HR Managers Say Training Spend is Too Low
A Croner survey reveals 85% of employers believe their training budgets are insufficient, with over half having cut spending last year. HR managers warn inadequate training investment hampers talent attraction and retention during a period of significant skills shortages.
Negotiating the “negotiation differential”
Women are systematically underpaid partly due to a “negotiation differential”—gender-based differences in how men and women approach salary and promotion negotiations. Credos explores why these differences exist and offers HR strategies to address the wage gap and retain talented female employees.
Review: The Employment Relationship – Key challenges for HR
This important book examines nine key challenges facing HR managers in today’s workplace, including shifts in the psychological contract, workplace flexibility, organizational climate, and changing employee attitudes. Written by Paul R. Sparrow and Cary L. Cooper, it provides valuable insights into how technological change and evolving social expectations are reshaping employment relationships and organizational dynamics.
How Did I Get Here? Fiona Knight, KPMG
Fiona Knight, Lead HR Manager at KPMG, shares her career journey from HR operations to strategic leadership. Discover how a transformational change programme and continuous professional development shaped her path in human resources.
Training Spend Set to Rise
A CIPD survey finds one-third of private sector training managers expect budget increases this year, with 81% of organizations maintaining training budgets. The rise is driven by skills shortages affecting recruitment, though the public sector is experiencing declining training investment despite government spending on public services.
Developing staff through overseas assignments
Overseas assignments remove employees from their comfort zone and deliver genuine professional development by addressing real-world problems in developing communities. This approach combines cultural immersion with meaningful impact, developing critical business skills like leadership, adaptability, and cultural awareness that classroom training cannot provide.
40% of workers willing to work overseas
Only 40% of UK workers would be willing to work overseas, with 74% of those preferring distant locations like New York and Sydney. Higher salaries and benefits are the primary motivation for relocating abroad, while career concerns deter the 60% unwilling to move.
The 10 key problems with competencies
Competencies often fail in practice due to common design flaws including overlapping definitions, ambiguous language, inconsistent indicators, and unclear standards. These problems undermine assessment validity and create confusion in HR processes like appraisals and 360-degree feedback.
Flexing the benefits?
Flexible benefits schemes help organisations attract and retain talent while potentially reducing costs. Amanda Stainton explores the practical aspects of implementation, including improved employee understanding of reward packages and increased individual responsibility in benefits selection.
Recruitment is increasingly a shared responsibility
Over half of employers have restructured their recruitment roles, with line managers now playing a larger part in hiring decisions. The shift reflects broader changes across HR departments, including greater involvement from personnel directors, centralized HR staff, and employment agencies in the recruitment process.
Failing to act on employee surveys destroys commitment
Employee surveys without follow-up action significantly harm workplace commitment. Research shows only 40% of employees report high commitment when surveys are conducted but ignored, compared to over 80% when organizations act on feedback. Failing to implement survey results wastes resources and signals to staff that their input doesn’t matter.
HR Tip – Garden leave
Garden leave is an arrangement where employers require notice-giving employees to stay home while remaining employed and paid, preventing them from working for competitors during their notice period. This practice is lawful and allows employers to maintain control over departing staff while ensuring they remain bound by employment contract terms and restrictive covenants.
HR trends for Spring
Nearly two in five employers plan to hire staff this spring, though most expect wage costs to remain stable or rise minimally, according to a CIPD survey of almost 2,000 employees. The survey reveals the strongest recruitment intentions in finance and public administration, while absence management and retention emerge as top HR challenges.
Review: HR Strategy: Business Focused, Individually Centred
Paul Kearns challenges conventional HR wisdom in this business-focused guide, arguing that HR strategy must align directly with organizational goals through value creation and systemic design. The book critiques popular HR practices like competency frameworks and leadership programs, offering a practical route map grounded in real-world examples such as Toyota’s manufacturing approach.
Information and consultation
The UK’s Information and Consultation of Employees Regulations require companies with 50+ employees to establish information and consultation procedures through negotiation with employee representatives or by voluntary agreement. The phased implementation begins in 2005, with procedures triggered by a valid request from 10% of employees or established proactively by employers.
2020: future of work predictions
A 2020 future of work report predicts major workplace changes including tripled stress-related absenteeism, younger and more diverse leadership, increased HR outsourcing, virtual work expansion, and a shift toward knowledge-based jobs creating a two-tier workforce of creators and implementers.
Eldercare is fast becoming key work-life balance issue
Eldercare is emerging as a critical work-life balance issue, expected to surpass childcare by 2020 as demographic shifts create an aging population. A new report warns that employees caring for elderly parents face significant productivity costs, with businesses losing billions annually to caregiving-related absences and stress-related illness.
Study finds e-learners ‘get what they need’
A new study found that 92% of IT e-learners achieved their learning goals, even if they didn’t complete entire courses. Most employees preferred short 30-minute study sessions and applied new skills immediately on the job.
Learning Solutions 2004 – 25 & 26 May 2004
Learning Solutions 2004 is a national event taking place 25-26 May at London’s Business Design Centre, featuring over 50 leading companies, exhibitions, workshops, and a conference programme on implementing integrated learning solutions. Attendees can explore instructor-led training, e-learning innovations, and network with industry professionals while hearing from high-profile speakers including keynote addresses on informal learning and learner experience.
Flexible working at Asda
Asda offers a comprehensive flexible working package including seasonal jobs, childcare leave, shift swaps, job sharing, and career breaks up to two years. The retailer was named Britain’s best company for flexibility in 2003 and topped The Sunday Times Top Company to Work for Survey in 2002.
