How to get the best out of your older colleagues July 21, 2014 Retaining experienced staff is becoming a challenge. With the Prime Minister clearing out older men to promote younger women in the Cabinet reshuffle last week, older employees will no doubt be questioning their position in the workplace. But reassuringly, Doyle Clayton’s recent Age Before Beauty report found that 66 per cent of the 1,000 employees [...]
The responsible way to unplug from emails while on holiday July 20, 2014 Summer holidays – a time for rest, relaxation and a regular supply of cocktails on the beach. Unfortunately, the demands of a full-time job have a nasty habit of creeping in. A survey of 1,000 people by Origin Storage found that 73 per cent admit to being in contact with the office while away on [...]
Are you ready to move on to another job? July 17, 2014 Find a career mentor and don’t get caught up in the day-to-day When did you last change jobs? We’re all familiar with the phrase “seven year itch” (even in the workplace), and a hyper-connected world does mean careers are more fluid. But are people moving on a lot more frequently now? With unemployment [...]
ACCA Comment: For women in business, small steps are no longer enough July 16, 2014 We must fire on all cylinders for gender equality to happen. As an analogy for the barrier women face to career progression, the glass ceiling has been around for so long that it seems unusually robust for something supposedly so fragile. Yes, more women are breaking into the higher echelons of business and [...]
Wellbeing in the workplace: Get happy and thrive July 16, 2014 Remember the three Cs and you could see a boost in productivity. The idea that employee wellbeing can impact a company’s bottom line isn’t a new one. Back in the 1970s, the US Worksite Health Promotion movement campaigned for firms to think of staff health and happiness as an essential ingredient in productivity. [...]
Facebook isn’t just for procrastinating: How using social media could be a career booster July 16, 2014 It's all too easy to put the words “social media” and “career” together and immediately think “disaster”. Well-publicised mishaps, not least former US congressman Anthony Weiner’s alleged salacious tweeting back in 2011, have led to the conception that Facebook, Tumblr and the like are nothing but a minefield for professionals. But this is a misconception. [...]
Lessons from the German 2014 World Cup winners July 14, 2014 You don’t need everyone to be a star player for your business team to be successful. Businesses can learn a lot from successful sports teams. After all, the balance between group and individual, consistency and novelty, and working under a common goal are things both must do well. An estimated 1bn people [...]
What the CIA style manual can teach you about writing July 13, 2014 Be frugal with adjectives – nouns and verbs do the heavy lifting. Spies aren’t exactly known for their literary exploits. But, as in business, intelligence work requires a precise, lucid writing style that can easily be ruined by failing to adhere to a few critical rules. And sloppy writing can be costly. Communications [...]
Transparent pay: Could it work in your company? July 10, 2014 Profit margins may suffer, but accountability is likely to increase. Few issues provoke as much ire among colleagues as a gaping pay discrepancy. When Pimlico Plumbers made staff salaries public as part of a reality show for Channel 4, communications manager Karl Plunkett says the topic blew up “like a landmine”. Historical contingencies [...]
Excel at anything by breaking free of comfort zones July 9, 2014 Take a leaf out of Mozart and Tiger Woods’s book – practice like hell. The demands of work can mean taking on tasks and responsibilities that require intense learning curves. While maths-based work might terrify the more creative among us, number crunchers can often feel daunted by presentations and report writing – self-improvement [...]