Opinion – Page 4
-
OpinionDr Shainaz Firfiray: How can employers promote employee motivation?
Motivating employees is a topic of critical importance to organisations; a motivated workforce is more productive compared to a disengaged group of employees. Meanwhile, a lack of motivation can negatively impact competitiveness, because disengaged employees can transmit skeptical attitudes across an organisation.There are a few measures organisations can take to ...
-
OpinionBill Alexander: There is more to work than money in the wallet
Employers need to adjust their approach to motivation in the workplace and cannot ignore the direct link to performance, productivity and profit.It is fair to say that the majority of today's forward-thinking organisations have motivation strategies in place. However, it appears that many have the wrong approach.It is not just ...
-
OpinionProfessor Vlatka Hlupic: Mindset and organisational culture can influence job-hopper retention
Job-hopping could be a choice, or it might be a necessity. In some cases, people change jobs because they are seeking new challenges, greater growth or extra income. Far too often, however, individuals switch employment because of bad management or poor retention efforts.Many job-hoppers could, therefore, be retained with proactive ...
-
OpinionDan Lucy: Don’t forget about face-to-face communication
The Institute for Employment Studies (IES) highlighted, in The drivers of employee engagement, published in March 2004, that the single most important predictor of employee engagement is a sense of feeling valued and involved, underpinned by opportunities to express ideas, and managers who genuinely listen and value employee contributions.The proliferation ...
-
OpinionDavid Enser: Flexibility is key to expat motivation and recognition schemes
Expatriate motivation and recognition schemes should not be rigid, but should instead offer flexibility within a controlled framework. Managers must have a toolkit of buttons to push to ensure engagement and motivation on the one hand, while also being able to respond to the unique needs of both the individual ...
-
OpinionMichael Rose: How employers can create an integrated reward strategy to support business goals
When I think about an integrated reward strategy, the first thing that comes to mind is the differences between the parts of reward. They all cost money but they do different things. So, for example, death-in-service benefits do something very different and carry different messages to a cash incentive plan. ...
-
OpinionLovewell's logic: Can money buy happiness?
Can money buy happiness? This is a familiar question, having oft been debated over the years. Many people's natural response is likely to be ‘yes’, as thoughts of their next holiday, larger house or new car spring to mind. But would this response always be the same, following some time ...
-
OpinionVlatka Hlupic: New learning shared among employees can increase creativity and innovation
Employers can build personal learning and development opportunities into a total reward strategy in order to impact employee motivation.Opportunities for learning, development and personal growth form a major part of the shift in individual mindsets that would lead to higher levels of motivation, engagement and performance. This is particularly important ...
-
OpinionKatie Streeter-Hurle: How can employers create an engaging workplace culture?
Today’s employees have growing expectations of the organisation they work for. For ambitious organisations, engagement has got to be top of the agenda in order to attract the best talent and to retain them over time. So what does it take to create an engaging workplace culture in 2018?Employers have ...
-
OpinionJohn Williams: Line managers can contribute to agile working conditions
People are heavily influenced by their working environment. Rigid structures and siloed departments with complex hierarchies are becoming something of the past; employees now naturally want to work in flexible, friendly and, dare we say it, fun organisations. But is this the reality in the UK workplace? And if not, ...
-
OpinionRuth Christy: Avoiding the pitfalls of the office Christmas party
The Christmas party season is approaching and, for employers, it could open a Pandora’s Box of complications if not carefully managed.The office Christmas party presents two specific challenges: the party is normally off site and the combination of high spirits and alcohol. This unique work-related scenario requires some forward planning ...
-
OpinionNatalie Riddick: Explore Learning engages millennials using organisational culture, competitive reward and financial support
While Explore Learning has rapidly grown in size over the last 15 years, we have worked really hard to ensure that we still have the feel of a smaller, entrepreneurial and incredibly ambitious organisation. So much of that is captured in our culture. We host two events every year that ...
-
OpinionEmma Davidson: Corporate social responsibility initiatives can have wider organisational impacts
In the past, corporate social responsibility (CSR) was considered a back-office activity which did not impact employees’ on a day-to-day basis. However research from the Harvard Business Review, published in 2016, indicates that CSR is becoming increasingly important for building and maintaining a loyal and engaged workforce.So how can employers ...
-
OpinionLovewell's logic: Should employers award extra holiday to non smokers?
Last week, Japanese firm Piala hit the headlines with the news that it has introduced up to six additional days paid holiday per year for the non smokers in its workforce to counterbalance the smoking breaks taken by their colleagues. The company is based on the 29th floor of an ...
-
OpinionSimon Richardson: How to motivate staff without providing a pay increase
Reward managers of a certain age could be forgiven for looking back nostalgically to the certainty of their role in the ‘80s and ‘90s where their main objective was to produce ever-increasing reward packages while times were good, and deliver a generous pay off when times were bad. Although the ...
-
OpinionProfessor Chris Rowley: HR management can prove vital for merger and acquisition success
Employees are all too often the invisible ‘forgotten army’ in mergers and acquisitions, because these events are frequently thought of and presented in isolation as easy, glamorous takeovers with important consequences, typically regarding financial and market shares.However, these are not only overly simplistic and narrow process views, but also ethnocentric, ...
-
OpinionJames Kelly: The science of motivation
It is widely accepted that a successful organisation is one that invests in its employees and uses a range of motivational tools to increase production and profit. However, mastering the art of embedding a culture of motivation across the whole organisation can be challenging.So, why is it so hard to ...
-
OpinionHannah Ford: Avoiding the legal pitfalls around summer events and staff socials
Summer events and staff socials can be effective ways of motivating or rewarding employees, building team morale, and increasing job satisfaction. However, when employees leave the confines of the workplace and enter a relaxed and social environment the risk of employee misbehaviour, and consequent claims, obviously increases.Employers should be mindful ...
-
OpinionLovewell's logic: On a winning streak
This week, we were absolutely thrilled when Employee Benefits was named Pensions and Benefits Publication of the Year at the Willis Towers Watson Awards 2017.This is the third consecutive year that we have won this title and, every year, it has meant a great deal to us, not least because ...
-
OpinionAndy Melia: Employee volunteering has benefits beyond corporate social responsibility
Employee volunteering gives staff the opportunity to connect with a community, build their knowledge of the needs and challenges in society and deliver value through sharing skills and expertise. This can help to generate trust in the business and help staff to feel more involved in the towns, cities or ...