Monthly Archives: August 2011

There will be a lot of HR people thinking ‘there but for the grace of God’ after reading about the Hays employee who accidentally sent the details of contractors’ day rates to 800 RBS staff. I’ve never done anything quite that bad, though … Continue reading →

Going by the frequency of posting on this blog recently, you could be forgiven for thinking so. I have the usual excuses, pressure of work etc, plus the impending evacuation of me and mine from our house due to flooding. … Continue reading →

….or the Mervyn King Blues. A musical interlude to cover the recent lack of posting on this blog. As sung by Doug Shaw.

A couple of weeks ago, the government’s police cuts were looking like a done deal. Now, after three days of the worst rioting Britain has seen in decades, people are wondering whether this is really a good time to start reducing police … Continue reading →

With everything else that has been going on, this has been a bad week for burying good news. The NHS making £4.3bn efficiency savings in the last financial year doesn’t have the same wow factor as riots and looting. According to … Continue reading →

America suffered a blow to its prestige at the weekend when Standard and Poor’s downgraded its credit rating, removing its AAA status. President Obama’s opponents are blaming him for running up a high debt, as if the country’s debt problems only … Continue reading →

Paul Herbert reckons HR people are sweating too much over culture change. His argument runs like this: Here’s the truth… you’re working too hard to change culture. Recently, Scientists at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute found that when just 10 percent of the … Continue reading →

I know I keep banging on about this but I’m still not sure the penny has dropped for many people. More efficient public services won’t necessarily be better from the end user’s point of view. Given the scale of savings … Continue reading →

Oliver Letwin is a very clever man who sometimes says daft things. He had public sector employees around the country spitting feathers over the weekend when he suggested that “some real discipline and some fear” were needed to make them improve their … Continue reading →