Monthly Archives: April 2009

Rose Gibb, former Chief Executive of Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust, has lost her High Court battle for a £175,000 severance payment. Regardless of whether or not the Trust board were right dismiss Ms Gibb (and Dr Crippen has a different view from … Continue reading →

The government published its long-awaited and heavily trailed Equality Bill yesterday. Employment lawyer Darren Newman confesses that he’s far more excited about this than an adult should be. He really does need to get out more. It was Darren who told me last … Continue reading →

I wrote last year about the potential pitfalls that might await those banks that were hoping to pick up bargains on the cheap after their competitors had crashed. Most of the value of these acquisitions comes from the skills and connections of … Continue reading →

Everyone and his dog is commenting on the budget this morning so, for the moment at least, I will restrict my thoughts to the area where I have some first hand experience; making efficiency improvements and cost savings in organisations. Alistair Darling’s … Continue reading →

The equal pay cases are still coming thick and fast. In the last couple of weeks, Sunderland and Cumbria councils have found themselves facing huge bills to cover the successful legal claims brought by female workers. A case is due to be heard against Falkirk … Continue reading →

For some time, I’ve been hearing anecdotal reports about the backlog in the employment tribunal system. Cases are, apparently, now taking several months to come to court. The statistics published last month by the Employment Tribunal Service offer some explanation. There was a 43% increase … Continue reading →

At least, that’s the conclusion of a Cabinet Office report into social mobility and access to the professions. Networking and nepotism, it argues, has made the professions more socially exclusive then they were 20 years ago. The indignant response to these findings perhaps reflects … Continue reading →

It’s a stereotype many HR people have worked hard to disprove over the years. Alas, Paula Jones went and reinforced it this evening. On the whole, she did well. Great product, good team spirit, good sales. Sirallan was clearly impressed and … Continue reading →

I nicked this little cartoon from Charlie McMenamin. When I showed it to my wife, she said, “That’s you, that is!” I’ve no idea what she means.

Anthropology is an under-rated discipline when it comes to the study of business and organisations. Typically, MBAs and other business qualifications draw heavily from economics and psychology but most of the other behavioural sciences don’t get much of a look … Continue reading →