“As a manager of flexible workers, it is important to put trust in your team.”
Tim Stone is Vice President Marketing EMEA at Polycom and will be speaking at the Agile Working Event to be held on March 29th in London. Jamie Lawrence, Editor, HRZone: Lots of companies would love a 'no holds barred' flexible working policy but are terrified of giving up control. How did you guys overcome this? Tim […]
Is full satisfaction at work even a possible or desirable goal?
I received a press release today that led with the statistic that "a mere 10% of workers feel completely satisfied in their jobs." I was surprised it was as high as 10%. Completely satisfied? Is that really the benchmark we're using now? Is there anything in life we're completely satisfied with? It's worrying that agency life is starting to set the […]
How to make maternity leave work for both employers and employees
Want to ensure that maternity leave works for everyone involved? From shared parental leave to mentoring returning parents back in the workplace, here's how to keep all staff happy. This article was originally published on Mumsnet. As we hear daily on Mumsnet, pregnancy and new motherhood bring with them a raft of challenges. Not the least among […]
How to negotiate for family-friendly work habits
Flexibility is a key consideration when returning to work. We talk you through the best ways to get the accommodations you need at work – from asking for a trial period to finding solutions to staffing issues. This article was originally published on Mumsnet. The right to request flexible working has been a welcome innovation for […]
What mothers want: What women say about how they can be best supported in the workplace
Discrimination can begin before a woman even steps foot in the office. This is how you can ensure that all women are supported in the most effective way possible. This article was originally published on Mumsnet. When thinking about mothers in the workplace, ‘flexible working’ comes up constantly; it seems, too, that the options for and benefits […]
Going back: what fears and hopes do mothers have before returning to the workplace?
From being there for your kids to coping with the stresses of working life, Mumsnet users share their thoughts on returning to work after having children. This article was originally published on Mumsnet. Above and beyond the important stuff like HR policies and procedures, mothers’ fears and hopes on returning from maternity leave are often focused […]
Beyond the nappy zone: Why older people and carers need flexibility too
It isn't just the parents of young children who need flexible leave – older people and carers also need the chance to work flexibly. This article was originally published on Mumsnet. Flexible working is an idea constantly associated with parents of young children, and (things being the way they are) specifically with mothers. Of course, […]
Before we fix the gender pay gap, let’s fix gender opportunities
As HR professionals around the country are busy helping their organisations comply with the gender pay gap legislation that comes into force in April, new research tells a story of another burning platform that if left unaddressed, threatens to marginalise a highly educated, highly experienced and talented group of people both now and for future […]
“It’s nice to have an ad-hoc conversation where you can help someone”
We're always curious to hear how our members and contributors tackle the challenges that the ever-changing world of HR throws at them. We've got a wealth of experience and knowledge across the site, and what better way to showcase the diversity of our community than to get them to walk us through an average day? Want […]
Why a family-friendly approach is good for business
Having an engaged workforce is all about providing rewarding work in a positive environment, so that employees want to deliver their best for the business every day. To be truly effective, employee engagement strategies must take into account the changing needs of employees as they enter new stages of their life; the biggest of which is […]
WHSmith’s plan to increase number of ‘mental health first aiders’
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 all need to look after each other and ourselves.’ This is the mantra that is driving WHSmith, as we seek to deliver a comprehensive mental health wellbeing strategy that will […]
Coworking – the opportunities and challenges for HR
Multiple firms, entrepreneurs and freelancers working in the same office space, an arrangement known as coworking, is one of the most recent trends to sweep across the world of work. Firms of all sizes, the length and breadth of the country, are beginning to supplement their traditional, static offices with a range of flexible and […]
The ‘gig economy’: how does HR need to adapt to this new breed of employee?
The “gig economy” has firmly entered employment vocabulary, becoming a catch-all term for anything from Uber taxi drivers and Airbnb hosts to freelance professionals. But what does this highly flexible way of working mean for HR? Until recently, the only people who looked to get a “gig” were musicians. The rest of us found “proper” jobs that […]
In defense of night: we treat it with disdain yet spend 26.5 years asleep
Society is starting to pay attention to sleep. This is important because for something so critical to our survival and wellbeing, sleep has a chequered history with researchers. “Scientists in the 1950s said that ‘sleep is of no medical importance,” says Guy Meadows, Clinical Director at Sleep to Perform. “That’s an actual quote. Now in […]
Tackling presenteeism in the banking sector: the role of work-life integration
Presenteeism is an issue facing businesses of all shapes and sizes up and down the UK. The implications of this phenomenon are well known. Presenteeism has been referred to as the single biggest threat to UK workplace productivity by Robertson Cooper’s Professor Sir Cary Cooper. It poses a substantial risk to workers’ health and wellbeing, […]
Men ‘twice as likely’ to have flexible work hours requests knocked back
Stat attack gives you the facts, figures, numbers and survey results you need to keep on top of developments and changes in sentiment in the HR and L&D industries, all in an easy to digest format. It’s your regular dose of facts and figures, parcelled up for easy reading. Context: These statistics are from an […]
Do I have to agree to a flexible working request?
Originally, the right to request flexible working was a family-related right. In order to qualify to make a request, it was a criterion that the employee had to be a parent of a child under a particular age or have caring responsibilities and the reason for the request had to be in relation to providing […]
Will Zuckerberg’s move shake up paternity culture?
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO, Facebook recently announced he is taking two months paternity leave. His move has been met with much praise, especially in the States, where neither paid maternity or paternity leave is a legal requirement. What’s happening in the world of paternity leave? Are big brand digital companies, such as Facebook, leading the way in […]
The beautiful benefits and challenges of whole business offshoring
Expensify offer ‘hassle-free’ expense reporting built for employees. Each year they engage in ‘offshoring’ – taking their workforce to a foreign location where they’ll work on specific projects for a month. This benefit is challenging to make work but very rewarding. David Barrett, Expensify’s founder and CEO, tells HRZone about offshoring, how it helps the […]
Will flexible forms of working be the answer to work-life balance?
This issue was tackled in-depth in our latest report, ‘Workplace trends of 2015: What they mean for you,’ which has been produced in association with Acas and the CIPD, and looks at five key workplace trends for the year ahead and explores what they mean for HR professionals. Each trend has three expert contributions. We […]
