Motivating Employees - Does Performance-Related Pay Work?

Posted in: HR Updates on 03/06/2021 The rationale behind performance-related pay (PRP) is that it gives employees an incentive to work harder in return for a financial reward and in doing so generates higher levels of productivity. Yet despite the common use of PRP, research indicates that it generally not effective in terms of promo...

Keeping Up with the Changing Face of Learning and Developing

Posted in: HR Updates on 20/05/2021 Learning and Development practitioners were among the many whose profession was heavily impacted by the pandemic. Necessity meant training providers had their innovation skills tested and, with the assistance of technology, have been able to meet the challenge. While learning was put on hold for a...

Creating a Mental Health Strategy

Posted in: HR Updates on 07/05/2021 Mental Health Awareness Week runs from 10 to 16 May 2021. This is a time when many employers will raise awareness of mental health in the workplace and run some initiatives to support and promote it. While this is an important campaign it is worth remembering that mental health support should exten...

Redundancy Outplacement – A Sense of Hope and Direction

Posted in: HR Updates on 28/04/2021 Covid has had a significant impact on when, where and how we work. As the restrictions start to ease businesses are faced with making decisions regarding the transition back to the workplace and dealing with the longer term implications of the pandemic. Over the last year businesses have attempted...

New Rates of Minimum Wage & Other Statutory Payments

Posted in: HR Updates on 13/04/2021 The arrival of April brings with it new statutory increases that are crucial to get in place to ensure that payments to your employees and workers are accurate and compliant. The following rates are now applicable in Northern Ireland as of April 2021: National Living Wage Increase We know that all ...

Diversity and Inclusion – the Fight Goes On

Posted in: HR Updates on 07/04/2021 Were you as surprised as I was when the Sewell report was launched? No systemic racism in GB was the leaked theme of the report. Like all these reports, there is more in the detail, and I would recommend a close reading. I was struck by one of the anomalies, if there is no systemic racism, then w...

HR Trends Emerging During Covid-19

Posted in: HR Updates on 03/03/2021 The Covid-19 pandemic has forever left its mark on how we live and work. As the vaccination roll-out is well underway we begin to cautiously look forward to post-Covid times. It is unlikely however that things will ever return to normalcy and there are some trends that have emerged as an inevitable...

Implementing Redundancies: Five Questions to Ask Yourself to Ensure a Fair Process

Posted in: HR Updates on 03/03/2021 While the extension of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) has been a welcome reprieve for employers, the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are likely to be long lasting for many businesses. With the CJRS due to come to an end on 30 April 2021, the continuing impact of the pandemic ...

Future Trends and the Road Ahead in Human Resources

Posted in: HR Updates on 24/02/2021 Former colleagues of mine used to laugh at me when I described Human Resources as ‘relentless’. There is no natural ebb and flow in what is asked of HR professionals – challenges, unforeseen employee relations matters and crisis management arise on an ad hoc basis, demanding attention and expertise...

Coming up in HR in 2021: Five Changes to Prepare for Now

Posted in: HR Updates on 10/02/2021 With the January blues behind us but still in the midst of lockdown, it is an appropriate time to reflect on the turbulence of 2020 whilst simultaneously focusing on ER/HR priorities for the year ahead. In 2020 we saw the global economy spiral downwards with largescale redundancies in some sectors ...