Staff sharing scheme to help public sector retain talent
About 30 local authorities are to start piloting an online staff secondment service as an alternative to making redundancies following deep cuts to their budgets. The pilot scheme was jointly developed by online skills exchange StaffShare and Local Government Employers, a body that represents employers when negotiating on pay, pensions and workforce-related issues. The idea […]
Sealing the black hole in HR and careers advice
There is a looming black hole in HR, careers advice and skills development that could blight a generation. HR professionals, in particular, will be facing some of the most challenging conditions seen in the UK since the 1930s. The UK government wants to help but funds are limited. It wants people to embrace the […]
Happy workers have a sense of shared purpose
Business strategy must be based on a shared sense of purpose between employers and workers in order to boost staff engagement, job satisfaction and organisational performance. According to a survey undertaken among more than 2,000 employees by YouGov on behalf of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), 84% of those working in organisations […]
Aligning HR with the business
In a tough economic climate, uncertainty around job cuts looks set to dominate HR over the next few years. Cost saving, improved efficiency and streamlining are recurrent themes in media headlines. They are also terms increasingly being used by organisations fighting to safeguard their future. Whilst HR is naturally expected to take a pivotal role […]
The five myths of outsourcing
All HR directors should consider their sourcing options; how they should secure the capabilities required to deliver an effective an efficient HR service, and particularly whether or not they should use outsourcing to deliver key HR services. It is not credible to argue that the HR function should be excluded from the attention given to […]
Risky business: Balancing the risk types in teams and organisations
One man’s risk taker is another one’s high performer, but you need to balance teams to create effective, sustainable success, says Geoff Trickey. The City was divided about Bob Diamond, the new CEO at Barclays, and so were the politicians and the media. For some he is the apotheosis of the dangerously reckless bankers who […]
Staff retention failures costing businesses £42bn a year
British business is losing £42bn a year through its failure to retain key staff, according to reseach from accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) PwC found nearly a quarter of UK employees are either actively looking or planning to look for a new job because of unhappiness about expected pay and conditions in the coming year. Around […]
Leadership matters: A general manager problem
The general manager of our organisation seems to have completely changed her personality. Judith Germain advises on how to cope with this strange situation. The dilemma The General Manager of our organisation has five senior managers and over the last year this general manager seems to have completely changed her personality to the point where […]
Career management for retention and engagement
It might seem a bit out of place for an employer to get involved in career managing its employees – after all, isn’t a career a personal thing? However that’s no longer the case. Despite economic pessimism, there is still demand for talent and the skills gap means there will always be demand for those […]
Talent drain evident as ‘notice week’ ends
Almost half of UK workers intend to start looking for a new job by the end of the year, but more employees are likely to hand in their notice this week than at any other time during the previous 12 month period. According to a survey undertaken among 7,500 staff in 10 of Europe’s leading […]
UK unprepared to deal with ageing workforce
The failure of senior executives to recognise the widespread implications of an ageing workforce mean that UK organisations are “woefully underprepared” to deal with the impact on their business. Despite the impending abolition of the Default Retirement Age (DRA) and the fact that a third of UK workers will be aged over 50 by 2020, […]
Scalable resources future of outsourcing
While just over half of European organisations expect to outsource more IT services in 2010, the focus now is on getting more for their money and gaining access to flexible and scalable resources rather than simply cost-cutting. The release of the study undertaken by researchers Gartner coincided with an economic policy speech from President Barack […]
Making your business a lean, mean, people machine
In shaky economic times organisations naturally look for ways to stabilise and recently there’s been a strong resurgence in ‘lean’ business management. But, argues Alethea McIntosh, principal consultant at Berkshire Consultancy, the ultimate success of this efficiency-driven model depends not on standardising process but in understanding people, and more specifically diversity. In business, ‘technical’ issues […]
Getting staff to pull in the same direction for the good of the organisation
In today’s economic environment, where reducing costs and improving productivity of employees is top of the agenda, how can we get staff to pull in the same direction in every aspect of the business to achieve the business goals? Individual behaviour, attitude and motivation, team working and alignment to objectives and values – and compliance […]
NHS to roll out ‘competency passport’ scheme
The NHS is set to roll out a national ‘Skills Passport for Health’ scheme in order to improve talent management and reduce admin costs, following the success of a year-long pilot project. The proof-of-concept trial was undertaken among nursing staff at seven English NHS Trusts during the financial year 2009-2010. Workers created a verified […]
Outsourcing risk not managed effectively
More than half of organisations admit that they require better training and support to improve the effectiveness of outsourcing initiatives in order to boost bottom line performance. These are the findings of a survey undertaken among 615 contractor managers, sub-contractor buyers, project managers and senior decision-makers from organisations from across the world by Informa’s ESI […]
Ask the expert: Poorly performing line manager
This week the experts, Martin Brewer and Esther Smith advise on how to handle a poorly performing manager. The question: I have inherited a poor performing line manager in my team, the issues are: There is no team motivation in his department He is not spending anytime training & developing his new team members […]
Ask the expert: Change to rate of bank holiday pay
This week the experts, Adam Partington and Esther Smith advise on how to change a rate of pay. The question: Change to rate of bank holiday pay I am thinking of reducing the premium we pay to staff for working on a bank holiday from double time to time and a half. We have […]
Flexible working key to retention
While a huge 85% of workers would be more likely to stay with their current employer if they offered a broader range of flexible working options, less than half of organisations currently do so. These are the findings of a survey among 680 workers and 420 employers undertaken by recruitment agency Hays in June this […]
Dragon advocates softer management approach
Alan Sugar’s famous style of leadership is in the firing line of recent research which claims the economic downturn has had a dramatic effect on how bosses manage their staff. The research found that people respond far better to a more ‘touchy-feely’, empathetic manager at the helm of their company rather than an intimidating, authoritarian […]
