Five characteristics of an effective leader in times of crisis
The Bradford Bulls rugby league club is an organisation in crisis. Mounting financial pressure has painted its leadership into a corner, forcing it to make a desperate request to loyal supporters to put their hands into their pockets and dig deep to help fill a £1 million black hole. And the pressure is on because, […]
TrainingZoneLive: Booking now open
Excitement is mounting for TrainingZone Live, the live event hosted by our sister site TrainingZone, which sashays into its third year of existence on 15 May at Dexter House. The learning and development market is awash with events that cater for the every need and whim of increasingly diverse set of training professionals. As a […]
Case Study: Pernod Ricard standardises global talent management
Pernod Ricard is in the process of standardising its talent management processes across the world in a bid to support business growth more effectively. The multinational supplier of wines and spirits plans to consolidate a fragmented assortment of talent management procedures and applications into a single Software-as-a-Service-based system from Taleo that will operate across its […]
Blog: Using transparency as a tool to rebuild employee trust
"I am sorry, but we have already identified someone for that role.” The next question was, “how could that be, the job was just posted on the Internet?” What my friend had just found out is a little dirty secret in some organizations. Sometimes when jobs are posted, and even when they are not, […]
Talent Spot, Andrew Mayo, professor of HCM at Middlesex University
Andrew Mayo does not consider himself an academic – despite his title as professor of human capital management at Middlesex University. Instead for him, HR has to have a business focus. So rather than simply explore abstract theory, his teaching is very much geared towards explaining to masters students the real-life applications of HR, […]
Talking Point: Do you really know how to get the best out of your older workers?
Of all the things that we aspire to during our career, being an ‘older worker’ probably isn’t one of them. Yet, as we age, this identity is thrust upon us and, with it, a range of stereotypes based on other people’s perceptions. As a 56-year old manager recently pointed out: “Suddenly all that people […]
Best Practice: Five pointers to ensure flexible working works
A flexible working project at Wakefield Council has slashed costs and significantly boosted staff productivity since the first phase was introduced two years ago. The Council’s ‘Worksmart’ transformation programme is based on a property rationalisation initiative, introducing citizen-focused service guidelines and enabling all 2,500 employees to work more flexibly. Rationalising office space has saved […]
Blog: Five tips on how best to recruit Generation Y
By 2020, the Millennial generation will account for 50 per cent of the working population and will represent the majority of the workforce. As Millennials consume information in different ways than their Gen X and Boomer counterparts, it’s no longer enough for companies to connect to potential employees via traditional communications channels such as newspapers […]
Blog: Lessons on dealing with the unions during times of change
Welcome to this weeks Guest Blogger – Paul Myers is the HR Manager for a local transport company. He has initiated significant change in his organisation and has managed to keep his staff on board. He is a people centric manager who has considered how to increase and harness employee engagement at every opportunity. […]
Talent Spot: Jo Webb, talent director at The Marketing Store
“It’s right I’ve ended up in HR. I’ve found my home,” says Jo Webb, talent director at brand consultancy, The Marketing Store. But it took her a lot of travelling and a few career false starts before she found it. Like so many graduates before her, Webb went travelling when she finished her studies. But […]
Managing career development in a changing world
These days, we’re always hearing about how important ‘adhesion’ is in the workplace. Definitions of the word ‘adhesion’ include ‘attachment, devotion or loyalty’, which is interesting for the average HR director as they expect not only their own subordinates, but everyone else in the workforce to be loyal to them, the company, the brand, its […]
Blog: Lessons on empowering staff to win
One of the things I love about being in HR is that everyone always bring you these rich stories that sometimes causes you to have an "a-ha" moment. A major retail chain this past week did something that, for a retail company, needs to be lauded. In retail, you have a workforce that is […]
Talking Point: Will the Beecroft proposals really encourage employers to hire more staff?
It is clear that the government is trying to support employers and take steps to encourage them to take on more staff. What is a continuing mystery, however, is why ministers repeatedly ignore the areas of greatest concern to business. Such areas of concern range from the extremely high costs of employment and the […]
Talent Spot: Vikki Sly, global recruitment director at QlikTech
The old cliche that people decide whether or not to hire someone within the first few seconds of an interview horrifies Vikki Sly, global recruitment director at business intelligence software provider, QlikTech. “I don’t believe that, and if that’s the way you treat your recruitment, then you’re doing people a huge disservice,” she asserts. For […]
‘Pop-Up Shop’ provides unemployed youth with retail work experience
A ‘Pop-Up Shop’ has opened in London in a bid to help prepare unemployed young people for a career in retail. The move came as work and pensions secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, wrote to Simon Cowell also asking him to offer work experience to out-of-work 16 to 24 year olds, following a war of words […]
500 KPMG staff informed of redundancy risk – by voicemail
Hundreds of staff at the accountancy arm of management consultancy, KPMG, have been informed that they are at risk of redundancy – by voicemail. The company has, somewhat ironically, been voted ‘one of the best companies to work for’ by its staff over six consecutive years. But five hundred employees were reportedly sent a […]
HR software deployments: ‘Big bang’ or phased roll-out?
There are two possible approaches to introducing a new HR system – one is to go for a big bang, ‘all-in-one-go’ implementation, while the second is to phase in the deployment over time. And both approaches have their merits as was highlighted at software supplier Unit4’s customer conference in Birmingham last month. Construction consultancy, Cyril […]
Blog: Notes from the TLNT Transform conference – Welcome to the “new era of people”
I have been to the mountaintop. This past week, I was in Austin, Texas for TLNT Transform, which was billed as a new type HR conference. While not a presenter, I served as conference chair. This allowed me to not only sit in on all the presentations, but it gave me insight into all […]
HRD Insight: Leigh Lafever-Ayer on Enterprise Rent-A-Car’s women’s mentoring scheme
Many companies are grappling with how to help more women attain senior roles at the moment, especially since the Davies Review shone a spotlight on the shortage of women in the boardroom. Our approach to the issue at Enterprise Rent-A-Car has been to introduce a mentoring scheme in order to focus on helping women progress […]
International Women’s Day: Making gender diversity a workplace reality
The aim of International Women’s Day today is to inspire women, celebrate their achievements and find ways of creating brighter and more rewarding opportunities for future generations. But in terms of the workplace, just how far has gender diversity actually come? The media is full of reports about the need for greater female equality. […]
