News: PPMA unveils competition to attract HR talent to public sector
A public sector HR body has unveiled an Apprentice-style competition in a bid to attract new talent to the area at a time when recruitment is proving tricky. Rising 2013, which is sponsored by recruitment consultancy Manpower, is the brainchild of The Public Sector People Managers’ Association. Although it is open to anyone currently […]
Blog: Social networking in the workplace is coming of age
The standard view of social networks in the workplace is that they are time vacuums. Facebook and Twitter are the ultimate procrastination tools; great for staying in touch with friends but the enemy of work productivity. However, social networking is maturing for the workplace. Enterprise social networks (ESNs) take the concepts and communication tools from […]
News: UK HR pros least likely in world to use social media
HR professionals in the UK are the least likely in the world to use social media in order to identify prospective job candidates or communicate with staff. According to a new study of 1,500 hiring managers and HR professionals from around the globe entitled ‘2012 HR Beat‘, less than half (47%) of UK hiring managers use […]
Blog: Creating your own Dragon’s Den to foster innovation
As a new series of Dragons’ Den hits the airwaves listening to some of the ideas presented in the programme does make you sit up and think….what if? Well what if you looked at your employees as inventors and innovators and created a collection of dragons from around your own business? Then every quarter […]
Blog: Never underestimate the value of the great British tea break
Free tea and coffee facilities for employees cost businesses around £276 per year, per employee. If you have a large workforce that cost could soon add up, but hold fire before you commence a cull of this pretty basic benefit as it could end up costing you more money in the long term. Psychologists […]
Analysis: IBM buys Kenexa to create ‘Smarter Workforce’
SuccessFactors, Rypple, Taleo, and now Kenexa. IBM has taken a leaf out of the respective books of SAP, Salesforce.com and Oracle to mount a takeover bid in the cloud human capital management applications space, by making a $1.3 billion punt for Kenexa. The acquisition target’s HR software is intended to help companies recruit and manage […]
News: Collaborative Justice Institute unveiled
In a bid to offer an alternative to traditional adversarial justice, a newly-created institute is aiming to promote the practice of ‘collaborative justice’ instead. The goal of the not-for-profit organisation is to bring practitioners, policy makers, leaders, scholars and other interested parties together in order to find ways of resolving conflict using techniques such as […]
News: Social media undervalued as employee comms tool
Most employers are failing to take advantage of social media as a means of improving their internal communications despite high levels of staff interest in them doing so. According to a survey conducted among 1,500 employees by recruitment process outsourcing provider hyphen, a mere 17.4% said that they were aware of any attempt by their […]
Blog: Lessons from Olympians – How to compete and cooperate at the same time
Recognise This! – The Olympics offer us lessons to apply in the workplace on how to achieve both individual and organisation success. How competitive is your workplace? Is it a good type of competition or one that breeds dissension, disharmony and, ultimately, disengagement? A recent survey reported by NBC shows 96% of senior managers […]
Blog: When to use social networks or personal networking?
Most of us have understood the importance of networking to leadership for a long time, but the recent appointment of Julia Hobsbawm by Cass Business School as the world’s first “Professor of Networking” makes it official. I listened to an interview with Hobsbawm on Radio 4 last week and it was what she had to say about […]
The HRZone Interview: The CMI’s CEO Ann Francke on management
Ann Francke only started her new job as chief executive at the Chartered Management Institute on 12 June, but she is already on a mission. As you’d expect, she not only wants to encourage more managers to gain professional qualifications, but she also wants them – and their employers – to recognise the power of […]
Blog: How can you make performance management more social?
The workplace today has changed beyond recognition; new technology is continuously bringing efficiencies to our way of working. However, one thing remains constant – the performance appraisal process. Now, consider Generation Y for a moment, will they be content to wait for their annual or bi-annual review to find out how they’re doing? Probably not! […]
Ensuring collaboration works
With new and updated HR legislation coming into effect all the time, HR departments need to stay on the ball to remain compliant. Mistakes in this area can have serious consequences and a negative impact in both a regulatory and employee well-being sense. As a result, it can help if HR executives put their […]
Social media trends: Moving into the mainstream
The opportunities and possibilities offered by social media are limitless – and that’s the problem for many HR professionals. The question is where exactly do you start and how do you know what will work for your business? The simple answer is: just start somewhere, for the beauty of social media is that […]
TV Review: The Apprentice Finale – Objectivity and gut feel are a winning combination
Most of us will have spent the majority of Sunday’s final of The Apprentice in stitches. My notes for writing this blog really don’t go beyond the moment of hiccups and bloopers of absolute comedy gold. And I’ve got a slight problem with that. Crucially, these “outtake” moments weren’t contributing factors to the final […]
The value of networking
Lynda Gratton, professor of management practice at the London Business School, believes that “building networks, especially those outside the organisation will be another key leadership skill”. We used to do our ‘schmoozing’ face-to-face but these days social networking sites are what we use to foster collaboration, within the company, and well beyond. A good networker […]
Analysis: A Rypple effect – Spotify goes social
Music subscription service, Spotify, has gone social in a bid to ensure that its workforce around the world can collaborate more effectively. To this end, the firm has rolled out Rypple, Salesforce.com’s HR system, which it acquired late last year as a first step into the human capital management applications space. Johan Persson, Spotify’s […]
Blog: Does social learning really work?
Have you ever been reluctant to seek assistance from someone inside your organisation, perhaps afraid of losing face because you need help? High performers communicate with their colleagues In a series of experiments, MIT Professor Tom Allen1 found that people are more likely to look outside their own organisation for ideas, while at the […]
News: HMRC worker sacked after being found guilty of sharing tax credit details
A tax office worker has been sacked after using work computer systems to disclose confidential information to her landlord. Natalie Brennan, 41, could go to prison after pleading guilty to wrongful disclosure at Preston Crown Court. Her crime was to divulge information about a tax credits claim made by Mary Houghton, a former partner […]
Breaking down HR silos to boost efficiency
UK employers are continuing to face economic uncertainty, with many looking for new ways to cut costs and cement long-term survival. But such uncertainty inevitably generates a number of business pressures, from which HR directors are far from immune. Among other things, a key imperative is to ensure that the department is working at […]
