Reformed hippie Neville Aitchison draws on his trip to Woodstock in ‘69 for some sage advice on modern management practice. It’s quite a trip, man—especially when armed with a change of underwear and little else.

With death and dying at the centre of every day’s work, it takes a special kind of person to work at Auckland’s Mercy Hospice. Jackie Brown-Haysom learns that by putting staff first, everyone benefits.

Success begins with the individual, and the key to that success lies with self-awareness and self intelligence, says Wade Jackson. He introduces a new tool to help in the journey towards developing such intelligence.

When HR manager Rhonda Wilson was diagnosed with cancer, the culture of wellness in her workplace, and a flexible approach, played a key role in helping her through the difficult months that followed.

With high absenteeism levels and nearly half its employees not fully engaged, it was clear Manukau City Council needed to try something different, says Syd Sykes. The solution was a holistic wellness programme that’s proved to be a winner.

The effects of lay-offs are far-reaching, even for those who are left behind. And how a business chooses to look after the survivors of redundancy is critical to their motivation, morale and productivity, says Shirley Keith.

Sean O’Sullivan and Monica Singleton discuss the issues surrounding pre-employment screening and the options available to employers where such screening proves unsuccessful.

It’s not uncommon for people to work more than one job, whether it’s to make ends meet or gain new skills, but what are the implications for employers? Carl Reaich takes a look at the issue from a legal perspective.

While businesses might accept that the value of their intellectual capital far outweighs the value of their physical assets, all too often they don’t have a plan in place to manage the loss of key people, says Cecilia Farrow.

Recruiters are finding the number of applicants for some jobs is becoming unmanageable. But by turning the recruitment process upside down, the challenges of talent identification are eliminated, says Marija Potter.

For a person to recover confidence and get back on track after a performance management issue, it’s important they first take responsibility, says Kaye Avery.

Research shows that better workplace cultures result in improved productivity. But how do we go about creating and maintaining a good workplace culture, asks Craig Smith in the first of a regular new series from the Department of Labour.

The battle to control costs while ensuring your incentive schemes are geared to attract and retain the best talent is not easy, says Susan Doughty. Here are her responses to your questions on the issue.

Behavioural event interviewing has become accepted best practice, but there may be a few snags lurking beneath the surface, says Keith McGregor. He explains how you can find out what a candidate is really like.

Are there quick and cost effective ways to assess the training needs of your company or team? The good news is yes! Angela Atkins shares some innovative ways to do a “quick and dirty”—but still effective—training needs analysis.

Now is the time to bring recruitment in-house, says Kirsten Clark. While it might seem quicker and easier to outsource your recruiting, there are definite advantages in taking the do-it-yourself approach.

Absenteeism is costing the country up to $500 million a year, but Brian Blackman believes it doesn’t have to. He outlines his suggestions for improving productivity.

Is hard work enough, or are there other factors at play that make some people more successful than others? John Gill considers best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell’s latest book and suggests his ideas may help in recruiting the best person.