PR, marcomms, recruitment and all the bits in between

Recruiter Awards news...

There was good news in the Hanson camp last week as it was announced that Hanson Search has fought off some fierce competition to be shortlisted for the ‘Best Marketing Recruiter’ category at the 2008 Recruiter Awards in April. For those who aren’t familiar with the Recruiter Awards, some might say they’re the Oscars of the recruitment world - so without sounding too smug, we’re pretty impressed with ourselves! Fingers crossed and watch this space!

Work/life balance

Given the fact that we live in the country with some of the longest working hours in the West, it could be argued that the whole concept of work/life balance is a bit misleading, but it’s popularity seems to know no bounds. A new survey from the research firm, Universum, has found that 40% of junior employees (up to eight years’ experience) and 50% of senior ones (with more than eight years) valued flexible working above any other benefit. Work/life balance was also the number one short-term career priority for 43% of the juniors and 60% of the seniors and extra holiday beat performance related bonuses into second place as the most attractive form of compensation for both groups. Perhaps what it all boils down to is that some people don’t to be at work at all.

Fit for purpose

If, like so many of us, you over-did things during the festive season and are looking for ways to get back into shape, here’s some handy tips from Canadian fitness guru John Douwman, also known as ‘Johnny B. Fitt’ (any alarm bells ringing yet?) Douwman says that a little activity at work can help you feel strong and focused all day long. “There's lots of different things you can do,” he helpfully explains. According to him, sitting on a Swiss ball, instead of a chair is a good way to get the blood flowing, loosen the hips, improve posture and strengthen the lower back. “People can just sit on it and bounce a little bit, or they can do pelvis rotations on it.” He goes on to encourage his readers to use the ball and their own body weight for all kinds of strengthening exercises during the day - everything from heel raises (which work the calves) to squats (by standing up at your desk without leaning on it, and sitting down again on the ball). “Now some of the people in the office might think they're a little strange, but once this becomes more and more accepted, more and more people are going to be doing that," says Douwman, optimistically. Why not try this in your office and then let us know how you get on. And when you will be leaving. You simply couldn’t make this stuff up.

Flee the country

If the doomsayers do turn out to be right there are always plenty of other places to go and live and apparently most of them offer a better standard of living than the UK anyway. According to new research by HSBC an annual British salary would last you four years in Iran and nearly three in India. In Spain and the US it would keep you going for fifteen months, in Germany, Ireland and Australia for fourteen, in Canada for sixteen and in New Zealand for eighteen. In fact, it seems you would be better off practically anywhere else apart from France and Norway where your cash would run out after eleven months. But then the skiing or the wine would be better.

Armageddon

We all love journalists of course. After all, without them things would be a bit quiet in the PR industry. But we can’t help think that, at least here in the UK, they do seem to delight in a bit of doom and gloom. Ever since the sub-prime fiasco came to light, the media have been positively wallowing in the notion that the economy is going to fall off a very high cliff. Hardly a day goes by with even the most respectable of commentators telling us that the end of the world is nigh and that we might as well all pack up and go home. Now it seems that at least one of the great and good of the PR sector is following suit. In a letter to PR Week, Lord Chadlington, who heads up the Huntsworth group, has given advice on cost cutting to survive what he seems to believe is an inevitable recession. But are things really that bad despite the ups and downs of the stock markets? The same issue of PR Week carries two very positive reports on the industry – the Bellweather Report and a survey by market research company, Plimsoll. Even the head of one of Huntsworth’s own agencies, Amanda Riddle of Grayling, is quoted as saying that holding onto staff is vitally important and that clients are still finding a budget for creative ideas. Yes, 2008 will almost certainly be more challenging than its predecessor, but the end of the world as we know it? Perhaps not.