HR trends and predictions

The CIPD barometer report summarising HR trends in 2011 and predicting trends for 2012 makes interesting reading. One of the most striking findings is that 75% of organisations find it difficult to fill vacancies with the main reason being lack of specialist and technical skills. Also worrying is the increased worsening perception by employees of leaders with particularly poor perception in consultation, confidence and trust.

In learning and development the findings are similar to previous years with coaching by line managers and in-house development programmes remaining to be seen as the most effective development practice for employees. For leaders it is a different story - coaching by external coaches and attending external conferences, workshops and events and seen as the most effective approaches.

The gap between private and public sector seems to be widening with job satisfaction amongst public sector workers falling.

Predictions for 2012 are for trends to remain similar to 2011 with particular concern raised about the high unemployment of young people in the UK and uncertainty about the Euro zone.

How to be unsuccessful!

This bold article might trigger a New Year’s resolution or two!

The Seven Habits of Spectacularly Unsuccessful Executives.

Happy New Year from everyone here at Interaction.

Barclays Corporate and internships

Our recent research into internships and graduate development has been referenced by Barclays Corporate.

Goal setting: making it public or keeping it private?

Some really interesting research that was carried out last year challenges a fairly fundamental piece of advice facilitators hand out during programmes i.e. disclosing your goals in a public setting will make them more likely to happen.

The research is summarised nicely on Psyblog.

The research acts as a helpful reminder that objectives need to be accompanied by other thinking and behaviour:

• how do I make my objective achievable?
• why is the objective important to me?
• how will I feel if I achieve it?
• what actions do I need to take?
• who can help me achieve my objective?
• what will get in the way?
• how will I celebrate?!

Going global

We’ve recently taken the opportunity to provide our services internationally.  Obviously there’s a lot to consider when selling services overseas for the first time, and it’s quite hard knowing where to start.

Three websites stand out as useful starting points:

• The Business Link website, www.businesslink.gov.uk, has a section dedicated to international trade as well as useful information on posting workers to foreign countries.
• The UK Trade & Investment website, www.ukti.gov.uk, has useful country guides available to download, and details of regional office who can offer advice about all aspects of trading overseas.  (They also run a service called the UK Advisory Network, which was set up to make access to private sector expertise easier to access, www.ukadvisorynetwork.com.)
• The HRMC website, www.hmrc.gov.uk, was invaluable in providing information about customs and VAT and I received very quick and clear written advice on our specific situation by emailing via the site.

Based on the principles that in going global we need to ensure we operate legally, look after our employees, and manage our financial risks, and following research starting at these websites, I was able to develop a checklist of issues to address:

• what are the reporting requirements for customs and VAT for the specific work we’re doing?
• what are the rules regarding posting employees to specific countries?
• do we need additional business insurance?
• what is the best way to pay invoices received in foreign currencies?
• what is the best way to receive payment in foreign currencies?
• what are the risks around receiving/making payments in foreign currencies?
• what is the best way to provide money for our employees while abroad?
• what is the best way to keep in touch with our employees?
• do we need to take anything with us that might need an export licence?

As a result, we now have a foreign currency broker, a Euro bank account, business travel insurance and we are actively looking for the best way to manage accounts in multiple currencies. 

We have already spent a couple of days delivering training in Switzerland and are looking forward to trips to Spain and Italy.