Is there gender bias in your leadership, talent and promotion criteria?

Research shows that women need to work harder, smarter and for longer than men to get appointed into leadership roles. In order to break away from this deeply ingrained bias towards male leaders, businesses need to reassess their process and criteria for promoting talent. According to Cranfield University 29 per cent of FTSE 100 directors (executive and […]

The four-day work week: tips for a smooth transition

Earlier this month, the TUC called for a four-day working week. But can businesses realistically make this transition? Jade Beddington, Senior Account Director at Radioactive PR, tells the story of how the agency she works for has reduced its working days without cutting pay – something that was put into play just before the TUC […]

Predictive people analytics: how is it impacting the way we manage people?

Predictive people analytics is changing how we manage people. But how exactly? Although the emergence of people analytics in HR is increasingly well documented, how it changes day-to-day practices for HR professionals and managers has been little explored. To learn more about the impact of analytics on how people are managed, and the changing role […]

Gender pay gap reporting – now what?

It’s been six months since the Gender Pay Gap reporting deadline – and we’re all familar with the findings. But beyond the reporting, what steps should businesses be taking to get more women into higher paid roles? On the 4th April 2018, over 10,000 companies provided mandatory data on their gender* pay gap based on six key calculations. […]

How unconscious bias means that we get in our own way

Are women’s own unconscious biases stopping them from pursuing what they truly want in their lives? Businesses are certainly beginning to understand how unconscious bias means that some groups of people may have to ‘jump higher’ for certain roles within their companies. What is talked about less is another, more internalised, form of bias. The […]

Why leaders need to put on their oxygen mask and take care of themselves

If leaders don’t look after their own wellbeing first and foremost, they won’t have the capacity to care for their people and organisation properly. It might seem counter-intuitive, in a world where ‘servant-leadership’ is widely recognised as a concept, to write an article about why leaders need to look after themselves. This article came about […]

Tame your inner-critic: how self-criticism limits employee productivity

Do you have an inner critic? Here’s how your negative, self-doubting thoughts can play out in the workplace and impact productivity. Over the past ten years of working with employees at different points in their career (leaders and managers included), it has struck me that we all experience, to some degree at some point in […]

Work/life balance: why checking emails on holiday is bad for business

Our latest research revealed that 65% of respondents admitted to checking work emails while on holiday, with various degrees of frequency, and 75% said they have taken or made a work call while on leave. The higher up the organisation you are the more likely you are to be ‘checking-in’, with only 19% of senior […]

Employees who keep their smartphone close by are reducing their brain power

At Academics’ Corner we explore the latest HR research coming out of the academic sector that HR professionals need to know about. Here, Jan Hills, Partner at Head Heart + Brian, outlines a study that shows how the proximity of smartphones can impact performance at work. We all know how annoying it can be when someone keeps looking at their […]

Employee engagement: decoding social media for the workplace

Social media is an all-pervasive part of modern life, but HR teams are still struggling to keep up with the pace and develop an organisational approach to it.  You only have to look around to see how widespread social media has become. From sharing updates on the train to posting pictures while on holiday – […]

HR leadership: boosting inclusivity in your workplace

After years of hiding my own disabilities from employers, I’ve come to realise that employers can play a vital role in helping employees embrace their personal challenges and create a more inclusive place to work. As an IT contractor going from job to job, I always worried that I would miss out on a contract […]

Growth mindset: elegant theory or robust intervention?

‘Growth mindset’ initiatives have once again become a hot topic in HR circles, but not all organisations are getting it right.  Growth mindset theory, the belief that you can develop your intelligence and abilities, is appealing and seductively simple, but, just because it works in education, does that make it viable for the workplace? The answer is […]

How does Scientific People Analytics compare with other people analytics approaches?

In the final article of this four-part series, Dr Max Blumberg compares the Scientific People Analytics (SPA) to other commonly used people analytics approaches. Which methodology will come out on top? To briefly recap, part 1 of this series demonstrated that unlike marketing and manufacturing, people analytics has been relatively slow to adopt methodologies based […]

Why financial wellness is a crucial part of your employee wellbeing strategy

Poor financial wellbeing can negatively impact employees’ ability to be productive at work, so employers need to up their game when it comes to supporting their staff in this area. Financial wellness encompasses a range of elements and these vary from individual to individual and will change over time as their circumstances and needs change. […]

Recruitment: how to pick out the one-in-a-million candidates

There’s a special alchemy involved with assembling the right team. Here are the key ingredients for success when recruiting those one-in-a-million candidates.  “You had me at hello.” I wonder how many directors have wanted to say those words when interviewing a star candidate? When that special someone says yes, the c-suite no longer feels so empty. […]

Should smaller businesses be required to report their gender pay gap?

There have been recent calls to extend the compulsory gender pay gap reporting to smaller businesses. But is this a wise move? There has been a big push in recent years to nullify the disparities between men and women in the workplace, politics and in general society. That is why it was a welcome announcement […]

Recruitment: why ‘cultural fit’ is an essential requirement for assessing candidates

While a candidate might be technically qualified to do a job, if they’re not a good ‘cultural fit’ for the organisation and the team, it can lead to problems further down the line. Here’s how companies can reflect their unique culture in their hiring process. If recent statistics are to be believed, it appears that […]

It’s not just fun and games any more: why gamification matters in HR

At Academics’ Corner we feature the best HR researchers that tell you what they’ve found and what you need to do differently on the back of the research. Here, Nicole Jackson explains how gamification has the potential to revolutionise HR processes – if it’s used correctly.  In the 1980s and 1990s, playing games on computers […]

A lesson from Winnie the Pooh on ‘doing nothing’

What can we learn from Winnie the Pooh in the new Christopher Robin film? That doing nothing from time to time should not be sniffed at. Last week, I went to the cinema to see the Christopher Robin film with my mum (we are both big fans of Winnie the Pooh). I was anticipating a […]

Why a Change Pathfinder is essential to HR transformation

When attempting to implement change in an organisation, it helps to have a team member who can clear the path ahead for others to follow. These Change Pathfinders can make all the difference to a project’s success.  Imagine this: You’ve just been handed an amazing opportunity to manage a large transformation project. You have the […]