US workers put in more and more hours
The Guardian reports that workers in the USA are putting in the longest hours of any country in the industrialised world.The findings come from new research from the International Labour Organisation, which, according to the paper, shows that the average American now spends a week a year more at work than they did ten years […]
Pay Attention!
This week’s article from FTdynamo looks at the importance of overcoming attention deficits in today’s information-saturated workplace. A new book, The Attention Economy: Understanding the New Currency of Business by Thomas Davenport and John Beck (Harvard Business School Press), argues that the new scarcest resource isn’t ideas or even talent: it’s attention.The book claims that […]
Work-based learning
This page indexes the various information and resource services currently available throughout HR Zone on the subject of Work-based learning. It is one of several Professional Themes where we are categorising the services available from the site.Resources:Within the HR Zone and TrainingZONE Resources areas there are a number of dedicated areas relating to Work-based learning:Blackwell’s […]
HR-Expert announces its closure
HR-Expert.com, the online HR advice and resources service operated by Pearson Education yesterday announced it was shutting up shop on 29 September.The online HR market has been somewhat crowded with several providers battling for market share. Pearson offered a fortnightly newswire on a subscription basis but never secured enough supporters to make the service viable. […]
Drug Misuse at Work: Employers Guide
The Health and Safety Executive has republished an updated 24 page employers guide to drug misuse in the workplace. The guide points out that this is an issue which no employer can afford to ignore.The easy-to-read practical guide includes material on detecting the problem, different classes of drugs, commonly abused drugs, workplace policies, management action, […]
Equal Opportunities Commission: Sexual harassment is no joke
Sexual harassment, far from being a joke, can result in long term consequences for those who suffer as a result, says the Equal Opportunities Commission.An EOC analysis of employment tribunal cases over the last three years reveals that ninety per cent of those whose claims for harassment were successful had lost their job or resigned […]
Changing the culture of your business
Understanding that serving employees is as strategically important as serving customers, or meeting the financial needs of the shareholders, is a mind-shift for many managers says Simon Thane in this guest article.In today’s fast-moving economy, the critical factor for sustainable business success is senior management’s ability to lead their employees through continuing change. They need […]
Civil Service to receive large pay rises
Reports circulating in the national press recently suggest that many Whitehall staff may be in line for substantial pay increases. The Senior Salaries Review Body is due to report next month and will present the government with another thorny issue, following hard on the heels of the recent large rises of senior members of the […]
Managers Manifesto
Recently, the Institute of Management published its ‘Managers Manifesto’ as a white paper contribution for the new government in establishing the necessary conditions for the effective management of UK businesses.Entitled ‘Managing UK plc – An Agenda for Success’ the manifesto sets out some predictable goals and strategies, including some detail on how these might be […]
Five steps to information, instruction and training
The Health and Safety Executive has recently published a new guide for employers and HR staff to help them in briefing and presenting information to staff. Focusing specifically on their responsibilities for health and safety briefings, the 16 page Adobe Acrobat document provides a simple five step process to help the manager prepare for any […]
Learning for Work is failing to deliver
A recent CIPD conference timed to mark the launch of their new report on ‘The Future of Learning for Work’ is particularly critical of the UK’s present plans to develop learning for work schemes, despite the recent reorganisation of Learning and Skills Councils and the plethora of funding schemes supporting this area.Report authors and speakers […]
Boardroom salaries burst through the roof as shares rise
‘New economy’ firm bosses have seen their pay shoot up over the last year, thanks to huge rises in the value of their company shares.This is the verdict of a new survey carried out by Inbucon for The Guardian newspaper, which is based on information contained in the latest annual reports of companies in the […]
The five steps to work-life balance heaven
The following article is submitted by Rob Shorrock, the Voluntary Sector Development and Training Manager for PARENTS AT WORK, the national charitable organisation promoting work-life balance.The week of 11th to 15th September is Work-Life Balance Week. This gives organisations an opportunity to explore ways in which they can develop a work-life culture and support staff […]
Presentation skills courses
Quality of teaching and materials provided?Use of up-to-date techniques?Usefulness of guidance provided?Value for money?Trainer:student ratio?Public or private sector oriented? Both?Any help appreciated… Neil McCain
Sad but true – miserable workers are more productive
In the regular FTdynamo column this week, we learn that contrary to popular opinion it's not the happy workers who are most productive, but the unhappy ones. We all may have thought for many years that happy workers are the best workers. Sad to say, recent research appears to suggest the opposite – the […]
Do you have an intranet for your staff?
This week, HR Zone is running a major online survey into the use of corporate intranets. An intranet is an ‘in-house website’ often used to publish company news to staff. However, an increasing range of facilities and services are now being deployed onto intranets, including, for example: organisational procedures organisational guidelines and best practice employee […]
LSC: Employers are failing to deliver on training
Employers run the risk of losing their staff and their businesses by failing to keep promises on training, according to latest research from the Learning and Skills Council.Findings from the second phase of the ‘People and Profits’ report involving staff in more than 800 small and medium sized companies, indicate that a third of all […]
TUC calls for three more bank holidays a year
Britain's workers not only get the least statutory annual leave in Europe but have to manage on the lowest number of bank holidays as well, according to a TUC report released today (Friday). Banking on your holiday? says British workers enjoy only eight bank holidays a year compared to 12 in Italy, 13 in Austria […]
Economy is not all ‘doom and gloom’ – even for manufacturing
Economic growth will be sluggish for the rest of 2001 but manufacturing will start coming out of its technical recession by the end of this year and output growth will revive in 2002. That is what the CBI predicted yesterday as it publishes its quarterly economic forecast. The CBI is now forecasting that GDP will […]
CBI: GCSE results ‘must do better’
The successes in GCSE and GNVQ exams are good news for business, but too few students are doing well, the CBI said after results were published. While welcoming the rise of 0.5 per cent to 57.1 per cent in the overall pass rate for GCSEs, the CBI says we need a step change in expectations […]
