HR must make the shift from transactional to transformational - driving change within a business instead of just aligning with it - if it wants "a seat at the table", says the head of global HR consulting at Kelly Services.
Employers looking to implement workplace drug and alcohol testing must ensure that the process is completely transparent to avoid possible litigation - especially when it comes to sacking workers who test positive to prohibited substances, says Harmers Workplace Lawyers partner, Jamie Robinson.
Employers are clawing back control in the IT recruitment market and are taking advantage of the downturn to prune salaries and lift the overall quality of their IT workforce, according to a new study.
"Corporate psychopaths" create workplace conflict and cause top talent to flee, but there are ways to recognise and remove them before it's too late, says organisational psychologist Jason Blaik.
Actively disengaged workers are disproportionately likely to stay with their current employer and take double the sick leave of their engaged workmates, a Gallup Consulting survey has found.
The role of a manager - like a sports coach - has to shift from "setting the rules" for an inexperienced employee to one of empowering them to take responsibility for how their job is done, says psychologist Gavin Freeman.
The majority of agencies in the public sector are falling behind private business in their capacity to attract and retain talent - "at an exponential rate" - by failing to embrace fixed-term employment contracts and a "blended" workforce, says Hudson's former public sector director, Paul Baker.
One of the most common mistakes businesses make - particularly in a downturn - is to distribute remuneration evenly across their workforce, according to researcher Erik Berggren.
If there's one thing metrics-conscious HR managers should be measuring throughout the economic downturn it is employee engagement, according to Right Management's Rosemarie Dentesano.
Successfully linking an HR strategy to the company's bottom line hinges on managers "getting the basics right", and understanding that much of what makes a business run well "is a lot more mundane than grand theories", according to Barclays PLC's HR director, Cathy Turner.
