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Research, benchmark reports and practical guides from the organisations that supply the HR profession. Every paper is free; most ask for a few details so the publisher knows who has read it.
Payroll mistakes land on HR's desk
Payroll may sit with finance or a provider, but auto-enrolment, statutory pay and minimum wage compliance are HR's exposure. A guide to…
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Good parental leave policy, poor parental leave experience
Parental leave is usually judged on policy alone. This benchmark adds the accounts of parents who took leave, and shows where a…
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HR thinks neuroinclusion is working. Employees disagree.
A survey of 995 senior HR professionals, set against a six-month diary study with neurodivergent employees, shows the gap between what HR…
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HR cannot answer the AI skills question on its own
Research with 2,000 HR and IT leaders and employees finds technology alone will not prepare a workforce for AI, and HR and…
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AI has become a human capital question, not a technology one
AI has moved from exploration to execution, and 39% of companies are pursuing or considering mergers and acquisitions. Aon's 2026 study sets…
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Benefits nobody uses are benefits nobody values
A broader benefits offer does not raise take-up. Gallagher shows why the work is in how benefits are communicated and matched to…
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Best and worst pension default funds were 60% apart over five years
DWP research suggests investment performance makes up around 60% of a member's pot at retirement. This guide shows how to test your…
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Leading through change? In-person connection is not a perk
Restructuring and AI-driven change are eroding trust and psychological safety. People leaders at DHL, Lloyds and Lockton explain how in-person moments -…
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UK pay budgets projected at 4% for 2026 as turnover holds at 9.4%
UK salary increases slipped from 4.2% in 2024 to 4.0% in 2025, with 2026 budgets projected at 4.0%. Aon shows where pay…
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43% of sandwich carers are reconsidering their jobs
Confidence that employers will support family needs has stalled at 63%, and 21% of parents took sick leave to cover care, up…
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Parents unsupported on leave are 3x likelier to consider leaving
A short break in pension contributions during parental leave can cut a parent's retirement savings by tens of thousands of pounds. The…
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56% say employees are not engaged with their benefits platform
56% of organisations in Gallagher's survey say staff are not engaged with their benefits technology. E.ON and Colliers explain why the platform…
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35% of working parents plan to look for a new job this year
Over a third of working parents plan to job-hunt this year, and 64% had their productivity hit by childcare breakdowns. The 2025…
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75% of companies think the annual appraisal is outdated
58% say performance management has got harder with hybrid working, and just 37% use performance indicators for succession planning. Sage's survey of…
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66% of employers now give 12+ weeks' fully paid maternity leave
78% of employers now enhance paternity leave and a quarter offer equal leave regardless of gender. The benchmark sorts 300+ employers' policies…
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Succession planning should start further down the organisation
Leadership assessments rose from 9% to 33% of all development assessments between 2020 and 2024 - yet only one in three leaders…
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A bad hire can cost three times their salary
In the guide's worked example, one mid-level manager hired on $70,000 ends up costing $181,300 once onboarding, wasted salary, lost productivity and…
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Teams rate their leaders higher than leaders rate themselves
The gap between leaders' self-ratings and how their stakeholders rate them has grown 75% since 2019, while teams' weakest habit is giving…
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42% of UK employers planned no headcount change for Q2 2025
Among UK employers changing headcount for Q2 2025, planned hiring fell 27% on the quarter, and 76% report difficulty filling roles. See…
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HR manages everyone's burnout. Who manages HR's?
HR has the highest turnover of any job function worldwide - 15% against an 11% average - and 93% of HR professionals…
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Before HR buys an AI tool, it needs a use case
Valoir estimates 35% of HR tasks could be automated by AI. This nine-step playbook takes HR from defining the use case through…
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Gender pay gap reporting: the numbers are mandatory, the story is not
Employers with 250+ staff must publish six pay and bonus figures within 12 months of the snapshot date, or risk EHRC enforcement…
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Which HR KPIs to track, and what good looks like
Seven performance areas, from employee experience to succession planning, each with KPIs and example targets - such as voluntary turnover below 10%…
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Six employment law tasks HR could not miss in 2025
From the national living wage rising to £12.21 to statutory sick pay of £118.75 a week, a dated checklist of 2025's employment…
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HR leaders lose 19 hours a week to admin
HR leaders spend an average of 19 hours a week on processes, admin and paperwork, and 78% wish they did not. See…
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Pay alone won't keep your younger talent
Younger workers want purpose, flexibility and growth, not just pay. Henley's academics set out how HR can rebuild the EVP, embed wellbeing…
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Buying an HR system? Finance, IT and the CEO get a vote
Finance, IT and the CEO all shape the choice of HR system, and HR leaders tend to underestimate their role. Four buyer's…
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Only 5% of CHROs call their organisation very prepared for AI
Only 5% of CHROs on i4cp's board describe their organisations as very prepared for an AI-enabled future of work. See the 2025…
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Hiring abroad through an EOR? Not every model is legal
An Employer of Record is not legal everywhere: Spain prohibits the model and Germany caps it at 18 months. Learn what separates…
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Can’t find the skills you need? Join up hiring, retention and reskilling
Up to 86% of surveyed UK organisations say they cannot secure the skills they need, and each leaver costs an average £30,614.…
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Your staff already use AI at work. HR has to set the rules
80% of HR leaders expect AI to change their role considerably, and many employees already use unapproved AI tools. Nine practical steps…
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Return to office is driving up parents' childcare needs
76% of parents whose office time increased have upped their childcare, and 63% had a childcare breakdown last year. See what employer-provided…
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Benefit costs up, budgets tight: what 257 UK employers did next
Rising benefit costs inside tight budgets is the top concern for most of the 257 employers surveyed. See how 74% changed working…
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Pay reviews, pay equity, pay transparency: an HR checklist
A pay review that ignores pay equity or transparency law is a risk, not a process. This checklist covers budget, pay gap…
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Big employers are backfilling. Small ones are hiring to grow.
UK hiring optimism slipped to +23% for Q2 2024, and most hiring was replacing leavers. 44% of employers said flexible working helped…
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A leaver costs £30,614 to replace: the case for retention
With 80% of UK employers unable to find the talent they need and time to hire at a record 44 days, every…
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After pay, family support is why working parents look elsewhere
42% of working parents are likely to look for a new job this year, and better family support is the top reason…
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Going skills-based? Start with one business problem, not a framework
Fewer than 20% of companies have started becoming skills-based, often because nobody knows where to begin. Three tips: pick one problem, a…
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UK hiring plans are strong. Filling the roles is the problem.
UK hiring intent held at +27% for Q1 2024, but skills shortages are stopping vacancies being filled. IT and data skills are…
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HR has weak influence on AI decisions at over 60% of organisations
Over half of respondents have little or no confidence in HR's readiness to contribute to AI strategy. See i4cp's AI maturity model…
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