Back to work blues? Blame the bosses…

anna-dziubinska-348

 “A bad boss can take a great workforce and destroy it, causing the best employees to flee and the remainder to lose all motivation”

After all the festivities, it’s time to head back to the office and it’s no surprise that January is notoriously known for being the most depressing month of the year (yikes, tough crowd you’ve got here January!).

However, despite the dark days, dark nights and miserable weather, January is a month of opportunity and a perfect time for organisations to review their working practices to make improvements for the future.

Continue reading “Back to work blues? Blame the bosses…”

2018… Bring it on!

nordwood-themes-467442

Happy new year to you all!

As the Prosecco starts to wear off and the parties end; the New Year is the perfect time to realign our focus onto what is important.

Reflecting on 2017, we saw plenty of employment changes in the workplace. A responsive Human Resources department should be able to fulfil the needs of their organisations. In the past year alone, we have seen the introduction of the Apprenticeship Levy, the removal of Employment Tribunal fees, experienced the impact of impending Brexit, and we are now preparing our clients for the challenges that come with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in May 2018.

Continue reading “2018… Bring it on!”

Business experts share their lessons from the last year: Feature with Gazprom Energy

cristian-escobar-297114

Early last month, I was approached by a Marketing Executive from Gazprom Energy to provide them with the thoughts of HR as we reflect upon 2017 and prepare for the business year in 2018. I was delighted to represent our profession and feature in their thought provoking piece.

The article features a review of business practices over the past 12 months, and explores the anticipated challenges faced by businesses as we lead into 2018. The article features the following topics:

  • Promote a happy workforce
  • Understand the importance of digital marketing
  • Don’t be afraid of change
  • Focus on your customers
  • Don’t forget your brand
  • The value of human resources
  • Ensure your team are on the same page

The feature has been published on Gazprom’s website, and I am proud to represent the value of HR within businesses. There are lots of other business experts that are included, so I hope you enjoy the article which can be found here.

 

Tis the season to be (not so) jolly: Mental health at Christmas

joanna-kosinska-166353.jpg

Christmas can be a magical time of the year, but for some people it can be an emotionally challenging time and with pressure increasing year on year, it’s a time that can play havoc with our mental health.

Among the chaos of shopping, retail adverts, festive lattes and that image of a “perfect” Christmas; for some people, this time of year can conjure up feelings of dread, loneliness and sadness. Whilst Christmas is unavoidable, it is important to highlight that when it comes to festivities in the workplace, there are employees who struggle for various reasons, and the problem with this is that it is not always obvious as employees are often reluctant to talk about it which can make it difficult to offer relevant support.

Continue reading “Tis the season to be (not so) jolly: Mental health at Christmas”

Girl Power! Can women succeed in male dominated industries?

stefan-stefancik-257625

Last weekend, I took my step daughter Sophie to see a Spice Girls tribute act; as cheesy as that sounds we had a brilliant time! But whilst we were singing and dancing to our favourite songs, I reflected on the legacy that they had created, I was surrounded by women who were empowered and could be whoever they wanted to be.

Thinking about it really took me back to the early days in my HR career, I worked with mainly all female teams until I was offered a position in the transport industry and with gender equality being front page news, I thought that it is time to address what this actually looks like in male dominated workplaces.

Continue reading “Girl Power! Can women succeed in male dominated industries?”