If you want to make your company more innovative, focus on developing better leaders says a new study by the Hay Group.
The study looked at the 20 highest rated companies for leadership development and found that one common ingredient in these businesses were that they all place a premium on their leaders emphasizing:
They also value getting a range of ideas from all levels of the organization, Read the rest of this entry »
Employee outlook surveyPoor managers need to look in the mirror if they want to get the best out of their people.
The latest CIPD employee outlook survey has found that too many managers have an inflated opinion of their ability to manage people. The survey shows that 72% of employers report a lack of leadership and management skills. This ‘reality gap’ in the capability of the UK’s managers, is undermining attempts to boost economic growth. In response, the CIPD are urging the Government and employers to recognise that just a small increase in capability amongst people managers would make a significant contribution to productivity.
Read the survey report
A recent report out by the CIPD stated that almost half (49%) of middle managers say that they’re under excessive pressure either everyday or once or twice a week. Their employee outlook survey of 2,000 employees also revealed that middle managers are particularly unhappy with their work-life balance.
Here are just some of the headlines that came out of the Winter 2011/12 report: (click here to read full report)
Youth unemployment rose to a fresh record high, with more than one in five 16 to 24-year-olds out of work after a rise of 66,000 to 965,000.
What responsibility should we (the recruitment sector) be taking to help with this? I don’t think we are doing enough!
Small recruitment companies can take advantage of the Apprenticeship service and take on a young person and get c£3k for their training, whilst helping resolve the problem of youth unemployment.
Larger organisations could take on small groups of apprentices and track them through their career and recruitment bodies could encourage their members to take on apprentices. If a good number did this it would go along way to helping reduce youth unemployment and will also benefit your business and contribute towards your CSR. Read the rest of this entry »
We’ve all been waiting for it; Wednesday nights are no longer. What are we talking about? The much awaited sixth series of The Apprentice is in full swing. It’s not just the thought of hearing Lord Sugar say his notorious catchphrase ‘You’re fired’ that makes us give up every Wednesday to watch it, nor the back stabbing that so often takes place, but that it is so relevant to the work we do for our clients and the industry that we work in.
The whole process is one big training exercise for the candidates and a lengthy interview process, and we get to see it firsthand. Some of them will flourish and some as we have already witnessed will fail miserably. Most candidates get one chance, or maybe a couple depending on the interview process, to prove to an organisation that they are the right person for the job. The employer has to make a decision pretty quickly on the suitability of the candidate – do they have the right skill set, and will they fit in to the culture of the business? The hopefuls on The Apprentice get several weeks to prove themselves, and Lord Sugar gets an equal amount of time to find the right fit for his empire. Read the rest of this entry »
The government has recently announced that it is planning to abolish the DRA on 1st October 2011 with a six month transition period from the existing regulations from April 2011. Employers must carefully consider what effect this will have on their business and acknowledge the fact that they will prevented from retiring employees. This development will prevent an employer from retiring any employees regardless of their age. In order to remove older employees from the business an employer will have to rely on comprehensive, fair and objective performance management plans. This will have to be coupled with an objective justification that the action taken is not age discriminatory against the employee and careful planning to ensure that any dismissal is carried out fairly.
According to a recent report by Randstad, half of employees feel that their skills are underutilised.
Now that there is talk of the war for talent returning and companies struggling to find talent, this is an interesting find. Are businesses tapping into skills that already exist in their organisations before looking to recruit additional people?
What’s more the survey also found that the factors that employees held most important in their job, and the issues that employers felt were most important for their people, did not match up. Whereas remuneration, training, a career path and flexible working were key for workers, their employers ranked brand, culture and benefits as the top retention tools. Read the rest of this entry »
