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Skills shortages amid full employment
Written by John Berry on 28th January 2019. Revised 25th March 2020.
6 min read
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.
Inaction is costly! Return to Work Plans Are Free
Written by Sue Berry on 9th May 2017. Revised 25th March 2020.
8 min read
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.
The manager's role in managing employee mental health
Written by John Berry on 13th June 2019. Revised 25th March 2020.
8 min read
There’s been a plethora of articles in the management press and in management-oriented social media recently declaring that mental health is a big issue in firms. Here we temper this alarmism and give a practical three point plan comprising knowledge, awareness and sensing and intervention.
Where do responsibilities begin and end in managing wellbeing?
Written by John Berry on 27th November 2019. Revised 25th March 2020.
4 min read
Managers expect that employees will turn up on time and be upbeat, fit and well and ready to do what’s asked of them. Employees expect that managers will give them interesting, good quality work that’s within their capabilities. But much can go wrong. There's much spillover degrading employee wellbeing. Managers must step up and embrace their responsibility to manage whole-employee wellbeing, albeit recognising that a big part of the scope of that responsibility will be marked ‘private’.
Getting Brits to take jobs
Written by John Berry on 25th February 2020. Revised 28th February 2020.
4 min read
How many times have we heard it – “There’s no use offering jobs like that to Brits. They don’t want that sort of work”. The result is that British employers offer poor quality jobs to immigrants. But soon there will be no immigrants to take those jobs. If, as a country, we want to re-invigorate workers who do what are at present menial jobs, we need to redesign those jobs. Here's how.
For pities’ sake, write it down!
Written by Sue Berry on 14th February 2020. Revised 26th February 2020.
4 min read
Managers don’t write things down. They don’t document the various discussions with employees. They don’t prepare for meetings and document what they hope to achieve, then don’t document what they actually said and what was actually done. They don’t use daybooks. Find out why it's important to get into the habit of using a daybook.
