News in Brief: Sack underperformers, says Microsoft CEO
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has urged British companies to follow his firm’s example and sack underperforming employees annually, claiming organizations should consistently remove staff not showing full potential. Trade union leaders criticized the approach for creating a culture of fear and demoralizing workers.
How to: Foster a coaching culture
Learn how to build a sustainable coaching culture in organizations by overcoming common barriers like manager confidence, lack of time, and competing priorities. Expert insights reveal strategies for embedding coaching into daily management practices and creating lasting behavioral change beyond traditional training programs.
HR Zone Briefing #293 – Off the Record: Employment Law Explained
HR Zone Briefing #293 covers key employment law topics, including expert guidance on withdrawing job offers and navigating pregnancy discrimination legislation. This issue features real-world employment questions answered by legal specialists and practical HR advice for managers.
Colborn’s Corner: Green HR?
Green HR practices could reshape workplace policies on recruitment, homeworking, and company cars. An expert examines how organizations might balance environmental commitments with HR operations, from limiting hiring radius to reconsidering fuel allowances.
What’s the answer? Maternity leave and redundancy… continued
Employees on maternity leave receive additional redundancy protections, including the right to return to the same or suitable alternative position with no less favorable terms. Employers must follow standard redundancy consultation procedures and offer alternative employment with comparable conditions if redundancy occurs during maternity leave.
What’s the answer? Maternity leave and redundancy
Employers can make employees redundant while on maternity leave, but must offer suitable alternative employment if available. There is no legal requirement for the employee to work a minimum period after returning before redundancy can occur. Failing to offer a suitable vacancy when one exists makes the dismissal automatically unfair.
Sickness absence and disability: Time for new thinking?
Paul Avis examines whether de-medicalizing sickness absence and disability management represents genuinely innovative thinking or simply formalizes existing occupational health practice. He explores how biopsychosocial and threshold models compare to traditional medical, charity, and social approaches to disability.
Negotiation: The skill you can’t afford to neglect
Negotiation is a critical business skill that extends far beyond sales to affect HR, procurement, and management across all levels. Yet most employees receive no formal training in this essential competency, leaving companies at risk of poor deals and damaged relationships. Developing negotiation skills can significantly improve bottom-line performance and internal operations.
Sickness absence and disability: Time for new thinking? … continued
Widening the context:Whilst this model has been our justification for the management style we adopt, the academic OH community has also been active about the need to engage stakeholders. In the OH guidelines for the management of lower back pain (LBP) (Waddell & Burton, 2000) the report was clear in determining that clinical interventions were […]
Reviewer profile: John Pope
John Pope is a management consultant with 40 years of experience advising organizations on business performance, leadership effectiveness, and team dynamics. He has written extensively on management practices and specializes in consultancy skills development and organizational improvement.
Book review: Developing strategic leadership skills
John Pope reviews a strategic leadership workbook for trainers and coaches, praising its practical tools and layout while criticizing its vague concept of strategic leadership and outdated competency-based approach. Despite helpful content, Pope finds the book dilutes its message that strategic leadership is somehow special.
Off the record: Navigating pregnancy discrimination rules … continued
Employers should maintain dialogue with pregnant employees on maternity leave, avoid pressuring early returns, and arrange adequate cover. Employees have the right to return to their job and may request flexible work arrangements upon return.
Off the record: Navigating pregnancy discrimination rules
Pregnancy discrimination is illegal at every stage of employment, from recruitment through maternity leave and return to work. Employers cannot avoid these legal protections, but can minimize business disruption through proper planning and documentation of non-discriminatory hiring decisions.
HR Tip: Custom and practice
Custom and practice can legally modify employment contracts if management allows early departures without objection for several months. Employers should document all working arrangement changes as permanent or temporary and promptly address unauthorized deviations to prevent them from becoming enforceable contract terms.
Member’s tip: Withdrawing a job offer
When an employer withdraws a job offer after signing but before salary negotiations conclude, whether it’s legally binding depends on contract formation. Two HR experts debate: one says the offer can be revoked if key terms remain unsettled, while the other argues a binding contract exists if you’ve formally accepted and resigned.
News in Brief: Mid-market firms push people issues aside … continued
The UK faces an IT skills shortage by 2012 without government tax incentives for employer training, while European training investment is declining compared to the US. UK businesses struggle with neglected workforce development despite recognizing learning as key to performance and competitiveness.
News in Brief: Mid-market firms push people issues aside
Mid-market firm leaders claim to prioritize people investment but fail to act on it, according to PwC research. The survey found 58% identify learning and development as key to performance, yet 49% believe managers neglect training, and two-thirds lack succession plans for senior roles.
What happened next? Sickness and disciplinary. By Sarah Fletcher
An employee reported sick but went unreachable for weeks, prompting a disciplinary hearing. However, he was hospitalized with a serious infection requiring surgery, forcing management to pause proceedings. Learn how the employer balanced employee wellness with workplace concerns and disciplinary action upon his return.
How Did I Get Here? Tom Russell, Director of Strategic Resourcing and Reward, Cancer Research UK …continued
Tom Russell, Director of Strategic Resourcing and Reward at Cancer Research UK, discusses why HR struggles to gain board-level influence, citing frozen beliefs about HR’s value and fears of disrupting the status quo. He shares insights on leadership, organizational development, and personal philosophy.
What happened next? Sickness and disciplinary…continued. By Sarah Fletcher
When an employee’s sickness claim seemed suspicious, delayed disciplinary action and faded memories complicated the investigation. This HR case study explores how timing and documentation failures undermined what should have been a straightforward outcome.
