The Blog: November 2021

Redundancy: A Guide for Employers

The impact of the pandemic on the economy is still being felt and understood. Despite positive recent signs in the UK employment market, there remains high levels of pessimism and uncertainty over jobs. An estimated one million workers remained on furlough at the end of the Government’s furlough scheme on 30th September 2021, whilst a recent report by Renovo suggested that seven in ten employers expect to make redundancies in the next year.

Article by Patrick Byrne 30 November 2021

What is workplace bullying and are employers required to act?

It's Anti-Bullying Week, a national awareness event that encourages consideration into how bullying should be approached and tackled.

Article by Kate Palmer, HR Advice & Consultancy Director 22 November 2021

Could the Great Resignation become the Great Retention?

It’s no surprise that many people clung onto their jobs so tightly during the Covid-19 pandemic. Anyone that could continue by working from home did so and protected their position. Many people that had been thinking about new opportunities just paused their search, because the middle of a pandemic lockdown is not an easy time to go looking for a job.

Article by Emma Crowe 19 November 2021

Is your organisational culture ‘too nice’?

’Good’ conflict unlocks a reserve of engagement, diversity, creativity and productivity in an organisation. Removing the niggles and giving people the confidence to be themselves, all of themselves, knowing they can trust their manager and colleagues to ‘get them’.

Article by Arran Heal 18 November 2021

A year like no other: The big industry changes in 2021

When the historians of the future begin authoring their books on the Covid-19 era, 2021 alone will merit entire volumes. A year that began with brutal lockdowns and ended with some semblance of normality has left a different world in its wake. Among the more drastic changes has been the way we view work and think about the finances our occupations yield. In this piece, we reflect on what these changes have meant, from social connections to the impact of the climate crisis, to the need to engage in difficult conversations around finances and consider how our collective experience of 2021 will inform and influence 2022.

Article by Lynn Smith 11 November 2021

How to survive the great resignation in customer service

The pandemic has ushered in a new era of ‘The Great Resignation’ (or “The Big Quit”) where employees are reassessing the impact of their jobs on work/life balance, mental health and overall life goal fulfilment. Nowhere has this phenomenon hit harder than in customer service and contact centres where it threatens to derail the best laid recruitment and retention plans. Ross Daniels at Calabrio discusses the findings from a recent report on "The Heath of the Contact Centre 2021".

Article by Ross Daniels at Calabrio 9 November 2021

How to mark National Stress Awareness Day

Workplaces can be fast-paced, target driven and physically demanding. This combination of factors can cause stress which can be detrimental to overall health, cause moods to plummet and turn anxiety levels up a notch. National Stress Awareness Day is just around the corner. So, we wanted to provide employers with practical advice to tackle this pressing workplace issue.

Article by Kayleigh Frost, Head of Clinical Support - Health Assured 8 November 2021

Managing the Real Challenges of a Hybrid Workplace

I wrote recently here about the Great Resignation. This term was coined in the US, but now clearly applies here ... View Article

Article by Emma Crowe 5 November 2021

What’s at the Root of the Great Resignation 2021?

“Resignations peaked in April [2021] and have remained abnormally high for the last several months, with a record-breaking 10.9 million open jobs at the end of July” particularly for those within the 30- to 45-year-old age range (Cook 2021).

Article by Kendra Guidolin 1 November 2021

How to Recognize Incapable Leaders Hiding in Plain Sight

Management literature is generally dedicated to defining/describing/devising/deliberating leadership in terms of the ‘desirable’ traits that are necessary for incumbents and future aspirants to successfully steer their organizations through the challenging dynamics of an evolving market, especially, in the Digital Age. However, such a ‘positively-skewed’ approach often fails to adequately capture the various warning signs that are flashed by the corporate leaders to indicate their lack of ability to hold the top position within the organizational hierarchy. Consequently, the focus of the ‘corporate stewards’, e.g., Board of Directors/Trustees, HR/Talent Management Heads, Regulatory/Monitoring Bodies, etc., remains ‘tilted’ towards the propounding/preaching of the ingraining/inculcation of the ‘desired’ traits within the current and future corporate leadership, rather than, assuring and ensuring a balanced approach that also advocates the elimination of the ‘undesirable traits’ in a systematic and concurrent fashion.

Article by Murad S. Mirza 1 November 2021