Author: Sue Tumelty, Founder and Executive Director of HR Dept The daily barrage of comments in the news about TV presenter Phillip Schofield admitting to having an extramarital affair shows no sign of abating. MPs even summoned the bosses of ITV to appear before a committee to give answers. While ITV declared it had investigated rumours of the relationship between Schofield and a much younger colleague, it emerged afterwards that this was false. Personal situations like this are always difficult, and it is why we advise following the rule of “assume nothing, believe no one and check everything” during any investigation.…
Author: sme-admin
The UK faces a construction apprenticeship “crisis” after new figures revealed just one in five of the sector’s small business owners plan to take one on this year. The statistics, taken from a survey of tradesperson directory Checkatrade’s member base* shows the appetite among SMEs for hiring apprentices is currently low, with just 20 percent planning on doing so over the coming year. The figure for firms employing between 10-19 employees was as low as nine percent, while for sole traders it was 17 percent. The stats make for concerning reading when viewed alongside Government figures that show apprenticeship starts…
Many businesses are currently concerned with the slower rate of economic growth, traditionally slow levels of growth come with recession rumours and sometimes a starker reality. Despite lower levels of growth in some industries, across the UK the tech industry is outpacing other sectors when it comes to growth. In fact, it’s expanding over two and a half times faster than the rest of the UK’s economy, with newly registered tech companies appearing at an average rate of 22%. By inspecting this highly competitive industry, it’s clear to see that certain regions seem to be attracting higher levels of tech…
Launched in 2020, SpareMyTime is the UK’s fastest-growing Virtual Assistant agency. that provides a wide range of practical, virtual assistance solutions to help alleviate the stresses of modern life. Since its first year, it has quickly grown into a team of 20 talented Virtual Assistant professionals who are predominantly based across the UK with members of staff able to enjoy the flexibility of working from other countries when it suits them. The company offers support with virtual admin, virtual bookkeeping, and virtual digital and social media marketing. SpareMyTime has seen 2x year-on-year revenue growth to date, and it has increased…
International Women in Engineering Day is upon us again and reminds us to celebrate the fantastic women excelling in their fields. Over the last decade, engineering and broader STEM has been a much more attractive proposition for young women embarking on their careers than ever before. But we must do more to create balance and encourage more women into the sector. What better way to do this than to meet the amazing women doing incredible jobs in the sector to hear about their experiences? Meet: Holly Palmer, Contracts Manager at Alpheus Environmental What is your current role, and how did…
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) is recommending organisations to start using privacy enhancing technologies (PETs) to share people’s personal information safely, securely and anonymously. These types of technologies open unprecedented opportunities for organisations to harness the power of personal data through innovative and trustworthy applications, by allowing them to share, link and analyse people’s personal information without having access to it. PETs can be used to share anonymised personal information to detect and prevent financial crimes and related harms such as fraud, money laundering, and cybercrimes. The ICO has launched new PETs guidance, which is aimed at data protection officers…
Good design is a concept defined by industrial designer Dieter Rams’s principles, ensuring that a product is useful, understandable and innovative amongst other things, while at the same time, involving as little design as possible. Ultimately, designers strive for good design, and as Dieter Rams has said, “You cannot understand good design if you do not understand people.” Rams’s ten principles highlight that good design: Is innovative Makes a product useful Is aesthetic Makes a product understandable Is unobtrusive Is honest Is long-lasting Is thorough down to the last detail Is environmentally friendly Involves as little design as possible Mads…
Analysis of English and devolved government data on the NHS crisis from leading independent consultancy Broadstone shows that UK waiting listings have grown by 3.6 million since the start of the pandemic – an increase of 65%. As at March 2023 – the latest up-to-date figures available across all four nations – 9.2 million are now waiting for treatment. It is a number that has risen from 5.6 million just before the pandemic, and by 1.1 million over the past year as the public health system struggles to cope with demand. England accounts for the lions’ share of the list,…
London-based manufacturing specialist, Get It Made, has launched a new 2023 grant to support the potential of women in innovation and to boost the growth of female employment within UK industry. To mark International Women in Engineering Day on 23rd June, the initiative is tailored exclusively to female-led, engineering, design, tech and manufacturing enterprises, including start-ups, with the grant recipient set to receive £5,000. In addition to financial support, Get It Made will also be offering its expertise to help guide young female-led businesses through the challenges facing any young company in a challenging economic environment. First launched last year,…
All businesses need customers – fact! Attracting new customers takes considerable time, effort and money. So, once you’ve gained a customer, you should do everything in your power to keep them coming back for more! In this article CRM solutions expert Avrion offers useful tips for strategies for customer retention in CRM. What are the three pillars of customer retention? Before we delve into the strategies for Customer Retention in CRM, it is worth spending a moment looking at the fundamentals. According to The UK Ecommerce Association, the three pillars of customer retention and ongoing loyalty are: providing simplicity building trust ensuring…