The Couch?! Asks: Is your boss a seagull?
The Couch?! is amused to hear that bosses haven’t evolved as much as is commonly believed from our roots in primitive ancestry – indeed when we look at the David Brents of the world it can be believed. Recruitment outfit Office Angels quizzed 1,500 office workers and revealed that 93% of UK managers can be […]
Comment: What do we need to change?
Peter A Hunter, author of Breaking the Mould looks at the concept of ownership and argues his case for why change the British Airways way doesn’t always fly. In order to create a performance improvement we have to do something different. If we don’t how can we possibly expect to make a change?So our problem […]
Colborn’s Corner: Who’s a big bully?
Celebrity Big Brother highlighted some interesting personality traits of the so-called famous and it was interesting to watch the talents or otherwise of politician George Galloway come to the fore not least for his Oscar winning cat impersonation but also for his policy of tactical bullying so what can HR glean from these playground antics? […]
What’s the answer? Returning to work on lighter duties
Maria Ryan gets legal guidance this week from Helen Badger, employment law expert at Browne Jacobson and Chris Syder, head of employment at Clarkslegal LLP London branch on the considerations of offering alternative work where normal duties are no longer safe. The question:One of our employees, a mechanical fitter, has taken extensive absence following a […]
Sick of absence? Investing for wellbeing
Paul Avis of Employ-Mend kick-starts a month long look at employee benefits by investigating what kind of return can be expected for a £250 investment into healthcare. It is a fact that employers put more cash into pensions than they do into healthcare, a phenomenon and tradition that is poorly understood. Employees take the employer’s […]
Opinion: Trends in e-learning
E-learning has moved leagues away from the generic, electronic page turning that was typical in the late 1990s, but what next? Dr Jo Cheesman of Academee makes some predictions for an e-learning evolution in 2006. Trends in e-learning will continue to be driven by improved hardware technology in terms of size (smaller), cost (cheaper) and […]
Case Study: Carphone Warehouse takes recruitment online
Mobile phone giant the Carphone Warehouse requires top quality talent to maintain its market position and in order to attract the best staff it decided to move its recruitment online; find out what happened.The challenge:Carphone Warehouse aims to treat potential candidates with the same commitment to excellence as it provides its external customers. This makes […]
Opinion: The red tape burden – where did it all go wrong?
Peter Done, Managing Director of Peninsula employment law firm puts the blame firmly at the politicians’ door but do you agree? The political landscapeThe Heath Government of the 1970s was dogged with industrial unrest, power cuts, strikes and a three day working week which resulted in many people wondering exactly who was running the country. […]
HR Tip: New evidence following disciplinary sanction
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: We dismissed an employee following a thorough investigation and properly conducted disciplinary hearing. All the evidence pointed to his guilt. Now however we have received new evidence that shows that he was […]
Insight: Communication that speaks volumes
Darren Briggs, head of group internal communications at Vodafone explains the importance of choosing the right communication channel for delivering internal news and company information. Most companies are highly disciplined when it comes to external brand communication. When communicating with their customers and consumers, they recognise that it pays to be precise about the kind […]
HR Zone Members Newswire Issue 135 – application form Vs CV
================================================================ HR Zone Members Newswire Issue 135 31 January 2005 www.hrzone.co.uk ================================================================ Editor’s note ============= Euphrosene Labon sparked an explosive debate on the relevant merits of the application form over the CV this week. Numerous postings later it is clear that this is an area in which you all hold strong views. Nik Kellingley hates […]
Briefing: Computer forensics for HR
Simon Steggles, Director of Disklabs Computer Forensics looks at how IT sleuthing can be used to HR’s advantage. Many people still believe that the data stored on a computer is erased once it has been deleted. This is not the case, and more often than not, it is the main reason that employees are caught […]
What can HR learn from: PR?
An industrial dispute can be a rigorous test for any organisation requiring a thorough understanding of the key players and the issues at stake. Handled badly, disputes can escalate and company brands can be forever tarnished. It only takes one disgruntled employee to cause a media backlash which can be devastating for any company waging […]
Case Study: HMV tops the training charts
As part of its large expansion plan, HMV organised structured staff training to ensure its skills requirements were met; read on to discover what happened.The challenge:HMV has been expanding since the late 1980s and plans to open over 200 UK stores within the next five years. The company already had a well established programme to […]
Editor’s Comment: Could do better?
If we pour scorn on the 16m workers with the reading and numeracy skills of our 11-year olds then we’ll either be accused of being ageist or deploying bully–boy tactics; so should we sweep the ‘could do better’ issues under the table in the name of PC-compliance? The Economist reports (Jan 21) that the enemy […]
News in Brief: The Week in HR – HR puts Thursday brakes on
Catch up on the week in HR with our latest news round-up including why Thursday is a right off for HR workers, bosses’ doubts over the benefits of hiring incapacity claimants and why an improved lot has put the smile back into work. W/C 23/1/06HR puts Thursday brakes onThursday is the new go-slow day for […]
The Couch?! Gives your job to the baby
The Couch?! team was excited to learn about McDonald’s new plans to allow family members to cover each other’s shifts.Relatives working in the same restaurant will be able to swap shifts as they choose, without first attaining management permission or giving prior notice. Whilst not all of us are lucky enough to work in a […]
HR & IT: A marriage made in heaven?
Jim Morrison, Director of Human Resources at T-Mobile UK explains how HR & IT can get hitched to provide a flexible, mobile working solution to put the balance back in the work/life equation. Which department in your organisation would you go to for advice on time management? What about finding help to manage your top-heavy […]
Management development – The business imperative
Nick Foster, VP Human Resources UK, Ireland & South Africa for the Oracle Corporation and plenary speaker at Learning Technologies 2006, talks to sister site TrainingZONE about aligning management development to the needs of the business. TrainingZONE: In the preview of your plenary session, “Aligning management development to the needs of the business”, it mentions […]
What’s the answer: Can they do that?
Robert Newton gets legal guidance this week from Stephanie Wootton, employment law expert at Browne Jacobson and Nicholas Snowden, senior solicitor at Clarkslegal LLP on the rules governing TUPE transfers. The question: We are currently undergoing transition to HR shared services on a global level. On an employee level, we were told of the third […]
