Where’s Jeff? Take part in our free prize draw and win £100 of Marks and Spencer vouchers!

Meet Jeff - Our Conflict SuperHRo mascot!

Holy cow! Panic has gripped the People Resolutions team!

Following the release of Part 1 of The Conflict SuperHRo’s Manual, our conflict-busting superhero mascot, Jeff (his civilian name – all the good SuperHRoes have one) has gone AWOL from the People Resolutions lair!

Is he alive, is he injured, has he lost his lunch money? After days searching far and wide, the only intel we have is that he is somewhere on our new website - allegedly just one click from the homepage!

But with the rest of our conflict busting squad busy helping HR professionals in conflict busting distress everywhere, we need your help to track him down.

We’re even offering a reward: Find and click on our missing Jeff (pictured right) on our website and you’ll be eligible to enter our free prize draw to win £100 of Marks and Spencer vouchers!

Now up, up and away to www.peopleresolutions.com to search for Jeff!

Absenteesim increases due to extended drink hours

Well, it seems to be that that one last drink at the pub on a Thursday evening does really matter after all.  Personnel Today reports that:

Economists Colin Green and Maria Navarro, using the Government's UK Labour Force Survey, compared work absence rates from before and after the 2005 Licensing Act changes and found that absence rates rose by 1% after more pubs and bars could legally stay open past 11pm. For a workforce of 25 million people, a 1% rise in sick leave equals an estimated 5,349,617 hours or 667,702 sick days in total across all workers in England and Wales.

 The researchers also noted that an increase of 1.5% in health problems among the working-age population equates to an extra 501,000 people reporting ill health following the policy change, with the number of women reporting health problems higher due to a marked increase in female drinking.

‘‘Not all psychopaths are in prison. Some are in the Boardroom.’’

Ever wondered how that big bad boss managed to get to senior management without breaking a sweat?  Well it turns out that he may have an advantage - psychopathy.  Yep, you did read that right.  A recent study in the US had been examining the prevalence of psychopathic traits amongst managers, particularly those deemed as having the potential to continue up the career level.

The results showed that 8 of the 203 subjects, or 3.9%, had scores on a test of psychopathic traits that put them at the threshold for psychopathy. That compares with just 0.2% of the general population. An additional three study subjects had scores that were significantly higher, meaning their psychopathy was likely to be significantly worse.

So why, might you ask, have these personality traits enabled progression to this career level?  The researchers explain: "Lack of realistic life goals, while a clearly negative trait which often leads the psychopath toward a downward spiralling personal life, when couched in the appropriate business language, can be misinterpreted as strategic thinking or ‘‘visioning,’’ a rare and highly valued executive talent. Even those traits that reflect a severe lack of human feelings or emotional poverty (lack of remorse, guilt, empathy) can be put into service by corporate psychopaths, where being ‘‘tough’’ or ‘‘strong’’ (making hard, unpopular decisions) or ‘‘cool under fire’’ (not displaying emotions in the face of unpleasant circumstances) can work in their favour.

In sum, the very skills that make the psychopath so unpleasant (and sometimes abusive) in society can facilitate a career in business even in the face of negative performance ratings."

Metropolitan Police accused of racism by white police officers

The officers, from the Territorial Support Group, are taking the Metropolitan Police to an employment tribunal - but accuse the force of delaying tactics.  One of the officers said he now had nothing but contempt for the force.  Scotland Yard says it rejects the claims and will contest them in court.

This has occurred after the 6 were tried and acquitted in a trial relating to alleged race-related assaults.  The officers accused Scotland Yard of charging them due to fear it would be accused of institutional racism if it did not act on the complaint made by a black officer.

One of the officers stated that "If it had been a white officer making that allegation, then the matter would have been dealt with in-house there and then. That would have been the end of it."

How many hours are you working today?

The standard working hours for office workers in the UK tend to be either 37.5-40 hours - effectively the 9-5 working week (with variations of course).  However a recent study by Aviva has shown that we might be working a considerable number of extra hours - and the majority of us don't get paid for it!

Aviva's "Health of the Workplace Report" 2011, has shown some worrying research regarding the health of the UK workforce, including the staggering fact that on average employees work 1.5 hours extra a day. Two in five
(42%) work up to three hours extra a day.  19% say their employer expects them to work harder for longer.

Whilst most people don't think anything of working extra hours and skipping lunch breaks the results of this trend can be substantial.  The Aviva research also shows that heavy workloads are causing employees to eat unhealthy snacks or skip meals altogether. Nearly 15% of employees believe their health is affected because they are eating unhealthily at work, with almost a third of employees say that they are unlikely to take a lunch break.

On the upside, they also looked at the top reasons why employees were happy in their workplace.  Friendly, supportive colleagues topped the bill at 53% with a good work-life balance coming a close second with 47%.

So are you taking your lunch break today?

Mental ill-health

A recent survey by Unite and Mind has shown that mental ill-health of the UK workforce means that 70 million working days are lost to absences due to mental health problems.  The estimated cost of this to British business is £8.4 billion a year.

However a similar study by The Centre for Mental Health has show that when the costs of sickness absence, non-employment, effects on unpaid work and output losses are combined that figure rises to nearer £26 billion. Divide that up and that's the equivalent of £1,035 for every employee in the UK workforce.

Other research in this area has also found that line managers significantly underestimate that effect that mental ill-health could have on their team and how many people can be affected by it.  This is the most worrying thing of all - that most of the time mental ill-health goes unnoticed, until it has reached the point at which their condition can no longer be managed in the workplace and long-term absence is the only solution.

Should managers be more responsible for keeping an eye on their staff's welfare?  Do they know how to spot a problem?  And do they know what to do about that problem, if and when they do spot it?

Tell us what you think.

What will the next generation of workers demand from their

Recent research by Siemens Enterprise Communications, has shown that one in four teenagers will expect to be provided with a smartphone for their job, whilst more than one in six will want Facebook access during work time.  In addition, of those surveyed, 40% wanted a laptop when they start work, and a further 13% also anticipated a tablet such as the iPad.

The reasons for this seem to be rooted in the mirroring of the available technology from teenagers home lives, into the workplace.  This kind of technology, and access to social networks, is seen as normal in their home live, so they see the use of them in the workplace as a natural progression.

However whilst the cost of providing staff with this kind of technology may be expensive, it also appears to come with a few upsides for employers.  Most teenagers surveyed believe it will help them to increase their productivity, and nearly 70% of respondents to the survey said that smartphones and tablets will make it easier to do their jobs.  Over half said it would make them more efficient in the workplace.

Let us know what you think.  Is advanced and readily available technology in the workplace a help or a hindrance?

Stress tops poll of long-term sickness absence

The joint Absence Management survey, released today by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and corporate healthcare provider Simply Health has discovered that stress is now the top cause of long-term sickness leave for both manual and non-manual employees.


This is blamed on increasing job insecurity and mounting workload.  The report has also highlighted a significant link between job security and mental health problems as those employers planning to make redundancies in the next six months significantly more likely to report an increase in mental health problems among their staff (51%, compared with 32% among those that are not planning redundancies).


In addition a high level of organisational change was reported to be a major factor in the cause of stress. This is particularly prevalent in the public sector, where 50% of respondents reported an increase in stress-related absence.

Say it with a card!

With the economic climate as it has been the last few years, I'm sure that most people have either had the experience of being made redundant themselves, or had someone close to them lose their job.  Losing a job can be a very difficult thing to deal with and the knock-on effects can be devastating - financial problems, loss of opportunities and the general uncertainty.

However Hallmark seem to have come across an opportunity of their own amongst all this.  They have just launched their own range of sympathy cards made for people who have just lost their jobs.

They range from serious and philosophical, to funny and encouraging.  Take a look at the examples below: