Articles


Diversity – What does it mean?

With the introduction of new legislation, a shortage of skilled labour and the influx of migrant workers diversity is emerging as one of the most serious issues in the workplace today, yet most employers are not prepared to deal with it nor are their managers. Many managers grew up having little contact with other cultures. They are actually "culturally deprived”, and their academic training did not cover the kinds of situations that arise in today's multicultural settings.

Most traditional models of human behavior and management methods - as well as many of the recommendations - are based on implicit assumptions of a homogeneous white male workforce. The most widely taught theories of motivation mirror the white male's own experience and attitudes. Some of those methods can be startlingly counterproductive when applied to other nationalities.
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Managing the Training needs of a Multicultural Employee Base

The financial cost of failure through poor or inadequate training can be significant. With effective training UK businesses could make significant savings as appropriate training can help to improve the speed and quality of production and most importantly it is a legal requirement. The Health and Safety Executive report that over 200 people are killed each year in accidents at work and over 1 million are injured. Two of the most frequent causes of accidents are manual handling and contact with machinery. Investigation of these accidents reveals that inadequate training contributed significantly in their cause
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Sarbanes-Oxley The low-down on compliance:

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act - what on earth is that?
It's the name of a piece of US compliance legislation, with global implications, which was signed off in 2002 and is soon to 'go live' with the intention of preventing financial malpractice and accounting scandals such as the Enron debacle. It's becoming known as SOX or SarbOx or SOA.

In fact, anything BUT 'the Sarbanes-Oxley Act', right?  I can see why...
Indeed. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act is a bit of a mouthful, though it could be worse. It's also known as the Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act. The shorter moniker comes from the names of Senator Paul Sarbanes and Representative Michael Oxley who are credited as the main architects of the Act.
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Serious holes found in SME disaster recovery plans

UK companies not ready to get back online if the worst happens...

The majority of small and medium-sized UK businesses are ill-prepared for getting back online in the event of a major disaster, according to the findings of a new survey.
 
More than two-thirds (68 per cent) of businesses surveyed - all of whom boast an annual revenue of between £1m and £20m - admitted it would take at least two working days to become operational again in a worst case scenario. Furthermore, 12 per cent of respondents said they have no idea how long it would take.
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