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: 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, […]
New investment for 10,000 more volunteer business mentors
The Coalition Government is investing £1.2 million in order to recruit and train 10,000 new mentors in a bid to boost support for entrepreneurs and stimulate the economy. The money will be used to support the Small Firms Enterprise Development Initiative‘s new ‘Get Mentoring’ scheme for volunteers from small-to-medium businesses who may not otherwise be […]
Talent Spot: Gemma Aird, head of HR at Anesco
When Gemma Aird took on the top HR role at Anesco six months ago, she didn’t just have to revamp the energy efficiency services firm’s HR processes. She had to create them from scratch. This is because, although Anesco is a new company that was set up only a year ago, it is already expanding […]
Legal Insight: How to tackle bullying in the workplace
Former England Rugby Union international, Ben Cohen, has called for people to make a stand against bullying in general and homphobia in particular. To this end, his Foundation is calling for the creation of an annual ‘Standup Day’ to take place on 14 November each year. Although the aim of the Day is to encourage […]
CIPD Conference: ‘No one-size-fits-all for leadership practices’
Despite the abundance of formulas to identify what makes a good leader, the problem is that each one has different competencies and, therefore, leads in quite different ways. This means, said Marcus Buckingham in his keynote speech at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s annual conference in Manchester this week, that trying to transfer […]
CIPD Conference Blog: O2 on linking engagement and customer service
I’ve been guest blogging at the CIPD conference this week, here’s a write up of a great story about connecting the employee and customer experience. Hope you like it. When Nicky Brimmer of O2 first took to the stage to talk about ‘Turning customers into fans: linking employee engagement to customer service’, Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s […]
Shortage of truck driver trainers could lead to UK transport crisis
If UK employers do not insist that their truck drivers undertake Driver Certificate of Professional Competence Training in the near future, the country will face a potential freight and transportation crisis when new European Union legislation comes into force. According to provider 24-7 Training, a shortage of trainers exists already, which means that, unless they start […]
Case Study: Lancaster Landmark Hotels focuses on attitude to boost retention
The Lancaster Landmark Hotel Group has boosted both staff retention and customer service levels by focusing on recruiting and developing personnel who it believes have the right attitude and behaviour. The organisation operates three high-end London hotels, each of which is managed independently and caters to different types of customers, which made it difficult to […]
Mediation: Part Four – How to deal with the outcome
When destructive workplace conflict rears its ugly head, it will typically be an HR professional who suggests mediation as an option to try and resolve the situation By the time the case gets to mediation, this ‘referrer’ will probably have invested significant time and emotion in it and will most likely have expectations about the […]
Employers reject offshore call centres due to staff quality concerns
A huge four out of five senior executives in English-speaking countries have no plans to offshore their customer contact centres because concerns over staff quality are failing to outweigh cost benefits. A report by analyst firm Ovum, based on a survey of senior executives at large North American, European and Australian companies, revealed that only […]
HR Forum: Shropshire Council – a talent strategy for change
In a bid to cope with huge organisational change as well as the implications of employing an ageing workforce, Shropshire County Council has introduced a proactive talent management strategy to try and ‘grow its own’ leaders of the future. The Conservative-led local authority hit the headlines this July after sending letters to each of its […]
How to guard against corporate social media discrimination
Corporate social media discrimination is becoming an increasingly tricky issue to deal with and HR is finding itself at the forefront of the struggle – often without having the necessary defences in place. Corporate social media discrimination refers to situations where employers use social networking sites such as Facebook to undertake research about a candidate’s […]
Ask the Expert: Can I give a bad reference?
The question Does a referee need to discuss a potentially damaging reference with the employee concerned before it is sent to a new employer? What is the legal position on references generally in terms of what can and can’t be said? The legal verdict Martin Brewer, a partner at Mills & Reeve […]
Blog: Developing a customer-service mindset in HR
“We hire happy people and teach them to make sandwiches.” ”To maintain a connection between the front lines and the back office, every manager is required to spend four days a year on the shop floor.” (Pret a Manager). “We hire ‘customer service people’ and teach them all about coffee.” (Starbucks). This week, I ordered […]
IT outsourcing cuts costs, but fails to improve quality, warn HRDs
The majority of public sector HR directors believe that, while outsourcing their IT could contribute to cutting costs, it will not help to deliver better quality services. According to a survey among 100 HRDs working in central government departments, local authorities, NHS Trusts and police forces by jobs website TotalJobs.com, almost two-thirds believed that outsourcing […]
CEO Insight: Company Shortcuts’ Lara Morgan on staff retention
Getting the staff on board is one thing, keeping them is another. Loyalty is important to me. I wanted to create an environment where people wanted to work, would thrive and progress. In the early days, we worked in an open plan office (my front room), we often ate lunch together (in my kitchen) and over these […]
Leadership development is top L&D priority over next 12 months
Leadership development will be the top priority for workplace learning professionals over the next 12 months. A survey conducted among 417 learning and development specialists by Video Arts revealed that 61% intended to provide leadership development training over the year ahead. Other priorities were people management, coaching, teamwork, customer service, time and change management. […]
Government funds released to train more online spooks
The Coalition Government is to channel funds from its £650m National Cyber Security Programme into making good a shortfall in the number of internet specialists required to combat online information security threats. Concerns about the inability of GCHQ to retain enough cyber experts were raised earlier this year in the Security and Intelligence Committee’s annual […]
Tax relief cannot be claimed on car allowances, rules tribunal
A training provider plans go to the Court of Appeal over an upper tier tribunal ruling that tax relief cannot be claimed on car allowances. The upper tribunal ruling in the dispute between Total People – now called Cheshire Employer and Skills Development – and HM Revenue & Customs found that lump sums given to […]