Skills Active funding cut despite employer satisfaction
The sport and active leisure Skills Sector Council has reacted angrily to the coalition government’s decision to axe its apprenticeship funding despite pledges to create 100,000 new on-the-job training places over the next two years. The Young Apprenticeship scheme in Sports Management, Leadership and Coaching, which is led by Skills Active, the […]
SMEs claim coalition bad for business
Just under half of small-to-medium employers believe that the coalition government’s policies to date have had a negative impact on their business, while just less than a third feel that today’s Budget will make things worse. A survey undertaken by pollster YouGov among 523 senior SME decision-makers revealed that 48% were unhappy with the impact […]
Government plans to drop maternity for SMEs and weaken bribery act revealed
Controversial proposals by the coalition government to exempt some foreign companies from prosecution under the Bribery Act and drop maternity and paternity regulations for small businesses could bring it into conflict with other administrations. Draft guidance being drawn up by the Minister of Justice and seen by the Guardian appears to indicate that foreign companies […]
Asda launches leadership programme
Asda is about to introduce a company-wide leadership programme just as a study revealed that one in four managers have in the past knowingly breached professional conduct guidelines at work. The supermarket chain intends to provide management training to 10,000 bosses across the UK under the auspices of its Asda Leadership Event developed in conjunction […]
Redeploying employees – how to develop a successful strategy
Restructuring has been an increasingly necessary tool for HR to help organisations survive in the recession. However the trend is not over: how do you do this effectively? Cameron Bird, HR Operations director at Santander, explains. The challenging economic circumstances that we have experienced in recent times have forced many organisations to re-structure. According to […]
Help your boss manage – by managing them
Employees must be encouraged to proactively ‘manage upwards’ if they are to support their bosses in performing more effectively, research has revealed. According to a survey undertaken by management and sales training consultancy Krauthammer, some 36% of workers feel that their bosses act in a penalising or dismissive fashion. Although 95% would like their managers […]
Addressing skills gaps in project management
Most projects still fail to meet expectations. Eddie Kilkelly examines the extent to which this failure may be due to a lack of individual competence and identifies potential strategies for bridging skills gaps. Even the best planned and resourced projects can be knocked off track by constant technological change, new market entrants, and fluctuations in […]
Good relations with MD helps retain talent
Personnel in small-to-medium enterprises in Scotland and the North of England are the least likely to change employers because their managing directors treat them more as friends than colleagues, according to a study. A survey undertaken among 250 MDs and owner/managers by Illuma Research on behalf of Manpower’s talent and careers management consultancy Right Management […]
Recession agression – HR managers are getting tougher to demonstrate greater ROI
Tough times call for tough measures and modern HR departments are now finding themselves tasked with delivering rigorous and robust return on investment (ROI), says Jason Willis, Divisional Manager of Reed Human Resources. As the UK creeps out of recession, senior HR bosses need to possess an additional results-driven skill set. There is an increasing […]
David Fairhurst’s decade in HR: How HR earned its place at the top table
David Fairhurst gives his opinion on how the last 10 years have changed HR and where we will go in the future. The last 10 years have been some of the most formative for HR in recent history. The so-called noughties have seen our profession go from strength to strength, from an also-ran in […]
Mediation: an essential skill for today’s leaders
HR professionals and line managers who have been trained in mediation skills report a greater understanding and self-awareness of their own conflict management styles, as well as a significant increase in their confidence and skill levels which enable them to address conflict. Importantly, HR and line managers also report that after undertaking mediation skills training, […]
Happy workers have a sense of shared purpose
Business strategy must be based on a shared sense of purpose between employers and workers in order to boost staff engagement, job satisfaction and organisational performance. According to a survey undertaken among more than 2,000 employees by YouGov on behalf of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), 84% of those working in organisations […]
More than half don’t measure training impact
Just over half of organisations fail to measure the business impact of their training programmes due to both a lack of resources and personnel qualified to do so. According to a study among 412 learning and development decision-makers across the world, other key reasons for failing to gauge outcomes included confusion about what actually should […]
Survey: Shared services – more with less?
The implementation of Shared Services across organisations, especially in the public sector is being seen as one solution to cuts and belt-tightening despite the historical challenges and obstacles facing those wanted to deploy such a solution. In the ‘age of austerity’ many organisations are beginning to overcome these challenges. Traditional issues of cultural differences […]
Two-thirds poor at leadership development
Although effective management will be crucial to exploiting growth opportunities presented by the changing face of globalisation, just over two thirds of global employers admit to being poor at leadership development. A survey undertaken among 700 chief HR officers and senior executives in 61 countries around the world by IBM’s Institute for Business Value revealed […]
SMEs the place to be, say interim managers
Many interim managers would prefer to work for small-to-medium-sized businesses even if they have to take a 50% pay cut to do so, according to research. A survey of 1,500 interim managers commissioned by specialist provider Interim Partners found that 31% would prefer their next role to be in a small business compared with only […]
UK managers lack leadership skills
UK managers are among the worst in the world in terms of leadership effectiveness, with the situation being particularly marked in government and financial services, according to a study. The survey undertaken among 29,000 employees in 21 countries by HR software provider Kenexa’s Research Institute revealed that the UK ranked 17th for managerial effectiveness, scoring […]
Uncertainty despite private sector coming up with jobs
Although private sector job creation will offset public sector job cuts in the last quarter of this year, widespread uncertainty as to the future means that employers remain cautious about prospects for the year ahead. According to the Labour Market Outlook survey undertaken by researchers Ipsos-Mori, some two out of five public sector bodies currently […]
Charities must improve leadership talent to tackle global challenges effectively
To tackle global challenges such as climate change effectively, international charities must improve their leadership-related talent and performance management processes and ensure that they work across interagency boundaries. This is because, over the next decade, it will no longer be possible to deal with issues ranging from climate change to global insecurity, scarce resources and increasing […]
Leadership styles – What can HR learn from The Apprentice?
Reflecting on the first episode of the 2010 series of The Apprentice, it’s somehow reminiscent of the David Brent scenes in The Office – only this time for real. The show had many cringe-worthy, toe curling moments; particularly when a certain character (Dan Harris) tried unsuccessfully to assert his authority in a desperate attempt to […]