The 2008 Where Woment Want to Work shows that the larger organisations are starting to adapt their recruitment and selection and people management strategies to attract and retain female talent.  The purpose of the guide is to provide a reliable reference for women seeking to choose the right employer.

One of the big trends this year is the range of avenues being used by employers to find female talent - from rock climbing communities to teacher organisations as both attract large numbers of intelligent and talented women.  It is refreshing to notice the increase in female friendly benefits such as progressive maternity policies, flexible working and support networks.  A lot of work has been done by the top 50 on articulating their employer brand.  By moving away from the corporate line they are able to explain "what's in it for you." 

It is great to see a list of companies fighting hard to compete for the top awards - they are the companies that will survive the downturn with the best people in place as they recognise that the war for talent continues depite the economic climate.

Recrion is a People Management Specialist that works with organisations to attract and retain top talent.  Visit www.recrion.co.uk or call 01780 484910 for more information on how we can enhance your employer brand.

Clarity of thought and action is essential in the current economic climate.  Millions of employers and employees are facing difficult decisions and circumstances.  At Recrion we have developed a range of services to help employees work through career transitions and redundancy in a positive way. 

Here are 8 tips to help you gain perspective from our Stress Management Consultant Liz Makin.

Manage your time and don't procrastinate. Stress can be caused by poor time management and procrastination. So adopt time management strategies that work for you and don't procrastinate. Also remember to prioritise and re-prioritise when things change.

Manage your mind. Your emotions and thoughts are closely linked together. The way you think influences how you feel and behave. Recognise how you think about things that result in you feeling stressed and work on changing your thinking.

Take responsibility. Blaming others results in you not developing your own coping strategies and can result in you feeling stressed and helpless. Take responsibility for your own actions and you will find that you are more positive and less stressed.

Don't worry about things that are outside your control. It is very easy to get yourself stressed by things that you cannot control. Understand what is within and outside your control, then stay focused on the things you can control.

Think positively and stay upbeat. If you see everything from a negative perspective, you will feel negative, project a negative image and feel more stressed. Thinking positively and projecting a positive self image will make you feel more positive. Look at what you have achieved and your positive qualities. Focus on what has gone well and see things that have not gone so well as learning.

 Be assertive. Stress can be caused by passive or aggressive communication and behaviour. Try to develop an assertive manner where you use clear, direct and honest communication with others and be prepared to say no.

Develop your self confidence. If you are low in self confidence and self esteem you can feel stressed by situations. Develop your self confidence by focusing on the positive and what you have achieved.

Accept change. Change can result in a high level of stress. If you accept change as a normal part of life and you expect change then you will be able to manage it better and minimise stress. Look at change as an opportunity.

Visit www.recrion.co.uk or contact us on 01780 484910 to find out how we can help you evolve your career in a positive way through career coaching and confidence building workshops.

Employers should be aware of employment law when planning redundancies, lawyers are warning.

Following the Confederation of British Industry prediction that two million Britons will be out of work by Christmas, employment law experts are warning that employers could fall foul of employment law.

Badly handled job losses can be hugely damaging to staff morale, company productivity and to their customers.  Whilst businesses need to take drastic action to survive, it is important to realise that the redundancy process needs to be properly planned and there must be full consultation in line with the statutory rules.

At 1.82 million, unemployment is at its highest level since 1997. Last week Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England warned the UK faces a severe recession.

Recrion has developed e-guides and fixed price packages to help businesses negotiate through the legal minefield.  For more information visit www.recrion.co.uk or speak to a Redundancy Advisor on 01780 484910.

Employers are preparing for a sharp rise in redundancies leading up to Christmas

Employers are having sleepless nights as the economic crisis shows no sign of abating.  A survey by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), carried out in conjunction with accountancy firm KPMG, revealed that more than a quarter of employers have plans to make new or further redundancies in the next twelve months in addition to those already planned.

Organisations which have already made or planned to make redundancies in the next three months are more likely to be considering further job cuts over the coming year.

The report also reveals that older workers are set to bear the brunt of job losses. One in five employers say they are going to more rigorously enforce the government's policy that allows UK firms to make workers over 65 redundant without having a business reason to do so.

However, employers will be doing their utmost to prevent redundancies where possible - the report shows that the average cost for making workers redundant now stands at more than £10,000.  Those costs could be much greater if the redundancy selection process is deemed to be unfair by employees.  With employment tribunals on the increase, it is essential to adopt rigorous practices before, during and after the redundancy programme. 

Recrion advises organisations on minimising the risks and costs of restructuring.  Call us on 01780 484910 or visit www.recrion.co.uk for more information.

So often the wrong people get to the top - look at the Executives running the financial services industries. Why were they appointed in the first place?  And who put them there? 

I believe the finger should be pointed quite clearly at those responsible for recruiting these people. They have with unerring regularity put the wrong people into key jobs by concentrating on candidates who worked for a particular big name company. It is stating the obvious that this is not a sure-fire way of ensuring that you recruit the right person.

I recently came across a small company that demonstrated that there is another way of finding good people. They appointed an advisor to do some team building with their management team and then assist them to recruit a number of key people. The CEO was under pressure to use a head-hunter, but decided to use his internal resources and network to tackle the job.

By having gone through an analysis of his team using psychometrics and coaching, the CEO knew what he needed from new recruits.  And by being fully involved in the sourcing and identification of potential targets, they were able to draw up a list of people the "search committee" either knew personally or by reputation.

The advisor happened to come from a headhunting background so created a shortlist of people to consider. All candidates went through a comprehensive selection procedure starting with psychometrics using the same test battery that had been used when looking at the team dynamics of the whole company.  This enabled the company to select with precision and concentrate on those that would add new skills and attributes.   This was followed by a series of in-depth interviews.

The results were astonishing.  Instead of hiring just one candidate, 2 were offered and a few months down the line a third was hired.  A huge success - and at minimal cost financially and risk wise.

So why aren't more companies getting their hands dirty and taking the time (and responsibility) for their executive recruitment?  Is it because they are uncertain about how to go about it or who to trust to steer them in the right direction?  If I was faced with paying a headhunting firm a huge fee or going for a business focused advisor with a broad based People Management and Selection background I know what I would choose!  By taking an active role in the recruitment process you are more likely to get it right first time.

For more information on SMART recruitment and selection practices, visit www.recrion.co.uk or call +44 1780 484910.

Recrion has added 2 additional pages under the services redundancy strategy page to reflect the career coaching and interview confidence coaching we offer.  Two highly qualified coaches deliver these services either at your offices, over the telephone or at a venue to suit you.

The following give links to them:

• Redundancy strategy
• Redundancy selection
• Outplacement services

Contact us for more information on 01780 484910

Most companies do a thorough job of financial due diligence when they acquire other companies. But all too often, deal makers simply ignore or underestimate the significance of people issues in mergers and acquisitions. The consequences are severe. Most obviously, there's a high degree of talent loss after a deal's announcement. To make matters worse, differences in decision-making styles lead to infighting; integration slows down; and productivity declines.

The good news is that people due diligence can help companies avoid these problems. Done early enough, it helps acquirers decide whether to embrace or kill a deal and determine the price they are willing to pay. 
Bain & Company conducted detailed interviews with managers involved in 40 recent M&A deals. In the 15 deals that generated excess returns vs. peers, 93% of the acquirers had identified key employees and targeted them for retention during due diligence or within the first 30 days after the announcement. By comparison, this task was carried out in only 36% of the unsuccessful deals.

People due diligence contributes to a deal's success by uncovering capability gaps, increasing retention, and identifying where key talent should be deployed in the new organisation. It also lays the groundwork for smooth integration. When acquirers have done their homework, they can uncover capability gaps, points of friction, and differences in decision making. Even more important, they can make the critical "people" decisions: who stays, who goes, who runs the combined business, what to do with more junior staff at the time the deal is announced or shortly thereafter. Making such decisions within the first 30 days is critical to the success of a deal.

Recrion is a People Management Specialist that has often been called in to pick up the pieces when mergers start to fail.  So why not get it right first time?  In our experience, getting the People Due Diligence part of the puzzle in place only works if it is given the highest priority and performed with full access to management.

For more information on Recrion's approach to M & A related People Due Diligence, contact Katherine Wiid on 01780 484910 or www.recrion.co.uk

Tesco has come up trumps in its approach to employee engagement and retention.  They have announced that they will send all 280,000 of its UK employees a guide to managing their money as it ramps up its efforts to help them through this economic crisis. The supermarket giant is distributing the Financial Services Authority's essential guide to personal finance throughout November.

"Just the Facts about Making the Most of your Money" will provide unbiased facts and information on how to get help in areas such as budgeting, borrowing, protection and planning.

Tesco also held a series of hour-long briefings for office-based staff, and has more planned for its distribution centres. In-store employees are being made aware of the booklet in weekly planning meetings.

Hayley Tatum, Director of Personnel for stores and distribution at Tesco UK, said: "Tesco is undertaking these initiatives because we are very keen to support our people every way we can. Good money management can make a real difference to people's lives."

What a great example of how employers can help support employees through tough times. This kind of practical support will boost their image as an employer even more.

Read more about innovative employee engagement initiatives and Recrion's Employee Engagement Barometer on http://www.recrion.co.uk  Telephone 01780 484910

Hiring the wrong staff is costing UK small and medium businesses £69m every year, new research has revealed.

Every year small and medium firms invest around £300m a year in hiring 250,000 new employees. However, making the wrong choice is costing them dearly.  Research from Jobsite.co.uk reveals that 22% of new starters leave within six months.

As a result, many companies are facing additional recruitment costs of around £1,200 a time to find a replacement.

The cost of losing staff is not only financial. Research shows that losing just one or two employees in a year can cause a major disruption with more than 70% of bosses believing employee departures have a negative effect on business performance (in some sectors this is as high as 81%).

Yet, small firms are doing little to help their cause. Despite increasing popularity of online job recruitment tools among candidates, smaller firms are largely yet to catch on with just a quarter using online job boards. By relying on word of mouth referrals and agencies, small firms are not recruiting in large enough volumes to be able to validate and benchmark their decision making processes.  They also tend  to not use best practice selection methods such as psychometric tests and competency based interviews. 

"Gut feel" recruitment is resulting in hiring the wrong people which can be seriously detrimental to the productivity - and even the future - of small and medium companies, particularly in the current economic climate.

Recrion is a People Management Specialist that advises on robust selection strategies in order to minimise risk, improve processes and reduce the costs of recruitment.  Visit www.recrion.co.uk or call +1780 484910 for more information.

Life is hard for businesses looking to recruit new staff at present. There is a worldwide skills shortage in several sectors despite the economic downturn.  The growing number of unemployed has not made the recruitment process easier.  The increased number of CVs of those, who do not clearly match the expectations of the future employer, makes the hiring process much longer and more complicated.

How can businesses reduce recruitment costs and risks and free up resources for more important activities?

The traditional method of recruiting is to use a recruitment agency.  The first thing it is important to understand is that most recruitment agencies are really just job advertisers and do not undertake employee selection for you as well. There are some agencies that do and if you require this from them this should be an important part of your selection criteria when deciding which firm to use.

Given that most recruitment firms don't provide selection services, if you are able to write an effective job advertisement or have other sources through which you can source potential job applicants yourself, such as through referrals from your current employees or through social networking, then you will save considerable amounts of money by undertaking all of your employee recruitment and selection process yourself. 

A recruitment agency can offer you great benefits if you are looking to hire staff for short periods of time. The agency will charge you an hourly or daily rate for the contractor and also act as the worker's employer and will be responsible for national insurance, salary etc. Although this is generally more expensive than if you act as the employer yourself, there is just a single invoice to be paid rather than the workload associated with an additional employee. Also the recruitment agency takes all the risk and you can ask for replacement staff at any time if the employee is not working out like you hoped.

A recruitment agency can also provide you with benefits if they are expert in a particular industry or employee market.  Whilst most recruiters are sales professionals (not employee selection specialists), some agencies hire staff with extensive experience in a field (e.g. IT) and teach them how to recruit and place.

However, if you do not have the time to undertake the recruitment and selection process yourself and are concerned about the cost to your business in lost business or business development opportunity during the recruitment process, you should definitely consider outsourcing your recruitment. If you choose to go this route however you should insist that your chosen recruitment partner undertakes the whole process for you, is impartial and not supplying its own candidates for a fee and above all uses scientific selection methodology.

At the very least your recruitment partner should manage all sources of candidates effectively (including those from recruitment agencies) and screen and interview them using competency based methodologies. Otherwise you will end up having to put in just as much time and effort yourself anyway to assess the applicants they send you. If not, the effect of your outsourced employee selection process will be just as effective as taking a lucky dip. And you will have to deal with the consequences, which could not only include you being stuck with a less than productive employee, but even a disaster.

For more information on how Recrion reduces the risk and cost of recruitment whilst significantly improving processes, visit www.recrion.co.uk or call +44 1780 484910.