September 2009 - Guru Blog

Here are the final entries into Guru's competition to find the best out of office email. Disciples can read the previous entries on the blog here and also here as well. The winner of the super-cool HR Ninja T-shirt will be revealed on the back page of the 8 September issue of Personnel Today. At the beach - no laptop, no Blackberry, no iPhone.....

The Daily Mail is carrying a brilliant story about bus drivers in Hull being told to lose weight to stop breaking their seats. The doughy drivers have been sent letters by their employer Stagecoach asking drivers who think they exceed the weight limit of 20 stone for some buses and 23 stone for others to seek out their manager, who will refer them to...

Yes, that's right disciples. Just when you thought work couldn't get any better, you can now devote a whole week to celebrating the important job those folk in payroll do. A whole week? Does it really need a whole week? A day would suffice, surely? Well, maybe half a day... Organisers the Institute of Payroll Professionals is asking payroll...

Just the merest hint of political correctness gone too far can reduce Guru to apoplexy. So just imagine his feelings at the news that Flintshire County Council has renamed an iconic British pudding, rather than upset its astonishingly easily offended staff. Yes, when it comes to Flintshire Council's staff canteen menu, Spotted Dick is no more. Staff...

Twenty-six British yoofs have shown their talent at the skills equivalent of the Olympics - the much-maligned (by Guru) WorldSkills 2009 in Calgary, Canada. The team - who were up against 900 competitors from 46 nations - won three gold and six bronze medals in skills ranging from welding to web design. Among the winners was Mark Nevin, 22, who won...

Friday has arrived once again and it's that time when Yours Truly rounds up the best links to weird and wonderful workplace stories. Here are the best five: Hospital staff suspended for playing Facebook Lying Down game Master cheese grader in Somerset insures his nose for £5m Half of Brits injured by biscuits during tea break Virgin Media engineer...

News reaches Guru of a disturbing event across the Channel in France. Employees at a crisis-hit boiler factory have decided to go en buff for a nude calendar in an attempt to save 200 jobs. According to reports, 13 male workers (no old boilers then) at the Chaffoteaux et Maury factory in Brittany posed nude in order to fund a trip to Italy to protest...

Big news - today is Take Your Dog to Work Day According to the organisers, having dogs in the workplace can boost employee engagement. As far as Guru is concerned there is nothing engaging about having a whining, barking mutt distracting you from doing actual work. The organisers claim research has shown that the simple act of stroking a dog can reduce...