In defense of night: we treat it with disdain yet spend 26.5 years asleep

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Society is starting to pay attention to sleep. This is important because for something so critical to our survival and wellbeing, sleep has a chequered history with researchers. “Scientists in the 1950s said that ‘sleep is of no medical importance,” says Guy Meadows, Clinical Director at Sleep to Perform. “That’s an actual quote. Now in […]

Employee engagement at a 100-year-old retail motor group

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Helen Burrows is HR Director at Marshall Motor Holdings, which comprises two businesses, Marshall Motor Group and Marshall Leasing. Marshall Motor Group is a top-ten UK motor dealer group which was established in 1909. It currently operates more than 100 franchised dealerships, representing 24 different manufacturing brands in 25 counties across England. It has a […]

Powering performance with… rosemary oil

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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 other really interesting research on memory enhancement is Rosemary Oil. Rosemary (Rosmarinus […]

If you want trust, you have to invest in culture

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Trust is big business. From Davos down, business leaders are consulting oracles like Edelman’s Trust Barometer or the CIPD’s Employee Outlook Report in order to increase trust in their organisations, inside and out. It’s a perfectly sensible goal. The commercial advantages of trust are well documented: when employees trust leaders and each other, it reduces […]

E-resilience – why should HR care?

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There's so much rich insight coming out of the academic sector that HR professionals need to know. At Academics' Corner we feature the best HR researchers that tell you what they’ve found and what you need to do differently on the back of the research. Get connected to the academic sector through Academics’ Corner and […]

Four top tips for better sleep and improved workplace performance

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This article was written by Jeff Archer, Director of The Tonic Corporate Wellness.  Sleep, or lack of it, is a hot topic at the moment so how might sleep routines impact on energy levels and performance in the office? In his book, Internal Time: Chronotypes, Social Jet Lag, and Why You’re So Tired, Professor Till Roenneberg […]

Gossip in your workplace probably does you more good than harm

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There's so much rich insight coming out of the academic sector that HR professionals need to know. At Academics' Corner we feature the best HR researchers that tell you what they’ve found and what you need to do differently on the back of the research. Get connected to the academic sector through Academics’ Corner and […]

What employee benefits are currently being hyped?

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In March 2016, Google yet again, topped the Fortune 100 best companies to work for listings. Benefits such as free organic meals, unlimited snacks/refreshments, personal fitness classes, nap pods and enhanced healthcare with virtual doctor consultations makes it the firm everyone wants to work for. But are these perks – viewed by Google as crucial […]

Studying politicians: emotionally-intelligent leadership can be taxing

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Leadership is not easy and certainly not for the faint-hearted. I watched the unravelling of ‘The Panama Papers’ furore and thought it a great example of not just how important emotional leadership is to understand but how easy it is to get wrong. The PM was clearly hurt (“deeply hurtful allegations against my father” – […]

Great Place to Work announces best workplaces of 2016

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The Great Workplaces Special Report profiles this year’s top UK Best Workplaces and shares insights into how trust and engagement drive business success. HR and CEOs often talk different languages when it comes to engagement although both ultimately have the same goals. The report looks at how HR can ‘engage’ CEOs to ensure the organisation’s […]

Workplace conflict: Is the workplace itself part of the problem?

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We all know that workplace stress can have long-lasting negative consequences on employees. Long hours, unrealistic demands, and looming layoffs can lead to an increase in workplace conflict and health problems. But these issues are compounded when the workplace itself is a part of the problem. Academic research highlights the importance of the workplace environment on employees’ […]

Seven Emails: emergent behaviour to work as a discretionary choice

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Seven Emails is our conversation-driven dose of insight. We start with a topic and see how the topic is moulded and changed in seven emails. Fancy getting involved? Drop us a line at editor@hrzone.com and we'll get something set up. You pick the topic, we'll respond. Then we'll have five emails to take us to our destination. […]

Breakfast Insight: Positive psychology at work

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Breakfast Insight is your short dose of new ideas and food for thought, perfect to watch with your morning coffee. Today we're chatting to Tim Lomas, Lecturer in Positive Psychology at the University of East London. You can find out more about Tim on his website or contact him on Twitter at @drtimlomas. Tim tells us: […]

Snakes in suits: exploring the dark side of mindfulness

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Mindfulness meditation has been arguably THE trend in corporate wellbeing over recent years. And for good reason, given the purported benefits: stress reduction improved concentration better decision-making greater empathy improved productivity more creativity better teamwork. The list goes on. The piece de resistance that vendors of mindfulness are keen to share is that scientific research shows […]

Sleep, stress & mood: the healthy trinity of executive performance

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There's so much rich insight coming out of the academic sector that HR professionals need to know. At Academics' Corner we feature the best HR researchers that tell you what they’ve found and what you need to do differently on the back of the research. Get connected to the academic sector through Academics’ Corner and make […]

Legal highs: the impact on the workplace

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The use of ‘legal highs’ is on an upward curve in England, Scotland and Wales and the effects are worrying, with 129 deaths in 2014 where new psychoactive substances were implicated. For business, figures show that one third of employers see drug or alcohol use in the workplace as a problem, while half believe that […]