Five questions and answers to a better graduate programme

Alan Price is Employment Law & HR Director at Peninsula, recently awarded the Best Place to Work for Graduates 2016 award. In this interview Alan talks about honing graduate soft skills, the benefits of graduats in the workplace, and the common ways that businesses mismanage graduates. Jamie Lawrence, Editor, HRZone: Graduates are often intelligent but unprepared for working in a commercial […]
How to achieve diversity through merit-based hiring

Employers worldwide are recognising that to grow their businesses and address the challenges and opportunities they face, they need to be diverse and inclusive. This is not just to fulfil legal compliance or their moral obligation. There are sound commercial reasons why today’s workplaces should reflect the diversity of the population. With a diverse talent […]
Helping employees manage their emotional investment

Some jobs require a great deal of emotional investment, such as being front of house with the necessity to be perpetually polite and perky. But what does it cost the said staff member to put up this façade day in and day out? Are they simply soaking up negativity like a sponge with long-term impacts upon […]
Red light for BA performance appraisal system

Industrial action is nothing new to British Airways, Britain’s flagship airline. No surprise then when we hear of possible action over the introduction of a new performance appraisal system. For BA’s Director of People and Legal, Maria da Cunha, this must be a disappointing result given her commitment to a more engaged workforce. In […]
Six things you should be doing with your workforce data

In the first article in this series, we looked at whether HRDs were effectively ‘flying blind’ – not using the instrumentation that HR analytics provides to effectively tell them where they are going (or at least plot a credible course for their organisation). HR has huge amounts of people data at its fingertips, yet many organisations have […]
Exploring the link between performance, productivity and memory

In this series we look at an aspect of science that gets too little (in our view) attention in business and that’s what we eat, how we move our body and use our brain. Take a look at the whole series here! You won’t be functioning at your best if you can’t remember what you […]
Don’t just sit there …..learn something and move

In this series we look at an aspect of science that gets too little (in our view) attention in business and that’s what we eat, how we move our body and use our brain. Take a look at the whole series here! I find myself, probably like many of you, spending too much time in […]
When will we stop trivialising sleep?

In this series we look at an aspect of science that gets too little (in our view) attention in business and that’s what we eat, how we move our body and use our brain. Take a look at the whole series here! I’ve been a poor sleeper for years now: getting to sleep isn’t an […]
Powering performance with… coffee

In this series we look at an aspect of science that gets too little (in our view) attention in business and that’s what we eat, how we move our body and use our brain. Take a look at the whole series here! Most people I know are trying to give up drinking coffee just at […]
Powering performance with… nuts

In this series we look at an aspect of science that gets too little (in our view) attention in business and that’s what we eat, how we move our body and use our brain. Take a look at the whole series here! Walnuts have been revered since ancient times as the symbol of intellectuality since […]
Powering performance with… turmeric

In this series we look at an aspect of science that gets too little (in our view) attention in business and that’s what we eat, how we move our body and use our brain. Take a look at the whole series here! It’s hard not to rush out and buy a huge bag of organic […]
Powering performance with… chocolate

In this series we look at an aspect of science that gets too little (in our view) attention in business and that’s what we eat, how we move our body and use our brain. Take a look at the whole series here! Rejoice, rejoice: chocolate is actually good for you. Here is just some of […]
Powering performance by… ditching blue light

In this series we look at an aspect of science that gets too little (in our view) attention in business and that’s what we eat, how we move our body and use our brain. Take a look at the whole series here! Normally, your brain starts progressively increasing the hormone melatonin around 9 or 10 […]
Maximising productivity and performance – using your brain better by managing your body

In this series we look at an aspect of science that gets too little (in our view) attention in business and that’s what we eat, how we move our body and use our brain. Take a look at the whole series here! Maybe one reason there is limited focus on this area is it’s confusing. […]
Exercise: Miracle Gro for the brain – take it up now

In this series we look at an aspect of science that gets too little (in our view) attention in business and that’s what we eat, how we move our body and use our brain. Take a look at the whole series here! The more research is done on exercise the clearer it is that if […]
Mindset matters – what’s it all about and why it matters

It's Neuroscience Learning Month on HRZone. You're reading one of the pieces that's been written to help you develop a sound understanding of why neuroscience principles are important to business, and a basic understanding of how you can apply them effectively. There's loads more content going live over the month to help you on your way, […]
Training doesn’t work. There I’ve said it…

Training doesn’t work. There I’ve said it. I feel a whole lot better now! Of course I need to put some caveats around that. I’m referring to the traditional training course – off the job one or two day events existing in a bubble of presentations and meaningless activity. They don’t work. I mean, that’s obvious isn’t […]
How to avoid manager dependency

It goes without saying that managers need to be able to support and help those that they lead. Problems arise when leaders find it hard to release control and team members take advantage of the situation to shirk responsibility. Over time, this can lead to ‘manager dependency’. With the benefits of operating a flexible working […]
Coffee Break: Robot workers, feedback fear and the end of the office dress code

The end of the week is nigh, and we think it's time you make yourself a brew, put your feet up, and have a read through our picks of the week's best HR news, opinion and tidbits. Let us know what you think, and what you've enjoyed reading this week! Management – Managers beware: busyness […]
Book Review: Brain-Savvy Business by Jan Hills

HRZone has a range of books available for review. If you would like to receive one of our business books, free of charge, please contact the editor on editor at hrzone dot com and we can send you a list of what's available. In return, we ask for a 400-700 word review of the book, […]