Employers urged to address talent timebomb

‘Five year itch’ affects a third of staff, research shows

Employers need to address the problem of the “five year itch” which sees nearly a third of staff plan to leave their jobs within five years, according to new research.

The Inspiring Talent 2011 survey, which questioned 4,000 staff in 14 countries, found that 29 per cent of people expect to leave their job in the next five years, despite 69 per cent claiming to like where they work. UK employees were significantly more likely to want to move on, with nearly 40 per cent of workers planning a move in the next five years.

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Survey highlights the issues facing those with responsibility for workplace Hand & Arm Protection (HAP)

As part of the continual aim of getting closer to people with responsibility for workplace HAP to better understand the challenges and issues facing them, Marigold® Industrial recently teamed up with one of the UK’s leading safety organisations to take part in a major survey.

Partnering the British Safety Council – which has over 8,000 members in 50 countries – BSC members were asked to voice their opinions on a wide range of hand and arm protection related issues.

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Asda gives bonus and extra holiday to long-serving staff. Recognition vital for retention and culture, says people director

Asda has paid an additional bonus and given extra holiday to its most long-serving staff as part of a celebration of employee loyalty at the supermarket. The retailer gave 700 of its longest serving employees – all of whom have more than 25 years’ service – an extra week’s annual leave and a tax-free £300 gift at its ‘Big Anniversary’ event last week.

The event was part of Asda’s focus on the recognition and development of staff, which is key to its achievement of “market-leading” retention rates, Asda’s people policy director Sarah Dickins told PM. “I cannot say how important recognition is in driving the culture that we have in the business,” said Dickins. “We have lots of recognition and reward schemes to say thank you for everything that our colleagues do, and that is an integral part.”

Asda employs 10,000 staff who have worked for the company for over 20 years, and more than 3,000 whose length of service exceeds a quarter of a century.

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Employers given guidance on Facebook misconduct

Social networking guidance is being issued to nurses and midwives by their regulatory body following an increase in misconduct cases relating to online activities and ethical code breaches.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) said it was publishing practical advice on responsible use of the internet – specifically Facebook – as there is “clearly confusion about privacy issues and the use of social networking sites.”

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Workers’ lives are being put at risk because many recruitment agencies rely upon a fictional fork lift truck licence to verify skills, a major industry body has warned.

The safety alert was issued by The Fork Lift Truck Association, which works to improve standards and safety on behalf of the UK’s fork lift truck dealers and suppliers.

A random sample of job advertisements issued by agencies looking for fork lift truck operators found no less than 85% wrongly stipulated a fork lift truck licence” or similar as a requirement despite there being no such document in the UK, and no central licensing authority.

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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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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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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

A tie at the top (1^st 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 10^th 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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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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