Tuesday, 28th June 2011 | By Ray Martin
Professional networking application seen as a rival to LinkedIn
Online recruitment firm Monster has launched a professional networking application for Facebook members, which aims to extend the business uses of the social networking site.
The ‘BeKnown’ app will allow Facebook users to differentiate between their personal friends and work contacts, and invite people from other social media channels to join their professional networking groups.
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Thursday, 23rd June 2011 | By Ray Martin
Young people in the dark about apprenticeships, says Lord Baker
School leavers told “bugger all” about what is on offer, says former education secretary
Former education secretary Lord Baker has hit out at the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) for not doing enough to promote apprenticeships to young people.
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Thursday, 23rd June 2011 | By Ray Martin
Half of small firms in the UK still believe that the loss or theft of data from their organisation would have no impact on their business, according to new independent research commissioned by Shred-it.
The survey among 1,000 UK businesses, undertaken by IPSOS, found that more than two thirds of UK SMEs (68 per cent) either never train their employees on company information security procedures and protocols (30 per cent), or do so only on an ad hoc basis (38 per cent).
This news comes despite last year’s enhancement of the powers of the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), to fine organisations up to £500,000 for serious breaches of the Data Protection Act. A mere 4 per cent of companies reported actively changing their information management procedures as a consequence of the changes, while 58 per cent of businesses ceded that they were not even aware of the enhanced powers.
Robert Guice, Executive Vice President, EMEA, Shred-it, said: “Ignorance is no defence in the eyes of the law and UK businesses need to wake up quickly to the fact that failures to store and dispose of confidential information in a secure manner could have far-reaching and potentially financially damaging impacts upon their operations.
“As a company owner or manager, understanding your legal obligations in view of the Data Protection Act, and developing policies and procedures to comply with them in a consistent and reliable manner is absolutely essential.”
24th June 2011
Friday, 10th June 2011 | By Ray Martin
A tie at the top (1st time) Hong Kong and the USA and a new star Sweden in fourth place!
The recovery of financial markets push the US back to the top sharing first place with Hong Kong and slightly ahead of Singapore.
Sweden jumps to fourth place, highlighting the competitiveness of the Nordic model.
Germany shines and gains 6 ranks to 10th position thanks to buoyant export and a more flexible labour market.
Qatar, Korea and Turkey continue their ascent in competitiveness.
The recession highlighted the “resistant” (Switzerland) and the “resilient” (Taiwan) – Only 4 big economies in the top 20.
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Wednesday, 1st June 2011 | By Ray Martin
Almost half admit they have no plan in place, finds CIPD HR Outlook survey
HR teams have some way to go to improve their own succession planning, according to the CIPD’s latest HR Outlook survey of senior HR professionals.
Just under half (48 per cent) admitted that they do not have a good succession plan in place, while only 29 per cent were confident that they did. A lack of capability within the HR function, uncertainty over future requirements and an unwillingness to see the issue as a priority were the three most common reasons for not having a succession plan. At a time when HR leaders are increasingly called upon to facilitate succession planning throughout the organisation, a lack of such planning within their own department could be seen as a concern.
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