The HR Director

1. The art of negotiation: Practical strategies for career and business success

   Negotiation is a critical professional skill, yet many people approach it with uncertainty or avoid it altogether. This article explores practical negotiation strategies, including BATNA, reservation value, negotiation styles, and value-based communication. Drawing from personal experience, recruitment insights, and negotiation principles, it provides actionable guidance for negotiating job offers, business agreements, and workplace conversations while recognizing when to negotiate, where leeway exists, and how to create mutually beneficial outcomes.

2. Why AI upskilling needs a shared definition of fluency

   The UK government wants to give 10 million workers AI skills by 2030. It's an ambitious target, ably backed by free training courses and a cross-government unit to track AI's impact on the labor market. The direction is right. But ambition and outcome are not the same thing.

3. Why is burnout surging among women in business?

   Burnout is avoidable with the right resources and know-how; don't mistake it for a badge of honour to showcase a 'successful' career. If all businesses understood their female employees needed different support, women would be able to enjoy their careers more fully and productively.

4. The case for continuous verification in M&A

   When a merger or acquisition closes, businesses tend to focus on the financials. And while executives will celebrate the start of this transformative new chapter, there is always an undercurrent of uncertainty: what will this new business look like? A glaring vulnerability often remains unaddressed. In the rush to unify finance teams, tech stacks, and business processes, it can be easy for leadership teams to overlook the most important and potentially volatile asset they are acquiring: talent.

5. Why financial motivation is not enough

   Creative employees rarely decide to leave overnight. In PR and communications teams, the first signs often appear months earlier, through lost energy, difficult client dynamics, repetitive work or unclear growth paths. Anna Lekomtseva, HR Director at Drofa Comms, explains why salary alone cannot retain creative talent and why leaders need to spot disengagement before it turns into resignation.