Blog: A two-minute guide to employer branding
So, you’re an employer. You have a Staff Handbook and have made sure that you are complying with basic employment law. You think that you’re an OK employer, and provide an OK place to work. But is OK enough? Why not be a great employer? If you’ve got the basics in place, don’t stop there […]
Legal Insight: The Swedish derogation unmasked
It has been estimated that implementing the Agency Workers Regulations 2010, which came into force on 1 October 2011, will cost UK business a total of £1.8 billion. The Regulations entitle the UK’s 1.4 temporary workers to the same pay and benefits as permanent staff after 12 weeks in the same job with a given […]
Extra holiday or training offer acceptable alternative to pay rise, says study
For those employers that cannot afford to give workers a pay rise this year, an extra day’s holiday or a bit of further training might be a possible alternative. According to an online poll among 2,002 adults undertaken by ICM Research on behalf of the People 1st Training Company, which operates in the hospitality, […]
Blog: What state is HR in?
Last year, employers faced a sustained increase in workplace unrest as austerity measures, longer working hours, stress and a genuine skills gap took their toll on the UK workforce. A survey among 550 HR professionals, who looked after a combined workforce of over two million, undertaken by law firm Speechly Bircham and the Management Learning […]
Blog: Four tips to help staff keep calm in the face of change
Change is inevitable and necessary, but it is also a major cause of stress and anxiety. As many organisations face up to big cultural and financial changes, it is important to have some simple techniques up your sleeve to help people handle the uncertainty. Even the smallest of changes can have a big impact, […]
Blog: Why you should stop motivating staff
Recognise This! – Factors that serve to demotivate employees are stronger than those that motivate them. For decades, “good” managers have concerned themselves with how to motivate employees – how to encourage their employees to give their best. New research from Jim Collins, co-author of Good to Great and Great by Choice, offers a […]
ADT awarded for ‘inspirational’ staff engagement initiatives
ADT Fire & Security has been received an ‘Inspiration in HR’ award for its attempts to boost staff engagement over the last 18 months. The firm, which is owned by US multinational Tyco and sells burglar alarms, security systems and fire detection systems, employs 3,843 personnel across the UK, who were experiencing morale issues. This […]
CEO Video Insight: NetApp UK’s Dave Allen on staff engagement
At the end of October, data storage firm NetApp was named number three in Fortune magazine’s list of top 25 multinational companies to work at. The firm, which employs 500 people in the UK and Ireland, is headed by managing director Dave Allen. He speaks to us here about how the organisation has tried to […]
Blog: How to turn volunteering into team-building
My daughter decided to volunteer through a program at her job. Each employee has the opportunity to volunteer their services and receive a day off in return. She was up early on a Saturday morning and headed into New York City to work at a soup kitchen in the Bowery. To her surprise, basically […]
Unemployment at 17-year high – and worsening
The UK is suffering a “major jobs and pay crunch” after unemployment hit 2.6 million, a figure not matched in 17 years and higher than consensus forecasts for 2011 as a whole. According to the Office for National Statistics, the number of people out of work in the three months to September rose by 129,000, […]
Will the ‘gig economy’ be the death of HR?
As freelancing, interim management and the ‘gig economy’ continue to grow, the question becomes, are we looking at the impending death of the traditional HR function? In a recent CBI report entitled ‘Mapping the Route to Growth’, the employer’s lobby group noted a recent increase in the number of temporary and self-employed workers making up […]
Blog: Five truths about millennials in the workplace
Recognise This! – All people, of every generation, are individuals. Stereotyping behaviours based on birth date only serves to ignore true issues in the workplace. The generational divide, in one form or another, kept hitting my screen time and again in the last week or two. A few that struck me the most: […]
CIPD Conference Blog: Sir Terry Leahy on how Tesco pulled ahead of the pack
The other morning at the CIPD 2011 conference I listened to the speech given by Sir Terry Leahy, former CEO of Tesco. Tesco’s dominance concerns me, and when he showed us the 2010 market capitalisation comparison between Tesco (about 6 times bigger than both), Sainsbury’s and M&S I winced a little. Terry spoke sincerely and […]
The future of work: what the world will look like in 2025
Even with three decades of research into work under my belt, I still find the future of work incredibly difficult to predict. That’s why I created a research consortium designed to tap into ideas and knowledge from across the world. Each year, my research team and I begin by identifying the five forces that will […]
CIPD Conference: People management key to Tesco’s success, says Leahy
Tesco’s success has been based on good people management and the simple act of giving workers what they want, believes Sir Terry Leahy, former chief executive of the supermarket chain. In his keynote speech at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development in Manchester this week, he said that employees fundamentally desired four key things: […]
Blog: Three lessons for measuring HR success
Recognise This! – What you measure and how you report the results is critical to proving the HR value proposition. In a recent article in TLNT, Lance Haun did an exceptional job highlighting recent research showing HR reports the most important measures for gauging HR’s value to the organisation are retention and employee satisfaction. […]
Seven secrets to staff engagement
The fundamental role of HR is to motivate the right people to do the right things at the right time. This situation puts the spotlight on how to boost employee engagement and ensure that workers are committed to the organisation. If you want staff to perform effectively, what are you going to give them in […]
Blog: Why bother with managing staff careers?
In today’s tough economic circumstances, organisations are seeking competitive advantage through the best use of their people more than ever before. In a time when the job market is uncertain many companies and business leaders may feel that career management is not a priority, seeing it as something that is personal to employees. But […]
Blog: Using the London Olympics as a motivational tool
With less than a year to go before London hosts the largest sporting event in the world, businesses in the UK are now starting to consider ways in which to increase staff motivation during the 2012 Olympics. The recent release of an article from the Telegraph titled ‘Sickies to soar during Games’ not only reiterated […]
Legal Insight: Does your organisation pass the stress test?
Stress has become the most common cause of long-term absence from work for the first time, according to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s annual absence report, which was published last month. Given this development and that 2 November was National Stress Awareness Day, it would make sense for organisations to take the opportunity […]
