Blog: ‘The start-up of you’ – Becoming a career entrepreneur
The co-founder and chairman of LinkedIn Reid Hoffman with co-author Ben Casnocha have recently produced a thought-provoking new book on how to apply the strategies of successful entrepreneurship to career development. In other words, how to approach your career as “the start up of you”. Although The Start-up of You (2012) is written for all ages, […]
Bridging the leadership communication gap
Trust and Leadership are rare bed fellows – as illustrated by the results of a recent CIPD Employee Outlook survey. In case you missed it, the level of workers’ trust in their senior managers remains worryingly low, while relationships with immediate line managers are found to be consistently more positive across the board. This […]
Blog: Building a magnetic culture
Recognise This! – Great books on organisation culture are few and far between. ‘Building a Magnetic Culture‘ is a must read. Readers of my blog know that organisation culture is passion of mine – especially how to build a culture of recognition and then proactively manage it. I’ve heard many discount the ability to […]
Spiralling childcare costs risk driving parents out of work – report
Above inflation rises in the cost of UK nursery places at the same time as wages continue to remain stagnant risk forcing parents to give up their jobs because they can no longer afford to pay for childcare. This is the key finding of a study conducted by national childcare charity, Daycare Trust, and sponsored […]
Blog: Finding the right way to praise
What positive news there was in the HR press in the past week. Not only did support services firm Capita post a 6% rise in profit amid some pretty tough economic conditions, but the ‘headline news’ was the fact that the company’s Chief Executive noted that the climb was partly down to “outstanding” members of […]
Is interim HR management for you?
Leaving behind the stable world of PAYE won’t appeal to everyone in the current economic climate. But even with predictions of a second recession ahead, many HR professionals still crave a new career challenge and some are even brave enough to make big changes. One career option that commonly appeals to senior HR practitioners […]
HR ‘out of touch’ with workforce realities, claims report
Evidence of a “striking mismatch” between what HR professionals perceive to be key issues and the reality on the ground means that they simply must make more effort to understand their workforces, a report has warned. According to a survey of 350 senior HR practitioners, all too many are out of touch. They are failing […]
Seven secrets to managing change effectively
Since the start of the recession, organisations have made cuts where they can, but there now appears to be precious little slack left to prune. As a result, over the year ahead, many employers are likely to start refocusing activities and the introduction of change seems to be a certainty. But while change tends […]
Talking Point: Why HR directors should manage, not mother
When it comes to evaluating staff behaviour and performance, what kind of manager are you? And more to the point, is your managerial style – and that of your colleagues – damaging the business? Some employers apply strict policies to keep employees on a tight rein. Others take a more laid-back approach, letting conduct […]
The HR Headmistress: How to deliver compliance training with aplomb
Compliance training is like visiting a difficult family member. You may not really like spending time with them, but your mother insists. Topics such as health and safety, data protection, food hygiene and employment law evoke a similar rather less-than-thrilled response in a ‘we do it because we have to, but don’t expect us to […]
Workfare critics are job snobs, says Chris Grayling
Tesco is to hold crisis talks with employment officials as criticism of the Government’s ‘workfare’ scheme continues. As Employment Minister Chris Grayling branded critics of the scheme as “job snobs”, Tesco’s nerves seemed to be growing after one of its stores in Westminster was forced to close by protestors. Under the scheme, the unemployed […]
Blog: Why is staff engagement in decline globally?
Recognise This! – Employees worldwide are disengaging at work, leaving organisations at a competitive disadvantage. Recent research out of Kenexa is showing employee engagement on the decline globally. “EEI scores declined, not only in the aggregate of these economies, but in each individual country as well. The pattern of scores over time is fairly […]
Blog: The necessity of developing management resilience
The resilience theme is continuing in my blog posts, this time due to a recent news item I’ve read. According to the latest Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development‘s (CIPD) quarterly Employee Outlook survey, UK middle managers are feeling the squeeze as a result of the economic downturn. The results highlighted that almost half […]
Shaping future strategy: Workforce analytics
We see it every day in the headlines, particularly over the last few years – ‘Top Company Cuts 1000s of Staff’. All too often, there is a knee-jerk reaction after senior executives and managers conclude that headcount equals only cost and they neglect to consider what value their people bring to the business. They […]
HMRC to charge PAYE dodgers from April
HM Revenue & Customs will require employers to pay a security from April if it believes that there is serious risk they will fail to pay the requisite PAYE tax deductions or National Insurance Contributions on behalf of employees. The powers are an extension of an initiative that has already been successfully used to ensure the […]
P45s will not get a pink slip
The traditional P45 form that summarises the amount of tax paid at the end of an employment contract will not be scrapped after a change of heart at HM Revenue & Customs. The form had been due to be replaced by a ‘leaver statement’ as part of the move to the Real Time Information system […]
National Apprenticeship Week: How to get started
As we enter another year of economic uncertainty, recruiting fresh faces may not be at the top of the corporate agenda for all companies in 2012. Organisations ranging from large firms through to small and medium-sized enterprises are increasingly being asked to balance up diminishing budgets with a need to boost productivity and continue providing […]
Fewer ex-offenders required to reveal spent convictions to employers
In a bid to boost employment rates among former offenders, the Justice Minister is proposing to dramatically cut the period in which they are obliged to tell potential employers about their criminal past. The changes, which would be included as amendments in his Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act, are the first to […]
Move to darker suits reflects darker employee mood
It appears that, since the start of the recession, navy suits are no longer de rigueur but have instead been replaced in sartorial terms by charcoal as a reflection of employees’ darker mood. According to workwear specialists Alexandra, sales of navy blue suits have dropped from 47% of the total in 2005 to only 37% […]
Workers more ‘stressed and insecure’ than in Queen’s coronation year
In the year of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, it appears that, despite higher levels of personal prosperity, workers are more stressed and more insecure than they were 60 years ago. According to a special Work Audit report published by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development to explore how the world of work in the […]
