Five principles to ensure successful conflict resolution
The hidden cost of conflict is underestimated in many organisations. Indeed, one recent survey by the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution put the cost of conflict at £40 billion each year. Grievance probes that are handled by inexperienced or poorly trained investigators can also lead to a spiral of appeals and reinvestigation, but the […]
News: HRDs excluded from public company boardrooms due to “prejudice”
Prejudice against the HR function has led to HR directors being seriously under-represented on the boards of the UK’s largest public companies, with less than 1% boasting a top job. According to research undertaken by HR recruitment agency, Ortus, only five of the 595 board directors working at the country’s leading FTSE 50 firms have […]
Blog: Six rules to govern company car etiquette
Providing employees with a new company car, new truck, or van is not just a practical move. It can go a long way towards helping employees feel nurtured and respected. It’s also often essential for business operations, especially when a company is sales-based. However, when you put keys into an employee’s hands, you’re not […]
Legal Insight: Positive discrimination – A trap for the well intentioned?
Recent publicity on the use of positive action in recruitment or promotion in tiebreak situations has left HR directors with a dilemma. Should positive action be used to improve diversity either in the organisation generally or to help women and members of ethnic minorities break through “glass ceilings” into management? Section 159 of the […]
Blog: CEO confessions – What it takes to create a successful company culture
Recognise This! – No company will build the same culture, but every organisation should focus intentional effort on building the right culture for them. I’ve been traveling a good deal again lately, which means I’ve had time to dig into my “organisation culture and leadership” pile of books. A short flight recently gave me […]
Blog: M&A success – It’s a people thing
“I knew enough to allow them to handle their own culture, headquarters and management,” said Paul Murry, CEO of Calvin Klein, a PVH Corp. company. In 2003, PVH bought Calvin Klein when sales were $2.8 billion. Last year, the numbers ended with sales at $7.6 billion. That statement alone tells why M&A must have a people […]
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 […]
In a Nutshell: Five steps for managing workplace conflict
Workplace conflict can be caused by anything from differences in individuals’ personalities and style to disagreements over the direction of given ideas and activities. It can even be the result of an office romance. But unresolved conflict can lead to a loss of productivity, increased employee stress levels, less effective collaboration and team-problem solving as […]
News: Informal training as effective as traditional methods – study
The majority of employers that turned to informal training methods as a means of cutting learning and development costs have found that they are just as, if not more, effective than more traditional approaches. According to a study by by XpertHR, two-thirds of the organisations that it questioned have taken steps to prune training expenditure […]
Blog: HR – Where has all the passion gone?
This is one of my favourite quotes from one of my favourite movies – Serendipity – I know, I know, but what can I say? I’m a sucker for a love story 😉 The quote is from the scene when Dean reads out a make believe Obituary: “The Greeks didn’t write obituaries. They only asked one question after […]
Blog: Abandon principles – Your friend is after a job
Does the HR department actually make a contribution? Is it a burden we could do without? I only ask because this Telegraph article, by Dan Hodges, the former director of communications for Transport for London, suggests that HR has no role to play. The writer describes how he landed his job with no qualifications, […]
Three ways for HR leaders to thrive in today’s changing business landscape
In recent years – and even more so in recent months – the business landscape has changed dramatically. It has become more global, more complex, faster-paced and less predictable. The competing and conflicting challenges that leaders face today have morphed from the ‘tame’, if complicated, issues that could be tackled successfully using tried and […]
News: Employers join with working mums to slam proposed maternity leave cuts
Employers and working mums have joined together in slamming coalition government proposals to cut default maternity leave from 26 to 18 weeks in order to share the remaining entitlement between both partners. Legislative changes to maternity and paternity leave, which are expected to be announced in the Queen’s Speech on Wednesday 9 May, were greeted […]
Blog: Can you tell your performance measurement from your performance management?
Performance Management is an Art! If you want to be cutting edge you need to measure your results and performance manage your team. Getting the best out your people can sometimes be a stressful business. In my many years of managing and subsequently as an HR professional, one of the biggest barriers to great […]
Blog: What HR can learn from alien abductions
As an Investors In People assessor, I frequently ask staff what would happen if they were abducted by aliens tomorrow. Not because I’m interested in probes and things (although I’m sure that would be quite fascinating.) What I’m interested in is whether staff would be conspicuous by their absence. Would critical work not get […]
Blog: Why you should beware of video CVs
Following attendance at a recent recruitment industry event, it seems that the idea of using video CVs as a recruitment tool may be coming back into ‘vogue’ – certainly if the number of companies extolling the benefits and trying to sell their systems and software to me are anything to go by. I first encountered video CVs as a concept […]
Blog: What makes a good mayor?
Today, as votes are being cast in London to elect the city’s mayor, and a further 10 English cities vote on whether they wish to have a mayor at all, it’s a good time to contemplate the value and role of a leader and what lessons our business leaders can take from this week’s mayoral elections. […]
How to manage a mixed age workforce
Two years ago, the number of people who were over 65 outstripped those who were under 16 for the first time. Moreover, the abolition of the Default Retirement Age now means that older workers are likely to stay in the workplace for longer – either through choice or economic necessity. Meanwhile, Generation Y-ers […]
Blog: The value in encouraging staff to raise their public profile
Encouraging your key employees to actively take steps to manage and raise their profile in the world at large can only be good. It is good for them in that it raises their own confidence, supports their long term career plans and is the perfect acknowledgment of the hard word and effort they have put […]
Blog: How to hold on to good employees – Part 3
You now know the reasons why employees leave your company, and last week I described two of the five top strategies that will help you keep them: creating and maintaining an attractive and nourishing working environment, and developing effective employee relationship strategies. To complete the picture, here are strategies 3, 4 and 5: 3. Employee […]