cards which will be launched later this year. Two new identity cards will shortly begin to be issued, starting in the Greater Manchester area. There is already an identity card for Foreign Nationals. The new cards are the National Identity Card for British citizens […]
