This article proposes a practical approach to managing of work based stress. It suggests use of the HSE Management Standards to describe six forces that need to be balanced. It then elaborates this to include these forces in a feedback model to suggest a method by which managers can actually manage reduction in stress through control of stressors and increase in coping.

Many software development firms pride themselves in being able to tackle almost any software task. They elicit requirements, or build prototypes, and code databases, business logic, algorithms and user interfaces without any particular market or industry focus. Others productise. Over time they standardise and focus. But what new jobs are needed to make this happen?

This blog builds on our previous discussion on the EU Settlement Scheme. It highlights action managers need to take to enable staff to make short-duration visits to EU countries for academic, sales or technical activities. We point out that business trips will need to be planned in the future. It won't just be a case of booking a flight and putting equipment in a suitcase.

Holiday pay, and holidays in general still cause managers difficulty. It's complex. Managers need to determine what holiday an employee is entitled to accrue. And there's no statutory need to allow further accrual with overtime. Managers must calculate, holiday by holiday, how much employees are to be paid when off. The rate must include commission, overtime and even travel time. TimelessTime has a calculator.

Your staff are going to have a whole series of questions which you will need to address as you go through the redundancy process. We've pulled together some of the more important questions that you are going to be asked, and presented them for you here. They range from questions about contractors to simple things like whether companions can attend meetings.

Competitive advantage is where a firm enjoys lower costs or greater sales than competitors. This paper builds an argument for a set of HR practices that form the basis of the psychological contract, the set of expectations that both employee and employer hold.