Technology is constantly changing the world. From the development of new industries to the explosion of modern tools and software, technology has made a massive impact on our lives. In business and the human resource industry, technology is providing a more secure, efficient, and accurate landscape for work.  With a market size of around $400 […]

It’s a no-brainer that the majority of people keep looking for better job opportunities throughout their careers. Honestly, why shouldn’t they?  At HR Online, we know that life is short and the rules of the game change all the time, what with hybrid work models and various other opportunities. Statistics show that 65% of employees […]

At HR Online, we know there’s something a little taboo about the idea of office relationships, which perhaps explains why it’s such a contentious subject for many professionals.  A study reports that 52% of UK office workers believe that office romances decrease productivity and creativity, although 74% of the same individuals report having been involved […]

Does your workplace have a pet policy, but you aren’t sure how to best take advantage of it?  At HR Online, we see more and more companies have recognised the positive benefits of having a pet with you during your workday, but that doesn’t mean you should leash up Fido and drag him (or her) […]

Every organization wants an employee who has the capability to show their best effort for the company. People want their employees to be reliable, dependable, diligent, great leaders, punctual, etc. They have a wide range of easily defined yet difficult-to-find characteristics. Only a few people progressed to the following stage. Some personnel are truly extraordinary, […]

Burgers, pizzas, and sandwiches are our go-to food on most occasions these days. Despite knowing the many health risks associated with these kinds of dishes, little action do we take to address the same. In fact, we discard healthy food options while seeking to explore exotic dishes at various restaurants. But the more we lead […]

We are often asked how HR Managers can benefit from working with line management during the hiring process. Line management can offer HR Managers insight into their daily operations and provide more specific information about the skills and experience that are required to fill a position. Keep reading as we share with you some of […]

Remote work, which had previously been gradually introduced in many companies, has sharply entered business life, becoming a reality during the pandemic. Which leads to some questions being asked: How do you organise working from home correctly?  How do you establish clear business processes, while maintaining full control and monitoring over what and how employees […]

The buzz around hiring employees remotely and remote working is growing, as companies seek to gain a competitive advantage when it comes to hiring and retaining the best talent. Hiring remote employees can benefit your organisation by bringing in skills that are scarce in your location. In turn, remote work helps employees by offering the […]

At HR Online we know that management carries tremendous responsibility for staff motivation. Disengagement with work has devastating consequences to company success and employee wellbeing. For the employees to give their best performance, you need a sense of commitment and two-way engagement. Otherwise, people end up dissatisfied and demoralised. However, understand that engagement means different […]

Everyone knows that technology has become an essential asset to any company. Incorporating the right technology can significantly improve business efficiency and workplace productivity. Additionally, it also contributes in terms of communication, engagement, and collaboration. But when it comes to selecting the right technology for the workplace, making the right decision can be hard. There […]

The shortage of talent in 2020 is worse than last year and the trend is here to stay. Despite the uncertain situation and high layoffs reported with the COVID-19 pandemic, keeping your best employees is still a risk for many organisations that do not consider supporting the well-being of employees in this critical time.  The […]

Life as an HR representative is not cut out for everyone. The job involves a lot of responsibility. After all, you’re working with a company’s most valuable resource – its employees. Furthermore, you are constantly juggling between routine tasks and tasks that require a lot of empathy and human connection. In addition, as the new […]

For his Labour Day speech on September 7, 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt said: “Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.” A powerful statement, yet something is missing: Although most of us want to do work that we find meaningful, just as importantly, we […]

You want to fill your team with the best talent. People who will work harder and stay longer. But how can you know you’ve hired the best person and have data to prove it? What is blind hiring? In short, blind hiring is an anonymised, bias-free hiring process. Initial applications are completely anonymous, and interviews […]

Each industry has its own hurdles when it comes to finding the right employees. In every company (big or small), HR departments are hard at work looking for new talent that would fit the culture and grow with the business. However, the days when people would stay with one company until retirement are long gone. […]

As a manager or business owner, you know that your employees are your most valuable resources, so showing appreciation to them is key. when staff do not feeling appreciated they aren’t they become less productive, less creative, and less of an asset to your company. However, getting people to do their best work, consistently and […]

The employer-employee relationship is changing all the time. Priorities and focuses change all the time, and in 2020, the emphasis is on employee satisfaction. A happy employee is a productive employee, so it’s an important thing to pursue in your business. Satisfaction hinges on a lot of elements, but work perks play a big role […]

To be successful in landing the dream job, be sure to differentiate yourself and catch the attention of a hiring manager. Here at HR Online, we know that the job market is extremely competitive and being well-prepared is key.  The first step of the application process is to create a work CV. What is a […]

Recruitment is complete and you have found the right candidate for a role and they then accept the position. So what could possibly go wrong from here? Unfortunately, there’s plenty that can, and very often does, go wrong during this crucial phase of the hiring cycle – known as onboarding. Employee onboarding should start the […]

Guest post by Moneypenny At Moneypenny, we are incredibly proud of the award-winning culture we’ve created. Embracing workplace engagement is key to building a culture that works for our organisation, our employees and our clients. We firmly believe that by investing in culture and creating a positive working environment we keep our staff happy and healthy. […]

This guest post was provided by Daniel Williams. Dan was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa at the age of 8 and is now helping to improve the lives of others living with sight loss through his business, Visualise Training and Consultancy. We’ll let him take it from here. For two long years, I struggled in an administrative role […]

Whether a recent development in your business has highlighted the need for an extra staff member, or you finally have the budget to facilitate a much-needed expansion of your Salesforce team, talent acquisition can be expensive in the wrong hands. When hiring, it isn’t simply another annual salary being added to your wage bill. There […]

Neglected by business owners, office maintenance can be costly. To leave fixes for later can pose multiple risks for any company, as a small leak may lead to flooded premises and unnecessary overtime. Imagine working in the perfect eco-friendly and sustainable office environment where every employee is secure, motivated, productive, and follows the healthy office […]

Every organization has a unique set of culture, etiquette, guidelines, and norms but how to figure out what’s right and what’s wrong? That’s why at HR Online we’ll go through the most common ones, so you can best fit in the etiquette of your workplace. Chances are, that if you follow these basic tips, you […]

Preserving the environment, reducing our waste and being sustainable has been the subject of focus for the last decade or so. That’s why we should put the effort to change our everyday life not just as individuals but as businesses too.  On a company level, to implement and encourage eco-friendly policies could skyrocket performance and […]

While not everyone isn’t lucky enough to experience the utopian 4-hour work week, working more than the prescribed full-time 40-hour work week shouldn’t be the norm either. As it turns out, overtime work is more widespread than it is rare. A survey commissioned by TotallyMoney revealed that on average, workers in the United Kingdom put […]

We’ve long understood the importance of a clean office for enhancing the work environment, but recent studies have now proved it. One study in particular, ‘The Impact of Cleanliness on the Productivity of Employees’, which studied the influence of work environment cleanliness on employee productivity in The Netherlands, found: “Higher objective cleanliness correlates significantly with […]

Moving offices, like moving house, can be a very stressful process. And that stress can affect everybody at the organisation. As part of your role as an HR Manager, it is your job to ensure that your staff remain happy, motivated and stress-free throughout the move. Whether you are taking care of a small team […]

Numerous new changes have recently come into effect in UK Employment Law which will affect your business. It is important that you are enacting these changes and informing your staff. You should also be aware of the financial and procedural impact on your organisation to minimise disruption and ensure compliance. Here are the main changes […]

Businesses and organisations are now more aware than ever that they have a responsibility to manage and maintain the physical health and mental wellbeing of their staff. We’ve asked Clare Hurley, Director of Key Accounts at Fusion Occupational Health, to share six ways that business owners can improve the health and wellbeing of their employees. […]

Whatever industry sector you might work in, all organisations have the same focus when it comes to staff. You want to attract the best people for the job and, once you’ve found them, you want to ensure that you keep them in the business. There are plenty of ways that you can do this. Improving […]

Money Money Money Recently, the gender pay gap has come into sharp focus with more organisations publishing their pay gap reporting. Why is this an issue?  Minister for Women and Equalities Justine Greening said: “We have more women in work, more women-led businesses than ever before and the highest proportion of women on the boards […]

To engage employees you need to eliminate resistance by getting employees to do tasks because THEY want to do them. When you find yourself continually nagging them to get things done it’s a sign that they’re not engaged. When you pile pressure on top of this resistance you’ve got yourself a very unhappy and unmotivated […]

For many organisations, lone working offers greater flexibility, productivity and allows them to reach a wider customer base. Employing lone workers to carry out jobs traditionally completed in pairs or teams, allows businesses to double their productivity without acquiring additional costs. It is no surprise then that 6 million UK employees consider themselves to be […]

Most business owners know that business insurance is an important consideration, but with so many different covers to choose from, it can be difficult to know where to start. We’ll explain the purpose of business insurance and run through some of the key covers, so that you can make sure your business is protected.   […]

Small business operations, be it an independent venture or franchise partnership, are faced with similar HR issues as large companies, but naturally, on a smaller scale.   The difference is that, due to their financial power, big brands can afford to make recruitment errors and have the ability to replace employees somewhat “at a blink […]

Every organisation consists of a rich blend of personality types, from the introverts to the praise-seekers, the overly-ambitious to the this-is-just-my-day-job types. That’s just the nature of building a team of experts and specialists – everyone has their own way of getting things done. So what do you do if you’re not quite getting along […]

A curious trend is sweeping across the country, and it’s even bigger than football. According to the Trades Union Congress (TUC), one in eight employees clock in more than 48 hours a week. Another statistic supports this growing workaholism: in the UK, the average employee takes just 62% of their annual leave entitlement. The latest Glassdoor […]

Regardless of the industry, you look into, retaining top talent remains a high priority. Understandably, people with a large recruitment budget will always want to retain high performers. But then doing otherwise in this regard often leads to high employee turnover. And in such cases, the people in charge are usually left wondering what could […]

Employee onboarding, the process of bringing in a new employee and turning them from a bemused stranger into an up-to-speed member of the team, is more important than people often realise. If it’s done poorly, it doesn’t just slow things down — it causes broad damage to how the employee perceives the company (as well […]

When running a successful business, how your employee feels about coming to work each day directly correlates to the customer experience. According to statistics compiled by Blake Morgan, companies with highly engaged employees outperform their competitors by 147%, and companies that excel at customer experience have 1.5x more engaged employees than those companies that deliver […]

Each year, the world seems to be getting busier and busier.  As businesses grow and expand, there is always more to do, more to remember, and more to keep track of. However, each year also brings more and more new technologies to help us keep up with this demand. So, what’s in store for us […]

Planning an office move is already a stressful task. There are a lot of factors to consider when you are planning an office move, especially when it comes to HR. There is a lot to plan and take into account. And this is without mentioning all the HR factors you will have to consider when […]

Moving the office is an inevitable process for any growing business. The relocation can happen at any point due to numerous reasons, such as: Business running out of office space to host new equipment; Employee counts grow and the old office lacks enough free space; Location becomes inconvenient for most employees; Office rent rises and no […]

Despite usually a large amount of applicants, filling a junior position can actually be more challenging than most – how do you know what to look for when your candidates don’t have experience? Abi Leigh from Manchester based marketing and creative recruitment company Orchard.co.uk takes a look at the ins and outs of graduate recruitment […]

HR and Finance managers looking after company travel policies, travel expense budgets and meeting costs face many challenges when it comes to running an efficient business or P&L. Often value for money and impact on the balance sheet are considered less, in lieu of itinerary changes and arguments around first class/economy class, or the grade […]

There’s a range of things to inform new employees about, and it can be challenging trying to remember them all. Therefore, we’re going to break this into manageable chunks and take a look at 6 things you should inform them about regarding data protection. If staff members aren’t aware of data protection policies, procedures, and […]

Office hygiene is without a doubt aspect that all employers should think about. While everyone has their own personal hygiene routines at home, it’s important to conform to office standards to ensure you and your colleagues are able to work in a safe and clean working environment. You might be surprised to hear that every […]

Most companies think investing in their employees includes only salary increases or offering more perks or benefits. Implementing a good training program will also show your employees your investment in them. This is important for the employees as well as the leaders. According to a survey conducted in December 2016 of over 500 Human Resource […]

There are many important policies, procedures, and other things to inform new staff about. It can often be daunting since there’s so much! Don’t forget these 6 key things you should tell new staff members about Information Security.    Clear Desk Policy A Clear Desk Policy is one of the most important Information Security Policies that […]

Richard Branson, the owner of Virgin, one of the biggest superpowers in the world, said “train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don’t want to”. You’ve probably read thousands of articles, news headlines and Tweets about Millennials, or the ‘digital natives’. There’s a good chance you already employ […]

On the surface, marketing and Human Resources (HR) might seem worlds apart in terms of what they offer. However, dig a little bit beneath the surface of these two different departments and you’ll find that they actually share strikingly similar principles!

When assessing what affects an employee’s motivation and productivity in the office, there are a number of factors to consider. Relationships with other team members, understanding of tasks, quantity of workload, and HR systems can all have effects. However, another important factor is the office layout and environment.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has released figures which shed light on the role of zero-hours contracts in the UK, demonstrating that there has been a 6% rise in there use over the last twelve months.

Jobs search engine Adzuna has reported competition for jobs has hit a new low. With news that reflects the strengthening of the UK’s economy, Adzuna reported 0.64 job seekers for every job advertised in the month of 2015 when compared to 0.67 jobseekers for every job in June 2015 whilst there was close to double […]

In the past HR professionals used to talk about job satisfaction, we’ve progress slightly from there to talk about employee engagement but whatever you want to call it you’re going to need to measure the impact of your engagement efforts. Historically most organisations did this once or twice a year through a survey an employee […]

HR professionals have known for some time that being up to date with the latest thinking about the way the human brain works can provide some important insights into people management. However, with the ever increasing drive towards employee engagement to combat the effects of the employees’ changing attitudes towards employment, it’s even more essential […]

All businesses want to keep hold of their employees, however employees will at some point move on and this can cause an administrative headache for some businesses. There are a number of different reasons for employees leaving a company, they could simply move on or retire, alternatively they could be made redundant, leave due to ill […]

Alain de Botton, the Swiss philosopher, once said: “There is no such thing as a work-life balance. Everything worth fighting for unbalances your life”. It’s a great quotation. Much has been written about the importance of a work-life balance in today’s busy environment. Of course it’s true that to be a well-functioning human being, you […]

The recent UK Job Market Report carried out by job website Adzuna suggests the average rate of pay in the North West has increased to over £30,000 in the last 12 months.

Productivity is often cited as a major issues facing the United Kingdom’s economy at the moment and the HR profession is ideally placed to collectively increase the productivity of the country so it’s welcome news that researchers at Leicester University believe they have discovered the secret to motivating male workers.

Most of us have a target of the age we think we’ll be when we retire however recent research suggests more of us are uncertain about the age we’ll be when we come to retire.

Too many managers and business owners around the UK still perceive HR as being a fluffy, with limited, if any impact on an organisations profitability.

They say ‘You never get a second chance to make a good first impression’. And when it comes to writing your CV, this statement couldn’t be more spot on. Most CVs that are sent to employers end up in the bin. Harsh I know, but it’s true. If you can make your CV interesting, whilst […]

Over the past decade the notion of employee engagement has positioned itself at the forefront of management thought. Generally viewed as an internal state of being, employee engagement encompasses the physical, mental and emotional states of individuals, building on the earlier concepts of work effort, organisational commitment, job satisfaction and productivity. Several definitions of engagement […]

At HRonline we believe people have to have an emotional connection with our product and our brand in order to buy it and continue to use it, core to this brand is creating the kind of culture that people aspire to work for, that makes our employees super engaged evangelists who take the brand with […]

In the UK, there doesn’t seem to be a call for the national minimum annual leave to be increased or cut. That figures when you look at the annual leave required by employers around the world – with our 28 days off per year, we’re about average. Workers and employers seem to have found a […]

The old saying goes “those that play together, stay together” but perhaps it goes a bit deeper than that; it’s not just about playing together, but forming friendships with the people you work with. We are firm believers of the benefits of play in the workplace, not a day goes by without a NERF gun […]

HR-watchers will no doubt have taken note of some landmark Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) rulings over the past several months regarding annual leave payments. The crux of the issue surrounded the amount of pay employees usually got rather than their basic pay. That is, those who habitually work overtime or who earn commission would suffer […]

There’s an ever increasing amount of evidence from the behavioural sciences sector that reward strategies are the most important element of getting the best out of a team, however many businesses lack understanding about getting the recipe right for rewarding their team.

One of the biggest advantages of absence management software for many employees is they don’t have to face someone when submitting a holiday request! New research suggests that 73% of employees in the UK feel stressed out before they take a holiday.

The HRonline team will once again be dressing up, this time in an American theme, on Friday 3rd July ahead of American Independence Day on Saturday 4th July and we’ll be raising money for the hugely deserving Sparks.

In the movies and on TV, the maverick cop is always the hero who doesn’t do things by the book but always solves the crime. Needless to say, in the office environment, the maverick employee is the last thing you need. Or is it? While companies spend years developing a set of procedures, a persona, […]

The most recent survey by the CIPD suggests the UK is facing a “demographic time bomb” as 30% of the workforce retires by 2035 which is likely to leave the country experiencing severe skills shortages throughout the next 20 years if businesses continue to approach workforce planning in the manner they currently do.

According to Edenred’s 2015 Wellbeing Barometer, only 21% of companies believe they’ve got the right wellbeing policies in place.

When the BBC announced that Chris Evans would take the wheel of its flagship motor show it was perhaps inevitable there would have to be auditions for a new team. Evans confirmed that the BBC would be auditioning anyone passionate about cars and passionate about Top Gear. With the drive to create a new Top […]

Research carried out by the CIPD suggests that over the last 12 months, 78% of businesses in the UK have found it difficult to recruit staff with the skills they require.

A recent survey by business psychology consultancy JCA suggests there has been a huge slump in Emotional Intelligence (EI) in the HR industry over the last three years, illustrating that whilst HR professionals are committed to the EI of team members, they often overlook their own emotional intelligence.

When your employees wake up in the morning, what is it that you think fuels them to drive through their day?

The Guardian newspaper has carried out an extensive review of research carried out in a number of occupational surveys to ascertain which professions report high levels of satisfaction and happiness. But what does this tell us and how can these results be applied to other professions?

It’s surely no coincidence that TV meteorologists around the world tend to be stunningly good looking, as though superhuman beauty and perfect teeth are essential for telling us if we need to apply sun cream or if we had better take an umbrella out with us. The “weather girl” role is undeniably one in which […]

hronline is evolving and we want your help! We’ve put together a short survey which we’d like you to take a few minutes to complete. We’re confident your insights will have a huge impact; inspiring the decisions we make about the future of the brand. We’ll treat your answers in the strictest confidence and as […]

Companies can often adopt a laissez-faire attitude to employee engagement. They’ll say that natural selection will weed out any employee who doesn’t feel inspired by their day job, and that the switched-on ones will stick around and be productive. But it’s not as simple as that. Without a brutal regime of dismissing employees who don’t […]

Is your business still muddling along with a prehistoric HR system? Do staff book holidays by getting first dibs on their chosen bit of the calendar stuck to the wall? Do you risk pulling a muscle every time you reference someone’s personal files? Amazingly even in these modern, digitally connected, permanently-on times, there are still […]

Copy and Paste the Code Below to Embed the Infographic on Your Site Tackling Absenteeism in the Workplace – An infographic by hronline According to the Office for National Statistics, there are currently about 31 million people in employment in the UK. Of those, roughly 8.5 million work part-time (74% of whom are women) and […]

Does your company conduct return to work interviews when a member of staff has been off sick? A surprising number don’t, even though they’ll have been paying the member of staff while they were away from the workplace. There are a number of excuses you might put forward for not doing Return to Work interviews. […]

Many of us will have been onboarded without even knowing it. Some of us will have missed the onboarding opportunity altogether – and once you’ve missed it, you’ve missed it for good. But what is this thing called onboarding? When a new person joins an organisation, they are being brought “on board”. So onboarding is […]

Starting a new job can be a stressful experience at the best of times. It might include giving up a good job to start anew with only the promises made in the recruitment process for comfort. People with mortgages and kids to support might have a pressing need for success, but in reality every new […]

The history of personnel management isn’t quite as straightforward as you may think. You could be forgiven for assuming that human resources is so ubiquitous and essential that there couldn’t possibly have been a time when industry managed without it. You’d be wrong. The world managed to get through an agricultural and an industrial revolution […]

Employee absence is an unavoidable part of running a business. But without effective management it can escalate from being an inconvenience to being a problem. Fortunately, there are steps that can be taken to reduce the burden of sickness absence that doesn’t infringe on employees’ “right to be ill”. We’ve put together ten priceless tips […]

You might think human resources is so ubiquitous and essential that there couldn’t possibly have been a time when industry managed without it. You’d be wrong. The world managed to get through an agricultural and an industrial revolution without HR becoming, in today’s parlance, “a thing”. Looking at the successes and giant leaps that were […]

2003: LinkedIn – 2003: Myspace – 2004: YouTube – 2005: Facebook – 2005: Twitter – 2010: Instagram – 2011: Google+ … It seems that every few years a new social network pops up. A few of them reach levels of ubiquity that make them as important as email, the press, TV and phones when it […]

Human resources experts can often be found discussing the big questions of our era, such as: is presenteeism worse than unjustified absenteeism? We’ll take a look at potential motivations and cures for this very modern affliction. Presenteeism is where employees come in to work when they should really be off sick. It is the polar […]

There has always been an element of remote working in workforces of all sectors. Sometimes it’s been through necessity, other times it has been through choice. But the digital revolution that started in the mid–late-1990s heralded a new age of remote working. The biggest change was that jobs requiring the worker to be at the […]

Absence is an issue that all human resources departments have to pay attention to. It can play a part in deciding how productive and motivated individual employees are, which in turn can influence promotion or disciplinary proceedings. However it can also be a guide to the state of staff morale and can be an early […]

As employers we go out of our way to make the workplace as safe as possible. As well as fulfilling our legal responsibilities we’re also keeping our staff as safe as possible from predictable risks. Unfortunately, the concept seems to be harder to put into action when it comes to stress. But should it be? […]

By Peninsula Group Director, Alan Price With Summer looming we realised that hronline will come in especially handy as we enter a period when employees will seek time off to spend with family and friends. As an employer you need to know in advance your staffing levels and requirements. As a busy employer you no […]

One of the great features of hronline is that my employees can easily utilise it, I wanted something that my workers could easily use and they seem happy with hronline. They can request holidays by simply logging into hronline themselves and submitting a request. It is very easy to use, the interface is relatively simple […]

By Peninsula Group Director, Alan Price From regularly using hronline you really feel the benefit of all the functions that it has to offer you as a business owner, however one thing you probably don’t notice straight away is just how useful a tool hronline is for an employee too. The fact that each employee […]