When Telefonica, the leading telecommunications operator in the Spanish and Portuguese‐speaking world, decided on root‐and‐branch reform of its employee training, it unsurprisingly opted to give a key role to information and communication technology.

Imagine a world without voice mails, e‐mails, pagers and cell phones. For workers aged around 40, or over, it is not hard to do. The only interruptions many of these people used to experience to the normal rhythm of daily working life were when the office telephone rang, or someone called in...

How does a fast‐growing company with a regional structure, resulting from the rapid coming together of between 20 and 30 separate businesses, shift the focus to a national corporate culture that emphasizes common best practice and drives quality through consistent messages? That was the...

Around 80 percent of workers say that their first step towards improving job performance has nothing to do with the job itself, but is based on how they feel about themselves. This is a lesson that has been taken to heart by Sargento Foods Inc. which, for the last 50 years, has remained loyal to...

Ironic, isn’t it? Ask the average pub‐goer what he or she thinks of the brewery and its beer, and the answer will probably last until closing time. But when Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries (W&DB) consulted its employees about working conditions, and the brewery in general, fewer than 40...

In a hospital that serves a culturally and ethnically mixed population, where more than 130 languages are spoken, the commitment to diversity must be total. Guy’s and St Thomas’s Hospital Trust is seeking to transform diversity from an HR‐led initiative into the organization’s mainstream.

Flexible working available on request, external counseling, and stress awareness and time‐management courses are helping to keep down the stress levels at Keoghs, a UK firm of solicitors. Fewer than 17 percent of staff reported ill effects because of pressure of work over the past year,...

With the labor market tightening in the UK, and some sectors having to battle hard to recruit and retain the best people, employers are realizing that they have to be responsive and inventive in trying to meet employee expectations for flexible benefits that help with their work‐life balance.

With organizations constantly seeking to grow, remain competitive and meet changing business conditions, the human resources function, like other functions, is under scrutiny to deliver value‐adding quality services to the business, coupled with a drive to reduce operating costs. Outsourcing...