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March 12, 2010

Learning gets social for UK employers - or does it?

Here are a couple of interesting links regarding workplace learning. A post at Interactyx looks at recent research by Bersin and Associates which shows the UK lagging behind the US in the use of elearning technologies.

But reliance on instructor-led classroom training by UK employers, as revealed by the survey, comes as no surprise - it is tried and tested. And many UK employers will have stories to tell of the mixed success of elearning programmes.

However, the cost of training is becoming more of an issue which makes the use of social media technologies in learning a lot more interesting.

For example, if you can deliver training in an engaging, shared way in a safe environment why pay to have employees attend off site training? And if you have a highly dispersed workforce then the cost of offsite training rises rapidly.

Elearning is not new but it is changing and these changes present new opportunities to engage employees in many different - and less formal - ways.

I thought this was a useful summary of how elearning has changed - taken from the Social Learning Handbook.

E-Learning 1.0 was all about delivering  content, primarily in the form of online courses, produced by experts - teachers or subject matter experts.  E-Learning 2.0  or Social Learning is all about individuals (co-)creating content in a variety of formats and sharing information and knowledge using tools like blogs, wikis, social bookmarking and social networks both within an educational or training context to support a new  collaborative approach to learning as well as to support their own personal and group learning and working activities.

And here are a couple more resources:

The new BBC learning design toolkit looks very interesting and is free for employers to dip in to. It outlines the BBC's approach to training based on deep employee research.

This list of the top 100 tools for learning - made up of contributions from 278 learning professionals around the world - lifts the lid on how many different types of tools are now being used in the delivery of learning. Here is the presentation:

XperHR is carrying out a survey of how employers train line managers. Whether you are using social learning or not, please let us know your thoughts - you will receive a free copy of the results.





Martin Couzins | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

February 26, 2010

Using social media in internal communications

If you are keen to pull together a justification for using social media or are looking to see how other organisations are using social media tools for internal communications then you might find this post useful.

Thomas Crampton looked an annual survey of more than 300 organisations by consultancy Towers Watson (formerly Watson Wyatt) and has pulled out some key learning points:

  • Highly effective communicators are making greater use of social media than their less- effective peers
  • Reasons for not increasing the use of social media stem from a lack of resources and knowledge
  • Social media tools are mostly used for collaboration and team building, adapting to change, and promoting health and wellness.

Crampton goes on to say that to get the best from social media tools, companies will have to:
 
  • Document their social media policy
  • Develop tools to measure the success of social media at their company
  • Build executive support

Read more posts from XpertHR bloggers on the impact of social media on organisations.
Martin Couzins | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

February 24, 2010

Take part in our mini-survey of HR blogs and blogging in 2010

Reading, commenting on, or even writing your own HR blogs can represent one of the most direct and accessible routes into the world social media for HR professionals and employment practitioners. And it can bring great benefits in terms of networking and shared expertise and insight. We're currently running a brief online survey of HR blogs and blogging habits (external website), and would greatly appreciate your views. Completing the survey should take up no more than 30 seconds of your time. The results will be published here on Employment Intelligence in the coming weeks.

Michael Carty | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

February 22, 2010

Employers' use of social media in 2010: Another "dirty secret"?

Last week, I highlighted a recent blog post from recruitment and HR consultant Matt Alder, in which reveals a "dirty secret" regarding how employers utilise social recruiting. Today, in a blog post summing up his experiences of last week's excellent TRU London "unconference", Alder notes what might be considered another "dirty secret" just waiting to be revealed: many employers are unwilling to 'go public' on their use of social media and social recruiting (external website).

Continue reading "Employers' use of social media in 2010: Another "dirty secret"?" »

Michael Carty | | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0) |

TRU London 2010: What is the future of recruitment?

The recession has created opportunities for HR and recruitment professionals to raise the standards of their recruitment activities and embrace social recruiting, yet the majority have failed to act on these opportunities. But Generation Y and post-election cuts in public spending will force significant change in recruitment activity. These were just some of the predictions to emerge from a lively debate at the TRU London 2010 "unconference" (external website) last week, which asked a simple question: "Where is recruitment going?"

TRULondonFutureofRecruitment.JPG

 

Continue reading "TRU London 2010: What is the future of recruitment?" »

Michael Carty | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

February 19, 2010

TRU London 2010: Where HR, recruitment and social media meet

In the week running up to the second TRU London (The Recruiting Unconference London) (external website) event - which took place in Soho yesterday and today - organiser Bill Boorman (external website) posted the following update on Twitter: "I don't think social media has changed the world, but I think it has changed our world!"

For me this summarises the spirit of the TRU London event (which I attended this morning) in fewer than 140 characters. TRU London is a hugely creative and forward-thinking event run by and for recruiters and HR professionals who recognise that social media have significant implications for their work.

Continue reading "TRU London 2010: Where HR, recruitment and social media meet" »

Michael Carty | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

February 18, 2010

TRU London - the unconference experience so far

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Today I am at TRU London, and unconference on recruitment on HR issues. With me is XpertHr group editor David Shepherd. I have never been to an unconference and this is what I have learned about such an event.

  • It is informal - casual dress, friendly atmosphere
  • It is noisy - maybe because we have a room that has two discussions in it (one at each end) running at the same time
  • It is unstructured. The only structure is that provided by track leaders who are responsible for one hour slots based on a discussion point. There are no presentations
  • Anyone can chip in and challenge at any point
  • There is a good level of conversation - people share what they are doing. This takes place in the room and on the social networks such as Twitter
  • It is broadcast - a lot of people are sharing the conversation across the social networks
  • There is a good energy here - attendees are sitting down, standing up. No one is falling asleep at the back of the room
  • People do not stop talking - there seems to be a constant level of conversation
  • There is a lot of participation - the informal nature of the event seems to enable people to speak up
  • It is very good to network as the feel is friendly and informal
Added to this is the attendance of some articulate, clever people. The people make this event - they create the content as they go, which is a departure from regular conferences which tend to put lectures at the heart of them.


Continue reading "TRU London - the unconference experience so far" »

Martin Couzins | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

February 19, 2010

Is your organisation ready for social media?

Last week, we looked at whether it's time to take social media seriously in the workplace. For employers who decide that the time has now come to see if social media can work for them, there are two key questions they must ask themselves, according to recruitment consultant Andy Headworth on his Sirona Says blog.

Continue reading "Is your organisation ready for social media?" »

Michael Carty | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

February 18, 2010

Social media in recruitment: a "dirty secret" revealed

Back in November 2009, we noted that many employers are cutting out traditional methods for advertising vacancies in favour of zero-cost social recruiting options. Now, in a fascinating blog post, recruitment and HR consultant Matt Alder reveals a "dirty secret" regarding "a massively disruptive trend" in how employers utilise social recruiting: free, automated Twitter job feeds (external website) appear to represent a direct route to applications from high quality candidates.

Continue reading "Social media in recruitment: a "dirty secret" revealed" »

Michael Carty | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (1) |

February 15, 2010

Putting social media to work: 11 key tips

More than three-quarters of UK employers (76%) do not currently have a formal policy in place regarding employee use of external social networks (external website), according to a survey of 2,100+ organisations from Manpower. For employers contemplating how social media might work for them - and how best to regulate this - communications consultant Abi Signorelli has put together 11 invaluable tips to consider when formulating a social media communications strategy.

Continue reading "Putting social media to work: 11 key tips" »

Michael Carty | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

February 5, 2010

TRU London: a new way forward for HR and recruiters?

There is a very interesting and, for many people, unusual UK HR and recruitment event taking place in London on 18 and 19 of February. The event is TRU London and what makes it unusual is that it is an unconference. It's not the first - that took place in London last November, but it is the biggest in the UK so far.

In the words of the organisers, "An unconference is an event that has no fixed structure and only two rules, no power point and no presentations."

So, besides the format, what else makes TRU London so eye-catching?

Well, here are a few for starters:

  • The format is less about lectures and more about facilitated discussion
  • That means participants are expected to interact with discussions
  • The event is split into different streams or 'tracks' providing attendees with a broad range of topics to dip in to
  • Track leaders, as they are called at TRU London, are experts in their area so can facilitate a high level conversation around their topic
  • Social media and social networks provide the communication channels for the event
  • Unconferences attract a far greater audience online than at the event thanks to the live coverage on Twitter, Facebook and blogs.
  • The event will be unpredictable - taking thinking in different directions
  • It is rare to attend events where HR, recruitment and social media intersect at the same place and at the same time


Continue reading "TRU London: a new way forward for HR and recruiters?" »

Martin Couzins | | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0) |

February 10, 2010

Time to take social media seriously in the workplace?

Social media will cause profound and positive change in the way work is organised (external website), according to US business author Tammy Erickson, writing in the Harvard Business Review.

Continue reading "Time to take social media seriously in the workplace?" »

Michael Carty | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

February 5, 2010

Benchmarking HR costs in 2010: Every penny counts

Every penny counts for HR practitioners in the current economic context faltering profitability for many organisations and weak overall economic growth. And so, as I tell Jeya Thiruchelvam in this week's XpertHR Podcast, benchmarking employment practices can represent a highly effective way to keep on top of costs and do their jobs more efficiently and more cost-effectively.

Continue reading "Benchmarking HR costs in 2010: Every penny counts" »

Michael Carty | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

January 27, 2010

Social recruiting in 2010: Why it pays to "be in the conversation"

Social networking is driving a fundamental change in recruitment practices in 2010, with implications for all parties involved in recruitment, according to an excellent introduction to social recruiting (external website) from the Guardian. For many organisations, traditional recruitment practices are being swept away, with employers, candidates and recruitment agencies becoming involved in an evolving online "conversation".

Continue reading "Social recruiting in 2010: Why it pays to "be in the conversation"" »

Michael Carty | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

January 19, 2010

HR blogs and blogging habits: Take part in our survey

The implications for the workplace of social networking technologies and how people interact with them look set to rise in importance as touchstone issues for HR over the coming decade. And reading, commenting on, or even writing your own HR blogs can represent one of the most direct and accessible routes into social networking for HR professionals and employment practitioners. We're currently running a brief online survey of HR blogs and blogging habits (external website), and we'd greatly appreciate your views. It's entirely free to take part, and should take up no more than 30 seconds of your time. The results will be published here on Employment Intelligence in the coming weeks.

Michael Carty | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

January 14, 2010

XpertHR benchmarking is now open for business!

I'm delighted to announce that XpertHR's new benchmarking service (subscription required) has been launched today (Thursday 14 January 2010). This is a major enhancement to XpertHR, providing our subscribers with the opportunity to access a huge resource of customisable HR benchmarking data. The interactive features of XpertHR benchmarking enable you to tailor your own bespoke HR benchmarking data. We think it'll quickly prove to be an invaluable tool for our users.

Continue reading "XpertHR benchmarking is now open for business!" »

Michael Carty | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

January 11, 2010

Dispatches from the social recruiting frontlines

The rise of online recruitment methods over the past decade has resulted in a completely transformed recruitment landscape with social recruiting at its centre as we enter 2010, according to a fascinating blog post from recruitment consultant Andy Headworth. He argues that social recruiting now represents the cutting-edge of recruitment (external website), and that recruiters must adopt social recruiting methods in order to meet evolving candidate expectations. Consequently, platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and blogs should be seen as "primary recruiting channels", and "will become the recruiting battlegrounds of 2010".

Continue reading "Dispatches from the social recruiting frontlines" »

Michael Carty | | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (1) |

January 6, 2010

What percentage of UK HR professionals read HR blogs?

Maybe this is just too difficult a question to answer but I was prompted to ask it after reading a survey [PDF] by Human Resource Executive Online - a site for HR directors in the US.

This was only a small survey - 98 respondents - but it showed that 76% are reading HR blogs and 61% spend 15 minutes or more a week reading them. 

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Can the same be said of HR directors in the UK? Or indeed HR professionals at other levels?



Martin Couzins | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

January 5, 2010

Shining the light on HR and social media

New Year = New Year's resolutions and one for me is to post more on HR and social media. I thought a good place to start would be to look at other HR and HR-related bloggers. So, here are some lists . . .

The top 25 talent management blogs put together by Fistful of Talent and HR Capitalist.

Top 50 HR blogs from bschool.com.

The Top 100 Management and Leadership Blogs That All Managers Should Bookmark from HRWorld.

John Sumsers' Top 100 HR Influencers.

We also have a blogroll - look down this page to your right.

And here is my list of XpertHR Group Twitterers . . . if you are on Twitter and want to follow us then simply follow this list.






Martin Couzins | | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0) |

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