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 […]
Stress now most common cause of sickness absence at work
Stress is now the biggest cause of long-term absence among UK workers across all sectors, overtaking cancer as the main reason for taking time off due to sickness. But according to a survey by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and private health insurance provider, Simplyhealth, staff absence in the public sector have rocketed […]
Case Study: NHS Trust saves £500,000 by managing nurses more efficiently
Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust claims to have saved £0.5m in a year by introducing software to record employees’ working hours, administer their shifts and manage their expenses claims. Managers at the Essex-based Trust, which employs 1,800 clinical staff – 1,500 of whom are nurses – are now using e-rostering, time and […]
Ask the Expert: Is it OK for staff to smoke e-cigs in the workplace?
The Question ‘E-cigs’ are electronic cigarettes. Basically, they look like cigarettes but work by heating a solution that contains nicotine. This produces an odourless vapour that is inhaled. The user inhales this and gets their nicotine hit. When they exhale, you see a ‘vapour’, which looks like smoke. In fact, the units look just […]
Ask the Expert: Are staff due a holiday after sickness and maternity leave?
Question I’m looking for some guidance on accrual of holidays when an employee has been on long-term sick leave, then returns to go on maternity leave. Is she entitled to accrue almost two years’ holiday? Legal Advice Esther Smith, a partner at Thomas Eggar The short answer to this question is […]
Top UK employers publish guide to improve workplace mental health
Some of the UK’s largest employers have contributed to a report making a series of recommendations on how to ensure that workplaces are mental health-friendly. Some 16 companies, including Barclays, Deloitte, Marks & Spencer and utilities provider Veolia, got together at a business summit hosted by mental health charity Mind and insurance company AXA earlier […]
Barnardo’s wins e-learning award for staff dedication and support
Barnardo’s has won an award for best overall e-learning programme at the Charity Learning Awards this year due to both its dedication and efforts to support a large number of users compared with the size of the learning and development team. Judges were also particularly impressed with the children's charity's innovative approach to learning, and […]
Ask the Expert: Is posting Facebook pictures of planking at work acceptable?
The Question Two members of staff posted pictures of themselves ‘planking’ on Facebook or lying in places that put their health and safety at risk – on top of a top shelf in a backroom and above the back door at work. Comments have been made about this on Facebook, which included the manager […]
Blog: Gamification – silly name, but it could help engagement and innovation
At the end of the 80’s, Action Man was ‘Toy of the Decade’. Before the age of video games millions of kids used Action Man in real games, and the fantasy they created was as vivid and involving as pressing buttons on a Play Station. Our very own Kevin Thomson managed the ‘Action Man’ brand […]
Talent Spot: Guy Pink, HR director of Addaction
Knowing your company helps saves lives is a pretty good motivator for getting up and going to work each day. Guy Pink, HR director of drug and alcohol treatment charity, Addaction, may not be on the front line providing counselling or advice, but he plays a vital supporting role, ensuring that the charity creates […]
Ask the Expert: How sick is sick?
The Question A member of staff has been off sick for two weeks (one week self-certified, the other with a doctor’s note). While off sick, she has been posting on a social networking site that she has been to Bristol to have a new tattoo, has been out and about with friends and has also […]
Nurses’ ‘do not disturb’ tabards send out ‘wrong message’
Patients’ campaign groups have criticised the growing use of ‘do not disturb’ tabards worn by nurses in a bid to cut medication errors during drug rounds as sending out the wrong message. The tabards are being used in a number of hospitals to try and reduce the risk of personnel being distracted by either patients […]
Legal Insight: Where does long-term sick leave end and annual leave begin?
The boundaries between annual leave and sick leave and where they lie has been a growing issue in both the courts and employment tribunals over the last couple of years, points out Harriet Broughton, a solicitor at Bevans. The problem arises because the Working Time Regulations 1998 state that annual leave “may only be taken […]
Cycling staff saved employers £128 million last year
The cycling industry is worth £2.9 billion a year to the UK economy and employs about 23,000 workers, a report by the London School of Economics has found. The figure includes the contribution made by bicycle manufacturing, retail and cycle-related employment, which contributed more than £600 million to the economy in wages and taxes last […]
Blog: Got sick while on holiday?
After months of hard work you finally booked a few days off to enjoy the gorgeous (?) British summer weather. But, a day before taking your long awaited break you got really ill and had to spend all of your holiday in bed. Ouch! The good news is that you are entitled to take sickness […]
The secret to staff satisfaction
The current climate is not only affecting business profitability but also staff morale, with employee satisfaction rates at their lowest since 2009, according to a recent survey by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Further research carried out by mental health charity, Mind, revealed that 41% of people are stressed by their jobs, with […]
Ask the Expert: What to do about excessive sick leave?
The Question We have an employee who works in an independent school nursery, employed since 2005. Extra responsibilities were taken on in 2009, and they are responsible for four staff. This year she has taken 40 days absence, some of it medically certified, some self-certified. During her last absence, her manager phoned to enquire […]
Ask the expert: Employer queries ‘fit note’ for work-related depression/stress
The question: Depression/stress at work – employer queries ‘fit note’ A friend is into her 5th continuous week of absence, all supported by GP notes every two weeks, stating ‘stress at work/anxiety’ or ‘depression’. Essentially, what started as a stress at work issue three months ago has caused her lots of stress and she has […]
Just over half of staff work through their holidays
Just over half of UK staff who are not self-employed work during their holidays, with nearly one in five making a regular habit of it, a study has found. A survey among 2,009 adults undertaken by YouGov on behalf of workplace information and services provider Croner also revealed that young people aged 18 to 24 […]
Stressed!!! Companies are screaming out for HR to help.
How did last week feel for you? Were you feeling a tad more stressed out than usual? If you were, don’t worry, you’re not alone – there were millions of us in the same boat. Last week was, it seems, the most stressful 5 working days of the corporate calendar as those left in the […]
