Using engagement to rehabilitate young offenders
Employee engagement has so many benefits for both the individual and the company – the oft-repeated facts are out there: companies are more productive, employees more fulfilled; creativity and innovation soar. Customer service is better. Staff are less likely to take sick days. And so on. In a 2014 McKinsey article, Redefining Capitalism, Eric Beinhocker […]
Are you ready to come clean on executive pay?
With average pay increasing at about 2% and the impact of deflation, most workers should be starting to feel the squeeze on their wages easing. But at the same time, the gap between their earnings and executive pay is widening at a faster rate than ever. The pay gap could be the bitterest aspect of […]
Why engaging the employee is great for the customer
It is well chronicled that the UK isn’t close to the top of international league tables on productivity and employee engagement. The Engage for Success website notes the sobering statistics: ninth out of the 12 largest economies for engagement; 15% below average for productivity. This is despite the research that demonstrates the fairly obvious and […]
What I learned in prison about behavioural change
For a decade, behaviour change expert and author Nik Kinley worked as a forensic psychotherapist, trying to change the behaviour of hardened prisoners. In brief article he shares what it taught him about people and how it helps him now help people in organisations change their behaviours. I spent the first six years of my […]
How do you get things done with no managers?
I was recently on a trip to the UK and managed to spend some valuable time with my 92-year-old Grandpa. Over a good cup of tea, we discussed a wide variety of topics, including the difficulties of the Dutch language. The majority of our time was however spent discussing my work and how I work […]
“The skill set of the HR function will shift.”
This is an interview with Nigel Sullivan, Group HR Director at TalkTalk. Nigel is also a non-executive director at the Royal United Hospital Bath and was previously Group HRD and Board Member at Wincanton, VP HR at Marconi Communications and HR Director at Nortel. You’ve been at senior HR director level for over 20 years now. […]
“You often get change done to you. That never feels very engaging.”
This is an interview with Mark Henn, Head of Department, Asset Development, Transport for London and Drew Barritt, Lead Trainer, A2B Excellence. Transport for London won the Public Sector award at the 2014 Employee Engagement Awards. If you had to pick a reason why you think you won the award, what do you think it was? Mark […]
“Our next challenge is retaining new talent.”
Regine Buettner is EVP HR Global & Europe at DHL Express. She is an international HR executive with over 20 years of experience. Prior to joining DHL in 2007 she was Senior Vice President HR at Deutsche Telekom and, before that, Senior Vice President HR of T-Systems. 1) What are your biggest challenges now around attracting and retaining […]
“We are really big on continuous improvement,” says Las Iguanas’ Angela Da Silva
This is an interview with Angela Da Silva, HR Manager at restaurant chain Las Iguanas, who won the Reward & Recognition Award at the 2014 Employee Engagement Awards. In this interview we delve into the company’s approach to engagement and tease out key learnings to help others bring an evidence-based, joined-up approach to their engagement […]
The world’s happiest jobs and what they tell us
The Guardian recently conducted an analysis of nine different occupational surveys to find out which professions report the highest levels of happiness. What do the results tell us and how does poor managerial direction can interfere with natural engagement? The jobs that appeared the most often in the top 10 of each survey analysed were […]
Germanwings crash: we must keep up our progress on talking about mental health at work
The Germanwings tragedy has brought mental health to the forefront of people’s minds. Unfortunately, this is mostly for the wrong reasons, thanks to the sensationalised reporting which dominated the media. Much of the coverage linked mental health with dangerousness – demonising those of us with experience of a mental health problem such as depression. We […]
When yawning costs you money
We all know how it feels to come into work after a poor night’s sleep; it’s hard to think clearly, we’re slow to respond to things and we lack creative energy. What usually results is a slow and unproductive day and we only get back to normal once we’ve slept well again. However there are […]
A personal perspective on life without managers
Is the concept of working without managers just another passing trend? Or can it really work? I would argue the latter. By profession I’m a Marketer. My primary responsibility is to expand our business through content marketing, and to help shape and build our brand across Europe. Originally I was born in the UK and […]
Interview: Danielle Harmer, Chief People Officer, Metro Bank
Danielle Harmer is Chief People Officer at Metro Bank. When Metro Bank launched in 2010, it was the first new high-street bank in 100 years, and spearheaded the start of what the company call the ‘banking revolution.’ For Danielle, their fresh and obsessive approach to customer service is underpinned by a laser focus on culture […]
How to implement a volunteering strategy
When implemented effectively, an employee volunteering programme will enhance your brand reputation locally, allow your staff to build relationships both in and outside the workplace, develop the skills of your workforce and create a positive impact on the community. Implemented badly, employee volunteering schemes lack engagement with staff, consume time better spent in the office […]
HRZone relaunch: Registration & user profiles
We’ve put community at the heart of the new HRZone design, so in addition to making the site generally easier to navigate and better looking, we’ve also done a lot of work on making the site as interactive as possible – we want to hear your thoughts on what we write, and we want to […]
HRZone relaunch: A sneak peek at your new homepage
Not only will the new site look great, we’re also filling it with more quality content than ever before It’s all well and good us making HRZone look prettier and easier to use, but our efforts would all be in vain if the content wasn’t up to scratch too. We’ve got lots of exciting plans […]
Employee Engagement Excellence programme to launch in US and UK
Over the next year the very best examples of employee engagement in North America will be recognised and amplified as HRZone launches the Employee Engagement Excellence programme in the United States. The programme combines an awards program and a one-day practical conference and aims to push employee engagement to the forefront of the business agenda. Both […]
It’s time to get grown up about empowerment
Today, no-one I meet suggests we should build organisations where staff are less empowered, where more command and control is needed, and where workers are put to task under clear instruction and without the need to engage them. But despite the obvious appeal of an empowered organisational culture, it seems hard to achieve. In Roffey […]
HRZone relaunch: The transformation begins!
After a long wait, the new HRZone is nearly here! We’ve already shared the reasons behind the redesign in our earlier update, we also got your feedback on what you want to see from the site in our survey, and now we can finally begin the process of switching the site over to its new […]