Talking Point: Why is HR still looking for training silver bullets?
The happy sheet – or, to give it its proper title, the ‘post-course evaluation form’ – has been part of the trainer’s toolbox for years. The problem is that they tend to offer little or no value in the long-run – not because of the feedback itself, but because of the lack of bearing that […]
Blog: Why HR needs to get out more
This is a particular hobbyhorse of mine. Put simply we don’t spend enough time in the business. HR as a profession has long been criticised for failure to really understand and contribute to business strategy or to align HR to corporate objectives. This is much more than just being able to understand the financials, […]
Blog: Working Families Conference – How to achieve true flexible working
Matt Dean facilitated a very interesting discussion at the Working Families Conference on 25 September. We posed the following four questions: “Can we honestly say that we have created ‘flexible career paths’ (and what is stopping us)?” “Why do jobs have to take 60 hours (particularly in the current economic climate)?” “How can business alter its […]
Christina’s Counsel: How do I get into HR?
Hello and welcome to this month’s dilemma: The challenge A reader wrote to me recently asking for advice about to switch his career from business administration to HR. Just recently having been made redundant, he wondered if now was a good time to make the move into an entirely new field. HR appealed […]
News: ‘Forget offshoring. Onshore work to prison inmates instead’
Rather than offshore work to staff overseas, employers should consider onshoring it to inmates within the prison system, an offender rehabilitation expert has suggested. A report entitled ‘Made in Prison’ published by Working Links called on the government to work with organisations such as the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and the CBI to […]
Blog: Ten top tips to appear more confident
If you’re keen to come across more confidently, here are 10 tips to do just that: 1. Know what you look like Find out how people perceive you…if you look as though you lack confidence, then people will treat you as though you do. In other words, you’re already on the back foot and […]
Talent Spot: Simon Linares, group HR director at Telefonica Digital
When Telefónica Digital launched last year, group HR director Simon Linares had the daunting but exciting prospect of helping to create a very different organisational culture from that of its parent company. Its parent, Telefónica, is the Spanish owner of mobile operator O2, of which Linares was formerly group HR director too. But his […]
Blog: Becoming a Time Lord – Progressing your career without benefit of hindsight
Meg Burton’s interview in my last blog prompted some thoughts about how we create that awareness of what our gap is… You know the gap that with hindsight we can see as clearly as the nose on our face (if you missed it click here). Unless you have Dr Who like abilities we don’t […]
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 […]
Blog: Andrew Mitchell’s hissy fit – Why swearing at work is never a good idea
The dear old Brits used to be famous for the rigid quality of their upper lips. Death, debt, war – we remained determinedly phlegmatic. Whether John McEnroe was a cause or a symptom, whether it’s those Oprah-type shows that encourage us to let it all hang out, but the UK’s upper lip is looking really […]
HRD Insight: Enterprise Rent-A-Car’s Leigh Lafever-Ayer on flexible working
This week is National Work-Life Week, which is intended to encourage both employers and their employees to think about how they can strike a better work-life balance. One popular flexible working method is home-working and people who do so are reportedly less stressed and feel happier that they are getting the balance between the two […]
News: “Shareholder spring” leads to fewer senior exec pay rises
Almost half of senior executives in the UK’s largest companies failed to secure a pay rise this year following the “shareholder spring” backlash against excessive renumeration. According to a report by Deloitte Consulting, some 46% of the chief executives in FTSE 100 firms saw their basic salary frozen this year compared with only 21% in […]
Blog: Why competency frameworks are like potatoes
I always think about Competency Frameworks as being like a potato. Not because they are muddy, starchy and sprout a bit when left in a dark cupboard, but because they provide a good solid basis and you can do loads of different things with them. Yet also like spuds, they are often either under-utilised, or […]
HRZone Interview: Jason Holt on apprenticeships
Most UK businesses are missing a fantastic growth opportunity by failing to offer apprenticeships, believes jeweller and entrepreneur Jason Holt, who has just completed a government report on how to make such schemes more manageable for small-to-medium enterprises. Holt took over the family jewellery business in 1999 and subsequently set up Holt’s Academy of Jewellery […]
Blog: How to undertake staff communications with pizzazz
Over the years some have found that HR communication has become somewhat synonymous with flat messages, full of corporate jargon that take up space in their inbox and rarely entice the recipient to open, let alone read it… Until now. With all the developments in modern technology HR departments all over the world should be […]
Talent Spot: Caroline Lowe, HR director for Hilton London Heathrow Terminal 5
Caroline Lowe, director of HR for Hilton London Heathrow Terminal 5, was single-minded about wanting to work in the hotel industry. As a result, she undertook a degree in hotel management and, on finishing her studies, went straight into the operational side of the business. “I just always enjoyed being in hotels: the look […]
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? […]
News: Boardroom divide over who owns people management
While ineffective people management is considered a key reason that organisations fail to hit financial targets, a worrying boardroom divide over who should take responsibility is wreaking havoc. According to a report entitled ‘Talent pipeline draining growth: Connecting human capital to the growth agenda’, although a huge 83% of HR directors believe that talent management […]
Blog: Working your business skills on the dating scene
Many of our finely tuned business skills can be applied to the dating scene. Match.com’s resident clinical psychologist, Dr Cecilia d’Felice, shares her advice on how you can transfer your business expertise to your dating toolkit: Research You wouldn’t turn up to a business meeting unprepared and the same diligence should apply to a date. […]
Talking Point: Is trust the future of learning?
So let’s start at the end. The end point is about trust and about creating that trust within your environment. But, you might ask, why should trust be a future thing when, in the psychological contract between employers and their employees, it has always been a precondition? The issue is that there is […]
