Equality begins at home: men step up, women step back
According to research conducted by McKinsey and Lean In for womenintheworkplace.com, in households where both partners work full time, 41% of women report doing more childcare and 30% report doing more chores. Furthermore, there is little evidence the next generation is striking a better balance. Although younger couples split household chores more evenly, women under […]
Here’s how to make other HR pros hate you on Twitter
No names, no job titles, no companies. HR After Dark features totally anonymised opinion pieces from HR professionals, consultants and industry commentators. No holds barred, no censorship, nothing but raw opinions on issues that matter to HR. When the lights go down, HR After Dark comes out to play. See it all here first. Want […]
Work violence: does different treatment make dismissal unfair?
If an employee has two years’ service, then when considering a dismissal relating to conduct, an employer needs to act reasonably in the investigation, the process, the conclusions and the sanction imposed. One of the things that an employer also needs to consider is consistency of treatment. Inconsistency in punishments for misconduct may give rise […]
Let’s bury the ‘human remains’ stigma and build HR’s future
“We can’t build a profession from people who say they ended up in HR,” said Peter Cheese, the CEO of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). A year on from his keynote speech at the 2014 CIPD conference, does the stigma of working in ‘human remains’ still exist? HR’s existential crisis has been […]
Simple tips to help you stay focused at work
Our working environment hosts a plethora of distractions making it challenging for many employees to stay focused on a task. High workloads, multitasking, meetings, open plan work environments (that are not suited to all personality types) and not to mention the constant flow of information via email, internet and social media all play a role, […]
The ‘six conditions’ of high performance
W. Edwards Deming insisted that you improve performance by improving the system not blaming people. He stated that the variation in employee performance (from their worst day at work to their best) was 5% down to the individual and 95% down to the conditions in the environment. And therefore managers should focus more attention on […]
Why your organisation needs post-heroic leadership
Heroes, admired for their bravery and noble qualities, exist in the myths, legends and folklore in every culture. We’ve all been reared on stories in which a protagonist shows courage in the face of adversity; history has taught us about larger-than-life military and political figures; film and TV have shown us Superman, Wonder Woman and […]
How can you defuse workplace conflicts? Part 2
In Part 1 of our series on how to manage workplace conflict, we looked at how to open the conversation, as well as two core workplace mediation skills: listening and playing back the issues. In part 2, we explore how to use conflict resolution skills to highlight choices, support decision-making and handle potential roadblocks. Highlighting […]
What can you do to defuse workplace conflicts?
What could you do to help defuse workplace conflicts? This two-part series outlines the core skills used by trained mediators in a workplace mediation. These skills can be applied on an informal basis, as a means of managing workplace conflict at the earliest stage. Following Consensio’s mediation principles, we assume firstly that your involvement is […]
Nine qualities authentic leaders live by every day
There has been much discussion of the idea of authentic leadership, yet while I have read and heard much about its importance, less time and effort has been dedicated to understanding exactly what makes an authentic leader. The Oxford Dictionary definition of authentic is “of undisputed origin, genuine”. So what does this mean when we talk […]
Prevent the “Why did I just do that?!” feeling
How many times have you experienced what is called ‘esprit d’escalier’, a French term which literally means ‘stairway thinking’? You are just on your way out of a meeting, or have just pressed ‘send’ on that email, or have just hung up the phone. You have a sense of vague dissatisfaction (or perhaps clear disappointment […]
Organisational politics: dark art or just the way to get things done?
In almost every programme I run that mentions influencing, stakeholders or engagement, the conversation turns to politics. The usual response is one of discomfort, dislike or confusion. Occasionally you do get a more mature, perhaps seasoned campaigner, who is sanguine about the whole arena of political influencing, and just accepts that robust debate is all […]
Bringing sporting mindsets into the workplace
There’s so much rich insight coming out of the academic sector that HR professionals need to know. 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. Get connected to the academic sector through Academics’ Corner and make […]
From cleaner to COO: Karen Hester of Adnams
Karen Hester is Chief Operating Officer at the award-winning brewer and distiller, Adnams. In April this year she became the first female executive director to sit on Adnams’ board, since it was founded in 1872 – a remarkable achievement after joining the business as a cleaner in 1988. Here, she talks about her journey to […]
Mindsets. Do you really know what one is?
Mindsets – they seem to be increasingly popular, yet misunderstood and misused. More seriously, the word ‘mindset’ often appears without definition, without its underlying assumptions about personality and people made clear, or any explanation of why one mindset might be better than another. At a recent HR conference, for example, I became increasingly frustrated by […]
Book Review: The Values-driven Organization
HRZone has a range of books available for review. If you would like to receive one of our business books, free of charge, please contact the editor on editor at hrzone dot com and we can send you a list of what's available. In return, we ask for a 400-700 word review of the book, […]
Exit the leadership vortex: to whom do operational leaders ultimately owe allegiance?
I was recently at a function at the House of Commons at which the seasoned CEO of a multinational financial services organisation aptly described the environment of business leadership much akin to operating in a vortex. In reality, amidst widespread confusion, if not chaos, leaders lack effective control of the speed, direction, indeed the ultimate […]
Three things to avoid when facing change
There is a wealth of fantastic knowledge available on how to lead and manage through change. All of which I have found to be essential when navigating some tricky waters. But the best lessons I have personally learned from have been those based on experience. Every role that I have held has included some form […]
How do the ‘HR elite’ spend their time?
Do you know what your HR leader does every day? Understanding how your colleagues work is fundamental to being a key cog in an efficient and effective HR team. Additionally, when you’re looking to secure your dream HR job, knowing how effective HR teams work together can be invaluable. Knowing the professional priorities and patterns […]
Five choices to extraordinary productivity
The dramatic increase in the power of technology means that it’s never been easier to accomplish great things.Yet paradoxically, these same technologies can make it harder than ever to do the things that are important to us. It’s a paradox that lies at the heart of the on-going productivity debate. Every day we’re faced with […]
