The heat is on. Is your business ready for the summer?

The days are getting longer, and the temperature is finally on the rise.  Chat in the office has probably started to turn to bikini diets and discount airlines.  The pavements are packed full with joggers and cyclists.  There’s no denying that summer is very firmly on the horizon.  But have you thought about what that means for your business? How …

Could your business make better use of freelancers?

  Not only is Thursday 8th June Election Day, but it also marks National Freelancers Day.  Independent professionals up and down the country will celebrate the fact that they boldly work for themselves, as well has casting their vote. It’s estimated that there are around 2 million freelancers operating in the UK, and they’ve had their fair share of press recently. …

Zero hours contracts and the General Election

Employment legislation is hot news right now, as the main political parties release their manifestos, hit the campaign trail, and aim to make sure that voters know exactly how their lives can be improved, if they make the right choice at the polling station come June 8th. People care about how they’re treated at work, how much cash they take …

Three reasons why HR is boring!!

I’ve been to a few networking events recently and noticed that when you start talking about what you do and mention you work in HR, the other persons eyes glaze over (well maybe it’s just me).  Now is isn’t new, I get that most business owners aren’t interested in HR, it’s just a necessary evil.  But let’s be honest here… …

Disciplinary mistakes to AVOID so you don’t end up in hot water!!

If your a business owner who employees a team of staff, I’m pretty sure you’ve had times when you have woken up at night worrying about how to handle a particular situation with an employee, that you just don’t know when to start with.  Don’t worry though, your not alone.  I think it’s fair to say a lot of the …

Disciplinary mistakes you need to avoid!!

Over the last couple of months there’s obviously been something in the air, as we seem to have been dealing with lots of tricky people problems, ranging from redundancy appeals to dismissals. Now dealing with disciplinary issues is probably one of the less attractive tasks for a manager or business owner.  Some people policies are about improving productivity, creating stronger …

What is a disciplinary?

We’ve all heard of the term ‘disciplinary’, but for those who are new to employing staff or you’ve been lucky enough not to have encountered a problem so far, what does it actually mean in the world of work? Well a disciplinary is part of the process you follow when your business wants to address an employee’s behaviour.  You may …

If Marketing And HR had a fist fight…

Over the long weekend I got to thinking about how Marketing and HR both support businesses of all shapes and sizes.  But if things got physical which function would be the winner?  Who’d take the crown as the business owners’ can’t-live-without tool? And perhaps more interestingly, could one exist without the other? When entrepreneurs are looking to increase their bottom …

How to deal with the influx of Bank Holiday weekends

The weather seems to be warming up which surely means there must be another bank holiday on the way. We all love a good old bank holiday weekend.  More time with the family, an opportunity to unwind, and weather permitting, maybe even a barbecue or two.  But as a business owner long weekends bring some key challenges.  With four bank …

Contracts of Employment 101 – Here’s what you need to know

This week we’re sharing a great guest post from one of our Associate Consultants –  Mara Thorne, who is addressing some common myths around contracts of employment.  We get a lot of questions on this topic, so she’ll be looking at – are they necessary at all, whether they have to be in writing, whether they need to be signed …