April is Stress Awareness Month and with stress, depression and anxiety accounting for almost half of all work-related ill-health cases (49%), it is clear that effective strategies for dealing with workplace stress are urgently needed. WorkNest, the employment law and HR specialists who support 40,000 organisations across the UK, handled an average of 3,000 sickness absence related enquiries every month in the past year. In line with the HSE’s statistics, it calculates that around half of these cases are specific to employees suffering from stress, anxiety or depression. A particular area of concern for employers is how much contact to…
Author: sme-admin
New Intuit QuickBooks research reveals how UK small businesses plan to tackle the new tax year with the 6th April start date now upon us. Nearly all (99.6%) of small businesses surveyed plan to make changes to how they operate their business in the new tax year. In fact, 41% of small businesses who plan to make changes to their business predict these will be radical. The top five changes small businesses will make in the new tax year include: 52% will start using AI to make the tax year more efficient 50% plan to find ways to reduce tax liabilities…
Steve Hearsum, an experienced consultant, supervisor and developer of change practitioners, asks the question “How comfortable are you with being wrong?” Not in a ‘well-you-will-learn-in-time-I-was actually-right’ code apology way, more an all-embracing acceptance of your fallibility. In her book Being Wrong (2011), Kathryn Schulz comments that “a whole lot of us go through life assuming that we are basically right, basically all the time, about basically everything … As absurd as it sounds when we stop to think about it, our steady state seems to be one of unconsciously assuming that we are very close to omniscient.” But what happens…
WITH the pace of legal divergence from EU law increasing at the turn of the year, ministers have tried to simplify holiday pay entitlements to fit a post-Brexit Britain. Clive Day, partner at the employment team for legal and professional services business Knights, discusses the key immediate preparations for businesses ahead of impending changes to holiday entitlement and pay this month. Will the calculation of holiday pay change? Yes, for some workers. For holiday years starting after 1 April, there will be two parallel regimes in the UK for how holiday is earned and paid. The original regime (derived largely from EU…
From virtual reality (VR) and robotics to wearables and chatbots, eight of the tech trends changing the healthcare industry have been revealed. FDM Group, a global business and tech consultancy, has highlighted eight ways that technological advancements are presenting opportunities for the healthcare industry to improve efficiency, personalise care, and ultimately, enhance patient outcomes. In the healthcare industry, we are witnessing a shift from traditional care models towards more personalised, patient-centric approaches, which are largely being driven by advancements in digital technology. The integration of technology in healthcare is laying the foundation for safer, more efficient, and more human-centred healthcare solutions.…
Senior managers sometimes find themselves having to investigate complaints against supervisors or lower-level managers. However, what should you do when the tide turns inward and someone raises a grievance against you, the senior manager or business owner? How do you handle a situation where you are the subject of a workplace investigation? The mere thought of being the subject of a grievance enquiry can be overwhelming. Imagine the anxiety over the potential damage to your credibility and its impact on your role as a leader or business owner. The fear of not knowing how to resolve the issue can be…
The escalating adoption of ad blockers, particularly on iOS devices, presents a pressing challenge for brands relying on traditional paid advertising channels. Aaron Peters, Managing Director of Sprout Media, looks at the rising challenge of iOS ad blockers and their implications for brands striving to maintain ROI in paid media campaigns. The popularity of ad blockers [software or browser extensions that prevent digital advertisements from being displayed on a user’s device] has been a growing concern for businesses for years. However, the release of iOS 9 by Apple has recently brought mobile ad blocking back into the spotlight. The new…
A third (33%) of business owners in the UK don’t know how much their business is worth, according to new research from Marktlink, one of Europe’s largest independent international M&A advisory firms for SMEs. Despite this, as market conditions look set to improve, three-quarters (75%) of SME leaders expect the value of their business to increase in the next 12 months. When compared to the European average of 72%, UK SMEs are most optimistic about growth in valuations as they come out of the other side of a tumultuous year. The second instalment of the firm’s Marktlink Monitor surveyed 1066 business owners across…
Businesses of all sizes require an adequate level of protection to cover assets and mitigate risks should the unexpected happen. When the time comes to renew your existing commercial policies, it can be a great opportunity to reevaluate your insurance, ensuring your current level of coverage meets the needs of your growing business. Mark Thomas, Founder and Director of Compare My Insurance looks at the key considerations for SMEs when it comes to insurance renewal. Reassess your business needs SMEs are continually growing and evolving, and as such, the chances are your business has undergone significant operational changes that may…
NetApp, the intelligent data infrastructure company, has today published new research shedding light on the state of AI adoption in the UK business landscape. NetApp found that just half (51%) of British organisations understand how AI can benefit their operations, with only 20% of UK businesses having a strong understanding of how they can harness AI technology. What’s more, spend on AI projects is set to increase in 2024 as leaders see it as crucial to their future business success. The findings also highlight that most IT leaders are adopting AI to remain competitive. AI Confidence Is Fragmented AI is increasingly…