John Philpott

About John Philpott

John is chief economic adviser at the CIPD and visiting professor of economics at the University of Hertfordshire. He has been an adviser to numerous UK and international bodies.

Hunks and babes wanted

| Posted in Diversity and equality, Employee relations, Recruitment and talent management

Travelling to the CIPD south west London branch careers conference last Saturday I was intrigued by a short article on recruitment in this week’s edition of The Economist. A study by two Israeli academics finds that, in countries where jobseekers routinely attach a photo of themselves to CVs or application forms, good looking men are more likely to be called to interview while attractive women tend to get the dreaded “thanks but no thanks” reply . Continue reading →

For better or worse?

| Posted in Employee relations, Health safety and well-being

It’s the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee this year and I’ve been searching the archives as background to a CIPD Work Audit on how our working lives have changed during her reign. “Death of the King” headlined the late London edition of The Times newspaper on Thursday 7 February 1952. The inside pages were dominated by a detailed review of the life of the late king George VI, plus some background on the 25-year-old new queen, Elizabeth II. The front page, meanwhile, printed a long list of situations vacant, Continue reading →

View from the CIPD: Dangerous times

| Posted in Corporate and HR strategy, HR practice, Management
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I’m relatively optimistic about 2012. If we’re lucky, and the eurozone doesn’t implode, it will be a dire, rather than a disastrous, year. Even so, I expect slower economic growth than in 2011 (at best 0.4 per cent), including at least one quarter when the economy will contract, with fewer people in work, a continued but less severe real pay squeeze, and unemployment rising to 2.85 million. Continue reading →

Chancellor’s measures can’t fill the jobs demand deficit

| Posted in Employee relations, Health safety and well-being, Recruitment and talent management

Most of you will have read a book or seen a film in which the same story is repeated a number of times but from the perspective of different characters. I was reminded of this earlier in the week when reading Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne’s, Autumn Statement report alongside the latest economic and fiscal forecast from the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). Continue reading →

It’s economics, not rocket science

| Posted in Corporate and HR strategy, Employee relations, Employment law, HR practice, Recruitment and talent management

It’s just over a year since the Chancellor of the Exchequer outlined the detail of his Comprehensive Spending Review to Parliament. The impact of the spending squeeze following the review, and the tax increases that sit alongside it in the Coalition’s fiscal deficit reduction plan, is now being felt against the backdrop of mounting weakness in the global economy. Continue reading →