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Using the case‐study examples of Dow and UnitedHealth Group and a selection of research papers, Alice Snell, vice president of Taleo Research, explores the ways in which you can help control HR’s financial burden. She highlights four key areas where HR can cut costs: by accelerating the hiring process, reducing high turnover, avoiding exposure to legal implications and cutting the costs of temporary work.

The early stages of onboarding are crucial to establishing a lasting bond between employees and the company. Alice Snell, vice president of the research division of talent management solution company, Taleo, outlines the methods organizations can use to maximise contribution and avoid the pitfalls of the onboarding process.

It may be a cliché of modern business for a company to say that “people are our greatest asset,” but this is one truism that should be taken seriously. Up to 70 percent of a company's value is tied up in the skills and experience of its employees. All too often, however, business executives and Human Resource (HR) departments have very little insight into how to use this asset for better business outcomes. This paper aims to look at the importance of effective talent metrics and to examine the problems organizations face when trying to develop talent intelligence.

The paper discusses the findings of Talent Intelligence: Key to Business Success, an independent research report examining business and HR attitudes to talent metrics and analytics.

Despite the business value that accurate, accessible talent intelligence can provide, the research finds that there are significant differences between those talent metrics that organizations consider important and the data to which they have access. A legacy of disparate technology systems and a focus on measuring efficiency rather than effectiveness are the primary reasons for the lack of talent intelligence among many businesses.

The paper examines the findings of a comprehensive international survey of HR and business managers, identifying the barriers to collecting and analyzing useful talent metrics and laying out the key steps towards generating talent intelligence.

We suggest ways for HR to harness new social‐media tools (such as blogs, wikis and podcasts) to provide a practical benefit to the business.

Around the world, HR practitioners from all industries are beginning to think on a global scale. The impact more advanced and efficient HR systems, technological progress, increasingly regular mergers and developments in remote working options, mean that the average HR department is having to behave and think more strategically in order to keep up with overall business pace.

Kinship structures in Ambridge have been analysed using social network analysis (SNA) showing a network of a ‘small world’ type with 75 individual people linked by birth or marriage. Further, the network shows four major cliques: the first two centred on Aldridge and Archer matriarchies and the second where through the marriages of the third generation the Grundies, Carters, Bellamies and Snells connect together. The chapter considers the possible futures for kinship networks in the village, arguing either a version of the status quo or The Headlam Hypothesis through which Archers assume less importance and the strength of the weak ties in the network assume more prominence.

Who will lead Ambridge in the years to come? Theories rooted in psychology and political science, when applied to family dynamics in The Archers, allow for some educated guesses. Social learning theory suggests that children who see their parents vote, run for office and participate in other civic activities are more likely to do the same in adulthood. Emma Grundy did just that when she followed in the footsteps of her father, Neil Carter, in winning a seat on the parish council. Previous research has found that birth order also can shape future leaders, with the eldest child more likely to benefit developmentally from parents' undivided attention in the early years, and also more likely to establish a hierarchy of power over younger siblings. With these factors in mind, who are the most probable contenders to lead Ambridge in the spheres of politics, business and civic affairs? The extant research points to Pip Archer, Lily Pargetter, Phoebe Aldridge and George Grundy. The unique circumstances of Ruairi Donovan's childhood suggest he may also be a formidable candidate. And, as is the case in so many contexts, one would be wise not to overlook Molly Button.