News: Age and motherhood are top two barriers to female career progression

Working women face not just one but multiple glass ceilings, with the biggest barriers to career progression comprising age and motherhood. According to a survey of 1,000 UK females in employment undertaken by accountancy firm Ernst & Young, the other key inhibitors were a dearth of role models and a lack of experience or qualifications. […]

The HRZone Interview: Best Companies’ Wayne Clarke on engagement

Wayne Clarke is managing partner at workplace engagement specialists, Best Companies, the firm behind the prestigious Sunday Times ‘Best Companies to Work For’ annual listing of high-performing organisations. It has identified eight key factors that are critical to be an employer that staff rate highly. They comprise:   How employees feel about their leaders How […]

In a Nutshell: Five tips for creating a positive company culture

Culture is one of those nebulous things that it’s hard to put your finger on: it’s something you instinctively know is spot on or out of kilter. Get it right and you have a happy workforce who will hopefully ensure that customers are happy too. Get it wrong and there is a chain reaction in […]

News: Ex-Apple exec sues over alleged ‘job for life’ promise

A former employee is suing Apple for emotional distress after being dismissed last December, claiming that co-founder and chief executive Steve Jobs had promised him a job for life. Ousted executive producer Wayne Goodrich alleges that, during a one-to-one meeting in 2010, Jobs, who died last October after a five-year battle with cancer, had told […]

Talent Spot: Karl Jolly, director of people at the Welcome Break Group

Karl Jolly has spent his whole career in the hospitality and food and drink industries. Today, he is director of people at Welcome Break Group, helping to ensure that the 80 million people who pass through the motorway service station and hotel operator’s doors have as good an experience as possible. “About 98% of 80 […]

How to tackle your first 100 days as HR director – Part 2

These days, an HR director’s achievements in their first 100 days of taking on a new position are routinely seen as an indication of their future leadership potential. This means that swift delivery on goals and an immediate return on investment are considered more essential than ever.   So how can you ensure that you […]

How to get ahead in HR

HR professionals have been put in the spotlight over the last two years as the function became even more critical during the downturn. Most are now working to execute strategies and make changes across various business functions to come up with innovative solutions to offset business cost pressures.   Throughout the economic crisis, many HR […]

Book Review: Human resources or human capital? Managing people as assets

‘Human Resources or Human Capital?’ is a comprehensive introduction to HR but, for the more seasoned professional, also provides a thorough and practical analysis of the contribution of HR to the business. The purpose of the book is to help HR pros and line managers alike boost their ability to manage ‘human capital’, which author, […]

Blog: Learning to manage sickness absence more creatively

Newly published figures by the Health and Social Care Information Centre have revealed that NHS workers took an average of 15 days of sickness absence over the last year – an improvement on figures from three years ago.  Sceptics have been quick to note that the level of sickness absence in the NHS is considerably […]

News: FTSE CEO pay rises ‘cool off’, but wage inequality continues to heat up

Although pay rises for FTSE 100 chief executives may be “cooling off”, wage inequalities between high and middle and low earners still appear to be heating up. According to research from the Incomes Data Service, earnings growth among the UK’s top bosses slowed over the last year to a median of 8.5% lower than it […]

Living Leader Learnings: How do I get my team to take me seriously?

The challenge The manager of a production team at an animal feed manufacturer asks:   “Six months ago, I was promoted to a management position within my team, replacing the manager who was also promoted to the level above. Soon after I took up my new position, I noticed that team members were still going […]

Blog: Me and my Blackberry are on holiday….

One of the things we often hear from our HR alumni and network is that, however much they’d love to change the way they and their teams or functions ‘do’ HR, they simply don’t have time. The daily dilemma: you may have found a new way to help their clients solve their business problems, but […]

News: Pearson unveils business-based higher education college

Publishing house Pearson has unveiled its new higher education college and at the same time has become the first FTSE 100 company to directly offer degrees in the UK. The college, which belongs to the owner of Penguin Books and the Financial Times, says that it is keen to recruit entrepreneurial students in a bid […]

Blog: Why the performance appraisal system is in trouble

Performance appraisals are in trouble and sinking fast. They negatively affect workplace relationships and they do not support goal achievement. I recently wrote an article on survey answers on performance management in which I demonstrated the impact of this systemic failure. Everyone from employee to manager to human resources practitioner dislikes them.   It is […]

Talent Spot: Prithvi Shergill, global head of HR at HCL Technologies

Prithvi Shergill, global head of HR at offshore IT and software development provider HCL Technologies, decided while still at university that HR was the career for him. “It was quite evident to me that I enjoyed this area – I was part of a student-run association, ISEC [International Student Education Council], on the national committee […]

Blog: Recommended reading on HR, culture, recognition and engagement

Recognise This! – To truly lead others, we must never stop learning. Recently, I received an email from Sudan asking me for my recommendations on top 3 books in HR. I thought this was too good of an opportunity to pass up and open up to you, my readers, for a bit of crowdsourcing as […]

Do you get commercial?

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development has been pushing the idea that HR professionals need to become more business-savvy for some time now. As a result, we interview Debbie Pask, founder of specialist HR recruitment consultancy, Paskpartnership, in order to find out why being able to demonstrate commercial nous is becoming vital for every […]

Talent Spot: Caroline Waters, BT’s director of people and policy

Because Caroline Waters has only been at BT for 33 years, she classes herself as a bit of a newcomer in an organisation where two people are celebrating 50 years of service and 3,500 have clocked up 40 or more. Today, as director of people and policy, Waters has a long list of responsibilities outside […]

Blog: The secret of good networking

Most people know that networking is an important business skill but most people avoid and dislike it.   That's because most people fail to understand what networking is all about and only network with people they like.   Networking success depends on reciprocity – it works because you are willing and able to trade or […]

Diary of a misfit: For hire – One creative/HR director hybrid

I am a misfit, a freak of nature, the result of a three-year HR experiment gone badly wrong.   Either that or I am the future, a ground-breaking trailblazer to lead HR into a new era.   I’m not sure which – and this is why I need your help.   You see, after more […]