Seven secrets to staff engagement
The fundamental role of HR is to motivate the right people to do the right things at the right time. This situation puts the spotlight on how to boost employee engagement and ensure that workers are committed to the organisation. If you want staff to perform effectively, what are you going to give them in […]
HR Forum: HR lessons from the beautiful game
The Beautiful Game has important lessons to offer team-based, talent-dependent industries, believes Professor Chris Brady, former dean of the BPP Business School, who is now helping his son to run Southend United. “People say that business is more complex than football. But rather than saying that ‘business is complex and football is simple’, it’s […]
Blog: A Beecroft in a bonnet – is the leaked report really such a big deal?
There’s been a lot of hoo-ha this week over the leaked Government report proposing that – shock horror! – people should be fairly sacked for being no good at their job. The main bone of contention though seems to be the ‘compensated no-fault dismissal’ – the suggestion that employers should be able to dismiss incapable […]
Government funds released to train more online spooks
The Coalition Government is to channel funds from its £650m National Cyber Security Programme into making good a shortfall in the number of internet specialists required to combat online information security threats. Concerns about the inability of GCHQ to retain enough cyber experts were raised earlier this year in the Security and Intelligence Committee’s annual […]
How to nip unfair dismissal claims in the bud
Each year in the UK, there are approximately 50,000 unfair dismissal cases – the equivalent of just under 1,000 per week – that end up being taken to an employment tribunal. That’s a headline measure of just how big an issue this is for the UK economy. Unfair dismissal has been the largest single matter […]
HRD Insight: M&S’ Tanith Dodge on boosting customer service via staff engagement
Employee engagement and good customer service are integrally linked, believes Tanith Dodge, HR director of Marks & Spencer. The idea is that if staff are demotivated and unhappy, they will not be inclined to go the extra mile or care about the impact of their behaviour either on individual customers or the brand image of […]
Talent management – broadening out the talent pool
Despite commonly held views to the contrary, effective talent management does not have to be expensive. It also does not have to be all about measuring, tracking and recording the activity of high achievers to the apparent exclusion of everything else. A key question in this context is that, if there is any truth to […]
HRD Insight: McDonalds’ head of people on staff engagement
McDonalds’ decision to make its people strategy part of its business strategy has not only polished up a previously tarnished employer brand but also seen staff engagement levels leap. The rationale behind integrating rather than aligning the two policies was a simple one, however, said Jez Langhorn, vice president of people for the UK and […]
Does management by metrics work?
On the frame of my kitchen door are marks of the heights of my children, and now grandchildren, with names and dates written down over the course of years. They were all proud to stand there from time-to-time in order to check how much they had grown. We did not, of course, manage their height, […]
US White House launches Fellowship scheme to woo top IT talent
The White House is trying to tempt top computer science post-grads away from high-paid jobs in the private sector by creating the special new job role of Technology Fellow. The aim of creating the fresh category of positions that are due to last for two years is to increase the US government's pool of “qualified […]
Blog: Bullying, politics and manipulation – is it happening in your company?
Do you know what corporate politics, hidden agendas and manipulation are costing your business right now? You might think, "But it doesn’t happen in my company". Well, that’s why they’re called ‘hidden’ agendas. You’re not supposed to know what’s going on. If you did, you’d try to put a stop to it. You […]
Five tips for dealing with auto-enrolment
The gestation period of pension reform – and auto-enrolment in particular – makes that of the African elephant look relatively short. The idea of universal, company-supported pensions for all has been working its way through the machinery of government since the middle of last decade, but much of the definitive detail and legislation is still […]
Skills shortages and unemployment to remain endemic, warns study
The UK’s education system is not fit to meet the changing needs of industry and, as a result, skills shortages and unemployment seem set to remain endemic issues for UK Plc into the foreseeable future. This is the stark warning of a joint study between the Daily Telegraph and think tank The Work Foundation, which […]
Blog: HR must not let uninspiring company cultures set in
Some news that shocked me last week was that which described how over 300,000 children live in homes where no-one had any experience of work. It seems strange to think that so many children could be living in an environment where work is so alien. When this type of culture becomes established it can be […]
Does performance-related pay provide value for money?
While the average new hire’s salary is 3% down on 18 months ago, pay packages for FTSE 350 bosses have soared 700% since 2002 – despite company share prices spectacularly failing to correspond. A report by The High Pay Commission revealed that most of the jump in directors’ renumeration came in the form of annual […]
Blog: What are you bringing to the top table?
Recognise This! – If HR wants a seat at the table, then bring metrics the CEO cares about. Over and over again, I hear HR pros talking about “getting a seat at the table.” Laurie Ruettimann’s post last week reminded me again of this highly contentious topic. I’m always astounded that HR doesn’t have […]
Blog: Employee performance ratings – the good, the bad and the ugly
Numbers say a lot about your organization, such as how much money it earns or loses, the strength of sales, and the size of the work force. I’ve made no secret recently about one area where numbers do no good: Employee performance appraisals. With very few exceptions, attaching a numerical rating to an individual’s performance […]
Book review: You can manage people
Title: You can manage peopleAuthor: Kieran Maloney & Paul StanfordISBN: 978-1-905823-88-8Price: I read the reviews on the back cover and was pleased at the prospect of reviewing a “straightforward” book and “a very easy read, light and none of the fluffy stuff.” The only problem was that I am a manager with 18 years […]
AA accused of ‘corporate bullying’
The Automobile Association is indulging in “corporate bullying” by attempting to ‘performance manage’ 450 staff out of their jobs in a bid to replace them with cheaper, lower skilled workers, the GMB union has claimed. Patrollers across the country have allegedly been called into meetings and given a “take it or leave it” offer of […]
Coming full circle – the four levels of performance appraisal
Despite widespread usage of annual staff appraisals within all sizes and types of organisations, in the vast majority of cases the process is time-consuming and unpopular because in most people’s experience appraisals deliver little value, to the employee or the organisation itself. Peter McHugh, CEO of Covalent Software suggests that the employee performance review processes […]