Employee engagement: decoding social media for the workplace

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Social media is an all-pervasive part of modern life, but HR teams are still struggling to keep up with the pace and develop an organisational approach to it.  You only have to look around to see how widespread social media has become. From sharing updates on the train to posting pictures while on holiday – […]

“Make diversity and inclusion a business topic, not just an HR topic.”

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Melisa Waters is Group Head of Engagement, Culture, Diversity and Inclusion at AXA. Advancing gender parity at the senior level is a key priority for this global insurance company. Launched in 2014, its Sponsorship Tandem programme has been successful in helping talented women develop their skills to become the next generation of leaders. Melisa has […]

The sharing block: how restricting employees from sharing ideas is holding back business

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Communication and collaboration have become much-used terms in the business world, highlighting the importance of interaction between colleagues and those outside of the business, including customers, partners and suppliers. But new research strongly suggests that employee collaboration and engagement with the rest of the business is severely lacking. Although technology has created numerous ways to […]

What can be learned from being a mutual company?

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While there are more than 10,000 mutual societies in the UK including building societies, co-operatives and community benefit societies, credit unions, friendly societies and registered societies, MyCSP is the first Government mutual joint venture – a former public sector department, ‘spun out’ into a private organisation, but importantly one with a mutual structure and I […]

How do you get things done with no managers?

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I was recently on a trip to the UK and managed to spend some valuable time with my 92-year-old Grandpa. Over a good cup of tea, we discussed a wide variety of topics, including the difficulties of the Dutch language. The majority of our time was however spent discussing my work and how I work […]

Budget 2014 – what does it mean for HR?

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George Osborne said that today’s Budget was made for building a resilient economy – a Budget designed for makers, doers and savers. The BBC’s Robert Peston said it felt like a ‘very Tory Budget.’ Overall, the GDP forecast is expected to grow by 2.7% in 2014 and 2.3% next year, then 2.6% in 2016 and […]

Government unveils index to ramp up investment in employee-owned businesses

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Business minister Jo Swinson recently unveiled the latest iteration of an index designed to help investors identify publically-listed companies that are part-owned by their employees. This year’s Employee Ownership Index will draw attention to the 69 companies on the London Stock Exchange that have over 3% of their shares held by, or for the benefit […]

Who am I? Types of employment status

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This is not simply a philosophical question. A new third type of employment status, namely that of ‘employee shareholder’, was introduced into the UK on 1st September 2013 in addition to employee and worker status respectively. The correct identification of an individual’s status has never been more important given its implications both for their personal […]

Employee shareholder status – will it work for you?

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What is it? This new category enables employees to be engaged on special contracts under which they lose many of their employment rights, including those in relation to unfair dismissal and statutory redundancy payments. In return, they must be granted shares in the business valued at a minimum of £2,000 at the time of issue. […]

Legal Insight: The potential impact of employee shareholder schemes

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At the Conservative Party conference last year, the Chancellor George Osborne unveiled plans to create a new employment status – the ‘employee-owner’.  The government promoted these proposals as part of its drive for growth and to give business more flexibility to hire and fire staff.    Some commentators were quick to dismiss them as political […]

News: Govt pursues shares-for-rights scheme despite lack of support

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 The government has decided to press ahead with its plans for ‘employee-owner’ contracts despite a lack of support among either employers or employees. A consultation by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills revealed that most organisations would choose not to take up the new rights, which were announced by Chancellor George Osborne in his […]

News: Govt offers employers £150m skills development pot

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The government’s move to allow employers to bid for a share of a £150 million pot of public money in order to help fund their training schemes has met with an enthusiastic reception, despite concerns over the complexity of the bidding process. The funding is the second round of the Employer Ownership Pilot, which was […]

Talking Point: Isn’t it time HR focused on solutions rather than problems?

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HR professionals often find themselves carrying out administrative and operational tasks that are the responsibility of line managers. They also end up being dragged into other people’s problems, which is both time-wasting and exhausting.   How many times have you found yourself doing something that was somebody else’s responsibility, getting bogged down in negativity and […]

Blog: The shares-for-rights conundrum – A fair exchange?

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Is the lure of owning an amount of shares, and not paying capital gains tax on the profit that those shares make (if any) a fair exchange for surrendering some of your employment rights? The Chancellor’s proposal has about as much detail as a child’s sketch of a cloud so let’s consider the following scenario: You […]

News: Whitehall cleaners demand living wage from ministers

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Government ministers and the most senior judge in England and Wales were presented with letters from their cleaners yesterday asking to be paid a London Living Wage. The initiative, which is the latest in a series to be organised by campaign group, London Citizens, saw more than 150 cleaners across Whitehall sign and personally deliver […]

News: Employee ownership ‘not the sole driver of staff engagement’

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The Institute of Customer Service has warned that the deputy prime minister’s call to boost levels of employee ownership approach will not be enough in and of itself to boost staff engagement levels across UK plc.  Nick Clegg has pledged to increase the productivity of UK business by increasing the number of companies owned by workers […]

Legal Insight: The pros and cons of the employee share ownership model

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On the last day of April, the government agency that administers the pensions of 1.5 million former and current civil servants became the first ‘mutual’ organisation in Whitehall. MyCSP Ltd will take over the operation of the state-run pension scheme, but will also be able to expand and bid for new business under the shared-ownership […]