So what jobs to recruit to next? Increasing staff numbers is a scary prospect. No manager wants to get it wrong. You can't guess. You've no precedent. You can't ask a friend because all firms are different. You must model the company and evaluate each option for its effect on the company and it's KPIs. And it becomes all the more difficult when considering indirect roles like sales people, marketers and other support staff. They could drive the firm to light speed. It's always a tough call.

Whilst training interventions can indeed change the whole organisation, the culture change scenario differs from ‘normal’ training. ‘Normal’ training is in pursuit of change in competencies in individuals. Change in culture involves change in the way things are done in the organisation – the normative behaviour of all. Here's how they differ.

It’s bizarre. We’ve a record 32.54 million people in work in the UK. But the number of job vacancies jumped to a record high of 853,000. Despite record employment today, companies are suffering skills shortages. Managers have three options - accept the lack of skills and invest in technology to sustain capability - or invest in the people they do have to improve productivity. Here's the rationale.

• Interdependency of technology and people
• Strategies supporting investment in technology over people
• Key drivers in favour of developing people
• Consequences of not developing staff and alternative strategies

Organisational development (OD) is different from human resource management (HRM). Organisational development involves exploring options that will permit strategies to be achieved. OD techniques such as modelling permit outcomes to be predicted and the right plan to be selected. People are of course the lifeblood of any firm. They join, they leave, and in between they have to be managed. Everyone who manages or supervises people has to double as an HR generalist. Here's the scope of HR and OD.

It’s not always easy to know what to do when someone goes off sick. How long do you wait until you speak to them? Can you make decisions when they are off sick? Can you contact them? So many questions!

One thing that is certain – the longer you wait to deal with sickness absence , the harder it becomes. Find out what you should do, and when.