Blog: Making recruitment pinteresting

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With the rise of social media, a 2-page formulaic CV is quickly becoming an old fashioned way of understanding what personality and talents a candidate has. Today, it’s all about their Twitter feeds, LinkedIn profile, Facebook, and increasingly, Pinterest.   In June this year, Pinterest recorded a staggering 10.4 million users, and 400% month-on-month growth, […]

All you need to know about hiring a former drug or alcohol user

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I’ve spent much of the last 17 years working with current and former drug users, homeless people and ex-offenders in London and Sheffield. Much of that time has been taken up helping them to access services, which include housing, treatment and mental health support, so that people have the necessary assistance to try and turn […]

Book Review: The high engagement work culture – Balancing me and we

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I read the sleeve notes of this book with interest: “The financial Crash of 2008 was not just about government regulation or lack thereof; the low tide of the Crash also revealed just how vulnerable our societies are to those organizations which focus so much on their own self-serving goals, that they ignore the damage […]

Blog: Why do we nearly always misread what motivates others?

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Recognize This! – Money does not motivate. It compensates. What motivates us at work is ultimately a very personal and individual topic, though generalities do apply.   That’s why I get a chuckle out of research study after research study showing we nearly always guess incorrectly what would motivate others. Case in point, research out […]

Talent Spot: Susie Robinson, DHL’s executive VP of HR for EMEA

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Susie Robinson has been with DHL since 1998 but, as the logistics giant has gone through a merger roughly every couple of years, she feels as if she has had to constantly reinvent herself – and the HR department. “Although the business is large, it is still relatively young and changes massively, so trying to […]

Blog: US election – The need for charismatic leaders during times of austerity

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“I have always believed that hope is that stubborn thing inside us that insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us so long as we have the courage to keep reaching, to keep working, to keep fighting.” My Vision by Barack Obama.   In Chicago last week a rejuvenated and […]

The HRZone Interview: David MacLeod on employee engagement

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David MacLeod is co-chair of the employer-led Taskforce on Employee Engagement. He, together with Nita Clarke, director of the Involvement and Participation Association, was responsible for compiling an influential report for the government on engagement in 2009, which was followed by the launch of the Taskforce to carry on promoting and developing some of the […]

How to rebuild staff morale following a crisis

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There have been plenty of instances of organisations lately in which bad news can only have damaged employee morale and confidence and had a negative impact on overall effectiveness and efficiency. Cases in point include the four figure job losses experienced at Ford and the BBC’s handling of investigations into sexual abuse claims surrounding Sir […]

News: CIPD 2012 – Engage for Success movement unveiled

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On Monday 12 November, three years after the publication of the MacLeod Report on employee engagement, a series of events around the new ‘Engage for Success’ campaign will be launched in a bid to make the promise a reality. For example, about 30 chief executives have signed a letter that will be published in The […]

News: CIPD 2012 – Four ways to ensure positive industrial relations

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Even with just a threat of industrial action, the stakes are high because people are forced to take sides, which is damaging for employee engagement and the credibility of the organisation and its managers. This was just one of the insights provided by Darren Hockaday, HR director for London Overground, at the Chartered Institute of […]

In a Nutshell: Four tips for raising engagement levels

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Successfully raising engagement in an organisation involves more than doing an annual engagement survey. Louise Rooney, head of HR at IT firm, ServiceSource, outlines her top tips for motivating staff to commit to the business. 1. Alignment Identifying and being explicit about the company vision and values definitely helps employees connect with the business. This […]

HRD Insight: William Hill’s David Russell on an African adventure

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It’s just two months since we announced our employee project in Kenya – a major building and development project at the Ol Maisor Primary School. Our aim was to create an experience where a group of people from William Hill were able to help a rural community in Africa and by doing so learn more […]

News: One in 5 UK workers fail to earn Living Wage

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A huge one in five UK workers fail to earn a Living Wage, with people in Northern Ireland and Wales particularly badly hit, according to research. A study undertaken by financial information services company, Markit, on behalf of management consultancy, KPMG, revealed that some 4.82 million employees across the country do not receive the £7.20 […]

News: Eight ways to cope with the clocks going back

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As the clocks go back this Sunday and the days continue to darken, millions of workers will once again find themselves suffering from the winter blues as British summertime officially ends. The short days can have a significant impact on some employees’ health and wellbeing, but the time change can also lead to short-term complications […]

Blog: Employee Engagement Taskforce to unveil resources-based website

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Recognize This! – Providing more than ideas and recommendations is necessary to help organisations embrace real strategies to engage employees. What does it take to move “employee engagement” from buzzword or annual survey exercise to actual workforce change?   Obviously, it requires investment and commitment at an organisation level. But what could happen if that […]

Christina’s Counsel: What can we do to motivate disaffected middle managers?

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Hello and welcome to this month’s dilemma:   The challenge   This month, an employer asked for advice on how to motivate a group of middle managers. These managers had provided feedback indicating that they were demotivated due to a lack of control as they felt that the senior management team had all of the […]

The HRZone Interview: Jon Ingham on where HR is going wrong

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In the view of Jon Ingham, HR consultant, author and blogger, the current obsession of HR practitioners to be seen as business people first and HR professionals second could seriously backfire. The danger is that, by becoming too much like everyone else in the business, HR will lose sight of what its key focus should […]

Blog: Ten signs that you love your job (really)

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One blogger in the HR space I’ve enjoyed reading for years now is Alexander Kjerulf (aka The Chief Happiness Officer). I just received through my feed his post celebrating 10 years of blogging (a feat I hope to accomplish someday) in which he highlighted his 10 most popular posts.   Near the top of the […]

Blog: Wasabi – A lesson in effective staff communications

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For global companies spanning international locations, or large organisations spread across multiple sites one of the hardest, yet most important areas to keep on top of is the stream of corporate internal communication – making sure your company delivers and receives consistent messages throughout the entire business, no matter how many locations you have. Managing […]