CEO Insight: Company Shortcuts’ Lara Morgan on staff retention

Getting the staff on board is one thing, keeping them is another. Loyalty is important to me. I wanted to create an environment where people wanted to work, would thrive and progress. In the early days, we worked in an open plan office (my front room), we often ate lunch together (in my kitchen) and over these […]

Mediation: Part One – When to use it and why

Mediation is increasingly gaining prominence as an effective means of resolving workplace disputes. Yet for many organisations, it is still a relatively untested approach compared to more formal processes such as disciplinary and grievance procedures.   In the first of a four part series on the subject, we provide guidance on how to ensure that […]

‘Humanising’ HR through social media

Traditionally, HR’s main involvement with social media has been to police employees’ online activities and ensure that they are not breaching company policies if using social networking sites within working hours. But the function is also gradually starting to see the benefits of employing the channel more widely itself. A recent survey conducted by SysComm […]

Three tips for managing risky employee behaviour

Risk is back on the agenda, not just from the perspective of how organisations operate, but also in terms of how individual employees behave. High profile events at News International and at Swiss banking giant UBS, following the arrest of suspected rogue trader Kweku Adoboli amid accusations of perpetrating a £1.5 billion banking fraud, are […]

Blog: It’s not just about the money

Retaining your best workers during an economic downturn can make the difference between success and failure for any company. When pay is squeezed and standards of living seem threatened, people naturally focus more on salary and benefits and less on job satisfaction.   In a recent survey by the Institute of Administrative Management, more than […]

The downside of nepotism

Prominent leadership appointments are under more scrutiny than ever before. At the same time as the concept of ‘jobs for the boys’ has become less socially acceptable, today’s sceptical public is taking more and more interest in the appointment of prominent leaders working in both public and private sector organisations.   Trust in public figures […]

Blog: The internal superinjunction

There has been a lot of talk on the interweb lately about super injunctions, and a certain footballers apparent ability to score more often off the pitch than on it.   We talk of these injunctions as if they are new phenomenon, or reserved for the super rich and wealthy when actually, for most employees and […]

Blog: From riot to clean-up – a reminder for HR

If the past couple of weeks have taught us, as a society, anything at all, it is this: underestimate the power of the people at your peril. The rioting that enveloped public interest last week started off on a north London street, and spread like wild fire throughout the entire country, threatening at times to […]

Managers failing to motivate and communicate

Poor management communication and an inability to motivate staff are key reasons why only a third of UK personnel are currently working to their full potential, a report has claimed.  A survey among 2,000 workers undertaken by staff development company European Leaders revealed that a huge two thirds failed to understand their company’s vision, which […]

Communicating with your employees – don’t be anti-social!

Employee engagement should be high on business leaders’ agenda, especially given the economic uncertainty of recent years. This has been particularly challenging with a number of companies being unable to offer their staff a pay increase to maintain levels of engagement. However, an attractive employee benefits scheme can be a cost-effective alternative to a pay […]

Gender issues: Effective workplace communication

Gender is one of the most obvious differences in any group of employees, and an undeniable one: men and women aren’t just physically different, but grow up influenced by (and largely endure) different social conditioning. But while each of us has a gender, we also have a nationality and/or race, a set of personal beliefs, […]

Better communication with the DISC system

Body language expert Peter Clayton looks at the complex subject of profiling and how it can help you better understand how to communicate with your audience whether you are delivering a training programme to managers, presenting to the board or giving a speech at an HR event. Most of us take in knowledge and analyse […]

Bad communication real culprit of high staff turnover

Although many employers are blaming the recession for increased levels of staff turnover, in reality as many as a third should look to their own poor communication and unsupportive company culture as the main culprits.  Nigel Watson, managing director of performance management specialists Q4 Solutions, claimed that many businesses were simply "burying their heads in […]

Would you ban email in the office?

Everyone hates spam. That much we know. But email has opened the lines of communication making conversations easy across the world. It’s a great invention and we’d never be without it – or would we? You’d never ban email in an office. Email has enabled great things to happen. But it has also, according to […]

Take five – communicate better (part two)

Continuing our two part series on improving communication in your organisation, Michael Richards adds a further five tips to help you communicate better. 6. Keeping the brand at arm’s lengthHow you communicate internally should always reflect your brand. So it’s a wonder that so many organisations keep the brand at a distance from employees – […]

Take five – communicate better

Encouraging efficient, effective and appropriate communication is one of HR’s greatest challenges. Jim Collins promotes having ‘to do’ and ‘stop doing’ lists to help efficency, and Michael Richards has put together these five tips, which are the first of a two part series to help you break the bad communication habits. So take five and […]

Industry View: Trouble at the rumour mill

Restructuring; outsourcing; relocation; mergers and acquisitions help to ensure the survival of many companies. Alongside the legal processes of such changes, their implementation also has to be carefully handled by skilled HR professionals. Managing the communication of change is a key part of maintaining company morale. Although the UK has officially emerged from the recession the […]

Good HR is E.ons away

Utility firm E.On has caused outrage among staff after finding out about its decision to axe 800 jobs following the closure of its Rayleigh call centre from a local Essex newspaper.  The German-owned company, which supplies gas and electricity to 5.5 million UK customers, said that the decision to close the facility was not “taken […]

Handling difficult conversations in the workplace

Managers must be able to handle difficult conversations at work, especially in the current climate. Gill Trevelyan advises on how best to communicate with employees.       Lost for words?   What is the hardest part of conducting a disciplinary, grievance or investigatory interview? Is it trying to remember and adhere to the legislation that […]

Building trust and confidence in a recession

Trust amongst the workforce can be shaken when redundancies are made, so Lorne Armstrong explains how businesses can ensure confidence is not lost and trust remains intact during a downturn. Everyone has experienced the change and uncertainty the recession has brought, and we’ve witnessed first-hand the dramatic loss of trust in business leaders and government.   […]