Blog: The World of HR – Today’s frustrations, tomorrow’s dreams part 1
Imagine this scenario. You’re a few years retired from your role as HRD of the ACME company. You’re enjoying the fruits of your labours, perhaps sipping on an Elderflower cordial whilst sitting in your favourite chair and bouncing your grandchild on your knee. She looks up at you and says, “When you had a […]
Five considerations for carving out a successful HR career
Our research identified five important questions for HR professionals: What is your company looking for? What are the table stakes? What stage is your career at, so what do you need to focus on today? What do you need to develop for tomorrow? How do you build depth and breadth? 1. What is your […]
In a Nutshell: Five tips when recruiting for a start-up
The hospitality sector is a people business and poor management can quickly turn customers off, no matter how plush a hotel’s facilities. Caroline Lowe, HR director for Hilton London Heathrow Terminal 5, who was involved in launching the hotel last year, explains how she dealt with recruiting the right 130 staff to try and ensure […]
What risk type are you? And why does it matter?
Arguing for the importance of self-awareness, Socrates famously taught that ‘the unexamined life is not worth living’. Arguably, the self-awareness of senior executives and managers determines whether other people’s lives are worth living – and that applies especially to self-awareness about risk type. The distance between an extreme ‘Wary’ risk type and their opposite, the […]
In a Nutshell: Five considerations when taking on an apprentice
Jason Holt, who set up Holts Academy, which pioneered formal qualifications and an approved apprenticeship scheme for the jewellery industry, recently published the results of his government-commissioned review into ‘Making Apprenticeships more Accessible to SMEs’. Based on his experiences, Holt offers advice to HRZone’s community on how employers can ensure that they get the best […]
In a Nutshell: Four ways to ensure that staff have a healthy work-life balance
Because this is National Work-Life Week, it’s a good time to think about the importance of achieving a healthy balance between the two. Michael Gentle, head of consumer marketing at online jobs board, Monster UK and Ireland, shares his top tips for ensuring that employees do just that: 1. Increase happiness: Ensure staff know […]
Is the HR recruitment market starting to recover?
The overall HR recruitment market has seen a marked improvement recently, with a cautious but steady rise in new vacancies. Here we look at individual sectors in more depth: Financial services There have been a few significant HR moves at the senior executive level recently and we expect that to impact hiring as new […]
News: 22,500 new HR jobs created over last year
While the number of HR professionals employed in the UK has risen by 20% over the last year, vacancies for senior interim staff leaped by a huge 45% during the first nine months of 2012 alone. According to an analysis of data from the Office for National Statistics undertaken by specialist HR recruitment agency Ortus, […]
Blog: Creating your own Dragon’s Den to foster innovation
As a new series of Dragons’ Den hits the airwaves listening to some of the ideas presented in the programme does make you sit up and think….what if? Well what if you looked at your employees as inventors and innovators and created a collection of dragons from around your own business? Then every quarter […]
In a Nutshell: Five considerations when setting up your own business
Karen Gill, co-founder of everywoman, a women’s membership organisation that aims to increase both the number and status of women in business, knows from first-hand experience how hard it is to set up a company and the pitfalls that await. Here she offers advice to anyone thinking of striking out on their own: 1. Learn […]
Engaging for success: The key role of line managers
The recently formed government taskforce ‘Engage For Success’ is urging employers to prioritise staff engagement as means of achieving economic growth. As Russell Grossman, director of communications at the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, observed at this year’s Institute of Internal Communication conference, if the UK’s 4.8 million businesses could boost engagement levels by […]
In a Nutshell: The five core principles of effective leadership
If you bumped into the chief executive in the lift and were asked to tell him/her what you thought the five core principles of effective leadership were, what would you say? Wendy Brooks, director at leadership training provider, Hemsley Fraser, shares her ideas on the subject: 1. Be an active learner and foster learning […]
Well-being at work: Learning to love what you do
One of the strongest predictors of health and well-being turns out to be the quality of our social connections. Yet, have you ever turned up for a doctor’s appointment, had your blood pressure taken and then been asked some rather direct questions about your social life: Do you often get together with family and friends? […]
In a Nutshell: Six considerations when devising an HR strategy
What’s the best way to develop an effective HR strategy? Christina Lattimer, founder of HR and leadership development consultancy People Discovery, shares some of her ideas on the subject, while maintaining all the while that simplicity and clear communication are key: 1. Understand the business and its people On the one hand, it is crucial […]
News: Thinktank and nurses’ leaders dispute impact of regional pay deals
Although a think tank has claimed that national pay rates are unfair to public sector workers, nurses’ leaders attest that local pay rates will result in thousands of professionals leaving the NHS in protest. According to a report by the right-wing Policy Exchange, a huge £6.3 billion of public money could be freed up by […]
Book Review: Organisational behaviour for dummies
This book by Cary Cooper, Lynn Holdsworth and Sheena Johnson is a comprehensive exploration of everything related to individual and group behaviour as well as the impact of such dynamics on the wider business/organisation. As a result, it would be beneficial to start with a definition of what the term ‘organisational behaviour’ actually means: […]
In a Nutshell: Five tips for rolling out a global HR system successfully
In July this year, Aviva completed the UK roll-out of an HR system from Software-as-a-Service vendor, Workday, following successful implementations at the insurance provider’s subsidiaries in Europe, North America and Asia. Based on the experience, here are acting group HR director Carole Jones’ top five tips to help ensure that your global applications deployment works […]
Five social media platforms to help boost your career
Social networking can prove a useful tool for finding a new job or moving forward in your career. Here we look at the pros and cons of five key platforms: 1. Link up with LinkedIn Professional social network LinkedIn now has 150 million users globally, so it’s essential you are using all of its […]
News: Half of HR departments will be restructured in next few years
Nearly half of all organisations intend to restructure their HR departments over the next few years in a bid to cater more effectively to the changing needs of the business. According to professional services firm Tower Watson’s HR service delivery survey conducted among HR and HR/IT executives working at 628 organisations across the world, just […]
Blog: Organisational values – Actions speak louder than words
“For us this lawsuit has always been about something much more important than patents or money. It’s about values. We value originality and innovation and pour our lives into making the best products on Earth. And we do this to delight our customers, not for competitors to flagrantly copy.” This was part of the missive […]
