In the current financial market, looking for work can be a daunting experience and jobs may seem hard to come by. However, it is important to make sure you don’t just go for the first job that comes along. Due to proposed changes to employment law, new employees could be losing a high percentage of their job security. The tips in this guest post are useful for picking the right employer so that you don’t end up back on the job hunt. Of course you could up-skill while you are waiting to find the right employer, qualifications such as PRINCE2 Practitioner and PRINCE2 Foundation can make a big difference to your CV.
A recent Gallup poll of more than 1 million workers across all industries shows that the number one reason people leave their job is due to a poor relationship with their immediate supervisor. Other factors include limited opportunities for professional growth, career advancement, along with overall cultural misalignment. It may be surprising that money is not the primary factor in employee resignations, but many people realize that there is much more to job satisfaction than salary alone.
For this reason, it is important to find out as much about a prospective employer as you can before accepting a job offer. This article provides several strategies to help with due diligence.
Basic training
It is a fairly straightforward task to evaluate the economic conditions of a job offer: either the salary or benefits are acceptable to you or not. The harder decision comes from having to evaluate the “intangible benefits” of working for any given company. Even if the salary is well within your range (or higher than you expected) the grass might not be so green once you discover that the management style is highly rigid, that the overall culture is archly conservative, or that there is limited opportunity for upward mobility. Read the rest of "Tips for Evaluating a Prospective Employer"
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Posted by Guest Author in Human Resources Training on December 30th, 2011 | No Comments »
This week the government unveiled details of a number of proposals to shake up employment laws.
The changes are in response to the Beecroft report, released in October, which claimed that unfair dismissal rules are having a major impact on British businesses and sought to remove employee rights.
David Cameron backed the report but it met strong opposition from Lib Dems, Labour and Unions. However, Vince Cable has now announced that from April 2012 the period within which employees are not entitled to claim unfair dismissal will extend from 1 to 2 years.
He also revealed a set of proposals and reforms for consideration that will further reduce the number of unfair dismissals.
Why Are Employment Law Changes Necessary?
The number of employment tribunals has risen by 40% in the past three years, and are costing businesses a vast amount of money. By introducing these reforms, the government believes businesses will save £40 million a year.
These reforms are backed by businesses who claim that they have no power to fire employees who are under performing or ‘coasting’ as the report puts it. Small businesses are especially in fear of tribunals as they can be very costly. This has led to a reluctance to take on new staff as SMEs (small and medium enterprises) can’t then justify sacking them if they don’t work out.
However, there is opposition from Labour and Unions who believe this amounts to stripping away employee rights, will not decrease the number of tribunals and will lead to a ‘hire and fire‘ culture.
Giving more power to SMEs could lead to more managers taking the autocratic business approach made famous by Steve Jobs and Alan Sugar, and they’ve done pretty well in business.
So what is the government proposing to do to employment law and how will it affect businesses and employees? Read the rest of "How Employment Law Changes Will Affect Businesses"
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Posted by Craig Charley in Human Resources Training, Management Skills Training on November 25th, 2011 | No Comments »
performance appraisals training
Regular staff appraisals are important even if you only have one employee.
They should not be intimidating or need to be formal, but they should be clear and well planned. You should aim to schedule performance appraisals at lease every six months.
Silicon Beach Training provide regular Performance Appraisals Training courses in Brighton, Sussex. Other HR Training courses include Train the Trainer courses, PRINCE2 Training, ITIL Training and MSP Training.
Performance appraisals should make your employees aware of how well you think they are doing. It is an opportunity to tell them if you are pleased with their performance and use the opportunity to encourage and reward. It is also an opportunity to raise issues if you are not satisfied with their performance. The aim is to to help them understand where there is room for improvement and it is important to suggest how they might accomplish this improvement.
Be Specific
Don’t make sweeping statements like “You need to get your act together.” Chances are that they don’t know they are under performing or what they should be doing differently.
Allow your employees to air their own opinions.
A appraisal should provide an opportunity for your employee to discuss their future within your business or organisation, and they should be made comfortable to raise any issues that might concern them. This allows them to vent any frustrations they might be feeling. This may be the only opportunity for them to have you listen sincerely and objectively to what they say.
Remember it is a two way process.
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Posted by Heather Buckley in Human Resources Training, Management Skills Training on December 21st, 2010 | 2 Comments »
FAQ: Is training tax deductible?
At Silicon Beach Training we’re commonly asked whether training is taxable or vatable so thought we would explain the general UK tax rules for both self-employed and employers here. Many business owners and HR managers presume that any costs incurred on training are tax deductible, however there are some exceptions depending on who is paying and what the purpose of the training is.
Once you’ve cleared up your tax confusions, have a browse of our many IT, Business and Management training courses: we offer SEO Training, Photoshop Training, PRINCE2 Training, HR Training and Train the Trainer Training in Brighton, Sussex.
Read the rest of "Is training taxable?"
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Posted by Alistair Wylie in Human Resources Training, Train the Trainer Training on June 8th, 2010 | 1 Comment »
