Graduate Development Programmes: Making it Work
In the last of this three-part series, Mike Morrison reveals how to make graduate management development programmes work for your organisation. Running a development programme for graduate recruits requires a number of decisions – so what works best?In-house, external or accredited? This is the perennial question asked by learning and development managers all over the […]
Flying Start for Train to Gain
The government’s new flagship employer training programme has reached 50,000 employees, Skills Minister Phil Hope has announced.Speaking at the National Business Awards this week, Hope said that Train to Gain, Launched earlier this year, had a “very successful start” with 10,000 employers using the scheme.But the scheme still has a long way to go to […]
Free Diversity E-learning Tool
In just over seven years, only a fifth of the workforce will be white, able-bodied, male and under 45, according to Acas, which today launches its first equality and diversity online learning tool.The e-learning focuses on sexual orientation and gender reassignment and aims to assess an organisation’s position and how any issues can be further […]
Government Launches First Trio of Skills Academies
The first three National Skills Academies have launched today, aimed at driving up the standard of industry training, improving productivity and tackling skills shortages across England.The new academies are in Financial Services, Construction, and Manufacturing. A fourth, representing the Food and Drink sector is also close to being approved.Employers will fund half the academies’ capital […]
HSBC Invests in Learning Pods
HSBC is rolling out specially designed ‘learning pods’ in 1200 branches across the UK in a bid to offer just-in-time learning to its staff.The new workstations are dedicated to staff training and development and aim to offer fast, easy access to a comprehensive range of learning tools covering professional and personal development. HSBC’s head of […]
Opinion: Something Old, Something New – Successful Team Building
With the ever-changing face of the ‘team’ today – project teams, matrix working, remote teams, cross functional working groups and virtual teams – the need for effective team building is without question. So, what’s new in team building? Well…everything and nothing. Steve Marriott of Kaizen Training reports on the latest team building innovations, reflecting on […]
Graduate Management Development Programmes: You’ve Recruited Them – Now What?
Recruiting graduates can prove expensive, especially if you don’t work hard to keep them. In the second of a three part series on graduate development, consultant Mike Morrison explains how a management development programme can produce real business benefits. Recruiting graduates can be an expensive process. This cost is doubled if you have the wrong […]
Briefing: Improving Training Sessions and Presentations With Technology
Training departments and professionals are constantly under pressure to deliver engaging, relevant and inspirational programmes in order to maximise knowledge transfer and retention of information; Steve Dracup, Managing Director of Promethean (AV Distribution) reports. To be effective, presentations must retain audience attention, which means the content must be motivating and powerful. Often working to strict […]
The Way I See It … Crafting the Perfect Induction
This week Brightwave’s James Cory-Wright, Head of Learning Design shares his ideas on how to get off to the right start with a new employee. A successful employee-employer relationship often depends upon how a new employee settles into their job to start with. “Most labour turnover is among new employees, and work efficiency is reached […]
New Skills and Employment Board for London
London mayor Ken Livingstone is to head a new skills and employment board for the capital, the Department for Education and Skills has announced.The move is part of a wide ranging overhaul of the mayor’s powers and gives him a statutory duty to promote adult skills in London.The new board, including top London business leaders […]
What Happened Next? The Training Mutiny. By Sarah Fletcher
How do you manage new employees who criticise your training methods, complain to senior staff and take the induction into their own hands? What training strategies will win back control and keep it? By Sarah Fletcher. How do you train after the staff have criticised your methods? We are a manufacturing and distribution company with […]
Skills Shortages are Biggest Barrier to Business in Capital
A shortage of skilled staff has overtaken transport issues as the biggest barrier to business in London, new research shows.Sixty-one per cent of employers are suffering from a lack of key skills, an increase of 11% since 2005. Companies in the property, professional services and transport sectors are worst affected, the report from CBI and […]
Time Management: For Trainers
Training consultant Rich Lucas outlines four ways to effectively organise your tasks to produce efficient, effective results. Time management is a funny thing – its basis in “to do” lists and the worldand its friend claiming to have the greatest time management tool availableand claim to make you work smarter, not harder.The only problem is […]
‘Returners’ Will Ease Skills Crisis
Mothers, carers and retired people should be encouraged back into work to ease the UK’s skills crisis, a new report states.Britain will need 2.1 million new entrants to its workforce between 2010 and 2020. The research from City and Guilds claims that training is essential to increase the quantity of people returning to employment to […]
Samaritans Launch Training Scheme to Cut Workplace Stress
The Samaritans have launched a training programme to tackle workplace stress.WorkLife will add to the existing communications skills courses offered by the Samaritans, providing “active listening skills” for managers and teams.The programme explores challenging work situations anonymously through a series of fictional characters.The charity this week launched a series of road shows in Edinburgh to […]
TUC Works With DfES To Boost Workplace Learning
A workplace learning programme which should help 250,000 employees per year has been launched.Unionlearn aims to boost workforce skills across England and will focus on literacy and numeracy training.The project is a partnership between the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and the Department for Education and Skills (DfES). It will aim to improve employer support for […]
What Happened Next? Conflict Management. By Sarah Fletcher
With great power comes great responsibility (apparently), so what happens when your promotion causes a communication breakdown with your co-workers? Can you train staff to respect your new position, or is peacekeeping a priority? Find out What Happened Next when a TrainingZONE member sought tips from the Any Answers forum. By Sarah Fletcher Promotion provokes […]
US Surges Ahead of Europe on Training Spending
Training levels in Europe are falling as the US continues to surge ahead on skills investment, the world’s largest human capital report reveals.The study of over 15,000 US and European organisations found that relative levels of spending on training are higher in the United States, as European expenditure has fallen year by year.In Europe, the […]
What happened next? Dealing with Drugs. By Sarah Fletcher
How do you handle an employee whose drug-fuelled weekends are spilling over into working hours? Find out What Happened Next when member Claire Fitzgerald asked Any Answers how to make her workplace a pill free zone. By Sarah Fletcher How do we stop the downward spiral? “A valued member of our team has a really […]
Linking Training to Business Needs: The Secrets of HMRC Revealed. By Sarah Fletcher
Linda Martin, Head of Learning at HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) spoke to Sarah Fletcher about HMRC’s learning and development challenges, how they measure the success of their training investment and crucially just how they tie in their training to business needs. HR Zone Q1: How has the learning and development (L&D) strategy at HM […]
