Wait! According to the Temkin Group, there are five……

Technology is consistently advancing and new media is now capable of dictating customer service,…

“Discretionary effort is like loose change in a person’s pocket. It is management’s job to get them to…

In the US, they have National Employee Appreciation Day; it falls on the first Friday in March and has been doing so since 1995. During the approaching weeks, business owners and managers all over America are stricken with panic as they have forgotten to make arrangements. Simultaneously, the internet churns…

Nowadays, it’s all about ‘doing more with less’, every organisation wants to maximise productivity and performance and the most intelligent way is through effective employee engagement and motivation.

But how? When it comes to engagement, we need to pay people more – pay them more attention! It’s just not about the money. Employee engagement is an investment made in order to future proof an organisation’s productivity and…

It is well documented that financial incentives can be strong contributor to job satisfaction. With this is mind, businesses can expect a spike in workplace satisfaction with holiday bonuses looming, but is it reasonable for employers to also expect rejuvenated performance in the New Year?

 While satisfaction does play a part in motivation, the two should not be confused. One is a state of emotion…

Just like we need a brand to attract the right customers, every business should also have a separate employment brand or employee value proposition to attract great talent. Whilst, it may have similar characteristics to the overall marketing message of the business, it should also be very targeted. Any business, big or small is missing out if they don’t have their own employment identity.

We all know that a brand is not just a company logo; it is what stands behind it in terms of…

A healthy culture is the starting point for any successful organisation just as good soil is essential for a successful garden. If you have ever worked in an organisation with an unhealthy culture you will understand the impact culture can have on performance. As a leader, digging into your culture can be a very revealing exercise that you should do on a regular basis if you want to keep your organisation healthy.

So what makes up culture, how do cultures vary and what can you do to…

Cultivating a culture of engagement can be achieved in a variety of ways and recently I can across an innovative method involving pot plants being used to great success by a local organisation. Here is their story. 

Sandra Taylor, the Development and Communication Officer from Teachers Union Health has started an…

Posted by Christina Lattimer of People Discovery on 05 Oct 2012

Its not the change - its how you do it!

I recently held a workshop which had a section around organisational change and particularly redundancy.  It’s obviously a big subject at the minute, and one which is exercising many managers and HR professionals.

What struck me about the difference within this workshop to those I had held before was that there was less discussion about the case for redundancy.  …

Every good gardener knows they need to have an effective toolkit to help them do all the tasks that are required to keep a garden in order. They know they can’t get by with just one tool or tools that are old, rusty or broken. Having the right tools just makes the job so much easier. Imagine trying to dig over a large garden bed using a tiny hand tool designed for pot plants. It would take forever, hurt your hands and probably not aerate the soil very well anyway. That’s why gardeners take…

“Don’t be afraid to show your imperfections. It’s why we like real flowers that wilt rather than plastic flowers that never change.”

 This is a quote I read recently in a book by Jason Fried and David Heinemeir Hansson called “Rework: change the way you work forever”. I would highly recommend it for anyone who wants to get out of the rut of how they do business and is looking for some new ways of thinking.

 I am always disappointed when I visit an office or sit in a…

Employee performance appraisals are one of those much maligned HR processes that many feel we’d be better off doing away with altogether. But at a time when employee engagement, productivity and alignment are so important to our organisations, they can be an important tool for effectively managing your workforce — if they’re done right.

Here are some pointers for how to use performance appraisals to help your employees perform to their potential.

Solicit your employees’…

When most people think of a garden, they picture a flat piece of ground with plants growing on it. Sure, this is the traditional way of thinking but there are many other options available . . . growing plants on lattice or against a wall (called “espalier”) are two established methods. However, there is a new method that is growing in popularity . . . the vertical garden. It’s ideal for people with small spaces or those who want to maximise every growing surface. Plants are hung almost like…

There are only two reasons to come to work.

Fun and money.

And you have to have both. One of them will not be enough. Not if you want to love what you do, that is. Having a job where you get just one or the other, often seduces you into thinking you have found your dream job. But in most cases that dream fades like a mirage as you realise a key ingredient of ‘job love’ is missing.

And these days, where our jobs are typically is so demanding, you simply…

In the book “Good Boss, Bad Boss” by Robert Sutton there is a great quote from William Coyne, one of the leaders at 3M. He believes that:

“The best management is sometimes less management or no management at all. After you plant a seed, you don’t dig it up every week to see how it is doing.”

Makes sense when you think about it but how many managers have you encountered that just can’t leave people alone to get on with the job? They are always…

The cost of attracting top talent is scary enough. Recruitment fees alone can start at 12% of  your new employee’s salary and head north depending on how much you pay them. The real cost however, of losing your staff in the early days of hire, is much higher than you think.

If you flunked out in maths class, don’t despair.  Here’s a quick lesson by Shiraz Contractor-Papas (our Product Manager - Asia Pacific) on how to calculate the true costs of employee…

If you didn't read the HR Daily article called Motivation alone won't boost performance on the 24th Jan, you really…

I recently had an ex-colleague who followed up with me as he was wanting to know the ‘rules’ or protocol around poaching employees from competitors. He was feeling a little squeamish about it and he felt it was ‘under-handed’ tactics as he put it.

So I said to him, ‘From a young age we have been taught it’s OK to poach’.

What do you mean? He said aghast!…