Succession planning is a critical aspect of any organisation’s long-term strategy but often remains underestimated. It ensures that gaps will not be left when essential members of staff or those with business-critical skills leave. Implementing an effective succession plan is key to maintaining organisational stability and mitigating risks such as lower productivity, talent shortages and drops in revenue. It is an essential facet of business continuity and effective talent management.
Succession planning can be challenging for businesses of all sizes, now more so than ever. A survey revealed that since the COVID-19 pandemic, 70% of respondents have rescheduled or delayed leadership development programmes, which could leave them exposed to serious risks. In this article, learn all about the importance of succession planning in HR, the steps involved, and why senior level support is essential to success.
- Topic:
- Human Resources
A probation review meeting is an important milestone in performance management that signals the end of a new employee’s probationary period. It is an opportunity to discuss their performance, set goals, offer feedback and give them the best possible onboarding experience. Equally, if an employee has not passed their probationary period, this meeting is used to inform them and discuss the reasons behind the decision.
Probation review meetings – and probation periods in general – are not legally required in the UK but many businesses have them. They are used to assess whether an employee has the right skills to be successful in their role and if they are a good fit for the business.
In this article, you will learn how to run a probation review meeting, what it should include and which questions are important to ask. This will help you conduct the process successfully as an employer, ensuring it is a useful exercise.
- Topic:
- Human Resources
The quiet quitting trend emerged on TikTok in 2022, and while it was totally new terminology, it described an age-old but growing problem: a lack of engagement with, or enthusiasm for work.
Quiet quitting has come to the forefront in the UK since the COVID-19 pandemic, when many workers began to put more emphasis on work-life balance. The problem stretches beyond the UK though – Gallup found that 59% of the world’s employees are quiet quitting, which could amount to an $8.8 trillion cost to the global economy.
In this article, learn about low engagement, the signs to look for and ultimately, how to combat quiet quitting by improving your response to employee motivation.
- Topic:
- Human Resources
Strategic human resources management (HRM) shifts HR from an administrative function to an advisory one, which can have many positive implications for organisations. From better resourcing, to future-proof planning, to enhanced engagement and talent retention, being more strategic about HR can impact everything from day-to-day operations to bottom lines.
- Topic:
- Human Resources
Bad management includes traits such as micromanagement, failure to communicate effectively and not listening to ideas, which can all lead to a poor overall working culture. Signs of poor management can include an increase in sick leave, decreasing productivity and reduced employee engagement and motivation. Half of employees who have poor managers experience a negative effect on their mental health.
Longer term, you might observe higher staff turnover and lasting damage to your reputation, often driven by reviews on third party sites which draw attention to a toxic workplace culture. While these signs could indicate other isolated workplace problems, they often stem directly from bad managers and poor management culture.
In this article, you will learn how to identify a bad manager, take action and reverse the effects.
- Topic:
- Human Resources
National Payroll Week 2023 takes place on the 4th to the 8th of September and is dedicated to recognising and celebrating the work that payroll team members do. Usually responsible for ensuring the smooth and accurate payment of employees, payroll departments are a vital part of business operations, and this is a time to highlight the work they do.
So, how can you use National Payroll Week to celebrate your payroll employees? For large organisations with a myriad of departments and employees, it can sometimes feel like the personal touch is lost. This makes it even more important to highlight the great work payroll teams are doing, often behind the scenes and without much fanfare.
- Topic:
- Human Resources
The Access Group recently exhibited at CIPD's Festival of Work which focused on the topic "Driving people with purpose to thrive". During the event, we hosted a panel discussion looking at the role of technology to help HR thrive through disruption and change. Teri Atif, Digital Head of GTM at The Access Group chaired the panel which included analyst David Wilson from Fosway Group, Clementine Heudron who is Head of Product at The Access Group, and one of our customers Megan Weedon from N Brown Group. They spoke about the growing role of HR in organisational agility and how technology can be leveraged to drive performance and support culture.
- Topic:
- Human Resources
Having a high staff turnover can be devastating for a business in terms of expense, morale and the loss of expertise. The recruitment process is incredibly expensive with high recruitment fees, management time and onboarding all contributing to costs that you would do well to avoid.
Businesses that have a high turnover often find that this is accompanied by a resulting reduction in staff morale for the people who are left behind as they struggle to cope with expertise leaving the building and the extra work they have to take on.
With this in mind, we wanted to put together a mini-guide to reducing your staff turnover with some actionable things you can do to make sure you hang on to the people who make your business successful.
- Topic:
- Human Resources
During this socio-economic climate, organisations are looking at ways to achieve cost savings. In order to do this, they need to examine internal processes and identify areas where they can streamline operations and reduce unnecessary costs.
Automation in the workplace can significantly increase employee productivity, saving valuable time and reducing costs for the organisation. By automating repetitive and time-consuming tasks such as data entry, document management, and reporting, employees can focus their energy and skills on higher-level tasks that require more attention and creativity.
- Topic:
- Human Resources
Everyone’s experience of hybrid and remote working has been different – but it’s difficult to argue with some of the benefits.
- Topic:
- Human Resources
