HR Tip – Return to work interviews
HRD & Payroll Solutions continues to bring HR Zone members a range of HR tips. This week’s tip looks at return to work interviews. Q: We give people coming back to work after an unplanned absence a return to work interview. These are having a good effect on our absenteeism levels. If, during the interview, […]
Employers set to ‘lose control’ over retirement
Employers may be increasingly moving to defined contribution (DC) pension schemes to meet their short-term objectives, but they could be storing up longer-term problems, warns Hewitt Bacon & Woodrow.The results of its annual survey of DC/AVC schemes show that only 3% of employers think that DC members have a good understanding of the funding levels […]
Review: Cool Search
Title: Cool SearchPrice: £16.99ISBN: 1841124303Author:Syrett, Michel, Lammiman, JeanPublisher:John Wiley and Sons Ltd Capstone Publishing LimitedReviewer: Denis W Barnard It’s not enough for us to wear combats, baseball caps and use words like “chill” – you have to think young and behave young. A stratum of society has arrived that will set the agenda; raised with […]
Third of managers fail to discuss disputes before tribunal
Last year tribunals dealt with 98,000 claims based on work disputes but in more than a third of those cases the individual and the manager had not discussed the problem at all before approaching an employment tribunal.The DTI survey of 504 HR managers at small and medium-sized businesses, found that three-quarters of employers worry about […]
Employee communication ruined by ‘confusing’ portals
“Encouraging employees to use portals can increase the effectiveness of internal communications and help lower the associated costs,” said Michael Rudnick, national intranet and employee portal leader at Watson Wyatt. “Portals allow HR to focus more on strategic initiatives and less on routine administrative activities, such as fielding questions about benefits and completing forms,” said […]
Hands on approach to staff retention
Richard Bednall, Managing Director of In situ productions, suggests how firms might improve internal communications and win the loyalty of their staff in the face of today’s fast paced working environment. In surroundings which often leave little time for the niceties of staff welfare and for their feelings of well being, few companies can claim […]
Firms urged to prepare a game plan for Euro 2004
Employers must take action now to avoid a drain on productivity through unexpected staff absences during Euro 2004, warned Investors in People today. With the nation gearing up to go football crazy on the 12 June, a number of employers, particularly those with evening and shift workers, could find their staffing patterns threatened if employees […]
HR Tip – Recording disciplinary meetings
HRD & Payroll Solutions continues to bring HR Zone members a range of HR tips. This week's tip looks at recording disciplinary hearings. Q: How important is it to keep a record of a disciplinary hearing? I cannot listen, think and write at the same time! A: It is very important – and none of […]
Review: Understanding Body Language
Title: Understanding Body Language Editor: Jonathan Norman Publisher: Gower ISBN: 0-566-08431-7 Price: £175.00Understanding Body Language contains a collection of 20 body language training activities. They come in a loose leaf A4 binder, designed to allow you to flick through quickly, find the exercise you need and photocopy the sheets you require, leaving the binder safely […]
How are you monitoring your workforce?
Employers are struggling to get to grips with new areas of discrimination law and diversity monitoring, according to research launched today.The IRS survey of 75 HR departments found that religion/belief is monitored by less than one organisation in 10 and just 4% of employers monitor sexual orientation.Yet 77% of respondents monitor ethnicity, 73% monitor gender, […]
Absent staff – less of a headache?
CBI figures released this week show that workplace absence has increased for the first time in five years, yet a recent IRS survey suggests that absence management appears to be less of a priority for HR in the year ahead. See list of HR priorities for the next 12 months.Perhaps HR’s optimism reflects the fact […]
Employers failing to evaluate management development
The UK is falling behind in developing managers, according to new research suggesting there is a lack of acceptance and action when it comes to evaluating management development.The two-year study by the Chartered Management Institute which questioned 1400 HR managers and line managers found that UK organisations spend less than their European counterparts on training […]
HR Tip – Searching employees
HRD & Payroll Solutions continues to bring HR Zone members a range of HR tips. This week’s tip looks at searching employees. Q: Stock is being pinched. Can we insist on searching people at random? A: Emphatically no. To do so against the employee’s wishes would be assault. If you know the identity of the […]
Men struggling to strike right work-life balance
Seven in ten men think that their performance at work is damaged by a lack of work-life balance, according to a new survey published today. A quarter of the 4000 men surveyed by Men’s Health magazine in association with the DTI admitted that they are still struggling to strike the right balance between their work […]
Guidance notes on disciplinary procedures
The DTI’s Guidance Notes to the forthcoming mandatory disciplinary and grievance procedures are now available on the DTI website. Statutory Dispute Resolution – DTI Guidance The legislation comes into force on 1 October 2004.
“Protect and promote occupational pensions”, urges union
The GMB, Britain’s General Union, has today demanded Government action to promote and protect final salary pension schemes.This follows the publication of the Pension Policy Institute (PPI) report ‘Property or Pensions?’ and new evidence which highlights growing concern about the future of pensions, with the decline in final salary schemes leading many people to conclude […]
Review: Managing Information: Core Management
Title: Managing Information: Core ManagementPrice: £19.99ISBN: 0 7506 5828 2The stated intention of this new work is to produce three books in one but at an introductory level designed to cover the syllabuses of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development:Information systems: Contribution of information systems/information technology to organisations, systems concepts and attributes, planning, reviewing […]
Opinion: Bridget Biggar on performance management
Employers would be massively more productive if management spent more time recognising employees’ strengths rather than putting massive effort into forcing them to address their weaknesses, says Bridget Biggar, MD of Life Orientations Limited. The difficult young man who doesn’t do his time sheets? That could well be the next Phillip Green or Bernie Ecclestone.British […]
Advertorial: An open and shut case for Home Computing Initiatives
There’s never been a better time for your organisation to take advantage of Home Computing Initiatives (HCI schemes) thanks to a comprehensive support framework that makes implementation straightforward and cost-effective. Most HR professionals are aware of the government legislation that supports Home Computing Initiatives (HCI). Announced in the 1999 budget, it enables organisations to take […]
Line managers failing to communicate effectively
Only one in nine HR professionals rate line manager communication in their organisation as “good” or “very good”. According to Melcrum’s global survey of 712 HR and corporate communication practitioners, the biggest problem areas are felt to be: managers’ skills at communicating upwards the views and concerns of their team (51%); managers not acting as […]
