Hot HR Update 20-24 February

What's happening in Hot HR this week

Welcome to all new members - we now have 1,365 members and the group is really seeing some great discussions and activity.

This week's update from Hot HR, provides you with the Speed Read from employment lawyers Ward Hadaway and a sample of interesting discussions and updates from the group for you to to read, join in and comment on.

WARD HADAWAY SPEED READ 20/2/12:

*Hands off my clients

*Can indirect age discrimination be justified by cost?

*Surrogate mothers - do they have rights?

DISCUSSIONS: Lots of great discussions this week, here's a snap shot:

* Mediation - woefully under-used but the government is actively promoting it as alternative to tribunals. I have a new checklist on "Mediation in the Workplace" which members may find useful.                    

* Should employers insist on 'proper english?'

* I often see smaller companies where the HR lead is the only women on the senior management team. I'm interested in members experience of this and how it affects their effectiveness. 

* I'm creating a guide for line managers on how to handle employees who go out on maternity leave and a fact sheet for the employee. Does anyone have something similar they can share? Thanks!                                        

To read more, comment or start a discussion join here

EVENT: The very popular 'Social Media & Recruitment - The Right Way' seminar, held in association with Hot HR, is being running in Birmingham on 29th March. For more information or to register please click here 

HR JOBS - Please look in the job section for current HR roles

JOIN US- Hot HR welcomes new contributors and partnerships, if you would like to discuss this further, please contact Alex via Hot HR.

Please see the Hot HR blog for other articles and updates. Also follow Hot HR on Twitter @Hot_HR. Not already a member, click here to join Hot HR.

We look forward to seeing you in Hot HR!

Hot HR Hot Spot - Being a HR manager doesn’t make me a better parent (but being a parent makes me a better HR manager)

Great news - this week we have another addition to our Hot Spot writers - Alison Mulholland from nef.

Alison has worked in HR for the last 12 years, 7 of which were looking after recruitment at Shelter but has also worked in Education and Retail HR departments. She holds a post-graduate qualification in HR from the University of East London and is qualified in psychometric testing. Her previous roles have seen her take on a variety of HR challenges such as how to interview 40 applicants in one day, how to engage with staff that work in 80 different locations and, most nerve-wracking of all, standing in front of a group of 17 year olds giving a talk on how to succeed in HR.

Alison's role at nef sees her involved in all aspects of HR including recruitment, employee relations and training. She is very passionate about HR making a real difference to organisations and enjoys working alongside the professional and friendly staff at nef.

Being a HR manager doesn’t make me a better parent (but being a parent makes me a better HR manager)

I was listening to radio four the other day and heard a fascinating show with two child psychologists. While I didn’t agree with everything they had to say – they were a bit sniffy about someone who seemed to over praise their child and if that’s the worst thing you’re doing as a parent or even a manager then you’re probably doing okay – one of them did say something that really struck a chord with me. She was asked how much her job had influenced her parenting style and she said that it hadn’t made her a better parent but had made her aware of issues parents faced  and infinitely more  flexible in her approach. It really made me think – how has being a parent affected the way I have done things?

My 4-year-old son is, in most ways, nothing like a challenging employee. For one thing, I can’t use ‘the naughty step’ on a member of staff (however tempting) or apply a well timed nose rub. But in some ways the techniques that have surprisingly worked with him have proved even more successful when dealing with the ‘grownups’.  The single most effective phrase that I have applied at home is “what do you think will work?” Some of the ideas he’s come up with have not been what I might ideally go with, but then I can choose to try it out – turns out we could fit in a game of Lego Star Wars before nursery if we agreed a time limit. Or, I can  use it as a starting point for a discussion: - “that’s interesting, – how about I come up with an idea and between us we can see what might work best?”.  It’s made me realise/remember what a difference for everyone having ownership of a task can make. When managers now come to me instead of saying, “what you should do is XYZ”, I’m applying my new found empowerment strategy to great effect. Of course sometimes you have to lay down the law (whether that’s bedtime or working time regulations) and part of my learning curve is knowing when to be a little more ‘hard core’. But so far so good.

Other seemingly unrelated tasks have also taught me a lot about ‘doing HR’. In my traveling days I cooked pies and chickens in a supermarket for the hot food counter and learnt more about juggling tasks then any time management course could ever teach me. It also taught me about marketing. When pies where marked “surprise pies” they sold ten times as quickly as those just marked as meat – I guess everyone likes to take a chance every now and then!

So over to you – how have you learnt new tactics  in a surprising way?

Lord Sugar queries job interview laws for mothers

I came across this interesting article a few days ago via a LinkedIn connection regarding interview laws for mothers under current employment law.

This is of course a controversial article and Lord Sugar is no stranger to speaking his mind but reading on Lord Sugar's argument does have some 'interesting' points.

"I say women should be forthcoming when being interviewed, declaring their status regarding children and childcare so as to pre-empt the unanswerable questions in the mind of the interviewer and then focus on the most important thing - what skills they can bring to the company and why they should be employed."

Lord Sugar added: "I would be very impressed by a person who settled the matter at the outset, telling me how they are going to organise their life in order to do their job but, more importantly, how they are going to get on with the job in hand, what they are going to bring to the party, because such people would jump up in my estimation."

One of the problems with Lord Sugar's argument is of course this would struggle to be contained and as a 'natural progression' could easily spread to any working woman being questioned as to what their intentions are for having children, which puts women at a disadvantage, is archaic and is precisely what the law is there to protect against!

Lord Sugar may think he is progressive and has the foresight to see past the childcare issue, but this does not apply across the board.

Click here to read the full article Lord Sugar queries job interview laws for mothers

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