Employment Today, August 2010
Here’s a bit of advice for aspiring HR professionals on what not to do with spreadsheets. While on OE in London working for a multinational consulting firm, a hapless Kiwi working as an HR administrator inadvertently emailed company-wide a spreadsheet containing detailed salary data for all of the firm’s European partners. She didn't last long. How many spreadsheets are used for HR processes in your organisation? From workforce planning to performance management and remuneration reviews, spreadsheets have long been at the core of many organisation’s HR processes. And the cause of many headaches for all who use them. While spreadsheets are ideal for budgets and financial analysis at a defined period, they are not always the best option for managing and tracking information that is constantly changing or for the actual HR decision-making processes. As spreadsheet users become more IT-savvy, organisations are increasingly using complex spreadsheets to facilitate and control key HR processes like remuneration reviews and performance management. This is largely due to people naturally looking within their own knowledge base to choose a tool for the purpose. Yet the risk of errors remains high...(read more) |
We all look on disapprovingly if someone ends a relationship by email or text, so why do we put up with email for critical employee communication? Email is simply too informal for some situations. You might think you’ve had a documented discussion following an email exchange with an employee, when all you have done is avoid a real dialogue. For example, communicating a salary increase should actually occur as part of a wider conversation about their value to the organisation and what they want to get out of their employment. Emails can often be misconstrued because they are written relatively casually. The rich and powerful non-verbal communication that happens with a face to face discussion is lost. HR professionals need to realise that people like to, and need to, have physical contact with others to remain engaged...(read more) |
Pivot is thrilled to have recently been announced as a finalist in the Champion Global Operator category of the Canterbury region’s premier business excellence awards. “It’s fantastic to be recognised for our achievements and our growing customer base in both New Zealand and Australia is testament to this”, says Pivot’s Managing Director Philippa Youngman. Winners will be announced at an Awards Ceremony and Dinner on September 9. |
Earlier this year, PricewaterhouseCoopers released a “10Minutes” paper offering companies advice on how to transform their human resources in order to get more value out of it. The paper recommended a move towards outcome-oriented performance measures, by focusing more on the impact of HR on the overall business, the value created by HR, performance based on talent and the revenue, profit and cost of a company’s workforce compared to its productivity. Four key insights of how HR can help the bottom line were explained. 2. Align talent and corporate strategies – find talent that will help turn strategy into reality 3. Develop talent – Encourage talent and leadership development while creating a performance culture 4. Measure success – measure the impact of HR activities on business results The paper cites data from PwC’s 13th Annual Global CEO Survey that found 79 percent of CEOs intend to refocus on how they manage people through change, which suggests “a fundamental need to align HR strategies with the overall business strategy.” ...(read more) |
Working from home, satellite offices, job sharing and flexibility around when job hours are worked. With the traditional 9 to 5 workday becoming extended around increasingly busy lifestyles, new thinking about how work is undertaken may need to enter the workforce faster than is now occurring. International studies have shown that flexible work environments increase job satisfaction, enhance employee loyalty, lower stress and reduce staff turnover rates. So what do organisation’s need to start thinking about and more importantly, what’s in it for them? Pivot talked to Sydney-based Nathan DeFries – Director, Compensation & Benefits, Asia Pacific – from Luxottica, the world’s largest designer and manufacturer of eyewear (including brands like OPSM, Sunglass Hut, Ray-Ban and Oakley), for his views on this rising trend...(read more) |