Blog Posts
April 2019 Employment Law Update : Are you meeting the new minimum?
As another year passes, another set of statutory pay increases take effect. If you employ staff or are an employee affected by one of the minimum statutory rates below, make sure that you are aware of the increases that will follow below. Remember: while pleading...
Mindfulness
This is week, as part of KUHR’s Wellbeing month, we thought we'd highlight something that is becoming more popular to incorporate in our everyday lives, not just at home, but at work too - we're talking about Mindfulness. So, it's over to expert Justin Standfield from...
Three reasons your business benefits when staff switch off
There aren’t many people around who aren’t feeling the pressure of our ‘always-on’ culture. Perhaps you’re a business owner who is feeling stuck in an unavoidable position of never being able to fully disconnect. Or maybe you’re an employee in a business where the...
Why Physical Exercise is good for Small Business Owners
For KUHR's Wellbeing month, we couldn't really let it go by without mentioning the importance of physical exercise. So, it's over to our guest blogger - Personal Trainer, Greg Small: “It is exercise alone that supports the spirits, and keeps the mind in vigor” -...
Allergens – a matter of life and death
Here at KUHR we’ve decided that this March it’s Wellbeing month in the office and one of the things we’ve been thinking about is allergies in the workplace, in particular (with quite a few of our clients being in the ‘food trade’), food allergies and why it’s...
What your job descriptions do for you
The humble job description is a document that often doesn’t get the love and attention it deserves. Largely ignored by smaller organisations, their first contact with one can often be the frantic scramble to put something together at the last minute when it comes to...
How to avoid costly recruitment mistakes and win brilliant new employees
Once you’ve decided now’s the right time to recruit new people into your business, you need to think carefully about how to go about it. Your business may have specific times of the year that lead your recruitment activities. However, ongoing Talent Acquisition is an...
Business Plans and Appraisals – are yours connected?
Business plans are a critical part of every business to ensure that every activity you undertake moves you closer to achieving your goals. But how well do you align your business planning activity and your appraisal process? Often, when clients start to experience...
E-Learning – What is it and why do you need it?
E-Learning is fast becoming the most effective way to onboard, train and develop staff. There are e-learning platforms available for just about every sector and very role within those sectors. Even where practical skills are essential, the theory elements can be...
Self-Employment – What do I need to know?
This month, I thought I’d ask a self-employed friend to be the guest blogger and share their story about their journey into self-employment and their advice for people in the same boat. Not again! I recently found myself being made redundant again for the third time...
Enhance your payroll processes with Breathe
I totally back Breathe HR in striving to help end employee admin as much as possible! So, I am pleased to tell you about their payroll export tool, a brand sparkling new feature that is now available within the BreatheHR app. Payroll Export Tool The payroll export...
Celebrating Christmas *and other religious festivals* in a diverse workforce
Religious belief has been a protected characteristic in the workplace for a very long time. Yet many businesses are still struggling to fully understand how to recognise this when it comes to observing religious festivals. As Christmas is fast approaching, I felt it...
Can Small Businesses enforce Training Agreements?
Introduction As a small business, it is important to keep employee turnover as low as possible as the cost to replace can be a lot more than you think. Offering your staff training as an incentive is often a great way to do this. However, when an employer agrees to...
Reasons why you should use breatheHR
Reasons why you should use breatheHR…versus not! I know I might sound a bit like a broken record on the topic of HR Systems, but I really do think they are a valuable tool for small businesses with employees, and breatheHR is by far the best in my opinion. So, if...
Budget 2018 Update
So this afternoon a couple of days early due to Halloween the Autumn Budget was announced. Main Points regarding Employees The personal allowance threshold, the rate at which people start paying income tax, to rise from £11,850 to £12,500 in April - a year earlier...
Why Return to Work Interviews are business critical
Cards on table time. Do you ALWAYS carry out a Return to Work Interview when an employee comes back from a period of sickness? Or, like many business leaders, are you too busy? Is it just another employee relations administrative job that takes you away from the...
Top Tips for using breatheHR
I recommend that all of my clients use an HR system, and I especially recommend breatheHR. For those using currently using breatheHR, I’d like to share some tips you might find useful: 1. Calculating holiday for new starters When adding a new employee to...
Don’t forget to check the references!
In an article I read recently, an airline pilot had used a reference from ‘Jabba the Hutt’ to land a job as Captain at West Atlantic UK, and obviously, when found out that the reference was false and that he did not have the qualifications, was fired. He’d used a...
The Intern
This summer I was very lucky to have a lovely intern called Sean to join the KUHR team. I would highly recommend taking on an intern if you are a small business and ever get the chance as not only did I gain a great help to my business, but also someone who I would...
The benefits of BreatheHR-ing
I very much advocate the use of an HR system to all my clients, and number one for me is breatheHR for helping small business owners to escape the admin of managing employees. It allows you to focus on growing your businesses and building a great team. BreatheHR are...
Is your business at risk from presenteeism?
Is your business at risk from presenteeism? Mental Health in the workplace is big news right now – and rightly so. As a responsible employer, you care about the physical and mental wellbeing of your staff. Right? For example, if you were asked ‘How are your company...
What’s your approach to children going ‘Back to School’?
Why your business’ approach to children going ‘Back to School’ could be good for your business The Summer holidays are over, the children have started back to school and the peak leave period is over…surely then, it’s now safe to say business, as usual, can be...
Childcare voucher scheme changes – Time is running out for small businesses!
The Government Childcare Voucher scheme had its deadline to join extended for new members back in April 2018 by another six months. The initiative, which means parents can save up to £933 a year on childcare, was supposed to be closed to new members in April 2018...
Managing Annual Leave
Managing Annual Leave in your business Running a business comes with many challenges, perhaps none more so than balancing the demands of your business against the demands of your staff to take time off! Inevitably there will be peaks and troughs throughout the year...
Is BreatheHR right for you?
If you’re a client of mine, you’ll know I love a good HR system, and you’ll also know that I like to recommend BreatheHR. If you’re thinking about implementing up an HR System, or you’re not sure why you’d want one for your business, then considering the three points...
National Relaxation Day
It’s National Relaxation Day! I know – there’s a ‘National Day’ for everything these days! Thank goodness they’re not all Bank Holidays or nothing would get done! So, what’s National Relaxation Day all about? In 1985, American 4th Grader Sean Moeller founded National...
Food businesses: What are your customers thinking?
Kate Underwood HR now has quite a few clients who are in the ‘food trade’. So, I thought I’d ask our friend Ruth at Simply Safer to be the guest blogger this month and share some handy food safety-related advice! Simply Safer supports businesses to comply with the...
Why choose a cloud-based HR system?
I believe an HR system is a must for all of my clients, and indeed all small businesses with employees. Not only does it save time, but in the new GDPR world we live in you need to make sure your employee's data is safe and secure. What is a cloud-based HR system? A...
BreatheHR’s new look !
Because I am THE GEEK of all HR geeks, I love using IT systems for HR purposes…so it goes without saying, that I LOVE breatheHR! If you are one of my clients, you will no doubt already be using this system and know how great it is already, but I wanted to send out a...
How to handle poor performance
It can seem easier to ignore a poor performer. Dealing with the situation can seem daunting to managers and sometimes it’s uncomfortable to deal with things you would rather avoid. However, there is no advantage to delaying the inevitable. If an employee is not...
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