Case Study: Inchcape Shipping Services standardises global HR to boost efficiency

Inchcape Shipping Services is in the process of standardising its HR processes in a bid to boost efficiency and better understand its workforce across the 67 countries in which it operates. Rapid growth and global expansion meant that the maritime services provider had so far failed to introduce global HR or any other IT systems […]

Blog: Getting a handle on cross-cultural communication

I’m in Berlin so I guess it’s appropriate that our theme today is cross-cultural communication, how people from different kinds of cultures can get along better.  You know, some cultures are more direct and upfront. People just say what they want to say. And other cultures don’t say no, they don’t say yes, they’re more […]

Legal Insight: Have you renewed your foreign worker sponsorship licence?

A major retailer was fined £115,000 earlier this month for employing foreign students who were breaking the conditions of their visas. At the present time, it is unclear whether the supermarket chain’s sponsorship licence is likely to be revoked or suspended too, however.   You may also remember the press coverage at the end of […]

Talent Spot: Carol Carson, HR director at Autoglass

After nearly three decades of working in the health and beauty sector, Carol Carson took the plunge two years ago and moved to Autoglass as its HR director.   Windscreen repair/replacement and cosmetics may sound like industries that are chalk and cheese, but Carson has found a surprising amount of commonality between the two. “On […]

Blog: Wasabi – A lesson in effective staff communications

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 […]

Infographic: UK workers lose faith in senior management

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In a Nutshell: Five tips for rolling out a global HR system successfully

In July this year, Aviva completed the UK roll-out of an HR system from Software-as-a-Service vendor, Workday, following successful implementations at the insurance provider’s subsidiaries in Europe, North America and Asia. Based on the experience, here are acting group HR director Carole Jones’ top five tips to help ensure that your global applications deployment works […]

EU proposals: Tightening up Ts&Cs for temporarily posted workers

A recent government consultation on the potential impact of a decision by the European Union to enforce its Posting of Workers Directive has just closed, but the responses should help the UK to formulate its negotiating position. So what does it all mean and why is the move significant for employers? A worker is classed […]

Do you do a Basil Fawlty when talking to foreign partners?

The lack of importance placed on developing language and business communication skills by UK employers is startling.   In order to mark our centenary this year (we’re having a party to celebrate this weekend at The Orangery at Kensington Palace), we commissioned some market research among UK HR directors and discovered something that we had […]

Legal Insight: How to employ migrant workers legally

Tesco could reportedly be fined up to £200,000 by the UK Border Agency for employing staff illegally. The news came to light following the Agency’s arrest of 20 foreign students at one of Tesco’s warehouses, after they were found to have been working significantly longer hours than their visas permitted.   But a key problem […]

News: Tesco faces £200k fine for illegal working by foreign students

Tesco faces a fine of up to £200,000 after immigration officials found foreign students to be working illegally at one of its warehouses. According to the Daily Telegraph, UK Border Agency officials arrested 20 students of nearly a dozen nationalities at the site in Croydon, South London last month for alleged breaches of their visa […]

Blog: Attracting and retaining talent across borders

As the world has become more interconnected with globalisation, it’s inevitable that there has been a rise in the number of employees working across borders. The question is though, do we have the right talent in the right roles?   This issue was highlighted in a recent Financial Times article, which looked at how institutions […]

Talent Spot: Philippe Ferrie, head of HR at Vallourec

When a global company has a decentralised culture, it can be hard to persuade people to accept standardisation that is handed down from head office, even if it makes their work lives easier. This was the situation that Philippe Ferrie, worldwide employee relations coordinator at Vallourec, found himself in when the company chose to implement […]

News: Home Office strike threatens to hit Olympics

The government has condemned a planned strike by immigration officials over job cuts and pay that threatens to disrupt services during the Olympics.   In a ballot by the Public and Commercial Services union among its 15,700 Home Office members, which include most workers from the UK Border Agency, Identity and Passport Service and Criminal […]

News: UK Border Agency ‘cut too many staff, too quickly’

The UK Border Agency cut too many staff too quickly and so is now having to hire extra people and increase overtime to cover its workload, the government’s spending watchdog said today. More than 1,000 employees, who handle immigration at key entry points to the UK such as Heathrow airport, were axed last year over […]

Case Study: Medtronic introduces global well-being scheme to cut absenteeism

 Medtronic introduced a global well-being programme last year in a bid to help its employees deal with damaging health issues ranging from obesity and stress to smoking. As a manufacturer of pacemakers, defibrillators and other medical equipment, the vendor knows the value of good health and has long been committed to improving the wellbeing of […]

News: Count your immigrant workers, says Milliband

Overseas-only employment agencies would be banned and an early-warning system set up to highlight areas where locals are "dominated" by an influx of overseas labour, under new plans proposed by Labour.    Following a u-turn on immigration policy, Labour leader Ed Milliband woudl insist that firms where more than one in four staff is from […]

A typical HRD: Part 4 – FTSE 250 companies

The focus and pressure on top HR directors in commerce and industry has never been greater than it is today. As a result, over recent years, their remit has evolved to require a far broader, more business-oriented background and set of skills than was previously the case.   But this situation has, in turn, led […]

Blog: The employee impact of a recognition desert – survey

Recognise This! – The only qualifier for needing recognition in the workplace is being a member of the human race. Last week I had the pleasure of co-presenting with Thad Peterson the results of the Globoforce Spring 2012 Mood Tracker survey (which tracks the perceptions of full-time, currently employed U.S. workers).   Now available on […]

News: CIPD’s new CEO appointed to further its global ambitions

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development has appointed Peter Cheese as its new chief executive in a bid to further its global ambitions. Cheese, who is currently chairman of the Institute of Leadership and Management, will take up the new position on Monday, 2 July.   He is taking over from Sue Upton, who […]