On-boarding: The first 100 days – a seven-stage action plan

In 1933, when Franklin D Roosevelt talked about the importance of his first 100 days in office, he can hardly have imagined that the concept would be relevant to the upper echelons of business almost a century later. Today, the term ‘on-boarding’ has come to mean the introduction of a new leader to a company: […]

Onboarding: what’s in it for me?

Successfully integrating a new employee into an organisation is critical for maximising staff productivity and therefore profitability. Yet centralised and thorough onboarding practices are regularly ignored by businesses for reasons including the perceived expense or the time it takes to implement them. Other businesses, while initially committed to following an onboarding strategy, fail to put […]

How to effectively interview introverts

Some hiring managers may see interviews as an opportunity to test candidates’ ability to “think on their feet” and demonstrate their expertise, whereas others simply see interviews as an opportunity to interact with candidates to determine if their personalities are a fit for the Organisation. In both of these situations, applicants who are able to […]

A recipe for successful onboarding – and a handy onboarding checklist

Put yourself in the shoes of a new recruit in your organisation. You’re starting your dream job and you’re very slightly nervous. After all, it’s your first day and you want to make a good impression. So far, it’s been fairly easy…your offer letter told you to report to the Human Resources Office and you […]

Onboarding: do we know it all yet?

You might think that there is nothing new to learn about onboarding but you’d be wrong. Onboarding is one of the most important strategies for business at the moment and that is because many companies are still trying to perfect the process. So it was with great interest that we read a recent survey report […]

Onboarding: what not to do

The importance of onboarding should never be underestimated. The practice of integrating a new employee successfully into an organisation has implications for every element of the business, from productivity to profitability. However, many organisations are guilty of committing fundamental onboarding mistakes which, while avoidable, are costly in terms of time, money and resources. Here are […]

Fast-track onboarding: engage employees before they begin

This article was written by Jane Sunley, CEO of Purplecubed. Most of us have been there – a job offer is made, accepted and notice period worked. During this time the new employer sends a contract and details of where the new starter should go on day one. Then silence… very little, or no contact, […]

News: onboarding requires radical shake-up

Organisations must radically rethink their onboarding approaches to reap new benefits, according to a leading academic from the London Business School. Dan Cable, Professor of Organisational Behaviour, studied the onboarding procedures of various organisations – including Oracle and Disney – with colleagues at the LBS. The team found that onboarding processes share a common goal […]

Building an effective onboarding process

This article was written by David Richter, Marketing Manager at Octopus HR. Onboarding is about more than running an orientation day for new starters at your company. It’s a longer term, holistic approach that assimilates an employee into your organisation’s culture, reduces turnover and maximises an employee’s impact in their new role. The onboarding process […]

Blog: How to stop a lacklustre induction process creating an induction crisis

A recent survey has apparently shown that 2 out of 5 new starters at senior level seriously consider jacking in the new job within 3 months, due to rubbish onboarding processes by HR – in other words, ‘induction crisis’. It’s no revelation that the first few months in any job are critical – if you get […]

Diary of a misfit: The perfect place??!!

I feel like a teenager again. Not because I’m filled with youthful exuberance, but because I’m waiting for the phone to ring – and it doesn’t. I am transported back more than three decades.   I am sitting at the kitchen table pretending to busy myself with homework but unable to concentrate because I am […]

Ask the Expert: What do we do about a new hire who hasn’t told us about her disability?

The question We have recently offered a job to someone who gladly accepted it and the contract has now been issued and signed.   But just before her start date, she indicated that she has a disability that has an effect both on her health and her ability to carry out the role.   We […]

In a Nutshell: Five considerations when creating a welcome pack for new hires

When lastminute.com moved its group headquarters to a swanky new Farringdon office in April, it seemed like a good chance to revamp its welcome pack for new joiners. As a result, it turned to us, the same language consultancy that had worked on the ‘tone of voice’ of its marketing collateral a few years before, […]

Blog: Three ways to help new hires settle in

A new employee in the workplace is exciting for everybody. Besides the fact that there’s just something intangibly nice about having a fresh face around the office, a new employee also brings with him or her a kind of vitality to the work setting. They have a fresh perspective and a whole new set of […]

Legal Insight: Expect the unexpected when hiring

Most HR departments already have efficient recruitment policies in place that outline the whole process, from the initial decision to hire through to making an appointment. If this sounds like you, you may be feeling quite smug that you’ve got the process more or less sorted out – and in part, you could be right. […]

The HR Headmistress: How to select candidates for redundancy pools

In a redundancy situation, it is really important to implement a fair process in order to avoid unfair dismissal claims. Part of this activity involves identifying an appropriate redundancy pool and ensuring that the selection criteria used are not tainted by discrimination.   1. Defining a redundancy pool   There are no set rules about […]

How to beat a counter job offer

Against a backdrop of continued economic uncertainty, top talent at all levels is becoming increasingly hard to find and land. Competition for candidates is increasing as companies start to ramp up their hiring efforts after the downturn. This has given rise to more challenging candidate management and the infamous counter offer.   Recent research by […]

News: Would you sack someone for blogging about your job offer?

A graduate in the US had his first journalism job offer rescinded after posting the good news on a blog. Kristopher Brooks, who had just completed a graduate journalism course at New York University, was reportedly thrilled to receive a job offer from the News Journal in Wilmington, Delaware.   As a result, he published […]

Tweeter allegedly sacked after admitting depression

A Twitter user who opened up to the boss earlier today about his depression was apparently fired three hours later after allegedly being told that “we’re a small company, there’s no room for passengers”. The tweeter aka @badlydrawnroy claimed that his employer initially tried to make him resign, but later sent him a letter of […]

Ask the Expert: What is the legal situation around medicals?

The question How useful, in practice, are medicals undertaken as part of the recruitment process?   If it is standard to make a job offer subject to a satisfactory medical, how do you decide what an unsatisfactory one is?   And when would a medical condition be considered a disability? If the medical reveals a […]