In a Nutshell: Four tips for raising engagement levels
Successfully raising engagement in an organisation involves more than doing an annual engagement survey. Louise Rooney, head of HR at IT firm, ServiceSource, outlines her top tips for motivating staff to commit to the business. 1. Alignment Identifying and being explicit about the company vision and values definitely helps employees connect with the business. This […]
News: CIPD 2012 – Four ways to boost your board-level influence
Influence within the executive team is more valuable than a seat on the board as board members simply rubber stamp executive decisions anyway, believes Linda Kennedy, group HR director at Yell. During a presentation at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development’s annual conference in Manchester this week, she advised HR professionals to put anxiety […]
Talent Spot: Community blogger, Emma Littmoden
On Emma Littmoden’s road to the top, you’ll find some loo roll, wet wipes and a jockey’s uniform. Before becoming sales and business development partner at leadership development provider The Living Leader, Littmoden had earned her sales spurs selling hygiene products and been one of the top five female amateur jockeys in the country. In […]
Blog: Punk Rock HR – Will NLP decide the US election?
As the US Elections draw to a climax, I thought I’d highlight some of the tactics of influence used by leaders. Many world leaders are thought to be exponents of Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), which has mixed views. On one side, NLP is seen as an effective tool of win-win influence. On the other side, […]
Blog: HenryTalk – Any answers for all your questions Part 2
We’ve had a busy couple of weeks again in Any Answers and were keen to pick out some more highlights. All of these discussions are still active so if you have any thoughts, please do head over and weigh in! First up is Isobel, who is concerned that her employer isn’t doing enough to […]
Age audit tool unwrapped: How ageist is your organisation?
In the blink of an eye, the default retirement age made employees go from being seen as important contributors to society to a perceived ‘burden’. The recent end of the DRA is just one element of a broader shift towards recognising the changing role, and value, of older workers. Enabling more people to defer […]
Blog: Living Wage Week – Take-home pay is just the start of it……
Next week (Sunday 4 to Saturday 10 November) is Living Wage Week when, from this year onwards, a figure will be published for the minimum hourly rate that staff should be paid in order for them to be able to meet the basic costs of living. It’s a voluntary scheme where ‘Living Wage employers’ who […]
Lembit Opik: Three HR lessons from my life in the Commons
Anyone who’s ever watched Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons will have an opinion on the style of behaviour that we see every Wednesday at noon: it’s a bear pit. Grown adults show apparent contempt for each other in an effort to score points – as if it were the only way to […]
Book Review: Team turnarounds – A playbook for transforming underperforming teams
The authors of ‘Team turnarounds’ – Jim Kouzes, Barry Posner, Joe Fronteira and Daniel Leidl – provide a succinct, thought-provoking and clear description of their proposed six stage developmental process, which they suggest all underperforming teams should go through in order to improve and succeed. While the cynical reader may feel that the introduction refers […]
News: Smokers cost employers £1.4bn in absence and lost productivity
While smokers cost their employers £1.4 billion per year in sickness absence and lost productivity, a growing number of workers are also worried that they drink too much. According to a report in the journal ‘Addiction’, current smokers take on average 2.7 more days off sick than non-smoking colleagues and are 33% more likely to […]
Blog: Could your business survive a Hurricane Sandy?
Thankfully in the UK we do not currently suffer from hurricanes and major earthquakes, however, with the climate changing the weather has started to have a huge impact. Just think about recent snowy winters and the rainy summer with associated flooding we have experienced that will have caused problems for the many businesses in affected […]
Legal Insight: The implications of the SFO’s latest Bribery Act guidance
Since becoming director of the UK’s Serious Fraud Office, David Green has not wasted time. The honeymoon period that, under the previous director allowed for self-reporting in relation to corruption and bribery, is over. As one commentator put it: “There will be no more chats with the SFO over coffee and biscuits.” But what […]
News: UBS bankers head to pub after being turned away at door
In what would appear a classic example of how not to do it, UBS bankers only discovered that they could be out of a job after having their passes refused on entry to the office yesterday. According to the Daily Telegraph, scores of London traders were denied access to the Swiss bank’s City headquarters and […]
News: UK HR pros least likely in world to use social media
HR professionals in the UK are the least likely in the world to use social media in order to identify prospective job candidates or communicate with staff. According to a new study of 1,500 hiring managers and HR professionals from around the globe entitled ‘2012 HR Beat‘, less than half (47%) of UK hiring managers use […]
Blog: How to deal with equal pay after the Birimingham ruling
The recent high profile case where 170 women have been given the right to take an equal pay case against Birmingham City Council brings equal pay firmly in the spotlight. The workers, mainly women who worked in traditionally-female roles, such as cooks, cleaners and care staff won the right to seek compensation in the civil […]
Blog: Did you know that suicide is the 2nd biggest killer of young men?
Male suicide is the second biggest killer of young men in this country, yet the problem remains largely ignored. When you think that we’re often brought up to believe that boys don’t cry, perhaps it’s not that much of a surprise that so few people feel able to talk about how they’re feeling. In an attempt to understand […]
Talent Spot: Louise Rooney, head of HR at ServiceSource
As HR manager at IT firm ServiceSource, Louise Rooney has a major recruitment job on her hands. When she first joined, the company’s headcount was about 120, but in less than a year, it had grown to 165 and there are plans to create another 100 posts over the next few months. “Sourcing the right […]
Do you over-think things? If so, stop it at once…
I looked at my phone and there was a text that said, “Urgent: now what do I do?” Like a lot of people in HR, I do a fair share of career counseling, especially with Gen Y. This was a call from someone who, to put it mildly, works in a terrible culture with mistreatment […]
Blog: Did Man City’s Mancini display emotional intelligence?
When the chips are down, how often do we hear leaders, whether in sport, politics or business, admit responsibility and shoulder the blame? Not that often. But, last week, following a defeat away to Ajax (which could be the final nail in the Champions League coffin for money-clad Manchester City), Roberto Mancini, did just […]
Giz a job: The state of the HR recruitment market
There have been encouraging signs of more HR hiring activity during the last couple of months following our golden summer of sport. HR stakeholders are now back in the office and permanent recruitment is starting to move again, with the flow of new opportunities also on the rise. Financial and professional services As […]
