What if we reframed soft skills as hard skills?
Aligning talent strategies with business objectives
Jarred ConsultingBreakfast Bites: Series 3: the top HR trends for 2023 and how they’ve evolved
At the beginning of the year, Forbes published its top HR trends for the 2023 workplace.
Breakfast Bites: Series 3: what if September was the new January?
There’s something fresh about the start of term and it affects everyone, whether you have children at home or not. With the altered state of summer over and done with, there’s a sense of returning to normality across the board.
Breakfast Bites: Series 2: what’s tightening the belt on learning and development costing you?
This month we’ve been looking at ways to get everyone excited about getting back to work in September. With autumn just a breeze away, it’s time to get creative about how we’re going to bring summer’s sense of freedom and ease into a busy, productive workplace.
Breakfast Bites: Series 2: what if you made more of the people you already have when hiring budgets are tight?
We all know that hitting the pause button isn’t just an enjoyable thing to do, it’s essential. It keeps us functioning, happy and healthy. So however much your summer vacation has cost this year, it has provided you with a priceless opportunity to rest and recharge.
Breakfast Bites: Series 2: what if we truly treasured our middle managers?
Enjoying the altered pace of summer? It’s not always less busy, it’s just a chance to seek other life-affirming pursuits: time with family, festivals and a long-awaited annual break.
Breakfast Bites: Series 2: what’s better than doughnuts in the office?
Sat on the side next to the kettle, the doughnuts are warm and fresh. What a great welcome back to work, especially if you’ve been away on holiday.
Breakfast Bites: Series 2: Why genuine wellbeing strategy is a win/win
Now is the time to close the gap between your wellbeing talk and walk.
Breakfast Bites: Series 2: why lack of trust isn’t doing you or your remote workers any favours
Has the climate of remote working changed the level of trust in your teams? If they’re no longer in the same physical space, do managers have a higher level of anxiety over deadlines or a perceived lack of control?
Breakfast Bites: Series 2: is your wellbeing strategy working?
What sits in the gap between good intentions and good practice? People who feel demotivated, forgotten and unseen.
Breakfast Bites: Series 2: wellwashing – why it’s your problem and what you can do about it.
Summertime – a time when we look forward to some well-deserved time off. But what if it isn’t enough? For some, two weeks won’t take away the overbearing dread of going back to work.
Breakfast Bites: Series 2: People no longer want to work for a company
For this morning’s light dip into HR, leadership and management, we’re looking at Mercer’s global insights for this year and it’s all about partnership.
Breakfast Bites: Series 2: The conversations you should be having when salary and bonus budgets are tight
When times are tight how do you reward commitment, excellence and going the extra mile? Come at it with a more rather than a less mindset.
Breakfast Bites: Series 2: Why safety, belonging and mattering should be your HR priorities right now
When budgets are tight, managers are stretched and talented people are in demand, you don’t just want people to stay with you, you want them to thrive. It doesn’t just make sense on a human level: the bottom line is you won’t achieve business success unless you have the workforce to make it happen.
How to ace performance review season when budgets are tight
Performance review season The stresses of the financial year end often herald the stresses of performance review season. Your teams may have given their all recently but with budget constraints to consider, how do you retain talent and boost performance when salary increases and bonuses can’t be as generous as you’d like?
Breakfast bites: Series 2: How to survive performance review season and remain sane
We get it. If you’ve had one too many conversations along the lines of ‘you’ve had a really good year but we can’t give you much’ your reports may be getting as tired as you are.
Breakfast bites: Series 2: Simple steps to make tech effective
Data-driven culture allows us to make decisions based on analytics rather than gut decisions but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a heavy human element to bring this insight to life.
Breakfast bites: Series 2: Four top tips to leverage tech and unlock your potential
When data-driven culture and a strong human element work hand in hand, it’s a powerful force that drives business forward – but it’s not just about the numbers. When a system is designed to shore up belonging, safety and mattering, it benefits people in ways that go far beyond the reach of the company.
Breakfast bites: Series 1: One of the toughest challenges your managers will face this year and how to help them
Everyone wants to feel healthy, safe, and engaged at work. Confident they’re equipped to handle whatever’s ahead – particularly in uncertain times. Your middle managers are no different.
Breakfast bites: Series 1: Quiet hiring and you – 3 powerful changes you can start making today
Last week we took a swift look at the work culture trend known as quiet hiring and why it’s been around longer than you think. It’s about enriching your workforce to meet your needs, using the people you already have to hand – a win/win when some markets are still tight and budgets are tighter
Breakfast bites: Series 1: Why quiet hiring isn’t a new concept
According to Forbes, the phenomenon of quiet hiring is with us. One of the top workplace predictions for 2023, its rise is hailed as the answer to budget restraints in a competitive hiring environment.
Breakfast bites: Series 1: When one good apple can improve the whole barrel
One bad apple can infect the whole barrel, so the saying goes. What if one good apple could keep the whole barrel healthy?
Breakfast bites: Series 1: Is it about time you reframed training?
How committed to effective, holistic development is your business? In real terms, it looks like: Elevating the importance of learning culture within a firm – something that’s constantly evolving, visible and purposeful. A commitment to career planning within the firm and beyond it so that people feel supported, you get the best of their natural
Breakfast bites: Series 1: Four-day week study results confirm what we already knew
The results of the UK’s first four-day week study were published a few weeks ago. These are our top key findings from the report which suggests a relationship between shorter working hours and:
Breakfast bites: Series 1: If performance has slipped, how do you go back to the way things were?
While the percentage of the workforce working between home and office rose to 24%, the number of those working exclusively from home dropped. Three quarters of home and hybrid workers reported improved work life balance.
Breakfast bites: Series 1: Why your people need to know what you stand for
Here are a couple of statistics to get you thinking: Over half of those questioned in a Glassdoor survey stated that they value a company’s culture over salary. A Gallup poll found that engaged teams show a 14% increase in productivity and 81% less absenteeism The same Gallup study states that when it comes to performance, happiness and contentment
Breakfast bites: Series 1: Are hybrid and flexible working the same thing?
Hybrid working rose sharply in 2022, long after the end of the Covid-19 restrictions. It’s a trend that’s clearly here to stay, so being clued up about rights and responsibilities should be a priority for any leader, manager or business owner.
Breakfast Bites: Series 1: what’s your role in creating stability?
What can you do? Don’t underestimate the impact of your example – live healthy behaviours that build strong relationships and enable meaningful communication. It’s your job to make sure everyone feels recognised in a way that feels relevant to them. How well do you know the team you lead?
Six essential HR upskills to survive an economic downturn
Six essential HR upskills to survive an economic downturn The great HR squeeze is upon us. On one side, inflation and recession put pressure on budgets but on the other, a reduction in the workforce pool and high demand for cutting-edge skills means competition for talent remains hot.
Leadership matters: seven signs that safety, belonging and recognition are suffering
If safety, belonging and recognition are suffering, and what you can do to shore them up To achieve business growth you need people – in this climate even to stand still, you need people. Your company will not survive without this lifeblood. In times of transition, change and uncertainty you need them even more, and
Evolving VUCA: ten upskilling areas to enrich leadership through turbulent times
Ten upskilling areas to enrich leadership through turbulent times Likely already exhausted, your leaders are under unprecedented pressure from all fronts. After the overnight shifts that were necessary to keep working through a pandemic, they find themselves overwhelmed by wave after wave of rapidly appearing new challenges. These are unpredictable times.
Getting Your People Deal Right
Employing smart: the importance of alignment and purpose in getting your people deal right You’re unlikely to unlock your business’s potential without attracting and keeping the right talent. If you’ve had issues with recruitment or attrition recently then your EVP (or employee value proposition) may not be keeping step with the modern market and what
What does it mean to invest in new talent?
Focus on the future What does it mean to invest in new talent? Lisa Slater, Jarred associate and early talent specialist shares her experience working in the legal sector. ‘Firms won’t achieve their goals if they don’t invest in talent.’ she starts. Naturally, the best investment for an organisation struggling to secure the right people
ESG – real commitment, not lip service
Powerful partners for growth: embedding ESG in your People Proposition (EVP) Looking to scale your business? This is what you need to know about putting people and purpose at the heart of your intentions.
Resilience – when the unexpected happens
Leadership through resilience When the unexpected happens, needs can morph overnight: needs that are sometimes difficult to articulate, let alone meet. It could be said that the definition of resilience is how people handle work and life in times of rapid change, so when you’re dealing with the needs of others as well as your
Take a long hard look at what HR is all about
The Value of rethinking HR HR transformation consultant and Jarred Associate Meryl Folb wants everyone to take a long hard look at what they think HR is all about – and then think again. Why? Because years of experience have taught her that when HR is undervalued opportunities for wellbeing and growth are lost. These
Humancentric leadership guards against burnout
Serious play on purpose Humancentric leadership guards against burnout, builds stronger teams, inspires creativity and creates a safe space for ideas to flourish and talent to grow. A specialist in this area and with almost 30 years of experience working in PR, Jarred associate Anne-Marie Rodriguez de Killeen brings a wealth of knowledge to her
The Power of Keeping Things Simple
Focussing on what matters The power of keeping things simple by streamlining a complex process releases time, energy and resources to ensure it’s efficient, effective and enjoyable. This is the ethos behind TopScore’s virtual assessment platform for the legal sector and beyond. Having spent many years facilitating assessment centre campaigns, co-founder and MD Phin Naughton
The Rewards of Doing What you Love
Flexibility vision and rewards Jarred Associate Simon North can’t remember a time when he wasn’t doing what he loves, coaching in some form. Here he talks about the rewards of doing what he loves. Although he didn’t qualify and call himself a coach until he was fifty, he has spent most of his life using
Change Management Tuning into What the Client Needs
Tuning in to what the client needs The first part of the change management process is tuning in and getting a good overview of how the client operates, understanding their pain points and figuring out what works well and what doesn’t.
Bolstering Leadership Resilience Through Balance
Why as a leader you need to check-in with yourself Burnout can affect anyone but as someone with responsibility for the working lives of others, the ripple effects can be greater for someone in a leadership role. With teams looking for direction in challenging times and new working practices pushing the boundaries of what was
The Power of Quality Conversations
When we think about what effective communication means, it is often seen as a mechanism to get things done and can take on a transactional feel. Jarred Associate Sarah Holden believes that quality communication is what unleashes performance in teams and organisations. The workplace climate is changing and company culture and conversational skill sets need
The Great Re-engagement
The term The Great Resignation was coined by psychologist and professor of management Anthony Klotz in May 2021. Also known as the Big Quit, it has come to capture a mood as much as a movement, as a huge wave of resignations has hit companies around the world. In this article, we examine some of the reasons why this has
Diversity Equality and Inclusion make Good Business Sense
Diversity, equality and inclusion make good business sense: Data shows a correlation between diversity in executive teams and increased profitability. In other words, allowing other people a seat at the table doesn’t mean that there are fewer pieces of the pie, the pie simply gets bigger. Of course, the other commercial imperative is that there’s a
The Hybrid Organisation : Navigating the next 6 months (and beyond…into the new normal)
As we enter into the winter months and what is almost certainly going to bring another period of restrictions and changes to working patterns for many due to the pandemic, HR professionals and business leaders’ aim is to create sustainable ‘hybrid’ organisations. Organisations where the vast majority of people are working from home, balancing many
Re-Imagining E-book Evolving Your Workforce
Free downloadable e-book Many papers and articles have been published (and continue to be) about how to manage the workforce, address recruiting and talent concerns as well as evolve business cultures and purpose in the wake of Covid-19. There is so much information to work through that it could become a full-time job for any
Furlough Updated Part 7 – Your Questions Answered
On 12 June the government issued further details of the flexible furlough scheme which will commence on 1 July 2020 and run until the end of October 2020. The revised, flexible scheme allows employees to work for their employer on a part-time basis whilst employers will still be able to make claims under the Coronavirus
Moving to Virtual Onboarding
As the requirement to work from home and practice social distancing remains key to the governments’ strategy for dealing with the Covid 19 pandemic, early talent teams are grappling with how to enable the 2020 intakes to feel truly part of the business they have chosen to join. Many of these recruits may never have
Getting Your People Back to Work Re-entry Part 3
As we start to see the first signs of employees returning to the workplace, albeit in limited circumstances, now is a good time to share the third of our re-entry articles to help HR and talent management professionals guide their organisations into the future. With the Chancellor announcing that the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme will be
HR Planning Video for Re-entry Part 3
Our third video in our series on re-entry following the lockdown looks at how HR and talent management professionals can help organisations ‘getting your employees back to work’