How to avoid another year of Trexit
2016 was a year of divisive politics. In the UK, factions formed around the ‘Leave’ and ‘Remain’ camps. In the US, the battle lines were drawn between supporters of Trump and those of Clinton. In both cases, the rhetoric was vicious and saw a rise in hate-related incidents. It was easy to point fingers and […]
Contextualising innovation in HR: what do we mean?
Keeping pace with social, cultural and technological progression has always been key for business but these three areas now advance so fast that the task has become harder. Businesses used to keep pace by fortifying: making things stronger so they could better resist change. That’s fine when change is a series of smaller waves, but […]
Maternity coaching: a crap name for an incredible development opportunity
It's HR in Retail month on HRZone! We're focusing on all things retail – check out our HR in retail hub to read all our great content! I want to start with a confession: despite my dislike of the terminology, if you search our website, you will find reference to maternity and paternity coaching. It’s become such […]
Financial wellbeing – time for businesses to act?
As we move further into 2017 and still counting the cost of our Xmas extravagances, many of us will be watching the pennies. January is traditionally a difficult time for families in the UK. Getting through the month is estimated to be a struggle for one in four adults and it’s a time of year when […]
HR then and now: how a decade has changed the workplace
In daily life, it’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day issues and miss the bigger trends. Consider the many changes that have happened in the past ten years: in 2006, there was no iPhone, Twitter was still in development, Facebook’s user base consisted mostly of hip college students, and Disney and Pixar were […]
A snowball started rolling: lessons from Norway about gender quotas on boards
What are the main lessons that we can learn from the Norwegian women quota for corporate boards? The quota was introduced in 2002. In most countries in Europe the number of women on boards today are several times higher than it was in 2002. This is illustrated by the EU statistics displayed in the graph below. How […]
The state of family-friendliness in UK financial services
Over the last few years, academics and professionals alike have been documenting the gradual shift toward more flexible ways of working, in part facilitated by an evolution of Government legislation. Research has shown that flexible work can improve staff retention, improve morale and increase productivity. However, the definition of flexible working is broad and ill-defined […]
The grey area of the parent trap and the failure of work to tackle it
I’m going to make a bit of a generalisation and say that there are really only two ways of working in our society. One way is task-orientated and the other way is clock-based. You can imagine this as the difference between a freelancer’s life and an office worker’s life. Task-orientated work If you’ve ever worked […]
Family-friendly workplaces: the role of mental wellbeing
Mind urges employers to create mentally healthy workplaces by tackling the causes of work-related stress and poor mental health at work, supporting members of staff experiencing a mental health problem, and promoting wellbeing for all employees. Workplace wellbeing initiatives can benefit all employees, including parents with mental health problems. Mental health problems can affect anyone, […]
Should human resources be managing human rights?
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 […]
Can you treat anxiety at work through working memory training?
Taking an evidence-based approach to improving mental wellbeing in the workplace is important for individuals and HR alike. The research in this article looked at treating anxiety with attention training. Anxiety centres the mind around vigilance and worry, using up capacity normally used to control attention. By consciously focusing our attention, can we mitigate anxiety’s […]
Who are you under your suit?
Steve Jobs once said that intuition is more powerful than intellect. As it turns out, he was onto something big. And the scientific community backs him up. It seems we’ve been giving intuition far too little respect. “Intuition will tell the thinking mind where to look next.” – Jonas Salk The importance of slowing down […]
Workplace hygge: how to embrace it
The Danish art of Hygge has become the latest buzz word in wellbeing. Health and fitness magazines are bursting with stories on how Hygge – pronounced ‘Hooga’ can revitalise your mind and body whilst the world of fashion and interiors is full of features on how to embrace Hygge-style. So, what is Hygge? And, can […]
Female leaders in travel – on leadership and courage
On the 8th November 2016 the third Women in Travel meetup took place in London. Female and male attendees alike from places as diverse as India, Kenya, Switzerland, the US and many others shared their stories over an afternoon that included two panel debates, one on leadership and one on entrepreneurship. We also had group […]
How can generosity help with managing a team?
A workplace where staff and team members are listened to, appreciated, supported and praised is a workplace where people want to give their best, where people’s ideas and creativity can unfold. Generosity helps to foster this creativity and helps to boost morale and performance as well as mental and emotional wellbeing among employees. Bringing out […]
Breaking the stigma: why every office needs a Mental Health First Aider
Depression, anxiety, stress – mental health issues in the workplace are cause for concern for many employers. According to the HSE stress, depression or anxiety accounted for 9.9 million days lost to work related ill health between 2014/2015. If absenteeism is having an impact on organisations, consider the impact of presenteeism to the organisation’s bottom line […]
HR in retail: 5 trends HR leaders should watch out for in 2017
The battle for consumers’ hearts and minds is constantly being waged between online-only companies and bricks-and-mortar retailers. It’s often pointed out that the on-demand economy doesn’t need to put boots on the ground, to use a military phrase; that’s widely regarded as a competitive advantage as it saves money on overheads and wages. The solution […]
Music as an HR resource for employee wellbeing
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 […]
Rabbit whisperers, robots and the realms of possibility
Last week, I was at a dinner party at a local friends’ house in our Suffolk village. I began to tell what I thought was a unique tale surrounding the saga of my children’s pet rabbits, whose domestic unruliness towards each other had escalated so far that I’d be been forced to call in the […]
Reverse culture shock: hitting home when you least expect it
Returning from an international assignment is often perceived as the easy part of the relocation process – experience gained, job done and the feeling of ‘home sweet home. But increasingly individuals and big businesses alike are recognising that ‘coming home’ is more complicated than it seems. In fact, readjusting back to a culture, lifestyle and self […]