Opinion: Presenteeism and stress – the new epidemic?
How can employers satisfy the conflicting demands for control of sickness absence and the requirements to reduce stress in the workplace, with the issue of damaging the health of workers who turn up for work when they are too unwell to do so? Kate Bawden, Senior Consultant at Mercer Human Resource Consulting looks at some […]
Healthcare: What’s the cost of mis-management?
John Dean, Sales and Distribution Director at healthcare provider HSA, spells out the costs of taking your eye off the managerial ball in terms of punishments, penalties and profit loss. HR today involves tiptoeing through a minefield of red tape, dealing with an increasing stream of employment legislation and handling a mounting volume of employee […]
Open all hours: The working impact
The liberalisation of licensing and gambling laws come into force this November and will inevitably impact on the workplace as employees are lured to stay out longer and party harder; Ruth Hickling, Head of Employment at Stringer Saul LLP looks at the issues. Alcohol abuse/addictionThe misuse of alcohol before, during and after work is an […]
Q&A: HRZone talks ‘healthcare’ with BUPA
Ann Greenwood, Director of Business Markets at healthcare giant BUPA talked to Annie Hayes about the smorgasbord of healthcare options available and explained the reasons behind the rise of private medical insurance as the number one employee benefit in the UK. Q1: Healthcare together with additional holiday has overtaken company cars as the most popular […]
Applying ergonomics to improve health
Margaret Hanson, Principal Ergonomist with Hu-Tech Ergonomics looks at how to adjust the workplace environment to keep musculoskeletal disorders and stress at bay. The Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) latest figures on work-related ill health make for sobering reading; they reveal the most common health problems arising from work as Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs = aches […]
HR Tip: Managing staff with criminal records
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 have discovered that one of our employees who handles money as part of his job has a criminal record. It will be difficult to put in special arrangements to monitor his […]
How to: Retain staff during an M&A
Peter Wallum, head of Mergers and Acquisitions at Mercer Human Resource Consulting explains how to hang onto key staff in times of change. There is plenty of evidence to suggest that announcing a merger or acquisition (M&A) has an instant and negative effect on the performance of both organisations. Avoiding this outcome depends on a […]
Member wire #100 – From chemist dispenser to HR Director
================================================================ HR Zone Members Newswire Issue 100 24 May 2005 http://www.hrzone.co.uk ================================================================ SITE HIGHLIGHTS **** SITE HIGHLIGHTS **** SITE HIGHLIGHTS **** 1. Editor’s Comment: Innovate or fail? 2. Training Evaluation Part 2 – Methods, models and approaches 3. How Did I Get Here? Jayne Mee, HR Director, Spirit Group 4. News in Brief: The week […]
How Did I Get Here? Jayne Mee, HR Director, Spirit Group
Jayne Mee, HR Director of Spirit Group, the UK’s leading independent managed pub operator with 2,000 pubs nationwide and a team of 40,000 reveals her secrets of success in this latest How Did I Get Here? 1. What is your current job title? Briefly describe your current role.I am HR Director for the Spirit Group […]
Feature: Training Evaluation Part 2 – Methods, models and approaches
In the second of four articles on evaluation, Martin Schmalenbach ventures beyond Kirkpatrick to look at other approaches to evaluation. Read part one here. Apart from the widely known work of Kirkpatrick there are several other approaches to evaluating training. Each has its own features and benefits that may make it of more use in […]
Review: Managing Talented People
Title:“Managing Talented People”Editor/Author: Alan Robertson and Graham AbbeyPublisher: Pearson Education ISBN: 1843 04024 7Price: £16.99Reviewer: Rob SheffieldI last met Alan Robertson at the end of the 1990’s. I was in the aerospace sector, and he was an independent consultant, helping on a range of our courses. I enjoyed the contact I had with Alan, and […]
News in Brief: The week in HR – 20/05/05
See our at-a-glance round-up of all the latest HR news including employment count high, windfall for Royal Mail and Tesco workers, Sainsbury’s over-50s recruitment campaign, name change disaster at the DTI and ET applications on the slide. Employment count soarsOfficial labour market statistics show continued but steady growth with worker numbers increasing by 183,000 over […]
Editor’s Comment: Innovate or fail?
Darwin was probably right, business is a dog-eat-dog world where survival of the fittest is the name of the game but is the key to success really innovation, after all Royal Mail has just reported bumper profits but what have they done differently?By Annie Hayes, HRZone Editor Postal giant, the Royal Mail reported an annual […]
HR Zone Briefing #246 – HR Diary – Bridget Jones eat your heart out!
================================================================ HR Briefing Issue 246 19 May 2005 http://www.hrzone.co.uk ================================================================ SITE HIGHLIGHTS **** SITE HIGHLIGHTS **** SITE HIGHLIGHTS **** 1. Salary errors – the hidden debt 2. Case Study: Health and Safety training at Scottish Power 3. HR Tip: Behaviour at work functions 4. Case law: Agency worker status 5. Any Answers: unions, HR Director […]
HR Practitioner’s Diary
In the first of her new diary column, Sue Kingston a self-employed HR Consultant with 23 years experience in the HR field tackles TUPE transfers, drink and drugs and lands a new contract while ‘fessing up to her singleton status revealing just how many chocolate bars and glasses of wine she has quaffed – read […]
Colborn’s Corner: Employee engagement – realism or wishful thinking?
Some of my work involves helping organisations understand how their staff feel and think about them – commonly through employee surveys and it is interesting to see what distinguishes an okay place to work from a great place to work. One set of questions frequently used goes along the lines of:Which of these phrases best […]
Salary errors – the hidden debt
Millions of pounds are being lost per year to salary errors, often the time between an employee leaving and the payroll department receiving the information is so wide that one or two months’ salary is paid in error and the bigger the company, the greater the likelihood that the right hand won’t know what the […]
Case Study: Health and Safety training at Scottish Power
Scottish Power is an international energy company providing electricity and/or gas services to around six million homes and businesses in the UK and the western US. Scottish Power has long made use of tutor led training in the classroom alongside generic on-line courses. However, with increasing pressures on staff time, a consequent rise in course […]
HR Zone Members Newswire #99 – Drink and drugs – time for tough talking?
================================================================ HR Zone Members Newswire Issue 99 17 May 2005 http://www.hrzone.co.uk ================================================================ SITE HIGHLIGHTS **** SITE HIGHLIGHTS **** SITE HIGHLIGHTS **** 1. Editor’s Comment: Under control? 2. Feature: Training Evaluation Part 1 – What’s it all about? 3. How Did I Get Here? Paul Dowie, HR Director at ITN 4. Cut and run or stick […]
HR Tip: Behaviour at work functions
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: Our office parties are held in a local hotel where we provide a free bar and supper. Last time some employees got drunk, started a bit of horseplay and smashed some furniture. […]
