Blog

Lend a hand – why workplace volunteering is a win-win

· by Emma Browning
If I told you that approximately 70% of FTSE 100 companies have a volunteering programme, would you be surprised? Corporate volunteer activity days, giving employees time off to volunteer in their local communities, and sponsorship matching are just three examples of popular schemes adopted by some of the top FTSE companies. Waitrose, for example, donate some 75,000 paid employee hours a year to volunteering. So, there must be a really compelling reason why our biggest and most successful corporates do this . . . After all, they have budgets and…

Exciting news – Meraki HR Partner with OK Positive!

· by Emma Browning
How many times have you seen something on LinkedIn and thought – that looks like a great product or service, got in touch with the company concerned and either been disappointed or let down by their response to your enquiry or the product or service itself? I know I have! However, a short while ago I saw a post on LinkedIn by Charlie Winton the founder of a company called OK Positive. OK Positive is a very clever app that allows your employees to input how they are feeling and…

How to get your staff back on track as Lockdown eases

· by Emma Browning
Is your business at sixes and sevens as people have worked from home for the last 15 months and perhaps felt disengaged from the business? Here’s how to get it back on track and firing on all cylinders as we return to a sense of normality and perhaps go back to the office – but you need to act fast! It’s worth taking a little time out to assess how you can get things back on track. Let’s take a look at what you can do, in practical terms, to…

Three ways to Rocket your Team’s Performance

· by Emma Browning
Are you looking to actively encourage that discretionary effort from your staff? If you want your people to go the extra mile without being asked to do so, have a look at these 3 simple techniques you could use to ‘rocket’ your team’s performance. So, when you take a look at how your business is performing, are you satisfied with what was achieved? A little reflection is always useful, but now’s the time to start thinking about this year to make sure you can achieve the results you want to!…

Five Steps to Creating a Healthy Workplace Culture

· by Emma Browning
Here are some surprising statistics that show the importance of workplace culture and how adding this to your agenda this year, will make sure you are able to achieve many of your business goals. 47% of people seeking a new job cite company culture as the main reason for doing so. 75% of employees say they’ll stay longer at a company that listens to their feedback and actually acts on it. 78% of senior executives said culture is among the top five things that add value to their company If…

How Healthy is your HR?

· by Emma Browning
Now is the time to make sure your HR policies and procedures are up to scratch and legally compliant (did you know there is a raft of new employment legislation that came into force on the 6th April?) You need to know whether the documentation you have in place is legally compliant and will support any important business decisions you need to make in the next financial year. For example, this includes people working from home on an ongoing basis, as your policies and employment contracts need to reflect any…

Employment Law – the 5 key elements for 2021 that any ambitious business needs to know!

· by Emma Browning
The last 12 months has presented us with many challenges for our businesses, and as a result of these challenges, a lot of Employment Law has changed, or been updated to help us address the challenges that Covid19 has presented us with. If you have an HR team, then they should be on top of this for you, but if you haven’t, then here’s where we can help! Employment law is constantly on the move and we keep track of the latest employment law changes so you don’t have to.…

Why do you want to work in HR?

· by Emma Browning
Over the years, I have had people asking me to mentor them because they want to work in Human Resources. I love to mentor, but I like to do it for the right reasons. So, in response to being asked to be a Mentor for someone, I have usually asked the question: “Why do you want to work in HR?” More often than not the answer goes something along the lines of “I love working with people, developing them and helping them”. To which I usually respond: “If that’s what…

What does it take to succeed in HR?

· by Emma Browning
Here’s what some of today’s HR Influencers think you need to succeed in HR: “My perspective is relatively simple. You need to have extensive experience on the ground working in the field of HR – any functional area of HR but the more experience you have, the better. Those that have never dug the trenches CAN’T possibly have the perspective to truly influence an industry. They’ve never lived in the shoes they are trying to influence so in my humble opinion, their credibility is absolutely nil. This may be harsh…

Want to join our HR Influencers Club?

· by Emma Browning
The HR function has been evolving since the 1990s and is now firmly established and well understood.  What is perhaps less well understood is what it takes to be an exceptional, high performing HR Business Partner. What are the skills, knowledge and attributes of the best? In our experience many organisations find that there is still a way to go before the role of HR Business Partner is operating as they would like. These are some of the key challenges we hear from our clients about the challenges they believe…