Today, we’re diving into a topic that’s crucial for small business owners – HR Outsourcing: Revealing the Pros & Cons to help make this decision more straightforward and to give you an honest assessment of the different elements to consider. The reality is if employees see that you have HR support, whether internal or external, it will demonstrate to them that you take your employment responsibilities seriously and that you are getting the right advice when you need it. Having the advice of an experienced HR professional is really powerful for a business owner in any employee meetings and ..read more

We thought it would be good to really simply break down the different kinds of UK Employment Status and Zero-hours that people have and how something called a ‘Zero-Hours Contract’ fits into this world of work in the UK. When people go to work, they have a contract with the people they work for and this can sometimes help determine their employment status, however, it is not just the contract that determines this but also what happens in reality. A contract tells them what work they’ll do when they’ll do it, and what they’ll get (like money) in return, and employment status will define what ri ..read more

Having worked with many small businesses over the last 7 years we can see the huge benefits that come from rolling out great cloud software to streamline your employee processes. Below I outline the steps to successfully implement HR software. As with any “vanilla” software though – it is imperative that you follow a process to set the system up to be the “Neopolitan” software that supports your SME employee processes. Rolling out a new piece of HR software internally involves several stages. Having rolled out 100’s of different software to many small businesses we outline below what we see as ..read more

Here are 5 things you’ve don’t want to get wrong It goes without saying that the pandemic has created the greatest workplace transformation of our lifetime, quickly changing the way you and your team work. And possibly forever. Within a week, businesses like yours had to quickly adapt to working remotely. It was crazy, stressful and, honestly, a little bit scary. But on the whole, it’s likely that you and your team did an amazing job; quickly adjusting to working from home with surprisingly positive results. Now there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel. The world is slowly returning to ..read more

As a business owner, you not only have your own personal finances to worry about but also your business’s too. And recently, you may have been looking at ways to reduce costs and protect your future revenue. HR can play a big part in this and we’ve listed 5 ways HR can stop your business from losing money below. Let’s get started… 1) Stop wasting your valuable time on stuff someone else can do for you You’ve heard it before…time is money. And if you’re spending your time doing the wrong things, you’re wasting money. What’s the answer? You need to delegate more. To do this, think about all of t ..read more

Covid has changed the way that people all over the world work. The sudden move to home working, for many of us, worked out well. We found that after an initial period of adjustment, there were some benefits to be had for all. Even now, it still remains to be seen how permanent these changes will be. There’s been a lot of back and forth from some of the world’s biggest companies. Smaller businesses are likely to follow suit. But perhaps this change to home or hybrid working has worked well for you, and you’ve already made the decision to stick with it. Maybe you’re still making your mind up? Wh ..read more

When your staff call in sick, it can cause a real headache. And COVID hasn’t made this any easier. A recent report has shown that requests for sick notes from doctors are up 78%. And 52% of absence is related to stress, anxiety and depression.  All of this unplanned absence is costing small and medium-sized UK businesses in excess of £900 million, annually. With that in mind, is it time that you took a serious look at the ways you can reduce absence in your business? What is absence management? Absence – or attendance – management encourages you to look at the ways you can decrease the am ..read more

Here are 5 things you want to do to build a positive culture Company culture is a term that is often used to describe the values, beliefs, and behaviours that shape an organisation. Some say it’s the “personality” of a company.  However you choose to define it, company culture has a significant impact on employee engagement, retention, and overall business success. As a small business, it’s important to understand the role that company culture plays in your organisation, and to find ways to help build a positive and supportive culture. In this blog post, we’ll explore what people mean by ..read more

Recruitment is a bit of a nightmare at the moment. There are loads of jobs out there but not enough people to fill them. And the employee’s mindset has completely changed since COVID. We’re now in a candidate driven market, which makes hiring your next employee more time consuming, difficult and costly. That’s why we’ve created this article for you. Below, we’ll talk you through 7 steps you need to consider when hiring your next employee. Step one – Identify what you’re looking for   Before you start recruiting, it’s key to understand exactly what you’re looking for, how your new employee ..read more

Running a business can be really stressful. Especially when you’ve got an employee that’s causing you lots of issues. As an employer, it’s likely that at some point you might feel that it would be better for everybody to let an employee go. And in some cases, this might be the right decision. However, there are high risks involved when dismissing an employee. Which is why it’s absolutely essential that you have a valid reason to do so and that you follow a fair procedure every step of the way. If you fail to do this, you risk a tribunal claim which will be even more stressful. That’s why I’ve ..read more