HR in retail: interview with Bruce Walcroft, Solutions Consultant, CoreHR
Bruce Walcroft is Senior HCM Solutions Consultant with technology company CoreHR. At CoreHR he is involved in pre-sales demonstrations of platforms and features and offers solutions consultancy and expertise to a range of businesses across multiple sectors. He has been in the HR technology industry for over 15 years. We asked Bruce four questions: What […]
Soft skills analysis: Theresa May
It can’t be easy to be Theresa May. The comparisons to Thatcher, the near obsession with her shoe collection rather than her policies and the famous “bloody difficult” aspersions to name but three. But what about leadership and soft skills? May has steadfastly directed herself away from a gregarious style of leadership, some might say […]
Rabbit whisperers, robots and the realms of possibility
Last week, I was at a dinner party at a local friends’ house in our Suffolk village. I began to tell what I thought was a unique tale surrounding the saga of my children’s pet rabbits, whose domestic unruliness towards each other had escalated so far that I’d be been forced to call in the […]
Donald Trump’s emotional intelligence – let’s take a look…
Donald Trump is certainly a contentious figure. Increasingly I hear or read the perception that Mr Trump has low Emotional Intelligence (measured by EQ) yet, clearly, to be in the position he is, the man has ‘something’. I want to throw some light on this as it’s not quite as clear-cut as first seems. In […]
Five minutes with Alexander Snelling, HR Director, Cath Kidston
It's HR in Retail month on HRZone! We're focusing on all things retail – check out our HR in retail hub to read all our great content! We caught up with Alexander Snelling, HR Director at Cath Kidston, on the challenges and opportunities in the retail sector, and what Cath Kidston are doing to innovate their people […]
“As in-store experience becomes ever more important, the need for improved service skills grows.”
It's HR in Retail month on HRZone! We're focusing on all things retail – check out our HR in retail hub to read all our great content! We caught up with Tony Gilbert, Head of Executive and Strategic Reward at KPMG UK, about the challenges in recruiting and rewarding retail staff. Tony has been at KPMG UK since […]
Four robots that are taking retail jobs
It's HR in Retail month on HRZone! We're focusing on all things retail – check out our HR in retail hub to read all our great content! The age of automation is here and it’s growing at a blistering rate. While there’s talk of robots replacing lawyers, automating knowledge work is far harder than manual labour. As […]
Automation in retail: what’s the endgame?
It's HR in Retail month on HRZone! We're focusing on all things retail – check out our HR in retail hub to read all our great content! To deliberately misquote William Gibson, “Automation is here – it just isn’t very evenly distributed yet”. There is no doubt that the face of retail is fundamentally changing and that […]
Hello, Future: is there a place for retail workers?
We caught up with Doug Stephens, founder of Retail Prophet, on what role people will have in the retail market as automation hoovers up many of the manual tasks that retail workers have been doing for years. Will there be a place for humans in retail in the future? When retailers recognise the primary intent […]
The disintegrating retail economic model and the dual-pronged approach that will replace it
It's HR in Retail month on HRZone! We're focusing on all things retail – check out our HR in retail hub to read all our great content! We caught up with Doug Stephens, founder of Retail Prophet, on the breakneck pace of the ecommerce market, the changing nature of consumer knowledge and why a dual-pronged approach to […]
SMEs can learn lessons from Sports Direct scandals
Setting up a business is undoubtedly hard but the relationships in a start-up are often relatively simple – as a business owner you have responsibilities to yourself and to your clients. When your venture starts to really grow, you take on another major responsibility, and that’s to your staff. It’s not just you anymore: it’s […]
Making sure your recruitment works in an uncertain environment
We are living through Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous (VUCA) times. Uncertainty affects almost every aspect of work, and recruitment is no exception. How can recruiters successfully navigate a VUCA environment? During times of uncertainty, where there is ambiguity and pressure, we know that decision-making becomes more instinctive. This has two implications for recruitment. Firstly, […]
Keeping diversity and inclusion on the agenda during uncertain times
During uncertain times, such as the recent fallout from the decision on the European referendum, leaders tend to opt for the ‘tried-and-tested’ policy, often to the detriment of their diversity and inclusion (D&I) work. But keeping D&I at the forefront of our minds is even more important for leaders when the future is looking unclear. People […]
Shoring up employee relations in the Brexit aftermath
The Brexit revolution continues to send reverberations throughout UK workplaces. The political turmoil creates understandable uncertainty and anxiety in organisations of all shapes and sizes. Employees are unsure of the future and this presents both an opportunity and a risk for employers seeking to provide reassurance to staff on the road ahead. Trust and confidence […]
We will only get truly inclusive organisations if we question the way work works
The Women and Equalities Select Committee recently estimated that a failure to use women’s skills is costing the UK £36 billion a year. This is clearly a problematic issue that we need to address as a society, but it isn’t just the skills of women that are being underutilised. It is the skills of anyone […]
Looking at leadership after Brexit
Whether you are a politician, leader of a big business, in charge of a small team or anything in between, there are some fundamentals of leadership that we must all act upon. As leaders we now have some important shared duties and collective responsibilities. Whichever way you voted in the referendum, the UK is a democracy […]
90 minutes of football gets staff a free pass, so why doesn’t this moment of seismic upheaval?
Employers around the country are happy to give staff a free pass to watch the football, yet in the aftermath of one of the biggest day's in the history of the UK and Europe, why is it business-as-usual in most organisations? It's hard to overstate just how prominent the UK's decision to exit the EU […]
Leadership lessons from the Referendum
I have no desire to enter the political fray with my thoughts on whether the UK should stay or remain. I’m already clear which way I’m going to vote but am unsure if I will have made the correct decision. And that comes down to the way the campaign was originally conceived and has subsequently […]
Brexit: is your reward strategy in or out?
June is fast approaching and that can only mean one thing, the EU referendum. We are being asked a very big question: should the UK remain a member of the European Union or leave? Commentators are trying to inform us of the potential consequence of our decision with the possible impact ranging from expats becoming illegal […]
Have degrees had their day?
Once upon a time a degree used to be a rite of passage into a great job for University graduates, but with accountancy firm Ernst and Young, and now publishers Penguin Random House dropping the degree requirement, it's time to ask if degrees have finally had their day. This could be the best news ever for […]
