New Year opening for nuclear skills academy
Skills Minister David Lammy has approved a new National Skills Academy for the nuclear sector, which will aim to improve the standard of industry training, increase productivity and tackle skills shortages across England.With the business planning stage successfully completed, the National Skills Academy plans to open its doors to learners in January 2008.Employers supporting the […]
Inquiry into future of adult learning
An inquiry into the future of adult learning is being launched in London today, 25 September. Experts from government, business, academia, trade unions and public service – with the assistance of the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) – will come together to start a process intended to identify a broad consensus for the […]
HR to rescue employees from bad debt
HR is being called upon in the fight to keep UK employees solvent and financially healthy.Insurance giant AXA is asking HR to put aside an hour a month for employees to spend on personal money management. The initiative is supported by both the CBI and the UK’s largest union, Unite. David Fleming, Unite national officer, […]
Employees admit exaggerating expense claims is acceptable
A third of UK employees think it is acceptable to exaggerate their work expenses, compared with a quarter six years ago.A survey, conducted by YouGov on behalf of expense management provider GlobalExpense, has revealed that 30 per cent of all employees who claim, or have claimed, expenses at work admit to exaggerating their expenses, whilst […]
CIPD conference and exhibition: News round-up. By Annie Hayes and Lucie Benson
‘Talent’ and ‘engagement’ were the buzzwords of this year’s CIPD annual conference and exhibition that marked 60 years of loyal attendance at the Harrogate venue. Freebies, including a silver birch tree, jostled for space alongside the habitual sweet delights being served by bare-chested waiters and suppliers with hats that would rival any at Ascot. And […]
Staff development: Looking both ways. By Matt Henkes
A modern business without an effective staff development strategy risks a lack of employee engagement and all the nasty things that come with it. But it’s not enough just to throw a couple of ‘sheep-dip’ training courses into the mix. Matt Henkes finds that you must also look at aligning your development strategy with the […]
My boss is bad
If we have a bad boss, our typical response is to blame the individual. However, Chetan Dhruve turns conventional logic on its head and explains how our workplaces have been unwittingly designed to mass produce dictator-bosses, and points out what we can do to change this. When we have a bad boss, what’s our typical […]
Happy 60th birthday CIPD conference
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) is celebrating sixty years of its conference in Harrogate.The annual conference and exhibition, which sees more than 5000 professionals walk through its doors each year and showcases the products of 300 leading suppliers to the market, is proud to take delegates to Harrogate. Harrogate is a wonderful […]
‘I told you so’: CIPD law briefing celebrates demise of statutory D&G procedures
The ‘Ant’ and ‘Dec’ of the employment law world, Ian Smith and Dominic Regan told delegates attending the legal briefing at the Chartered Institute of Professional and Development’s (CIPD) annual conference and exhibition that the repeal of the failed statutory discipline and grievance procedures (D&G) is likely to take place in April 2009 but warned […]
HR director and CEO partnership is key
The relationship between the HR director and the chief executive is key to a successful, high performing organisation, said Matthew Brearley, HR director for Vodafone UK.“I strongly believe that the critical component in the HR function, when delivering through the organisation, is the partnership the HR director has with the CEO,” he told delegates at […]
Increasing pressure means long hours for HR
HR professionals are working longers hours than ever before, according to a new report.The survey of 6,000 HR professionals by Croner Reward, and in association with the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), found that 56 per cent of respondents are now working 40 to 45 hours, which is a 20 per cent increase […]
HR Tip: Transfer of undertakings
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 are transferring a function out to a contractor but one of the employees affected does not wish to transfer. We have no job we can offer him. How do we stand?" HR […]
Put on your creativity head
We all need new, creative ideas to ensure continued business success, and the secret lies in a set of two particular principles, says business creativity practitioner David Weeks. We can thank Nobel Prize winning neurologist Roger Sperry’s 1960’s split brain experiments for our fascination in labelling people ‘left’ or ‘right’ brained. It is only a […]
Colborn’s Corner: Happy in HR?
Many HR professionals are unhappy in their current job and believe they are being paid less than the average salary for their role, according to recent research by recruitment consultancy Badenoch & Clark. So is life in HR too tough? Quentin Colborn addresses happiness in HR and asks: "Do we have the right to be […]
CIPD qualification is not the Holy Grail
Career-minded HR professionals gleaned the secrets of how to make it at a career seminar held at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s (CIPD) annual conference and exhibition, where they learned that the CIPD qualification is not all that is required.Simon Howard, of Work Group plc, chaired the interactive ‘career’ seminar in which Mike […]
Big-smoke top for work-life balance
Despite the English capital’s unfriendly image, Londoners believe they have the best work-life balance in the UK, according to a report from Working Families Ram-packed tube trains and rocketing property prices have failed to put off almost two thirds of London’s workers, who feel they have the best equilibrium between their time at the office […]
UK managers ‘thirst for change’
A thirst for knowledge and development rather than academic prowess could be key to better job prospects, the Chartered Management Institute (CMI) has found.The CMI study revealed that while almost two thirds of employers and 74% of individuals believed management qualifications will become more important over the next five years, 95% of those polled were […]
Brisk HR sees Dyke tune in
Sacked former director-general of the BBC Greg Dyke told quiz master Jeremy Paxman and delegates at the CIPD’s opening keynote address that he wished HR was ‘brisker’ and braver in identifying when the rules needed to be broken.The remarks came on the close of the first day of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s […]
Room for improvement – ‘talent management’ fails to score top marks
This is the conclusion of a year-long study by the CIPD into talent management.Speaking at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s (CIPD) annual conference today, Victoria Winkler and Rebecca Clake from the organisation said that progress could still be made with 65 per cent saying talent management efforts were effective or at best very […]
Are temps feeling the benefits? By Louise Druce
Just because you employ a temporary worker, it doesn’t mean their entitlements are just as fleeting. With controversial changes to the law on the agenda, Louise Druce looks at what firms need to do to better manage their benefits to ensure a successful relationship for all. With threats to resurrect a directive giving temporary workers […]
