Q&A: Dr Paul Kanas, Head of OH at Cadbury Trebor Bassett … continued
Q4 HR Zone: What’s your key policy? Do you simply focus on the absent minority or the majority of well employees?Kanas: The Fit for Life programme is aimed at everyone. In terms of encouraging absent workers to get back to work we offer private health insurance at some of our sites which is fully funded […]
Life Coach at Large: Finding courage … continued
It’s totally understandable. So why the fear? Is it the concern that she’ll lose her job? Lose her meeting? Lose face with others? So what she does instead is try and control a situation by using mental energy, time and costly man hours to justify a point which comes down to, it works well for […]
Life Coach at Large: Finding courage
This week, Emma Ranson Bellamy helps a team leader confront her MD about some ‘real’ issues. The Japanese word Karoushi, was coined to mean ‘sudden death at work’; as an incredibly successful nation it is incredulous that their work/life balance has tipped the scales so far towards the work ethic that they’ve had to add […]
Horses for courses: Using multi-funding solutions
New ‘integrated funding’ products allow employers to get much more from their car schemes without major implications for costs or administration, argues Richard Schooling, commercial director of car scheme provider Alphabet. Over the years, successive funding products have been held up as the ideal way to deliver car benefit solutions.Contract hire, PCPs, ECO schemes and […]
Mind the gap: The rise of the HR interim
The requirement to rapidly solve HR problems, plug gaps or react overnight to changing demands is placing an increasing strain on businesses of all sectors and with a war for talent raging across UK plc the need for professional HR interim management has never been more heartily felt. In the five years since Digby Morgan, […]
News in Brief: The Week in HR – HR ‘worst’ of all functions
Catch up on the week in HR including why CEO’s are turned off by HR, HR’s failure to keep pace in the war for talent, three quarters of HR professionals admit to age discrimination, lack of people skills let line managers down and pay deals sink to new low. W/C 27/2/06HR comes ‘bottom’ in popular […]
Editor’s Comment: Have graduates lost the ‘X’ factor?
Nargis Ara, a PhD student with an Honours Degree in Pharmacy was the latest candidate to be sent packing from business game show The Apprentice in which fourteen hopefuls fight it out to become the six-figure protégé of AMSTRAD chief Sir Alan Sugar; Editor’s Comment looks at the plight of the graduate and wonders why […]
The Couch?! Says: Size matters
If you’re going to make it in HR, size matters. Seeking that promotion in a box of chocolate éclairs, however, is not going to cut it, this is not a license to eat your way up the career ladder – it’s your office place, not your waistline, that shows success.According to recruitment consultancy Office Angels, […]
How to: Give presentations that move people to action
Tips on how to craft the perfect delivery, engage the audience and structure the right content. You have spent some time building your important presentation to the point of perfection. Your structure and flow look really good and the technical content is accurate and to the point. Your messages are clear and important. You have […]
Colborn’s Corner: Just administrators?
’What’s the point of HR’, the latest article in this series stirred up quite a hornet’s nest of views; this week Quentin returns to the topic and looks as the assertion made by some that HR are just a bunch of administrators. It was interesting to counter balance a few views and thoughts from the […]
What’s the answer? Should a grievance be lodged?
An HR Zone member gets legal guidance this week from Stephanie Wootton, employment law expert at Browne Jacobson and Nadia Hoosen Senior Solicitor at Clarkslegal on how to handle a sticky situation fuelled by poor communication. The question:A member of staff has come to me informally with a problem that I am not quite sure […]
HR Zone Briefing #285 – HR’s Working Hours – The Real Story
================================================================ HR Briefing Issue 285 – 2 March 2006 http://www.hrzone.co.uk ================================================================ Editor’s Note ============= We sent our roving reporter, Sarah Fletcher out onto the HR streets last week to find out the real story behind working hours. Don’t miss her exclusive article, reporting on what hours HR workers really do: http://www.hrzone.co.uk/item/151402 And there’s plenty more […]
Insight: ‘Tick the box’ communication
Colette Dorward, founding partner at Smythe Dorward Lambert, explains why ‘tick-the-box’ style, internal communications fails to address employee needs. She acknowledges that communication is often best measured by results rather than process. In some organisations there is still a ‘tick-the-box’ style of internal communications. It is typically felt when a new leadership is put in […]
Opinion: Cultural fitness and commercial health
Norrie Johnston, Managing Director of Executives Online, explores whether in the bid to find candidates who ‘fit’, companies are making themselves unhealthy. HR Managers have to perform a difficult balancing act between employing people who will fit into their company culture but who will also bring fresh and innovative ideas. Yet it seems many do […]
Reviewer profile: Sharon Cooper
Sharon CooperSharon Cooper is Director of Human Resources EMEA for IPC Information Systems, a leading provider of mission-critical communications solutions to the world’s largest financial services firms, as well as to public safety, government, power, energy, utility and transportation organisations. Sharon served as an Army Officer for over nine years, leaving in the rank of […]
Book review: 24 carrot manager
The 24-Carrot ManagerTitle: The 24-Carrot ManagerAuthors: Adrian Gostick and Chester EltonPublisher: John Wiley & SonsISBN: 0-470-82163-9Price: £9.79 (paperback)Reviewer: Sharon Cooper This book is subtitled “A remarkable story of how a leader can unleash human potential.” As the word carrot in the title might indicate, it deals with employee motivation and recognition. It is a very […]
Proper hours? HR professionals discuss unpaid overtime. By Sarah Fletcher
Sarah Fletcher asked senior HR professionals their views on the TUC’s recent research claiming that five million workers in the UK work unpaid and uncompensated overtime. The TUC encouraged employees to challenge the UK’s “long hours” culture by working only their contractually designated hours on Friday 24 Feb as part of their “Work Your Proper […]
HR Tip: Value of informal warnings
These questions are being answered by Learn HR, a market leader in the provision of HR and payroll training and nationally-recognised professional qualifications. Q: How useful are informal warnings? A: Incredibly useful! An informal warning is more than a word in the ear, but is not a formal warning that has to be given following a […]
Corporate manslaughter: Implications for HR managers
Briefing notes for HR professionals looking to keep on the right side of the law. The Government is currently considering responses to the consultation document it published earlier this year on a draft Corporate Manslaughter Bill. At this stage, it is not clear when the Bill will become law. However, it is likely that there […]
HR Zone Members Newswire #139 The Value of Networking the CIPD Way
================================================================ HR Zone Members Newswire Issue 139 28 February 2006 www.hrzone.co.uk ================================================================ Editor’s note ============= Like a proud peacock – that’s how Juliet LeFevre describes the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development in its networking capacity. “Externally it’s mostly a badge. It seems to like to puff itself up and look after its own. I […]
