Siemens: HR and IT work together 4Success

Siemens, the German electronics giant, is 18 months into what most observers agree is the world’s largest cloud HR implementation, with over 400,000 subscribers, across 80 countries and 20 languages. It’s an incredible feat but it only happened because HR acted within the business with other departments, from the board to IT to make a […]

The Digital Workplace: HR in focus

Our advisory arm, K2, has published some of the data collected in part on HRzone when it comes to the role digital media and devices have in the workplace. They have analysed the findings to uncover advice for HR professionals. Thank you to everyone who took part: this extract below draws on K2 Advisory’s research […]

Business transparency: Converse, collaborate, illuminate

Transparency and trust are critical to getting the best out of employees – and new collaboration technologies can enable this, says Marc Benioff, CEO of Cloud Computing company Salesforce.com. Best known for its Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Cloud service, Salesforce.com last year fleshed out its portfolio with a collaboration offering called Chatter. Chatter is a […]

Stress and sackings mean employees should beware of the email

Emails are more dangerous than you might think – one in 20 staff have been reprimanded or sacked for sending ill-advised ones, while more than half experience increased stress levels as a result of checking them on holiday.  According to the Press Association, a study among 2,000 UK workers, one in five respondents said that […]

Recruiting? There’s an app for that

There are now ‘apps’ – applications – which enable people to register with recruitment companies on their iPhone, then search and apply for jobs ‘on-the-go’. A sign of the times, says Michael Moran of Fairplace. Job seekers are being more creative in their hunt for work. In the current economic climate that’s not surprising. Candidates […]

Volvo drives forward with e-learning

A car manufacturer has abandoned third party face-to-face training in favour of tailored in-house classroom and e-learning programmes based on digital video content.  Volvo Cars is now incorporating video clips from 25 digital training films produced by Video Arts into its existing classroom and e-learning courses on topics ranging from customer service to communications and […]

Making the leap into the Cloud: one HRD’s story

Stepping into the world of ‘cloud computing’ sounds strange and scary to many but actually it’s not that big a leap. All ‘cloud’ means, essentially, is ‘web-based’. So if you’ve used Facebook, Hotmail, GMail or perhaps an online jobs board, you are already operating in ‘the Cloud’ – maybe without even knowing it. So where […]

Social media ‘critical’ to success but security is lacking

A third of UK personnel currently access social media in the workplace and more than half of managers now sanction such activity for motivational and productivity reasons, according to research.  A survey undertaken among 1,600 staff in the UK, US, Japan and Germany by security software provider Trend Micro revealed that the percentage using social […]

Learning innovation: When the classroom won’t cut it

Building skills and harnessing talent are as critical, if not more so, in tough economic times but organisations will have to think innovatively if they are to build the skills necessary to thrive and survive. Recent figures from Lifelong Learning UK revealed that half of all office workers felt they would waste less time at […]

Talent – you’ve got it: you just don’t know it yet

A survey exploring the value that businesses and HR departments place on talent information and its availability has found that a worrying number of companies do not have access to reliable information on crucial workforce issues. Although most companies measure time to hire, only 33% have access to reliable data on the quality of hire […]

Social media still ‘misunderstood by management’

Even though social media can be useful as an internal tool to encourage staff to network and share information among themselves, management fears over loss of control, reputational damage and legal issues are holding back adoption.  According to a ‘Social Media Survey’ undertaken among 2,600 internal communications professionals from 1,800 organisations by research and training […]

Wales gets WISE with sustainable training

Wales has had a good week in terms of training opportunities following the opening of an institute to deliver learning in new environmental technologies and the provision of funding to teach traditional conservation skills.  Jane Davidson, Welsh Assembly Minister for the Environment, opened the Wales Institute for Sustainable Education (WISE) yesterday, which will specialise in […]

Metrics are the key to effective business strategy

How are the best HR functions using metrics to inform and execute business strategy? Will HR ever add value to the business strategy through its development and execution of people strategy?  If so, how will it prove it, and what are the benefits of being able to provide such proof? We at Orion Partners decided […]

Is HR too helpful?

Is HR too helpful? HR’s service-led culture is hampering the department in the business and preventing HR making its life easier, claims HR director Ed Golitko.    "HR people are very service-oriented and you have to break them of that." So says Ed Golitko, human resources director at technology firm EMC and the man currently […]

Cloud Computing and its effect on the HR industry

The concept of ‘cloud computing’ is fast becoming the darling of the IT world. As one of the biggest changes to hit IT infrastructures since the invention of the personal computer, the rise of cloud-based computing is predicted to have an impact on organisations of all sizes. In the next few years, whether a corporation, […]

Met’s HR system £10 million over budget

After being attacked by David Cameron in  the leader’s debates during the general election, there’s more bad news for the Met as it is revealed their HR system is £10 million over budget. The Metropolitan Police Service’s new HR system is currently £10 million over budget and running six months late, according to a report […]

Green jobs for the Welsh valleys

British Gas has opened a green skills training centre in South Wales, with the aim of equipping 1,300 local long-term unemployed and its own engineers with the necessary expertise to handle the emerging technology.  The centre, which was opened by Carwyn Jones, First Minister of the Welsh Assembly Government, is based in Tredegar in the […]

SuccessConnect: Get with the Cloud or lose your job in HR

Is Cloud Computing effectively calling the bluff of the HR director? For years HR people have longed for a seat on the board, complaining that they are unable to make their true contribution to adding business value to their organisations because they’re bogged down in traditional processes and paperwork.    Cloud Computing potentially changes all […]

SuccessConnect: Dalgaard’s Wheel of Fortune

Cloud HR and Business Execution firm SuccessFactors has beefed up its portfolio with CEO Lars Dalgaard boasting that the firm now has so many offerings that he has to leave it up to pot luck to decide what to talk to customers about!  Speaking at the firm’s New York Success Connect user conference, Dalgaard – […]

Would you ban email in the office?

Everyone hates spam. That much we know. But email has opened the lines of communication making conversations easy across the world. It’s a great invention and we’d never be without it – or would we? You’d never ban email in an office. Email has enabled great things to happen. But it has also, according to […]