The office party is a chance to impress, particularly if you’ve been honing your skills in meetings—another chance to impress—throughout the year, says Neville Aitchison. It’s the perfect opportunity to talk to those hard-to-reach people—just don’t imbibe too heartily.

Imagine a future where probiotic cafes will mix you a customised smoothie with the gut bug that’s right for you. It’s not that far away, says Terry Williams. He draws a long bow to explain there is no ideal model workplace culture and no single path to get there.

HR in the military has many similarities with HR in big business, but it has even more differences, says Brigadier Howard Duffy. He talks to Sally Wenley about the people challenges the New Zealand Defence Force faces, and about its award-winning OverWatch programme.

It’s crucial that today’s businesses understand the importance of ensuring their people are highly engaged. Andrew Longley explains how an organisation can identify where best to focus its resources and efforts.

A new office space has given Paymark the opportunity to create a physical environment that enhances and supports the flexi-working environment it introduced to staff five years ago. Angela McCarthy checks it out.

This year, the Great New Zealand Employment Survey looked at leadership style and the effect it has on engagement, turnover and performance, and found 50 percent of respondents want to see an improvement from their senior leaders. Clare Parkes outlines the findings.

Bridget Smith takes a look at the Salad Bowl case, which she describes as a mixed leaf of findings on trial periods, fixed term employment and what constitutes employment.

Gamification is really just a grown-up word for play, says Stu Neighbour. He believes it’s time we got over ourselves and indulged in some play to help us learn. And he offers some thoughts on how to create your very own game.

In this, the second article in a series on why pay for performance matters, Una Diver considers what employers hope to gain from giving larger increases to high performers (a practice known as pay differentiation).

Leaders have to be able to put their personal stamp on the role, but they can only get things done through and with other people, says Shaun McCarthy. One of the single most important things a leader does is create the setting that allows people to excel, he tells Lyndsey Swan.

The danger with many culture change programmes is that they can be seen as simply another compliance exercise, says Peter Swanson. Sustainable behaviour and culture change will not happen through compliance methods but through changing underlying beliefs.

When a school deputy was charged with indecent assault, the actions of his principal were also investigated. He was dismissed for failing in his obligation to ensure the safety of his students. Paul Robertson explains.