Journey Protector CEO Anne Lawlor (R) in an Enterprise Ireland promotional campaign. Haulage companies face huge losses daily due to theft, damage to their loads, and hefty fines arising from undetected illegal stowaways entering the rear of their vehicles. Under the new revision of the UK’s Clandestine Entrant Civil Penalty Scheme from 13 February 2024, fines for lorry drivers found with illegal immigrants hiding in their vehicles increased fivefold from £2,000 (approx. €2,250) per stowaway to potentially £10,000 (>€11,000). Considering that independent owner/drivers earn an average of around €200 per day, the added potential penalties and financial risks make crossing the UK border an unacceptable risk. The World Road Transport Organization(IRU) says the scheme puts supply chains at risk, stating…
Image by patpitchaya on Shutterstock So, you may be wondering, is corporate social responsibility (CSR) really necessary? Couldn't corporations just focus on their primary purpose: providing shareholders with satisfactory returns? Well, that line of thinking, quite frankly, is now considered as outdated as fax machines. While it's true that businesses exist to make a profit, the measures of corporate success today have broadened. The emergence of CSR as an essential primer of modern corporate governance is no accident. It's a reflection of the evolving societal expectations of corporations. So, why has CSR become a non-negotiable for businesses? What is the definition of CSR? "Corporate Social Responsibility means pursuing business objectives in a manner that enhances your company's positive impact on society…
Why Post-Break Motivation is a Leadership Challenge Having to return to work after a long Christmas and New Year break is emotionally complex. Time away disrupts the usual cadence of work and we need space to ease back into professional demands. For many, the transition back to work feels like a shock to the system, blending tiredness, reflection, and a quiet unease about the year ahead. After the new year, many return with renewed personal intentions and rebalanced priorities, but the pressure to ‘start strong’ hits the moment they are back online. While calendars quickly fill up and inboxes are flooded, the emotional transition back into work often lags behind the operational one. For leaders, January can feel like a…
The Leader’s Role in Everyday Learning The future of work is evolving faster than most organisations can redesign their training strategies. Technology is accelerating, careers are lasting longer, roles are constantly being reshaped, and work itself is becoming more flexible and fragmented. In a landscape that never stops shifting, the ability to learn is what enables people and organisations to keep moving forward. The traditional career ladder has given way to a far more fluid and unpredictable landscape. Careers no longer move neatly upward, rung by rung. Instead, they look more like a maze full of twists, dead ends, unexpected openings, and opportunities that appear only when you turn a corner. You navigate the maze by exploring, backtracking, trying new…
Why Rest Never Feels as Restful as We Expect If rest were simply the absence of work, most of us would feel better than we actually do. You might return from a two-week holiday spent “switching off” and doing very little, only to feel mentally foggy, restless, and already craving the next escape. Yet, after a demanding session of a challenging hobby such as mastering a complex musical piece or training for a marathon, you often feel an unexpected sense of calm, focus, and clarity. We live by a rigid binary: grinding through work, then collapsing into leisure to “refill our tank.” We’ve been taught to think about our energy like a battery: work drains us, leisure recharges us. When…
