JOHN BERCOW, the new boy in parliament’s hottest seat got it right on his first day in the Speaker’s job by imposing his own human resources agenda. In any other well-run business the in-built HR function would have done it for him by ensuring that every new recruit’s first day in office is as good an experience as it can be.
Because forward planning by the Human Resource function – be it the internal set-up or one brought in on a consultancy basis - is all important in creating the best first impression that signals to the new recruit that they’ve made the right decision in joining. It also underlines the on-going message to existing staff that they are working for the right employer.
Bercow did it by himself and in his own way. He turned up to work in a business suit with a simple gown over it, having decided that the wig, cloak and stockings of his predecessors are better suited to the costume department of the Victoria & Albert museum. Most new employees aren’t in any position to dictate the agenda and rightly aren’t expected to do so but good HR practice suggests an agenda needs to be put in place from day one, so that everyone knows where they stand. Or sit, as the case may be.
That agenda can be a simple affair – as basic as making sure that someone is there to greet the new starter and that their desk or workspace is clean and tidy, with IT and telephone set up and ready to go. A planned and structured induction needs to be ready (but information overload should be avoided) and ideally the programme should extend beyond the first day.
With more than 25 per cent of new recruits quitting before the end of their first year because they felt that ‘they didn’t belong’, co-ordination of all the practical elements – like involvement with line managers and colleagues - is all down to the HR function in delivering that optimum first day.
As the most powerful commoner in the country, John Bercow is in the unique position of being able to work to bring his own human resources agenda to bear on an established, not to say archaic order. But as he well knows, good HR, like good PR, is at its most effective when it works from the very centre outwards. More power to you elbow, Mr. Speaker!
OPTIMISM, according to a recent report, is an essential ingredient in the human resource mix for an SME weathering the current down-turn in business. Be they managers or owners, a positive approach to team shaping can have
significant impact on its success if they remember these three golden rules.
Take a strong, purposeful approach, retain a positive outlook and develop innovative solutions to problems both old and new.
The thinking behind it suggests that those capable of creating a more effective working environment and efficient human resource management practices stand to benefit as the up-turn kicks in. SME’s may not have the skills in-house to make adequate plans, which is where an HR Consultant or outsourced Human Resources Manager can help.
Optimism alone, whilst important, shouldn’t blind a business to the benefits of improving staff skills as well as making certain that the right team exists in the first place. Those businesses that focus on making a workforce feel valued out-perform competitors and whilst it may seem too distant to be of concern when things have become this tough, the shortage of skilled staff often lamented by employers across the economy, will become a more pressing reality.
Why so? Well, the ‘baby boomer’ generation is on the cusp of retiring - often early - and fewer young people are coming into the workplace as a result of falling birth rates.
Those employers far sighted enough to have effective HR planning, resourcing and retention strategies in place, are unlikely to be caught out by the talent shortage and in the short-term their businesses will be happier and more productive places to work.
LOVE IT OR LOATHE IT, BBC TV’s The Apprentice has made stars of many and now it’s made a ‘tsar’ of Sir Alan Sugar following Gordon Brown’s decision to appoint him as ‘enterprise tsar’: To qualify him to join the government, Sir Alan will be nominated for a seat in the House of Lords - not bad for a lad who left school at 16 and started his business career selling car aerials. Sir Alan’s brief will be to champion business and enterprise for the government but quite how he will set about it remains to be seen.
Sir Alan has remained resolutely self-employed up to this point in his business life and one wonders if his commercial talents would ever have been spotted or encouraged by an employer? As an HR consultancy we are asked constantly to help employers make the right choices when selecting and maintaining their teams, but maybe self-employment gave Sir Alan his only realistic chance of achieving his ambitions?
Certainly television has raised his profile to the point where even Gordon Brown must be hoping some of his charisma and ’showbiz sparkle’ rubs off on a government with a revolving door policy when it comes to hiring and keeping cabinet ministers.