Cold baths ‘antidote to working stress’

The old-fashioned recipe of tough outdoors training & cold baths really is character-building, according to latest research.Dr Peter Clough from Hull University conducted research among a group of university students to study ways of increasing mental toughness. He took one group up a mountain in Derbyshire and made them put their hands in a bucket […]
HR Zone Briefing #226 – Rights for temps at 6 weeks rocks industry

================================================================ HR Briefing Issue 226 20 January 2005 http://www.hrzone.co.uk ================================================================ SITE HIGHLIGHTS **** SITE HIGHLIGHTS **** SITE HIGHLIGHTS **** 1. How Did I Get Here? Sandra Nixon, Head of Training at QVC 2. Opinion: Judge people on their merits & profit from doing so 3. Payroll Tip: Maternity suspension 4. Businesses quake under threat of […]
Feature: Internal communications – mind the gap

By Alastair Barber, internal communications specialist with marketing consultancy Omobono. Responsibility for internal communications on HR projects is often shifted from one function to another, shared out between them or just fudged; yet the success of projects – of making people understand, learn and engage is dependent on communication, Alastair Barber looks at the issues. […]
Risk-takers reap financial rewards

Researchers at Cranfield School of Management claim to have revealed the link between risk taking and the financial performance of their business, finding that risk-takers are likely to achieve the highest sales growth, but that over-confidence can also lead to poor profit performance by owner-managers. The research, carried out among UK-based SMEs over three years […]
Workers get a life

Nearly two thirds of employees are now satisfied with their levels of work/life balance, compared with just over half in 2001.These are the latest findings from a data drawn from ORC International’s database ORC Perspectives, which represents the opinions of some 1.4 million employees.Key findings include: 60% of employees are satisfied with the amount of […]
Businesses quake under threat of six-week ‘temp’ rights

Euro MPS are close to voting on the EU Agency Workers Directive which could give temporary staff the same rights as permanent workers after only six weeks in employment; the CIPD told HRZone the directive would ‘seriously damage’ the temping market.Recruitment outfit beRecruitment claim the new directive would be bad for business.Carole Fossey, MD of […]
Public sector recruitment reaches lowest ebb

The quarterly survey of HR trends and indicators from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) shows that recruitment difficulties will continue in this first quarter of the year with recruitment intentions in the public sector reaching their lowest levels.Attempts to reduce levels of administrative and central government staff in the aftermath of the […]
Review: The Situational Mentor

Title: The Situational Mentor – An International Review of Competences and Capabilities in MentoringEditors: David Clutterbuck and Gill LanePublisher: GowerISBN: 0-566-08543-7Price: £55.00Reviewer: Angela Busby Authors/editors Clutterbuck and Lane have done something that is not always easy to do – they have brought together diverse perspectives from leading academics and practitioners and presented the reader with […]
How Did I Get Here? Sandra Nixon, Head of Training at QVC

All the previous career profiles can also be seen on the How Did I Get Here? page. Sandra Nixon is head of training at QVC.How did you come to work in training?I was working as a team leader in QVC’s call centre in Knowsley when a training position was advertised. As I had already been […]
Experience is rated over natural ability

A Chartered Management Institute (CMI) report reveals that for the first time since the start of the survey in 1996, job experience is rated more highly than natural ability when it comes to performing well at work. The CMI claim that the belief that “leaders are born, not made” has been eclipsed. Research based on […]
Payroll Tip: Maternity suspension

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: A woman’s job involves visiting different sites and installing and maintaining computer equipment. She is pregnant and, as a result, is unable to drive her car or perform the physical aspects of […]
Member wire #82 – Lighting the torch for jobs creation in 2012

================================================================ HR Zone Members Newswire Issue 82 18 January 2005 http://www.hrzone.co.uk ================================================================ SITE HIGHLIGHTS **** SITE HIGHLIGHTS **** SITE HIGHLIGHTS **** 1. Lighting the torch for jobs creation in 2012 2. Feature: NLP – The fast track to skills? 3. HR grows its ‘influence’ 4. Work-life balance wins over pay … again 5. Any Answers: […]
Opinion: Judge people on their merits – and profit from doing so

‘Performance Through Inclusion’ MD Tony Burnett argues that without understanding the difference between the two concepts of diversity and inclusion, the UK’s problems resulting from an ageing and shrinking population will not be solved. Many people in positions of power and influence in society have no great difficulty in subscribing to the diversity principle. It’s […]
Early-bird jobseekers are best candidates

Graduates who apply early for jobs are usually better qualified and more likely to be selected than those who leave it until the last minute.These are the latest findings from psychometric assessment provider, SHL.The survey of 11,000 graduates revealed that those applying for senior jobs showed better numeric and verbal skills while those sending in […]
£100k earners picked for Liberal Democrat tax rise

The Liberal Democrats launched their general election strategy yesterday under the slogan The Real Opposition; amongst the raft of proposals are plans to raise the top rate of tax on every pound earned over £100,000.Party leader Charles Kennedy outlined the key campaigning themes and policy pledges, declaring that it was the Liberal Democrats rather than […]
Childcare – New tax break offers big savings for working parents and employers

One of the UK’s fastest growing staff benefits provided by employers is Childcare Vouchers. The reason for their success is that Childcare Vouchers are exempt from National Insurance Contributions so they can help save money for both the working parent and the employer. However, even greater savings can now be made with the introduction of […]
Feature: NLP – The fast track to skills?

Robert Ballentine of Maheono explains how NLP modelling examines the behaviour of top performers in order to help others learn to replicate this behaviour and improve their own performance. Over the last 30 years NLP has been disseminated through and into many different disciplines. Companies from all over the world offer NLP training as part […]
NHS unveils advice line for skills framework

The NHS is launching a new helpline to offer advice on its Knowledge and Skills Framework (KSF). The KSF defines and describes the knowledge and skills that NHS staff need to apply in their work to deliver a quality service. It provides a single, consistent, comprehensive and explicit framework on which to base the review […]
Council face million pound pay out for failure to ‘consult’

Leicestershire County Council face shelling out £8 million to 2,500 staff in compensation over their failure to consult when dismissing workers.Unison, the union representing public sector workers brought the case against the local authority alleging that the Council had failed to consult over plans to dismiss hundreds of members last March.Contracts were terminated to impose […]
TUC slam Tory proposals to axe quangos

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) have attacked Conservative proposals to cull quangos and cut the Union Learning Fund (ULF) saying it would ‘deny a generation of British workers access to education and a chance to improve their lives.’The radical Tory plans would see 162 quangos and six government units scrapped.Shadow Secretary of State for Deregulation, […]