Human Resources | Growth Business UK

All Human Resources

Recruit, reward and retain

Structuring the right remuneration package for senior personnel is one of the trickiest tasks a business chief must tackle. Give too much up front and you won’t incentivise performance, but pay out big bonuses and you risk reducing the company’s liquidity, which could even threaten its existence. Then there are all the variables of share schemes to consider.

Pensions changes

On 6 April, new laws fixed a limit to tax-free pensions contributions and attempted to make retirement options more flexible. But Vicky Summers, employee benefits consultant at PKF, thinks that, although that this so called ‘A’ Day may not be relevant to many medium-sized companies who don’t run pensions schemes, ‘lots of businesses are now re-assessing how their remuneration packages are structure.'

Getting away from it

Allowing your employees to disappear off and do their own thing for months on end hardly seems like a sound business decision. Yet, a growing number of firms are allowing members of staff to take sabbaticals – some are positively evangelical about the benefits it brings to the business.

Difficult employees

While a team of hardworking, capable staff can help a business thrive, it only takes one bad apple to wreak havoc within an organisation, as many growing companies have learned from experience.

Q&A: Employers holding personal details

Our HR dept has stated that it is now a company requirement to submit our passports and birth certificates for scrutiny and photocopies are being held on file. Is this legal?

Watch out for wage worries

Non-financial incentives, such as flexible working, training, extra holidays and a good working atmosphere all have their place in rewarding employees. But let’s be honest, it’s cold hard cash that’s the main reason most staff come to work every morning.

SMEs get help with skills gap

A shortage of skilled workers is predicted to cause headaches for UK small and medium-sized businesses, according to research from the Department for Education & Skills. However, help could be at hand from the academic world.

Watch out for thieving staff

The UK is one of the worst countries in Europe for stealing by employees, according to a report by the Centre for Retail Research. Among 25 European nations surveyed on employee theft, the UK came second behind Iceland.

Employ at your peril

UK and European legislation has ensured that the days of an entrepreneur or CEO being master of his own house with regard to employment issues has long gone.

The Next Big Thing? Holiday transfer

As employers become increasingly interested in finding non-salary benefits to attract and retain staff, expect to see holiday accrual transfer as one of the new perks on the block.

Q&A: Providing a written reference

If you have been asked to give a reference for someone who has a written warning on their file do you mention the warning in the new job reference?

Paternity leave to increase?

Reports that the Government is considering giving working fathers six months’ unpaid paternity leave have been condemned by business groups, who see it as yet another legislative burden causing headaches for SMEs.

Q&A: Hiring a foreign national

What paperwork is required to employ a foreign national?

Staff appraisals

The key to staff appraisal meetings is that there should be no surprises. For instance, if an employee tells a manager that the six months since the last review have gone really badly, it should not be the first they’ve heard of it.

Tiered work spaces

Daylight is a rare thing in offices these days. CEOs and senior managers usually enjoy the most natural light and best views of the outside world, but spare a thought for your employees.

Poor workplace health: don't stand for it

Millions of UK workers are at risk from serious health problems caused by prolonged standing at work, in conditions described as worse than those in Victorian times, according to the Trades Union Congress.

A guide to headhunting

There are three main reasons to employ the services of a headhunter: you need a high-performing individual at management level or above; the role to be filled can only be done by a few specialists; or, if the person currently occupying the post is as yet unaware that their days are numbered.

Work experience students

Finding it hard to recruit the right person? Perhaps you’re looking to bring new perspective to your business, fill a part-time vacancy or work on a special project. If so, where do you turn? The National Council of Work Experience believes the answer could be students.

Motivating staff on a budget

Because of their very nature, small firms do not have the money to pay huge salaries. So how can you get the best out of your employees on a limited budget?

Developing staff skills

Are you having trouble finding staff with the right skills-set for your business? If so, you are not alone. Figures from the British Chamber of Commerce show a 50 per cent increase in the number of employers reporting difficulties recruiting staff with the right skills.

All Human Resources

Most Popular Growing a Business

Trending

More from GrowthBusiness

Sitemap