To offer the best and therefore the most productive working environment for your staff, whatever the size of your business, an awareness of employment law is essential. Not being aware of employment law or upcoming changes to it could be expensive for you as an employer, especially as from April this year a financial penalty can be applied to employers in breach of employment rights. The area of employment law is huge with much legislation covering many areas, but there are a few main areas where both employers and employees should know their ... Continue reading

Work can be hazardous to your health. No, this isn't a public service announcement created by a low-skilled group of underachieving youth, looking for a reason to justify extended periods of lazy joblessness. This is a cliché that just happens to have a whole lot of truth to it. All jobs contain some element of risk to your health, but some are far more dangerous than others. You are much more likely to experience a life altering injury doing construction work than being an accountant. Working in a factory has always come with a whole host of... Continue reading

Yesterday marked the start of Work from Home Week 2014, which encourages businesses to explore flexible working and has been described as ‘an excellent opportunity for employers to encourage more working from home’. Over the past few years, the topic of flexible working has become substantially more prevalent, with more and more employees now requesting to be able to work ‘flexibly’. Is this beneficial for employers though? And can employers trust their employees to work efficiently when they are out of the confines of the office... Continue reading

Work-related injuries and illness can be risky business for an employer. In fact, occupational injury and illness-associated costs are around £13.8bn, according to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Even more distressing, these costs come directly from a company's profit. The good news though is that safety and health management systems can help reduce a workplace's injury and illness expenditures between 20 and 40%. Promote a safe and healthy work environment that isn't drowning in workers' compensation payments or costly absenteeism.... Continue reading

Nature or nurture: which shapes our destinies? Is it our genetics or our environment? And what about our careers: is professional advancement the result of the innate qualities that we bring to a job, or the skills and experience we accrue along the way? The answer, of course, is that both matter. Most of us are born with certain attributes or aptitudes (nature), but it is education, training and exposure to new experiences (nurture) that help us to make the most of our talents. That’s why HR professionals tend to talk about ‘com... Continue reading