In a Nutshell: Five tips for creating a positive company culture
Culture is one of those nebulous things that it’s hard to put your finger on: it’s something you instinctively know is spot on or out of kilter. Get it right and you have a happy workforce who will hopefully ensure that customers are happy too. Get it wrong and there is a chain reaction in […]
Blog: Settlement agreements explained
In June, business secretary Vince Cable announced that settlement agreements would be brought in as part of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill which is currently undergoing its second reading in the House of Commons. Settlement agreements are the latest in a long list of employment law reforms drafted by the coalition government in a […]
Blog: AT&T – Taking talent management to the next level
Advancing technology is having a radical impact on the skills that companies need to attract and retain talent, particularly within the media and communications industries. There is no disputing the power of social media, and because so much online conversation relates to events happening in real time, traditional marketing and advertising companies need to keep […]
Talent Spot: Karl Jolly, director of people at the Welcome Break Group
Karl Jolly has spent his whole career in the hospitality and food and drink industries. Today, he is director of people at Welcome Break Group, helping to ensure that the 80 million people who pass through the motorway service station and hotel operator’s doors have as good an experience as possible. “About 98% of 80 […]
News: North Tyneside ditches shared services plans to save jobs
North Tyneside Council has ditched plans to go for shared services in favour of outsourcing in a bid to save 360 jobs that would otherwise be at risk. The aim of the local authority’s four-year plan is to save £47 million and two preferred bidders have already been selected to pitch for its business. […]
Blog: Communication is the essence of good leadership
All eyes turned towards the manager as she gave her opinion of a strategy that was being discussed. This was part of the strategic meeting with the leadership team, with the C-Level executive sitting at the head of the table. As she walked through her reasoning, everyone was nodding their head in agreement. She […]
Blog: Four arguments for why staff engagement is impossible
Recognise This! – You can’t change someone; you can’t engage someone. You can create environments of trust, appreciation and purpose in which people want to engage, grow and develop. What’s the number one most helpful (or most heard) relationship advice? I reckon it’s to remind people, “You can’t change the other person.” And this […]
How to tackle your first 100 days as HR director – Part 2
These days, an HR director’s achievements in their first 100 days of taking on a new position are routinely seen as an indication of their future leadership potential. This means that swift delivery on goals and an immediate return on investment are considered more essential than ever. So how can you ensure that you […]
How to get ahead in HR
HR professionals have been put in the spotlight over the last two years as the function became even more critical during the downturn. Most are now working to execute strategies and make changes across various business functions to come up with innovative solutions to offset business cost pressures. Throughout the economic crisis, many HR […]
Blog: Learning to manage sickness absence more creatively
Newly published figures by the Health and Social Care Information Centre have revealed that NHS workers took an average of 15 days of sickness absence over the last year – an improvement on figures from three years ago. Sceptics have been quick to note that the level of sickness absence in the NHS is considerably […]
Blog: Workers crave recognition but don’t get enough – survey
Recognise This! – Employees everywhere need and want recognition for work well done. For a couple of years now, Globoforce (my company) has been running semi-annual Workforce Mood Tracker™ surveys, testing the opinions and moods of fully employed US workers. (I’ve featured the results of those studies in past posts here and here.) Now […]
News: Holiday season stress levels rocket for colleagues stuck at work
While some may be off relaxing in sunnier climes, it appears that the rest of us are having to pick up the slack – and are likely to need a holiday of our own when they get back to de-stress. According to a survey among 200 UK-based HR directors conducted by recruitment agency OfficeTeam, a […]
Blog: Me and my Blackberry are on holiday….
One of the things we often hear from our HR alumni and network is that, however much they’d love to change the way they and their teams or functions ‘do’ HR, they simply don’t have time. The daily dilemma: you may have found a new way to help their clients solve their business problems, but […]
Ernst & Young uses strengths-based assessment for graduate recruitment
Research from HM Treasury published prior to the release of this year’s A-level results has shown that a record number of young people are seeking alternatives to university and are turning instead to apprenticeships or on-the-job training schemes. But with more job candidates on the market than ever before, the importance for HR directors to […]
News: Pearson unveils business-based higher education college
Publishing house Pearson has unveiled its new higher education college and at the same time has become the first FTSE 100 company to directly offer degrees in the UK. The college, which belongs to the owner of Penguin Books and the Financial Times, says that it is keen to recruit entrepreneurial students in a bid […]
News: HR pros ‘most likely to share a secret’
The average HR professional spends about half an hour each day nattering to colleagues about non-work-related issues and is more likely than any other profession to share a personal secret. These are the key findings of a survey conducted among 2,000 office staff by Mars Drinks Office Connections. It revealed that, while an average […]
Talent Spot: Prithvi Shergill, global head of HR at HCL Technologies
Prithvi Shergill, global head of HR at offshore IT and software development provider HCL Technologies, decided while still at university that HR was the career for him. “It was quite evident to me that I enjoyed this area – I was part of a student-run association, ISEC [International Student Education Council], on the national committee […]
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 […]
News: Google’s 10-year “death benefits” have legal implications, warns lawyer
Employers thinking of following in Google’s footsteps and offering staff so-called “death benefits” must protect themselves against a range of potential pitfalls including possible discrimination claims, a legal expert has warned. Laszlo Bock, the search engine giant’s chief people officer, told Forbes magazine last week that it had introduced a policy last year whereby, if […]
Blog: Recommended reading on HR, culture, recognition and engagement
Recognise This! – To truly lead others, we must never stop learning. Recently, I received an email from Sudan asking me for my recommendations on top 3 books in HR. I thought this was too good of an opportunity to pass up and open up to you, my readers, for a bit of crowdsourcing as […]
