Talent Spot: Dominic Ceraldi, head of HR at Pimlico Plumbers
“HR would be a good job, if it weren’t for folk!” Luckily, Dominic Ceraldi, HR and general manager at Pimlico Plumbers, has chosen to disagree with this helpful observation that was made by one of his bosses early on in his HR career. In fact, he aims to be very much seen, heard and […]
Talent Spot: Dean Hunter – HRD turned MD at Hunter Adams
Becoming a bobby on the beat may not be the most obvious first step on the career ladder to becoming an HR director, but for Dean Hunter, it was all part of the master plan. After university, he joined the police with the specific aim of specialising in HR and recruitment for the force. Full […]
BT pays this year’s biggest sexual harrassment award to telesales worker
A BT telesales worker who was sexually harassed by a “dangerous” boss has been granted the highest employment tribunal award of the last 12 months at £290,000. Up to 10 women have already sued the telecoms provider for sexual harassment allegedly suffered at the hands of different men while working for its ‘Customer Street’ telesales […]
Talent Spot: Nicholas Connell, head of HR at The Antique Wine Company
“Understand your colleagues and their individual motivations. Take the time to get to know them and how they react and that will help you in motivating them too,” advises Nicholas Connell, commercial manager at the Antique Wine Company. Connell, who qualified and began working as a commercial property lawyer five years ago, took on his […]
KPMG to double number of school leavers on paid-for degree scheme
KPMG is set to double the number of school leavers it puts through its own paid-for degree programme as of September 2012, while John Lewis has unveiled a three-year graduate employment scheme. The Big Four accountancy firm has vowed to recruit twice the number of 18 year-olds as last year onto its six-year degree scheme […]
Barnardo’s wins e-learning award for staff dedication and support
Barnardo’s has won an award for best overall e-learning programme at the Charity Learning Awards this year due to both its dedication and efforts to support a large number of users compared with the size of the learning and development team. Judges were also particularly impressed with the children's charity's innovative approach to learning, and […]
Blog: Lessons from Yahoo – where was HR?
“I am very sad to tell you that I’ve just been fired over the phone by Yahoo’s Chairman of the Board,” Carol Bartz wrote to her company’s workforce. “These people f***** me over.” “Why don’t you have the balls to tell me yourself?” “The board was so spooked by being cast as the worst board […]
First five employers sign up to voluntary gender reporting scheme
Five employers have already signed up to a voluntary gender reporting scheme following coalition government claims that more effective use of women’s skills could add £15-23 billion to the UK economy each year. At an event to launch the ‘Think, Act, Report’ initiative yesterday, Home Secretary Theresa May cited Tesco, BT, National Grid, Enterprise Rent-A-Car […]
Talent Spot: Michael Stirrup, head of HR at Waterstons
Stepping into an HR director’s shoes for the first time is a steep learning curve for anyone, but for Michael Stirrup, it has been more precipitous than most. For this is his first HR position and it supplements his usual day job of finance director. Over the five years that Stirrup has been employed […]
Women may not be able to ‘have it all’, warns female chief exec
The head of a network that seeks to boost the number of women in senior corporate positions has warned that females need to accept that ‘having it all’ may be unachievable. Heather Jackson, chief executive of An Inspirational Journey, said that, as female graduates enter the workplace, they quickly realise that their career expectations are […]
Learndirect launches ‘Make It Count Week’ to boost workplace skills profile
Learndirect launched ‘Make It Count Week’ today to help raise the profile of learning and skills issues among employers and individuals across the UK. The workplace and basic skills provider’s aim is to urge employers to take action so that they help support and encourage their employees to exploit the training opportunities available. Sarah Jones, […]
Blog: I was a vampire HR manager – does it matter?
A while ago I recorded some webinars for a training company, for their YouTube page. When they posted the videos, they told me that they were unable to use my name on the clips, because YouTube automatically puts related video clips on the same page. Why was this a problem? Well, mainly because the majority […]
Law firms collaborate to boost disadvantaged access to legal profession
More than 20 UK law firms have got together in a bid to provide young people from disadvantaged backgrounds with fair access to work experience opportunities across all facets of the legal profession. The initiative dubbed ‘Prime’ has been backed by the Law Societies of England and Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland as well as […]
Talent Spot: Guy Pink, HR director of Addaction
Knowing your company helps saves lives is a pretty good motivator for getting up and going to work each day. Guy Pink, HR director of drug and alcohol treatment charity, Addaction, may not be on the front line providing counselling or advice, but he plays a vital supporting role, ensuring that the charity creates […]
Blog: Thank God it’s Monday – what it takes for true employee engagement
Thank God It’s Monday While waiting on the bus the other morning, one of the other gentlemen at the stop started complaining about the local bus that makes the same stop as the express bus which we both catch. The driver of the local bus stops when she wants to, regardless of the number of […]
New boss hacks back on Everything Everywhere management team
The new boss of mobile phone company Everything Everywhere marked his first day in the job by wiping out half of his management team including two senior HR executives. Olaf Swantee, chief executive of the company, which was created out of the merger of Orange and T-Mobile last year, announced yesterday that he had hacked […]
Blog: Integrating people strategies into business plans
Recognise This! – Too often, critical people management strategies – for risk and for reward – are ignored in overall business plans. How strong is your company’s risk management plan? How strong is your human capital risk management plan? Recent research out of The Conference Board found companies do not incorporate human capital risk management […]
Line managers lack skills for people tasks, fears HR
Although just under two thirds of HR professionals have devolved tactical activities to at least some line managers, three out of five are not convinced that they have the necessary skills and know-how to cope. According to a survey of 139 senior HR managers working in firms with more than 100 employees undertaken by YouGov, […]
Blog: Fancy contributing to a book on corporate politics, anyone?
We’re working on a new book, which we are planning to launch later this year, on the subject of corporate politics, hidden agendas and manipulation in business. It’s a thorny topic, we know, and we believe that HR professionals are best placed to observe and comment on these activities. In the book, we cover three important […]
Career visioning as an antidote to corporate rioting
There are very few people who would give those involved in this month’s rioting the time of day, let alone the chance to explain why they sought to bring disruption, violence and chaos to the streets of the UK. But as anyone working in HR will know, communication, whatever the circumstances, is always critical. So […]
