If you don't drive your own learning programme, you could be in trouble. That's the latest from training specialists the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. A new report suggests individuals must be in charge of their own learning if it's to be effective. The report "Helping People Learn", produced with the Cambridge Programme for Industry, offers a range of effective and innovative learning options for consideration.

CIPD Learning Training and Development Adviser, Martyn Sloman, comments, “Organisations need to place emphasis on allowing the individual to shape his or her learning within the boundaries of the organisation’s values and strategies. Training departments with top-down support must find a way of promoting this new self-steered learning.”

Sloman continues: "We need to find answers to some key questions including: ‘how do we protect time for learning’, ‘how do we develop line managers as coaches’ and ‘how do we measure learning as opposed to training activity?’”

A copy of the document is available as a free down load from the CIPD web site at www.cipd.co.uk/helpingpeoplelearn

Professional support network, EUMA UK, has announced its new chair, Gillian Richmond. A highly experienced PA who has worked in various industries, she will be taking the Association through an extremely important year.

"It's a great honour to be appointed as UK chair, especially as this is our 30th anniversary year," says Richmond. "We're in a very dynamic profession and the challenge for EUMA is to remain proactive about helping secretaries and PAs deliver the quality that top management requires."

And it sounds like Richmond, together with her deputy chair Janette Dardir, is going to be busy. "To celebrate this auspicious birthday, we have a string of events planned for the year around the theme Star Quality - Have you got what it takes?," she explains. "We're currently working towards our networking event on 21 April, and the National Conference on 22 May, which will focus on key skills and attitudes that make the difference between an average secretary and a top PA."

We at ON! wish them both every success in their new roles!

Don't forget - Professional Secretaries' Day is coming up. From 18-24 April is Professional Secretaries' Week, and within that, Professional Secretaries' Day is on 21 April. For details of the Institute of Qualified Professional Secretaries' celebrations and announcements, check their website at www.iqps.org. The theme chosen by IQPS for this year's events is "Ambassadors of Excellence".

Professional Secretaries' Week is a great time for you to take a step back and focus on your career. Why not plan an event in your workplace, linking up with other admin professionals, to highlight the contribution made by admin staff to your organisation? Or resolve to join a networking organisation such as European Management Assistants (EUMA) or the National Association of Administrative Staff in Schools and Colleges? Or plan some personal development goals for the year ahead, perhaps? Whatever you choose to do, put a big note on your calendar now, so as not to miss this important date.

Red-faced office workers admit they have seriously misjudged the way to greet a colleague or client, according to research by secretarial and office support staff recruiters Office Angels. More than eight out of ten staff admit to having committed a "greeting gaffe" because they were unsure of the correct etiquette - handshake or kiss. Over two thirds of workers confess that "getting it wrong" has caused them acute embarrassment and 52% say it has affected professional relationships.

The worst examples of greetings gaffes include attempting to "go continental" with a two-cheek kiss – while the other person leans in to kiss just once; giving a bone-crushing handshake in order to show your eagerness; going for a handshake when the other person offers their cheek; and misjudging a kiss and almost planting a "‘smacker" on the lips!

Have you ever considered changing career? It's never too late, according to new research from a leading vocational awarding body, which suggests mid-life career swaps will be the rule rather than the exception in future.

Over the next twenty years, millions of Britons are expected to walk away from their professions midway through their working lives, swapping their current occupations for completely new careers. City & Guilds has identified that five million (some 20 per cent) of the working population will be planning a career change in 2025 – double the current 2.5 million per year.

According to researchers, online education means people can re-train for a new career while holding down their current job, while rising life expectancy and lack of pension provision virtually guarantee that we will all be working for more years, and so trying different career options. No longer able to retire during our 60’s, many of us will look at ways to top-up our income during our retirement.

Add to this the fact that half the roles which exist now may become extinct in years to come, and it's an uncertain future for British workers. The City & Guilds research identified that the average British employee starting work in two decades' time will undertake 19 different jobs during their working lifetime.

Chris Humphries, Director General at City & Guilds believes building a portfolio of transferable skills will be vital in future. “Employers can expect to see CVs landing on their desks from candidates who possess a broad range of skills," he explains. "Companies will start to judge potential employees on their transferable skills, rather than just their sector experience.”

The statistics are shocking - in an average year, more than one thousand women take legal action claiming they were sacked because of their pregnancy. That's according to Julie Mellor, Chair of the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC). "And that's just the tip of the iceberg," she says.

"Our research indicates that employers' concerns about the impact of their staff's childcare problems can mean that some see the announcement of an employee's pregnancy as forewarning of difficulties in the future," reports Mellor. "Discrimination still goes on."

The EOC has published a new report, "Pregnancy Discrimination at Work: a review", which finds significant problems in the workplace. Take for example this feedback from women workers: "My employer told me that getting pregnant is disgusting and that I'm obviously not career-minded", and "I work for an organisation that seems to believe that having a day off for a hangover is pretty macho, but having a day off for morning sickness is a pain in the neck". Another woman reported that her employer made her lift heavy items while pregnant, while another was banned from breakfast meetings "in her condition".

Last year, the EOC launched an investigation, "Pregnant and Productive", into the problems encountered by new and expectant mothers and their employers in managing pregnancy at work. This new report gives an update on findings so far. "Many firms do manage pregnancy successfully and we are keen to learn the lessons of those that do as part of our forthcoming in-depth research into the problems employers, large and small, face," explains Mellor. "When women are pushed out they don't just pay a financial cost, the evidence also suggests that they are more likely to suffer from depression."

The EOC is calling for more women and employers to tell us about their experience of pregnancy and maternity in the workplace, good and bad. Email them at pregnantatwork@eoc.org.uk or visit www.eoc.org.uk and complete their short survey.


A free leaflet "Pregnant and Productive - an update of our investigations" is available from the EOC website www.eoc.org.uk/pregnantandproductive