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The HR Director's Talent Challenge in Higher Education

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 16:55:51 GMT

Are HR Directors within Higher Education institutions considering the importance of motivating and engaging staff? Request our independent research report: 'The HR Director's Talent Challenge'

Worried about the auto enrolment workload?

Mon, 13 May 2013 08:34:09 GMT

Research by Hays has revealed that two thirds of employers are concerned about increased workloads for HR and payroll departments following the introduction of pensions auto enrolment.

The Rise and Importance of Retaining Generation Y Talent

Tue, 07 May 2013 11:21:43 GMT

Echo Boomers, Digital Natives, Millennials or the Peter Pan Generation. Whatever you call them, Generation Y – those born between 1980 and 2000 – will form 70 percent of the workforce by 2025. So, when it comes to your talent management strategy, can you afford to forget them?

The importance of employee engagement and motivation

Wed, 01 May 2013 16:29:23 GMT

When looking to glean the best from their workforce, most savvy HR Directors invest in Talent Management.

Successful recruitment is crucial to any organisation to ensure you have the right mix of candidates and skill sets in your workforce. However, once you have spent time and resource selecting the right employees for your company, the next step is to ensure you yield the most out of them, and keep them.

The importance of recruitment shortlisting: when should it be done?

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 09:15:43 GMT

Recently a new Costa Coffee opened in a Nottinghamshire town attracting interest both locally and nationally. The interest wasn’t for the quality of their coffee or muffins but the fact that 1,700 people applied for just 8 vacancies - an indication of how tough the job market remains.

Performance Management: taking the strategic approach

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 15:43:44 GMT

I was recently asked to sum up what I believed to be performance management, as there are different perceptions of what it actually is and what it encompasses. Fully realised, performance management is a holistic process bringing together many activities, in particular, objective (goal) management and learning and development.

Richard Runs the London Marathon and Raises £3100

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:20:12 GMT

MidlandHR Business Development Manager, Richard Forbes-Ritte, took part in the Virgin London Marathon on 21st April, raising £3100* for The Royal British Legion.

ERP - is it really the answer…?

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 15:58:08 GMT

Before they invest several millions of pounds in business process improvement projects, many organisations will think long and hard about the pros and cons of moving to an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution rather than a collection of ‘Best of Breed’ options, including HR and payroll. Presumably in order to help this decision process, multiple papers have been written by leading consultancies and global advisors on this topic…some of which have even lacked bias!

Britain’s Got No Talent?

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 14:09:51 GMT

According to the 2012 Talent Shortage Survey by ManpowerGroup¹, talent shortages in the workplace are here to stay.

Run Richard Run

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 14:37:17 GMT

26 miles and 385 yards. Yes, Richard’s running the London Marathon!

MidlandHR Business Development Manager, Richard Forbes-Ritte, is taking part in the Virgin London Marathon on 21stApril, in a bid to raise £2500 for The Royal British Legion.

The importance of communities for customer service

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 14:48:56 GMT

Like almost all of our primate cousins, human beings are social animals...not necessarily in the dancing until 4am then heading for chips sense [although this works for some], but certainly in the need to achieve a sense of togetherness in both a leisure and business capacity.

Payroll World Conference March 2013 – key RTI messages

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 09:26:53 GMT

A number of key RTI messages were promoted at last week’s Payroll World Spring Update Conference...John Black summarises.

National Apprenticeship Week – Recognising the Importance of Investing in Talent

Fri, 15 Mar 2013 16:25:14 GMT

This week is National Apprenticeship Week (11-15 March), a week-long celebration of apprenticeships and the positive impact they have on individuals, businesses and the economy...

Ticking the boxes for HR & payroll in Retail

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 10:00:38 GMT

Retail demands highly flexible, process driven solutions, which allow for seamless integration whenever possible. Sharon Eadie asks development teams to take note; the retail sector is moving quicker than any other segment in adopting highly configurable solutions.

Don’t host all your eggs in one basket

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 09:16:01 GMT

With the headline news of systems integrator 2e2 plunging in to administration, their competitors are seeing the obvious opportunity to market their solution as a reliable replacement; whilst others are concerned it is negative publicity towards cloud services and the hosting movement.

Social HR: Do you own your social profile?

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 16:32:46 GMT

Only yesterday, members of the HMV staff utilised the corporate twitter feed..."There are over 60 of us being fired at once! Mass execution, of loyal employees who love the brand."

RTI, TYE and Pensions Reform Learning - Why hands on?

Thu, 20 Dec 2012 15:24:03 GMT

What is hands on learning? Why is it considered an effective learning method? MidlandHR's Learning and Development Manager, Debbie Rennison, presents her answers.

HR should come before ERP strategy: Part 4

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 15:12:45 GMT

ERP can significantly improve efficiency but its limits must be recognised. Gartner suggests identifying which business processes are strategic and asking whether the ERP solution allows flexibility to innovate and differentiate in these areas (cf. Gartner’s Pace-Layered Application Strategy). If ERP conflicts with innovation/differentiation, this boundary should be clearly set, allowing for specialist systems to take over.

HR should come before ERP strategy: Part 3

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 10:03:02 GMT

Some CIOs have come to view their ERP strategy as a choice between Oracle and SAP. This is an approach that limits choice and ignores advances in technology that have allowed specialist providers to offer integrated solutions.

HR should come before ERP strategy: Part 2

Thu, 22 Nov 2012 09:37:17 GMT

Gartner defined the four components of ERP in 1990 as financials, human resources, order management and manufacturing. Whilst Gartner’s view of ERP has expanded since then, some CIOs have come to understand ERP as being synonymous with single-instance ERP solutions from a single vendor. This is an out-dated and inaccurate approach that should be challenged.

HR should come before ERP strategy: Part 1

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 14:07:00 GMT

HR departments often get a raw deal from Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. Driven through by finance directors or Chief Information Officers, they aim to deliver efficiency savings for some areas of the business, but often fail to take account of the needs of today’s HR and payroll professionals.

Behind the scenes: our award-winning Outsourcing team

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 10:22:15 GMT

Having picked up the CIPP Service Provider of the Year Award for the quality of our outsourcing services, we thought you might like to know more about how things work within MidlandHR’s Managed Services and how we deliver outsourced services to our customers. So here we go…

CIPP Service Provider of the Year 2012: what does it mean to us?

Wed, 31 Oct 2012 12:25:47 GMT

Managed Services Director, Paul Willis, responsible for the award winning HR Outsourcing (HRO) department at MidlandHR shares his thoughts on the latest outsourcing achievement.

ERP or best of breed for London Boroughs?

Mon, 08 Oct 2012 15:32:47 GMT

Following my last blog, which highlighted the discrepancies between the promised benefits of ERP systems and the reality of the benefits delivered in the U.S., this month I take a look at the use of ERP systems by UK public sector organisations.

Simon Says: ‘Knowledge is Power’ for Construction

Mon, 24 Sep 2012 08:27:21 GMT

The construction industry is a resilient, knowledge-based industry that is focussed on improvements which bring about higher profitability, increased productivity and lower cost. The need for effective knowledge management has never been more important. It is HR’s role to understand how this knowledge can be captured to deliver tangible benefits to their organisation.