UK - TUC New Year Message

Full text of TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady's New Year message.


"2015 must bring living standards boost as average wage fell £500 in 2014"

Women in Communications Top Jobs


Women in the communications sector fail to achieve boardroom positions because of differences in communications styles between men and women.

Recruitment - Now Less of a Minefield?

In this, the second article, Tony Brookes, Sales Director, Vacancy Filler Recruitment Software examines the vital next steps and takes a look at additional ways to ensure a recruitment strategy really delivers.

Recruitment - Now Less of a Minefield?

UK - Eight tips to making your company Christmas video stand out

As the Christmas season draws closer, company Christmas videos start to circulate to employees, customers, partners and associates.

Eight tips to making your company Christmas video stand out

UK - Recruitment - Still a Minefield?

In the first of a series of articles, Tony Brookes, Sales Director, Vacancy Filler Recruitment Software looks at implementing an HR Strategy that Delivers Optimum Results.

Recruitment - Still a Minefield?

Managing age-diversity in the workplace

Dealing With An Ageing Workforce

Managing age-diversity in the workplace

A modern business needs a mobile workforce

The modern employee is no longer tied to an office desktop. Whether it is on a smartphone, a laptop or a tablet, employees are increasingly taking their work with them wherever they go.

A modern business needs a mobile workforce

UK - Candidate Care

Unfortunately the negative feeling and publicity surrounding recruitment agencies is largely self inflicted. Like any industry there are great practitioners and there are cowboys operating in the space.

It's time to focus on Candidate care

UK - ACAS Early Conciliation - Is it Working?

Ian Abel of Michael Lewin Solicitors comments on ACAS statistics regarding the first quarter of Early Conciliation.

ACAS Early Conciliation - Is it Working?

USA - Leadership Skills

As of July 2014, log on to Amazon and you'll find 116,796 titles under the heading "Leadership". But if you're in too big of a hurry to read a book, open up the American Heritage Dictionary. A careful examination of the various definitions of "leader" presents a fascinating and brief explanation of great leadership.

Six Essential Leadership Skills For Today's Leader

Can software make better hiring decisions than people?

A new breed of software claims to be able to select employees who perform better. Based on behavioural research, the software means that in the long run people may no longer be needed in the selection process in order to assess whether a candidate is the best fit for a given role or job. But how realistic is this shift? And will software ever replace human selection?

Can software make better hiring decisions than people?

UK - Illegal Working

On 16 May 2014, a number of important changes to the UK's prevention of illegal working requirements and associated civil penalty scheme took force.

Changes to the UK's prevention of illegal working and civil penalty system

UK - Managing an Expanding Retail Workforce

Roger Moore, General Manager, Bond Teamspirit outlines the key requirements for minimising payroll overhead and maximising employee cost visibility
in a continually changing retail market.

Managing an Expanding Retail Workforce

Competencies: Developing a Culture of Employee Accountability

Now with the increased talk of a skills gap, the focus on training couldn't happen soon enough.

A major challenge for modern HR professionals is to grow learning environments so that it works to help employees understand the competencies for their role. Due to the introduction of new, automated performance management software into the mass market, companies of all sizes have an opportunity to develop their workforces.

Competencies: Developing a Culture of Employee Accountability

Company Culture: Giving Your Employees The Tools To Succeed

Helping employees set and reach goals is a critical part of every manager's job.

Employees want to understand how their work contributes to wider corporate objectives, and setting the right activities, goals and plans makes this connection explicit for them, and for you, as their manager.

Goal-setting is particularly important as a mechanism for providing ongoing and year-round feedback.

Company Culture: Giving Your Employees The Tools To Succeed

Substance misuse in the workplace

Nearly one third of UK employers (32%) admit to not having enough knowledge or training to identify workers under the influence of recreational drugs. This is despite 16% having suspected an employee of taking a substance.

Substance Abuse in the Workplace

Canada - Ontario Family Caregivers Leave

Bill 21, the Employment Standards Amendments Act (Leaves to Help Families), 2014, passed its third reading in the Ontario legislature with all party support.

Ontario Family Caregivers Bill

USA - Preventing Workplace Violence

Employers should positively engage a small but dangerous minority of employees, supervise them closely and make sure they get the help they need, according to a paper from professors at the the University of Texas at Arlington and Oklahoma State University. The researchers analyzed FBI reports, case studies and HR records focused on the estimated 1-3% of employees prone to aggressive behavior such as homicide, suicide or destruction of property in the workplace.

Preventing Workplace Violence

Mental Health First Aid England (MHFA), the leading provider of mental health workplace training, has today released figures which demonstrate a significant increase in spend by UK employers on mental health awareness training. The company has reported a 400 per cent increase in business spending on MHFA Workplace training since the start of this financial year. These figures are released in the wake of a new report, published by the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and King’s College London[i], which reveals the cost of mental health to businesses across Europe at a substantial £77 billion.


UK workplaces show significant increased spend on mental health training

Next-generation Worker and the Modern Employer

This is a question that gets asked a lot but the answer is simple: the next-generation worker expects use of state-of-the-art technology, mobile working and the adoption of social media within the enterprise.

What Does the Next-generation Worker Expect from the Modern Employer?

Paperless HR

HR is an area beset by processes, workflows, procedures, compliance and legal requirements. These are traditionally all very much paper-based, which could at least partially explain why HR departments are such a long way from embracing the 'paperless office'. Yet the technology is in place to solve these issues, the process
improvements are obvious, and the environmental and cost benefits are hard to dispute, so isn't it time that HR managers took a serious look at eliminating - or at least reducing - paper?

Paperless HR?

Flexibility and resilience can boost the bottom line

Flexibility and resilience can boost the bottom line

Resilient managers who can choose when and how they work perform significantly better than 9-5 colleagues.

UK - Top tips for new management consultants

Whether you're a beginner or an expert in your field, there are always new elements that can be added to your role to improve your outlook on your business. Being the point of call for your team of employees, or investing time in your personal development as a freelancer means more time to be spent on developing your skills and the role itself. Below are some tips that will always be useful, particularly so if you're getting started as a management consultant.

Top tips for new management consultants

India - What NOT TO DO in a Team Offsite

"Teambuilding" is a much maligned word. From our experience, here are a few things that Teambuilding providers need to keep in mind.

What NOT TO DO in a Team Offsite

UK - Big Work Survey Reveals UK is Nation of Stressed Staff

According to new research, we are a nation of stressed staff. While a certain level of stress can certainly be a good thing, unmanageable levels of stress can have a very negative impact on both performance and employee health.

Big Work Survey Reveals UK is Nation of Stressed Staff

UK - Tupe Regulations Changes

The reforms which come into force on January 31 2014 are intended to reduce bureaucracy and increase flexibility surrounding the regulations. For many employers though, particularly small businesses, the new TUPE rules still do not go nearly far enough.

TUPE Regulations changes 31st January 2014

A Business Accounting Career Provides Options

If you are looking for a career (outside of HR) that has lots of possibilities for jobs and gives you the option to try different things, then a career in business accounting might be the right choice for you.

A Business Accounting Career Provides Options

UK - Coaching to improve youth employability

A recent presentation at the Annual Conference of the British Psychological Society’s Division of Occupational Psychology in Brighton put forward the view that when young people have a positive outlook, self-belief and skills for the workplace they are happier, sleep better and are more well-behaved.

Coaching to improve youth employability

UK Employment law - what to expect in 2014

Happy New Employment Year! 2014 promises to be another year of substantial change in UK employment law.

Employment law - what to expect in 2014

Men still earning more than women Australia wide

Women earn a mere 64% of the average man's wage and salary income across Australia, according to a recent report from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Men still earning more than women Australia wide