Opinion: Crossing the cultural divide
The increase in cross border human traffic has meant that companies are no longer dealing with a homogenous native community from which they recruit their staff but now have to face cross cultural challenges in how they hire, manage and develop a multi-cultural staff. One area of note where HR and management are finding difficulties […]
Feature: Employment and occupational health
Guy Hollebon, Partner and Head of the Employment Team, discusses employment and occupational health in the latest article of a series produced by Bevans, solicitors. An Occupational Health (OH) adviser is a vital tool to employers when managing any form of sickness absence. The majority of SME’s do not have their own in-house OH adviser […]
Review: Lend Me Your Ears
Title: Lend Me Your Ears Author: Professor Max AtkinsonPublisher: Ebury Press VermilionISBN: 0091894794Price: £9.99Reviewer: Anne TeggartThis book was written by the same man who trained former Liberal Democrat Leader, Paddy Ashdown, in the art of public speaking. How do I know? Well, he mentions it at the front of his book. He has also included […]
Charisma Key to Success
Almost half of UK company directors and senior managers believe that a plummy upper-class accent is a hindrance rather than a help when it comes to succeeding in business, according to research from The Aziz Corporation. However, having a working-class accent is considered even worse, with 86% of those who took part in the survey […]
Leadership: Visionary, Popular or Sledgehammer?
Fraser Murray of Fairplace categorises different styles of leaderhip and assesses when each style is most successful. I have observed some common patterns in ‘leadership styles’ and, before you ask, no my views are not statistically tested or validated – but I’m sure you’ll have come across these people in your company. When a company […]
Feature: When is Coaching Destined to Fail?
Tony Dixon, author of The Performance Coach, examines the conditions that contribute to coaching success. At any level in almost all organisations there is a serious shortage of talent. This contrasts somewhat paradoxically with the greatest number of coaches practicing in corporate life. So we have to ask the question, are coaches failing their clients […]
UK’s first Skills Academy
The UK’s first skills academy – focussing on fashion retail – is expected to be launched this autumn.The UK Fashion Retail Academy is to be a joint venture between the Government and Arcadia Group, with an initial intake of 60 16-18 year-olds.Arcadia’s Philip Green, who said the eventual intake would be nearer 350.Green said: “The […]
A third of employers don’t train staff
While two-thirds of employers consider skills development to be a high priority within their organisations one-third do not provide any formal training for their staff, a study of 13,000 UK companies has found.The research, released to coincide with the announcement of new sector skills agreements, also found that over half of employers felt the education […]
CSR and beyond: Does it really pay to be good?
Leo Martin is a director and founder of GoodCorporation, the corporate responsibility standard and is the principal character in the BBC’s series, Good Company, Bad Company; in this the second of a new series ‘CSR and beyond’ Martin looks at how to make a business case for corporate social responsibility. In the last article we […]
I&C legislation leaves UK Plc in crisis
The Information and Consultation Regulations will be introduced into UK law on 6 April 2005 but despite facing potential fines of up to £75,000 businesses are far from ready to meet the new obligations.Latest research conducted by Croner reveals that 74% of employees are not aware of new rights to be consulted on major employment […]
Member wire #92 – CSR and beyond: Does it really pay to be good?
================================================================ HR Zone Members Newswire Issue 92 29 March 2005 http://www.hrzone.co.uk ================================================================ SITE HIGHLIGHTS **** SITE HIGHLIGHTS **** SITE HIGHLIGHTS **** 1. CSR and beyond: Does it really pay to be good? 2. HR Tip: Reasonable alternative work 3. I&C legislation leaves UK Plc in crisis 4. Government gets tough on corporate manslaughter 5. Any […]
Mental Health Action Week begins
Mental Health Action Week (27 March to 2 April 2005) will be raising awareness of mental health problems and the impact of stress in the workplace.Campaigners are drawing a correlation between job satisfaction and a poor state of mental health.According to the Health and Safety Executive call centre staff on the front-line have the lowest […]
White paper pledges to close skills gap
The government has set out the proposals it believes will help England become “a high skills, high value-added economy” in the face of competition from China, India and other emerging economies.The Skills White Paper – the government’s second in two years – promises new mechanisms to get employers involved in designing training courses, free training […]
HR Tip: Reasonable alternative work
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: What constitutes ‘reasonable alternative work’ in law? A: It is work that is suitable in terms of factors that include skills required, pay, location and status. For example a woman returning from […]
Software providers expect PAYE problems
A software industry group has warned that the system used by employers to send PAYE returns to the Inland Revenue via the internet has not been properly tested and “will not be able to cope with demand”, according to a report in Computer Weekly.The report said: “Although suppliers of payroll software have been able to […]
Pensions Regulator explains new role
The Pensions Regulator has presented its new remit and powers to an National Association of Pension Funds conference, as it prepares to take over from Opra as the regulator of pensions in the UK next month.Mr Justin Wray, manager of strategy formulation at the Pensions Regulator, explained to NAPF members that the new regulator’s remit […]
Colborn’s Corner: Pensions – whose crisis is it?
In the second in a new series, Quentin Colborn, an independent HR consultant looks at the pensions deficit and wonders whether employers wouldn’t better serve workers’ needs by offering cash for bricks and mortar. Pensions are still a very topical issue with much debate about fund deficits and the future, if there is one, of […]
Review: Outdoor and Experiential Learning
Title: Outdoor and Experiential Learning – An holistic and creative approach to LearningAuthor: Andy Martin, Dan Franc, and Daniela ZounkováPublisher: GowerISBN: 0-566-08628-XPrice: £49.50Reviewer: Mike TaylorIf you are involved with experiential learning, whether with youngsters or managers, then this book will certainly speak to you, but whether you would find it was good use of £49.50 […]
Government gets tough on corporate manslaughter
Corporate manslaughter will become a new criminal offence if the Bill, announced yesterday by Home Secretary Charles Clarke becomes law.If senior management ‘grossly fail to take reasonable care for the safety of employees or others’ they will face prosecution.According to the government, this tackles the key problem with the current law: the need to show […]
How to: Make the most of your fleet management
In today’s competitive business environment, human resources departments are becoming increasingly time poor giving them little opportunity to search for new and competitive financial offers, especially in fleet management, writes Sean Bingham, Director of New Business, Bank of Scotland Vehicle Finance. The good news is that the fleet services’ sector has become increasingly crowded, meaning […]
