Posts Tagged ‘hr’

I am often sceptical of newspaper supplements as just ending up as train floor fodder but yesterday’s Barclays sponsored guide called “The Road to Recovery: A blueprint for business” had some interesting stuff in it. 

A piece by Stefan Stern (of whom I am a big fan) caught my eye as it focused on boosting morale following corporate upheaval.  There are few companies who haven’t seen some sort of change in the past 2 years be it growth in new areas, changes in management or for the more unlucky folks, redundancies and closures. 

One of the main areas of management that has always fascinated me is how to build and maintain a team ethic as you business grows and changes and Stefan provided some interesting pointers that can be adapted to suit the PR industry and the economy we are in right now.

• Structure your strategy around (re)building and (re)assuring
• Make employees proud of where they work
• Clever and creative people want fun at work
• Stamp out gloomy environments
• Don’t change the message/goals before they have really got through to staff
• Be honest and straight talking
• Be calm, don’t panic and handle situations with openness and backbone
• Get involved, don’t run the business from the spreadsheets: get out and meet staff and clients
• Don’t apologise for decisions, explain why they are necessary and stand by them

Cross posted with my own blog

The class system in the UK interests me. It’s the whole football vs. rugby, union vs. league, blue or white collar, north/south divide that makes this country so rich in culture - or perhaps I’m a bit naive to think it, not coming from a country that has such distinct social stratification?

This week the government published the report on fair access to the professions. I haven’t read the report in full, but amongst its most publicised findings are the “forgotten middle classes”, lack of aspiration amongst the younger generation, nepotism, and the widening gap.

I’d like to ask the question: what do the “middle classes” and those less better off really aspire to, and are there resources out there to help young people achieve their goals?

I have to admit the issue of “who you know” does play a significant part in getting internships or work experience, especially in certain industries such as the media. But nothing has changed there - why is there such an outcry now? Is it because the gap has widened despite 12 years of a Labour Government continually promising to do something about it?

Call me idealistic, but I happen to believe that the UK is a meritocracy - if you are ambitious, has genuine talent and is resourceful, you will achieve what you want. As mentioned in Question Time last night, look at the last few prime ministers (with the exception of Tony Blair), and that demonstrates class should play no part in achieving one’s highest ambition.

So the next question is, how do we cultivate ambition?

The global population is rapidly ageing; by 2020, about 719.4m people - 9.4% of the world’s inhabitants - will be 65 or more, compared with 477.4m (7.3%) in 2005.  We constantly hear about the strain this is putting on healthcare systems, pensions and the economy generally as we struggle to support a growing number of retired people but what about those people that don’t want to retire at 65 or, in today’s credit crunch, have found they can’t afford to?

Last night’s Dispatches addressed the issue of ageism amongst employers and recruiters. It seems older workers are more likely to lose their jobs and fail to secure another position frequently being told that they are ‘overqualified’ for the roles they are applying for.  The programme  followed the stories of people forced to retire at 65 by their employers, thanks to the Default Retirement Age introduced in 2006, and those who when made redundant later in life - some as young as 50 - struggled to even get recruiters to register them never mind get in front of prospective employers.  It made compelling but depressing viewing.  It seems we no longer value experience rather we see people of a certain age as a liability believing that they will be less driven or enthusiastic and take more time off work than their younger counterparts.  This of course is often not the case.  B&Q and Asda are among the few companies that have recognised the potential of older workers but how many of us would like to be told that our only work option is to take a lower paid job on a checkout purely because of our age?

What constitutes being an older worker can also be determined by the industry you are in.  Apparently, the average age of staff at The Times top 100 companies is 34. This made me think about my own industry.  I would hazard a guess that the average age of agency communications consultants is around 35 with the majority of staff being in their 20s.  A common topic of conversation is ‘what happens to people over 40 in our industry?’.  I’m not sure I know the answer but, until we find the fountain of youth, perhaps it is time we reconsider our attitudes towards older workers and see the value in balancing the enthusiasm and adaptability of a young workforce with keeping and attracting a few more experienced grey hairs.

Personally, I hope to be retired and travelling the world at 65 but I’d like to have the choice…