Ask the wellness experts: A Q&A with Bupa
When it comes to engaging employees, looking after their health is the ultimate way to prove you care about their wellbeing. Enabling them to access high quality healthcare and preventative medicine from a top quality source like Bupa says something about how you treat your employees – and you can be sure they will become […]
HR blogosphere bulletin: Beatty’s memo to CFOs (don’t trust HR)
Jon Ingham trawls the net to provide his round-up of the great and the good of the HR blogs so you don’t have to. This week he tracks down blogs posted in response to a memo which told CFOs not to trust HR. During the last couple of weeks, I’ve been tracking the development of […]
Leading HR Experts Advise How to Manage Talent in a Downturn
With the economy in tatters and unemployment at its highest since 1997, human resource (HR) professionals are faced with what could be the biggest challenge of their careers – successfully managing and motivating staff that are likely to be feeling dejected and extremely vulnerable. To help HR professionals succeed in this challenge, they are being […]
Is the Public Sector ‘recession proof’?
I have just read a CIPD article claiming that the public sector is at present an entirely ‘recession free zone’. The report continues “While private sector employers are shedding hundreds of thousands of jobs and freezing or cutting the pay of millions of employees, their public sector counterparts are mostly maintaining staffing levels and presiding […]
Beyond stress: Why employers must try harder
With many British companies facing financial meltdown, mental health at work might not seem like a high priority, but there are some simple and inexpensive steps that employers can take to address this growing problem, says Williams Johnson. There is a strong correlation between economic downturn, and substance abuse, depression and even suicide, say mental […]
Organisational charts at the click of a mouse
If you think a picture's worth a thousand words, then Microsoft Office Visio is definitely the tool for you. Trevor Eddolls presents an introductory tutorial. Like Excel spreadsheets or Word, Microsoft Visio has become the defacto tool for creating organisational diagrams. If you haven't encountered the program before, or struggle to master its complexities, […]
HR tip: Selection for redundancy
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: "What is the fairest method of selecting employees for redundancy?" HR tip: By assessing each employee affected in some objective way against the needs of the business. I suggest that you identify […]
Why a mixed fleet will make your CEO smile
The company car scheme, though often overlooked, is a highly emotive part of any benefits package – it is also hugely costly and complex in nature. Peter Eldon recommends implementing a mixed fleet strategy when budgets are being slashed. The cost alone of running a car scheme ought to mean that when the CEO issues […]
Is temporary labour the answer during a recession?
By utilising temporary workers, organisations can maximise their labour spend whilst keeping outgoings low. Alison Harter examines how businesses can make the most of a more flexible and cost-effective workforce. As with most things in business, temporary labour is not a one-size-fits-all. Temporary labour can be more or less effective depending on the organisation, the […]
A week in HR: Has business gone back to the dark ages?
This week, Verity Gough reports on how sexual discrimination appears to have reared its ugly head again, the latest unemployment figures, how old-fashioned management styles are driving staff to resign, and how the recession is forcing companies to be more ‘creative’. So much for a modern attitude to women – if the shock report commissioned […]
Caption competition: And the winner is….
This month’s competition was in honour of Mother’s Day on Sunday 22 March. There really were some funny entries this month – it would seem that our beloved Royal family brings out the comedian in some of you! But there could only be one winner, and that was Rob Falconer. His caption was: Her Majesty […]
Trouble brewing: The new Acas Code and mediation
The new Acas Code will, from April 2009, probably mean that mediation is adopted more widely, so Duncan Bain examines the role HR plays in this and how it will be developed with the new code. It has always been thought possible that mediation in the workplace might be used to resolve a personality clash […]
Managing change in difficult times
The recession means that organisations can’t get away from the fact that there will be changes. Yet many are badly planned and implemented, so it is not surprising that staff do not embrace it. John Pope offers his advice on how to successfully manage change in the current climate. There will be changesThere are going […]
Ask the expert: Gross misconduct for bullying
A bullied employee has resigned and informed management as to the reasons for the resignation. Can the employer then dismiss the bully on the grounds of gross misconduct? Esther Smith and Matthew Whelan advise. The question:If one staff is constantly bullying another one and the bullied staff resigns suddenly, but advises the management about this […]
Development times – appraisal times
I have a fledgling thought about the merits of separating the annual performance appraisal process from any personal development work that comes out of a competency based feedback process – such as 360 degree feedback.The thoughts come from the different mindset that I have seen in people when they are being assessed – particularly with […]
Additional paternity leave: Sleepless nights for businesses?
If Lord Mandelson is overruled and the government’s proposed additional paternity leave and pay legislation does eventually come into force, what will it mean for businesses? Christiana Tollast spoke to the experts and found this is a subject of much-heated debate. The lawIn 2007, the government drew up a consultation document on its proposed additional […]
HR tip: Workplace affairs
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: "Can we stop people having affairs at work? We think that one of our supervisors is having an affair with a married woman." HR tip: Generally speaking you should not moralise but […]
Corporate manslaughter: One year on
The introduction of the Corporate Manslaughter Act almost a year ago has meant that organisations have had to change their duty of care requirements in order to protect an employee’s health, safety and wellbeing. Matthew Judge examines the implications faced by HR professionals over the last 12 months. The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Acts […]
Employee assessment: Uncovering the corporate knowledge gap
Mary Clarke considers why regular assessments can help HR professionals make informed and accurate decisions about employees in a redundancy situation. In these tough economic times, managers in companies across the UK are examining how to make the best use of their employees and increase productivity and competitiveness. In many cases, they are making decisions […]
Colborn’s Corner: 65 and out!
The recent judgment of the European Court of Justice (ECJ), that the default retirement age of 65 breaches the European Directive on equal treatment, may have signalled the end for the Heyday challenge. So this week Quentin Colborn asks, is it reasonable to expect people to retire at 65? What focussed the ECJ in making […]