Management Today - Latest Comments

Re: John Griffin drives into the sunset with £300m Addison Lee sale

chris cranmer — Thu, 04 Aug 2016 02:33:28 -0000

Most BLK Cab journeys during bis hrs cost under 6 quid.(Why use a cab with the tubes running? Zone 1 to rickmansworth is £5.10 pence and takes 48 minutes with local cabs at the destination)
I have put suit cases and a 26'' CRT television in a black cab in Soho on a Sunday and transported myself to west of Victoria station for £30 inc. tip,but addy lee wouldnt even take my stuff,let alone allow me to come with.Its an account organisation for those without imagination.
A Waste of time.

Re: John Griffin drives into the sunset with £300m Addison Lee sale

chris cranmer — Thu, 04 Aug 2016 02:24:36 -0000

This is not surprising. The current owners have no understanding of the business and tried to put the 'staffers' on zero hr low paid contracts.Obviously this does not work with unique skill sets like controlling vehicles in London.Some staffers had black cab licenses or were bike couriers and simply drove into self employment.The 'good will' quotient has been extracted from the drivers and staff leaving a shaky foundation.The previous foundation allowed the insistence of using a company owned vehicle which led to hrs per driver/ vehicle reaching 80 / week for a free ride (but not x's).
All drivers will tell you 'the cake was a lie'.After diesel,ins. etc about £7/hr was usual.
A 40 hr week would make you nothing in a car. (I know 2 people went bankrupt just learning the ropes) Controllers will put the customer paramount and drivers will not be loaded with great journey interleaves.As it stands it is a work house of an outfit kept running by the forced fawning and doffing of driver caps.
Turnover is 'high'.

Re: What Generation Y and California can teach us about switching off

Entering #eschaton — Sun, 24 Jul 2016 20:18:01 -0000

Meditate at least a 1/2 hour a day , and if you haven't time.....try an hour.

Re: How bad will Brexit be for business?

simontay78 — Wed, 29 Jun 2016 07:55:32 -0000

As a Singaporean, knowing our independence had is view as a miracle due to strong politics & we really embraced globalisation regardless of race, language, religion or nationality.

Re: Will Aldi and Lidl make it the 'Big Six' supermarkets?

RPG — Wed, 29 Jun 2016 07:45:06 -0000

I guess the reason Aldi and Lidl don't like the term 'discounters' is because they don't actually discount prices; they source low cost goods and sell them more cheaply. I've rarely had problems with the quality of the food but agree that you cannot buy everything from them and have to top up elsewhere. We combine Lidl and Waitrose to good effect!

Re: Why George Osborne is the right person to reassure us

PeterthePainter — Mon, 27 Jun 2016 13:33:55 -0000

I thought Alistair Darling did a good job in handling the Lehmann Bros fallout in the crash of 2008/9. Made me feel someone was on the case.

Re: How the business world has reacted to Brexit

novainvicta — Mon, 27 Jun 2016 10:01:14 -0000

I'm not happy with the result both from a personal and business perspective but it will not alter our plans for the future. We have offices in many EU countries and London is our hub this will not change. Many business leaders have jumped the gun they like everyone else do not know at this stage how the long term trading environment will be so threats of curtailing investment or cutting jobs are premature. Business adapts to the conditions weve had to in trading in Africa for instance and it need not to be prohibitively expensive if the ground work is laid properly.

Re: How bad will Brexit be for business?

Clive Walters — Sun, 26 Jun 2016 18:41:54 -0000

The great opportunity for Britain here is the same as Singapore had and exploited: to see itself not as an appendage to an economic system over which it has no control and little say, but a dynamic trade integrator and facilitator across the globe. It's like growing up: do we want to hang on to Germany's apron strings with our daily habits controlled, or do we want to flourish with the creativity and freedom that saw Britain as the economic engine of the modern world?

Re: Brexit's bad news but not the end for UK plc

Jeremy Old — Sat, 25 Jun 2016 04:52:42 -0000

I doubt whether many Poles will be returning to their homeland any time soon. The reason they are over here is not to drain our public services but to earn a living working. Why can't they earn a decent living at home? Because of government corruption, sleaze and incompetence that is a hangover from the old communist regime and prevents running businesses profitably and so obstructs hiring employees and paying decent wages.

Rightly or wrongly, Polish workers in the UK tend to see this corruption, sleaze and bureaucratic entanglement as a European phenomenon. From my experience, working in factories as a management coach, many Polish workers already in the UK are just as likely to be pleased about Brexit as our own Brexiteers. They want to live in an open, free and democratic society governed by the rule of law, not governed by unresponsive administrative law imposed by a centralized bureaucracy.

From my and many small business people's perspective the main issue about the EU referendum has been about governance and less so about immigration and being little Englanders.

Re: Brexit's bad news but not the end for UK plc

Clive Lewin — Fri, 24 Jun 2016 13:53:45 -0000

Usually it is a pleasure to enjoy the humour of Management Today, but clearly this is an Editor that has lost direction. It's called a referendum and it is democracy - unlike the ineffective one in Brussels that is slowly dictating how laws are to exist in our country (or has been). The amazing part is how we have been led from what was once a simple 'Common Market' with a few strong members to a situation where even negotiating our exit is tricky due to the stupid rules that were agreed to - with 20 plus members, not all of whom are strong. People are just not happy with how UK and EU Governments have handled things and this is their first chance to say so - you should respect it - get out of your blinkered world of London and Lambeth and talk to, and understand the feelings of people on the ground and around the country. It can be no strange fact that those areas outside the South East were clear in their direction to leave - and yet none of the political leaders seemed to be aware. Time to lift heads and get on with it - and start negotiating some trade deals that make sense. Mr. Kinnock and family I am sure would be keen to take up such an opportunity.

Re: Brexit's bad news but not the end for UK plc

Nigel Stone — Fri, 24 Jun 2016 11:46:18 -0000

Enjoyed point 6...More of this rallying cry stuff please!!!

Re: Brexit's bad news but not the end for UK plc

Michael Banister — Fri, 24 Jun 2016 10:28:44 -0000

Can we 'flag as inappropriate', the Editor's article? A divisive referendum vote leading to further division and insulting language from London luvvies is not helpful. The view of businesses, management and individuals may not always correlate with our own but to assume a superior position over dissenters is small minded in the extreme. Voters and their opinions come in many shapes, sizes, colours, postcodes and accents. The dismissal of 52% of voters in this mocking, offensive manner says more about the author than it does the subject matter. Poor show, MT.
(I'm a London based, business owning, Remain voter with a healthy BMI - for what it's worth).

Re: Should you tell your boss you're worried about your mental health?

anon — Fri, 24 Jun 2016 09:59:49 -0000

Mind need to do a lot more to support people who speak out about mental health issues in the workplace, such as providing concrete support, e.g. help with legal costs incurred in trying to hold bad employers to account, 'calling out' bad employers and HR departments and advocating improvements in the legal system, which is woefully inadequate for those experiencing mental health problems caused by their employer. Most mental health issues in the workplace are caused by bad employers, often
facilitated by HR. The resources are there to address this problem, but people who do speak up need better support.

Its all very well encouraging people to speak up, but its important to ensure that
people who do are supported and don't find themselves standing alone, having
spoken out only to turn around and find that the people who they thought were
standing behind them have melted away.

Re: Brexit's bad news but not the end for UK plc

Geoffrey Williams — Fri, 24 Jun 2016 09:37:36 -0000

Like Mr McDonald, I too think a more neutral approach was needed from Matthew Gwyther in his position as editor of this influential business magazine. But what we seem to have is a personal opinion.

Unlike Mr McDonald, I did vote out. And while I do favour elasticated waistbands (we can't all be as slim as you appear, Matthew) I find that in running my own small business I have far too little time on my white hands. In addition, our eldest son lives with a beautiful girl from Poland, who my wife and I both adore, and I don't yet draw my pension.

The only stereotypes missing was 14 pints a night, accompanied by 40 cigarettes and a fish supper on the stagger home. None of which I'm guilty of, by the way.

Disappointing to say the least.

Re: Brexit's bad news but not the end for UK plc

Jeremy Old — Fri, 24 Jun 2016 09:08:16 -0000

From my and many small business people's perspective the main issue about the EU referendum has been about governance and less so about immigration and being little Englanders.

Unhappily, I am not surprised that after six months of a referendum campaign this message has not got across to more people in senior management in the larger business sector. I know this is a terrible generalization, but one of the problems of business management today is its obsession with short term profits and its disconnection with the wider and longer term issues effecting this country. Poland is yet another example (as though we needed one) that you cannot run a competitive, flourishing and prosperous economy without a fair and equitable rule of law, backed up by adequate democratic control over government activity.

Re: Brexit's bad news but not the end for UK plc

Dave McDonald — Fri, 24 Jun 2016 09:04:04 -0000

Alarmist language - "Catastrophe?", and belittling leave voters (white men with elasticated waistbands and too much time on their hands) is shameful. I myself voted to remain but what you are ridiculing is democracy - you should respect the decision of the majority - not insinuate that they are incapable of making decisions. Would you prefer a referendum where only those that share your views are allowed to vote? Maybe a dictatorship would be the answer. Idiots.

Re: The referendum isn't just an economic issue, it's an emotional one - Sir Martin Sorrell

Jay — Fri, 24 Jun 2016 08:44:34 -0000

I quite agree that leaving the EU is emotional as well as economic - but I don't think the two can be separated in terms of the health service or immigration. Those both sit at the emotion/economy interface and, as we now know, Farage and co managed to occupy that interface more effectively than the Remain proponents. Many people were clearly brimming with austerity-fuelled emotion that Brexit has tapped into and released, to disastrous effect.

Re: London is getting its first women's chamber of commerce

Kenya Women's Chamber of Comme — Fri, 24 Jun 2016 07:50:51 -0000

Congratulations London Women's Chamber of Commerce! We look forward to networking and partnering with you/

Re: The immediate aftermath of a Brexit

Michael B — Fri, 24 Jun 2016 07:25:45 -0000

It was always more than economics - for the people!

Re: Should you tell your boss you're worried about your mental health?

Ellen Dacey — Thu, 23 Jun 2016 18:17:30 -0000

It was not until I was being investigated for alleged bullying in 2012 (7 months prior I blow the whistle aka WB of my verbally abuse manager) I submitted a Data Protection Access Request for my personal file and read that my manager and colleagues wrote 'file notes' about my alleged mental state and suicide over many years - So ... if you happen to have any 'issues' - say nothing because if you raise complaints esp WB your 'issues' will be used against you - if you don't have any 'issues' (this would be rare in any circumstance due to lives stresses etc) management will make them up and use against you (speaking from experience) and that of many, many WB's - Employers WILL go 'trawling' for dirt if you are ever brave enough to raise your concerns - This is very prevalent in the NHS.
When an employee (again speaking from experience) states the obvious question... Why didn't my employer take care of me, where was there duty of care when they were 'secretly' documenting their concerns about mental health issues/state and suicide? ps I am still after 4 years waiting for a response from my Health Board.
Cheers, former Registered Nurse

Re: You don't need David Beckham or Gillian McKeith (or me) to tell you how to vote

John Knights — Thu, 23 Jun 2016 08:14:03 -0000

You have hit the nail on the head! Nice article.

Re: Is the job interview dead?

FernandoArdenghi — Thu, 23 Jun 2016 00:33:31 -0000

John and Ronda Hunter written last July 1984 "Validity and utility of alternative predictors of job performance. Psychological Bulletin, No. 96, pp. 72-98" (old but still valid paper) and found that psychological testing is a better predictor of job performance than any other single measure. Psychological tests have a validity coefficient of 0.53, analysis of information provided by the curriculum: 0.37, checking references 0.26, the level of education attained: 0.22 and 0.14 only for the job interview!
As for matching job seekers with employers, the best predictor of job performance is always: personality!!!
See paper: "Workers Behaving Badly: Personality at Age 18 Predicts Workplace Deviance at Age 32" by Dr. Kimdy Le
That is nothing new, plenty of firms can match jobs with candidates using personality tests.

Re: Today is the day women start 'working for free'

Cammie Flesher1 — Sat, 18 Jun 2016 11:17:34 -0000

My children were looking for a form yesterday and were told about a document management site that has a ton of fillable forms . If people need to fill out it too , here's http://goo.gl/ORl18E

Re: Special Report: Inside China - The burning question

Ike Dalley1 — Sat, 18 Jun 2016 08:51:50 -0000

Hi, I obtained a fillable a form version at this site

http://goo.gl/LNYmXG

Re: Peter Erskine - Leadership, business and management news, tips and features from MT and Management Today magazine

Harlan Cage — Sat, 18 Jun 2016 06:52:54 -0000

How would you deal with someone who was ageist to you at an interview Peter?