Lobbying Tales: Battle on the Eastern front

The importance of effective recruitment for employers and for the UK economy is increasingly recognised. At the same time European regulations which do not take into account the peculiarities of the UK labour market continue to pose a real threat to the provision of effective and flexible resourcing solutions. As a result, the Recruitment & […]
CSR and beyond: Should HR care about ‘Non’ & ‘Nee’?

Leo Martin founder of the GoodCorporation looks at the importance of the recent overwhelming rejection of the EU constitution by France and the Netherlands and explores what it means going forward for HR professionals. This recent vote highlights the extremely divergent views that exist within the EU about the role of business in society. In […]
HR Tip: Is stress a disability?

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: Is stress a disability? A: Stress certainly is an illness and you should study carefully the guidance published by the Health and Safety Executive to determine how to minimise and deal with […]
Salary errors – recovering overpayments

Overpayments and salary errors are costing businesses millions of pounds a year, in our latest article we looked at why it happens – here Ranjit Dhindsa, Head of Employment at the Midland office of International law firm Reed Smith looks at how to recover those salary slip-ups. Overpayments can be made in a variety of […]
Review: Buying Information Systems

Title: Buying Information Systems: Selecting, Implementing and Assessing Off-The-Shelf SystemsAuthor: David James Publisher: GOWER ISBN: 0566085593Price: £49.50Reviewer: Stephen JonesHow should you approach the purchase of packaged business information systems? Most managers will only be involved in this once or twice in their career. David James is a Chartered Engineer, a Fellow of the Institution of […]
How Did I Get Here? Mark Burch, Crown Prosecution Service

‘Legs eleven’ and ‘Naughty forty’ – as a former Bingo caller, Burch certainly showed an aptitude to numbers but never thought in his wildest dreams that one day he’d be working as the Head of Reward and Performance for a slightly more sober organisation, the Crown Prosecution Service – here’s his story. 1. What is […]
Editor’s Comment: The recruitment catwalk

Liars are more likely to land a job than ‘honest Jims’ and joining the rogue traders at the front of the jobs queue are those with a Danny De Vito height advantage; Editor’s Comment looks at why our recruitment methods are as prehistoric as the woolly mammoths.By Annie Hayes, HRZone Editor It has been claimed […]
News in Brief: The week in HR – 13/06/05

See our at-a-glance round-up of all the latest HR news including signs of a cool down in the jobs market, fathers yearn for more baby time, unhappiness clouds HR function, HR missing out on full IT potential and why workers in Cambridge are the healthiest commuters. Signs of cool down in jobs marketThe UK labour […]
The Couch?! Interview nightmares

The Couch?! team received news this week that a boss in Glasgow recently held a job interview naked in order, he says, to satisfy his boredom. Since his unveiling he has been given three years probation and placed on the sex offenders’ register.Neil Gouldson, employment law expert at Manchester law firm Rowe Cohen says the […]
HR Practitioner’s Diary: Secrets of interviewing

This week our HR Practitioner rescues a business from insolvency, reveals the secrets of her interviewing process and finds love has green fingers. W/C 6 June 2005Another fairly hectic week which involved a project indirectly linked to HR, but at least I’m adding value to the clients’ plight, read on:Soft skills of HRA client who […]
Colborn’s Corner: What’s in a name?

Okay, so we’ve all heard the one about HR standing for Human Remains, but how important are titles to us and what do they say about the role of HR within an organisation? Over the years the terminology has shifted from terms using ‘welfare’ through to ‘labour’ and then onto ‘personnel’ and titles using variants […]
Opinion: Recruitment – breaking the churn cycle

“The current recruitment model not only perpetuates a wasteful attitude to human resources, but also risks overlooking, and therefore not securing, the highest quality candidates.” In the second of a three part series, Kevin Kerrigan, managing director, SHL (UK) discusses how businesses can build a more effective supply chain based on agreed competencies.The first part […]
Case Study: Mecca improves its winning ways with LMS

Once the exclusive preserve of the nation’s gaming grans, bingo is grabbing a wider audience today, prompting significant growth within the sector. One of the UK’s leading bingo brands is Mecca Bingo, where fast-moving expansion and development is being managed using a learning management system (LMS). Mecca Bingo has 120 clubs spread throughout the UK […]
It’s good to talk: navigating the consultation of employees regs

Solicitor Ann Bevitt of the law firm Morrison & Foerster explains the ins and outs of the Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations 2004. Before April of this year, employers were required to inform and consult with their staff in certain circumstances, for example, if they were proposing to make redundancies or if there was […]
Payroll Tip: Part of property used for business purposes

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 should the reportable value of living accommodation be apportioned when it is partly used for business purposes? A: The benefit of living accommodation can be restricted where a part of the property […]
Feature: Training Evaluation Part 4 – Taking control for ROI

In the last instalment of this series Martin Schmalenbach goes beyond Kirkpatrick levels 1 and 2 to look at the value of control groups, and offers some tips on how to get a real sense of ROI. Read part one, part two and part three. A popular technique used when evaluating training beyond Kirkpatrick levels […]
Blowing the whistle can be hard to do

In theory at least, blowing the whistle on workplace wrongdoing is easier than it ever was. And since the passing of the Public Interest Disclosure Act in 1998, all companies should have a whistle-blowing policy in place. PKF partner David Dearman believes that there’s a five point strategy that points the way to having such […]
Review: Secrets of the people whisperer

Title: ”Secrets of the people whisperer” Author: Perry WoodPublisher: Random HouseISBN: 184413563-2Price: £9.99Reviewer: Jonathan SeniorSubtitled, “Use the art of communication to enhance your own life and the lives of others,” I initially feared that this would be one of “those books” where all you have to do is simply read it and not only would […]
Editor’s Comment: Doughnuts, Dementors and Daring!

The space beneath the stairs is not usually considered a place of beauty or art, indeed it’s not traditionally given the time of day – more used to languishing in the role of keeper of the vacuum and Harry Potter; but for those in the people management business it’s an area from which a lot […]
News in Brief: The week in HR – 10/06/05

See our at-a-glance round-up of all the latest HR news including working time opt-out victory, strike report – mixed bag, temps not appreciated, call for ‘work-learn’ balance and bosses turn blind eye to workplace theft. Working time opt-out rescuedBritain has saved the right to retain the opt-out to the 48 hour working week, for the […]