Our recent event on managing unions relations was especially pertinent in the light of rail strikers being joined this week by barristers and news of proposed strikes by Royal Mail, parking wardens, bus and airport staff and GPs. Read more…
Workforce issues remain at the top of the agenda across most sectors of the economy – the spotlight on staffing shortages in the aviation industry is the latest high-profile example. So, what are the short and longer term solutions? And what innovative approaches are starting to make an impact on retention and employee wellbeing? Read more…
Workforce challenges are top of the list of priorities for organisational leaders across most sectors. They are a staple of the national media’s daily offering. And they are at the heart of global debates around post-pandemic reboots and the future of work. So, I was expecting the recent Business Forum International (BFI) training workshop on employee retention to be a lively affair. I wasn’t disappointed… Read more…
It’s less a return to work as much as a hesitant, maybe-one-day-a-week trickle now, and HR departments are struggling to make pre-Covid staffing levels anything more tangible than a distant halcyon memory. With 25% of professionals claiming they plan to look for new positions this year, it would appear that we are emerging from an existential as well as health crisis. Read more…
In 1996, I had recently founded BFI and was meeting a potential partner to work on a national energy training contract we had been awarded. My male co-director and I went to this chap’s London offices, where, after his secretary brought in the tray, he invited me to pour the coffee and addressed his thoughts to male colleague. I am still embarrassed that I didn’t speak up but fumed silently as women often do. Of course, I found another company to work with. Such breath-taking sexism may be less common now, but real equality in the workplace, in the UK at least, still seems like a distant utopia. Read more…
