by Kate Underwood | Dec 6, 2024 | General
5 Creative Employee Benefits to Attract and Retain Top Talent in 2024 Attracting and retaining the right people has become one of the biggest challenges for small businesses. With larger companies offering attractive salaries and perks, it’s easy to feel like you’re...
by Kate Underwood | Dec 5, 2024 | General
How Can You Improve Your Employees Mental Health? Let’s be honest—employees mental health in the workplace can be a tough topic to tackle. It’s not as visible as a broken arm or a cold, and it doesn’t always come with a clear-cut solution. But here’s the thing:...
by Kate Underwood | Oct 10, 2024 | General
World Mental Health Day, celebrated annually on the 10th of October, is a global initiative to raise awareness of mental health issues and inspire positive action. At Kate Underwood HR and Training, we understand that employee mental health is vital for creating a...
by Kate Underwood | Aug 1, 2022 | General
What are the most common and easy-to-address risks in making someone redundant? Dismissals on grounds of redundancy must be true to form, it cannot be to hide a performance or conduct issue that you don’t want to address. This can cost you, long-term employees, as...
by Kate Underwood | Jul 28, 2022 | General
The cost of living is having an impact on many families and understandably requests for pay rises are on the increase. As an employer, there are other ways and means that you can support your employees especially when a salary increase isn’t necessarily...
by Kate Underwood | Jul 8, 2022 | General
Over half of the UK workforce would like more flexibility when it comes to work (though we here at KUHR estimate that figure to be much higher, ADP reports that 6 in 10 employees feel this way). Flexibility can come in many different forms and one of them most common...
by Kate Underwood | Jun 30, 2022 | General
The Laws around fit notes have changed several times now. The first change was that doctors can now sign fit notes digitally, which is why leniency towards the change in a signature’s appearance should be upheld. As of right now (1st of July), the law has allowed...
by Kate Underwood | Jun 22, 2022 | General
Ever since flexibility became the new norm in a post-pandemic era, work-life balance has been in the control of the employee. As a result, demand for jobs that offer remote work has dramatically increased. According to data found by LinkedIn UK, paid job...
by Kate Underwood | Jun 13, 2022 | General
Did you know that the health risks loneliness has equates to the same risks as smoking 15 cigarettes per day? Aside from the impact loneliness has on your mental and physical health, studies suggest that severe loneliness costs businesses £9900 per person, every year...
by Kate Underwood | May 26, 2022 | General
As an employer, by law, you have a duty to protect workers from stress by performing risk assessments and making necessary and reasonable adjustments based on your findings. What counts as stress? The HSE definition of stress is it’s an “adverse reaction people have...
by Kate Underwood | May 5, 2022 | General
Specific legislation protects new mothers, pregnant women and those who have had to endure miscarriage (for up to 2 weeks post-miscarriage). This legislation was called to attention during an Employment Tribunal. This specific case had to assess potential sex...
by Kate Underwood | Mar 17, 2022 | General
Inflation is the next biggest challenge for employers looking to recruit. Following The Great Resignation and the newfound power that candidates have over employers, many are now looking to remuneration as both incentive and demand which for many sectors is a setback...
by Kate Underwood | Mar 4, 2022 | General
People assume that working from home is the cheaper alternative to paying petrol and fares for the commute to work. However, some of us must pay for our own equipment, incur an increase in costs from an increase in electricity usage and in some cases -not to get into...
by Kate Underwood | Mar 2, 2022 | General
Wellbeing in the workplace is now becoming a staple part of corporate HR. When companies prioritise their people, their health and growth, the ROI in recruiting, retaining, work output and overall business performance is clear to see and can’t be argued with....
by Kate Underwood | Feb 17, 2022 | General
At any given moment in time, 1 in 5 people are having suicidal thoughts. Mental health difficulties were a pandemic well before COVID made the issue a thousand times worse. At work, employees are taking days off – faking illnesses and making excuses – in...
by Kate Underwood | Feb 3, 2022 | General
Aside from the new wave of mental health awareness after the pandemic, there are still big wellbeing killers in the UK workplace today. From rising medical concerns such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and cancer, to conditions of working all be it either in the...
by Kate Underwood | Jan 27, 2022 | General
As a small business, are you confident that the staff training you offer is sufficient for your company and the roles of your employees? There are many reasons why staff training should be a priority within your business and as an example, we wanted to bring your...
by Kate Underwood | Jan 20, 2022 | General
There are plenty of reasons why both employers and employees are considering the 4-day working week. National Insurance contributions are set to rise in April and the 4-day working week could reduce UK employees’ commute costs anywhere between £160-£796 a year. Not...
by Kate Underwood | Jan 11, 2022 | General
The 2010 Equality act prevents employers from asking health-related questions in order to avoid discrimination, exclusion, and inequality. Employers have been historically known to ask about health or disability in the early stages of recruitment. As a result,...
by Kate Underwood | Dec 8, 2021 | General
Have you reviewed your benefits package recently? Did you know that there is a new Electric Vehicle Salary Sacrifice Scheme that you could now be offering your employees? This specialist scheme is like the modern-day cycle to work scheme, available to help support...
by Kate Underwood | Oct 21, 2021 | General
Are you aware of the importance of your company’s brand in the marketplace? Do you understand the benefits of maintaining that brand to reflect your company values and product/service? We wanted to delve in a little deeper into employer branding and look at how...
by Kate Underwood | Oct 12, 2021 | General
Tech Tuesday We’ve got another #TechTuesday for you, and this week we want to talk about a great tool called Toggl. Have you heard of it? Do you know what it does? If you are yet to give it a go, it is about time you tried it! Toggl is an extremely handy...
by Kate Underwood | Sep 28, 2021 | General
Tech Tuesday We’ve got another #TechTuesday for you, and this time we’d like to highlight our ‘go to’ HR system – Breathe! We believe that having the right software to support your HR processes, really can transform your business. ...
by Kate Underwood | Sep 16, 2021 | General
Breathe HR Software keeps on getting smarter and smarter! It’s been just over 2 months since Breathe launched their brand-new Rota, Time and Attendance module, and they now have even more useful new features. Let us introduce you to the Breathe – People Portal mobile...
by Kate Underwood | Sep 10, 2021 | General
There have been some recent employment tribunal cases with regards to employers, not allowing employees time off to go and deal with things such as going to pick up their child from nursery who was sick and not allowing an employee to amend their working hours. So, we...
by Kate Underwood | Aug 5, 2021 | General
Do you ask your new hires for references? A couple of years ago I wrote a blog on DO NOT Make This Costly Mistake When Checking References but one thing I didn’t touch on was what you should do if you get a bad reference. Can you just dismiss someone? Should...
by Kate Underwood | Jun 30, 2021 | General
The current rules Following Brexit, there were no changes to the exiting right to work checks and the current guidance remained in place. EU, EEA and Swiss citizens resident in the UK before 11pm on 31 December 2020 are eligible to apply under the EU Settlement Scheme...
by Kate Underwood | May 20, 2021 | General
In August 2020, Gary from DA Training was able to share the good news about employer incentives, which has really seen an increase in apprenticeship starts (especially across smaller businesses) over the last few months. He now has some updates for us on how DA...
by Kate Underwood | May 16, 2021 | General
Introducing Hannah Hi! I´m Hannah, and I’m over the moon to be the newest member of the KUHR team… until our young Kickstarters join us in June! I´ve been part of the team for a while, working part-time from Mallorca, Spain. But I’m delighted to announce...
by Kate Underwood | May 13, 2021 | General
5 ways Employee Engagement will enable your small business to grow. To build the most effective team and to ensure long-standing employees it is important that your team members feel empowered rather than micromanaged. It is a fine balance between giving freedom to...
by Kate Underwood | Apr 27, 2021 | General
So this morning I was on BBC Radio Solent talking about if the workplace is going to change because of the pandemic and what SME’s need to think about before going back to the workplace – if they go back to the workplace. 1. What happens if there is an...
by Kate Underwood | Apr 8, 2021 | General
If you could show all the employees on your team how much you appreciated them, what would be the first thing you’d do? Remote working is now well and truly embedded in to our working day and many believe that working remotely could be here to stay either as a whole...
by Kate Underwood | Apr 1, 2021 | General
Overview We have another blog from our wonderful guest blogger Sarah Quirk of SarahQuirk Wealth Services. This week, Sarah shares her expert knowledge on how accountants and financial advisers can both help you manage your finances. Both roles are important, both...
by Kate Underwood | Mar 25, 2021 | General
Do Small Businesses need to publish a Modern Slavery statement? The Government has confirmed that it is going ahead with major changes to the duty on large employers to publish an annual modern slavery statement. So what is a large employer? A large employer is...
by Kate Underwood | Mar 18, 2021 | General
How does IR35 apply to Small Businesses? As you may remember IR35 was delayed for the private sector from being implemented due to COVID-19. However, the legislation is going into force from 1st April. Below are the 7 key steps that small business owners need to...
by Kate Underwood | Feb 18, 2021 | General
How to Improve Your Personal Wealth in 2021! Over the next few weeks, will be sharing blogs from our wonderful guest blogger Sarah Quirk of SarahQuirk Wealth Services. This week, Sarah shares her expert knowledge on how you can improve your personal wealth in 2021 as...
by Kate Underwood | Feb 11, 2021 | General
Here are 9 Financial Tips for Small Business Owners Over the next few weeks, will be sharing blogs from our wonderful guest blogger Sarah Quirk of SarahQuirk Wealth Services. This week, Sarah shares all her expert knowledge with 9 Financial Tips for Small...
by Kate Underwood | Feb 4, 2021 | General
What are the New UK Immigration Rules? Welcome to our quick blog post about new UK Immigration rules. Now, due to the United Kingdom leaving the European Union, new UK immigrations rules now apply. Free Movement for European nationals ended on 31st December 2020. This...
by Kate Underwood | Dec 1, 2020 | General
Why Successful SME’s Outsource Learning and Development Guest Blog by Richard Gourlay – IMPROVE Today I am sharing a guest blog by Richard from IMPROVE, the complete Microlearning platform for SMEs. I recently became a partner of IMPROVE as a way to...
by Kate Underwood | Nov 5, 2020 | General
Hello and Welcome to Our HR Risk Quiz! Do you run a small business but think you might need a little HR support? Well, you’re in luck! Here at Kate Underwood HR & Training, we’ve created an HR Risk Quiz to help you to decide what kind of support you...
by Kate Underwood | Oct 22, 2020 | General
Following Proper Redundancy Process is Vital So, let’s start by looking at a few examples of how companies have made mistakes in the redundancy process: East London NHS Foundation Trust v O’Connor; Mr O’Connor was unfairly dismissed after accepting an...
by Kate Underwood | Sep 15, 2020 | General
What is Employee Voice 24/7? The Happiness Index have created an employee survey designed to give employees a voice during times of change. The pre-built survey is completely anonymous and allows employees to leave feedback 24/7. Whether your team work shifts and are...
by Kate Underwood | Jul 23, 2020 | General
What is Survivor Bias? During WWII, the United States Army wanted to protect their airplanes and needed to know where to put additional armour. They looked at their bombers, that were returning from the war riddled with bullet holes, and plotted points on a chart to...
by Kate Underwood | Jul 23, 2020 | General
An HR System that makes Rota Planning a Breeze! We know that organising and communicating quickly and efficiently with your team can be challenging, especially when they are spread across various locations (especially at the moment with so many people still working...
by Kate Underwood | Jun 4, 2020 | General
How to have Conversations about Mental Health in the Workplace Having conversations about mental health can feel difficult. Ali Grady, Director of The Thrive Team and Mental Health First Aid Instructor shares her tips on how to have a conversation with someone who may...
by Kate Underwood | Jun 4, 2020 | General
The Expert’s Tips on How To Prepare for an Online Interview As you can imagine, during lockdown we have seen a lot of things changing in recruitment, so you need to know how to prepare for an online interview – or even just an important meeting. The way things...
by Kate Underwood | Apr 2, 2020 | General
Guide to Working From Home As a small business owner, you may be used to working from home already, and so may your team, but these are very different circumstances that we find ourselves into the normal working from home routine. Over the past few weeks as the threat...
by Kate Underwood | Feb 20, 2020 | General
What Is (And Isn’t) Acceptable Office Etiquette? The workplace has changed almost beyond recognition over recent years. Technology, open plan working spaces and flexible work patterns are just a few factors that have had a radical impact on how our staff work...
by Kate Underwood | Jan 30, 2020 | General
What Does Veganism At Work Mean For Your Business? The month of January is becoming more commonly recognised as ‘Veganuary’ which sees people trial a vegan diet or lifestyle as part of their New Year’s resolutions. While such a spontaneous change in...
by Kate Underwood | Jan 23, 2020 | General
Presenteeism Is Already Negatively Affecting Your Business Happy New Year! We all made it through Christmas and New Year unscathed but now midwinter; the season of presenteeism is upon us. Today, we’ll be learning what the term means and making a New Year’s resolution...
by Kate Underwood | Dec 17, 2019 | General
The Rise of Napping at Work Did you know that 85% of mammal species are polyphasic sleepers? Humans are part of the minority that have just one period of sleep and one period of wakefulness during the day. Interestingly, it’s also disputable whether this is our...
by Kate Underwood | Dec 13, 2019 | General
Emotional Intelligence: What Is It And Why Does It Matter? Do you know someone who always seems to know just the right thing to say, at the right time, even in the most challenging situation? Have you ever worked for a manager who can deliver highly critical feedback...
by Kate Underwood | Nov 28, 2019 | General
What happens when annual leave and staff sickness absences collide? It’s an all too familiar situation, you have an employee about to start a period of annual leave and they fall ill. They come to you with the question: “Can I reclaim my holiday entitlement because...
by Kate Underwood | Oct 31, 2019 | General
Is It OK To Monitor Employees’ Social Media? Whether it is legal to monitor employees’ social media is a question employers often ask me, and it always brings two thoughts to my mind. Do you have good policies in place to define the use and monitoring...
by Kate Underwood | Oct 20, 2019 | General
How To Offer Employee Benefits On A Budget Running a business of any size is hard work. If you’re running a reasonably small business, it can be even harder because very often everything is down to you – the owner. You need a team behind you to lighten the load and...
by Kate Underwood | Sep 17, 2019 | General
Who Can Accompany An Employee To A Disciplinary Meeting? Who can accompany an employee to a disciplinary meeting is a question I get asked a lot! During a recent case in New Zealand, the employer advised their worker to bring a companion with him to his disciplinary...
by Kate Underwood | Aug 1, 2019 | General
Silence Can Be Golden… If You Have The Right Policies In Place Towards the end of 2017, Sainsbury’s found themselves on the wrong side of a tribunal after dismissing an employee for wearing headphones to listen to music while working. The employee worked in a...
by Kate Underwood | Jul 29, 2019 | General
Check Out These 10 Free TED Talks On Leadership As bosses, we understand just how often employees, colleagues, and partners turn to you when they have questions, concerns, or need advice. Remember; advice usually has consequences, so it’s important to give a...
by Kate Underwood | Jul 19, 2019 | General
Working Out Holiday Pay Is Easy… Right? Everyone knows that getting your employee’s Holiday Pay correct is very important. Yet it seems employees frequently feel like their bosses are getting it wrong. The lack of clarity on the subject is highlighted by the...
by Kate Underwood | Jun 27, 2019 | General
A Quick Guide To Occupational Health First things first. Occupational Health Physicians are doctors – let’s get that out of the way for starters! I admit, the fact that I have to say that may just be me showing my naivety. However, I remember when I was first...
by Kate Underwood | Jun 25, 2019 | General
What Are The Pros & Cons Of Occupational Sick Pay Schemes? All businesses experience staff absence due to ill-health from time to time. For some, it can be an occasional inconvenience. For others, it can become a headache that compromises the businesses’ ability...
by Kate Underwood | Jun 14, 2019 | General
Mental Health Awareness Training In this day and age, employers have a duty of care to look after their employees Mental Health as well as their physical safety. With new statistics being thrust into the spotlight every day, it is more important than ever to think...
by Kate Underwood | May 30, 2019 | General
6 HR Tech For Small Businesses: For Your Human Resource Needs Here are my top six ‘go-to’ pieces of HR tech for small businesses which will help with all your Human Resource needs. Of course, number one has to be an HR System… Breathe This is the HR...
by Kate Underwood | May 23, 2019 | General
I’d Like To Share 2019’s Best Workplace Technology Trends With You The development of workplace technology continues apace in 2019 and as we approach the close of the second decade of the twenty-first century, it shows no sign of slowing down! In this...
by Kate Underwood | May 9, 2019 | General
Remote Working Can Be Hugely Beneficial For Your Business The benefits to employees of remote working are often obvious. But what about the benefits to you as the business owner? Broadly speaking, there are four main areas of your business that will benefit when you...
by Kate Underwood | Mar 28, 2019 | General
Mindfulness Will Help You Become The Best Version Of Yourself! 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 –...
by Kate Underwood | Mar 21, 2019 | General
Learn To Let Your Staff Switch Off And Reap The Rewards! The majority of people feel the pressure of our ‘always-on’ culture and don’t recognise the importance of learning to switch off. Perhaps you’re a business owner who is feeling stuck in an unavoidable...
by Kate Underwood | Mar 14, 2019 | General
How Physical Exercise Helps Small Business Owners Reap Huge Rewards As part of Kate Underwood HR’s Wellbeing Month, we couldn’t really let the importance of physical exercise for small business owners pass by unmentioned. We all know that looking after...
by Kate Underwood | Mar 6, 2019 | General
What Are Your Responsibilities Surrounding Food Allergies? Here at Kate Underwood HR, we’ve decided that March is Wellbeing month in the office. Naturally, one of the things we’ve been thinking about is allergies and allergens in the workplace. In particular (with...
by Kate Underwood | Feb 21, 2019 | General
How To Improve Your Job Descriptions Job descriptions often don’t get the love and attention they deserve. When it comes to hiring a new member, job descriptions are still largely ignored by smaller organisations. In my experience, many small and medium-sized...
by Kate Underwood | Feb 7, 2019 | General
How To Avoid Costly Recruitment Mistakes Once you’ve decided now’s the right time to recruit new people into your business, how can you make sure you make the right decision? Well, you need to think carefully about how to go about it. Eliminating Recruitment Mistakes...
by Kate Underwood | Jan 31, 2019 | General
Want Your Company To Succeed? Connect Your Business Plans And Appraisals! 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 Plans And...
by Kate Underwood | Dec 13, 2018 | General
Get With E-Learning… Or Get Left Behind! 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 every role within those sectors. Even where practical skills...
by Kate Underwood | Nov 29, 2018 | General
A Quick Guide To Self-Employment & Training I thought I’d ask a self-employed friend to be this month’s guest blogger so they could share their story about their journey from redundancy into self-employment and their advice for people in the same boat. ...
by Kate Underwood | Nov 22, 2018 | General
The BreatheHR Payroll Export Tool Revolutionises Payroll Here at Kate Underwood HR & Training, I know what it feels like to be the boss of a growing small business. When it comes to the most important commodity of all – time, it often feels like sand...
by Kate Underwood | Nov 14, 2018 | General
Kate’s Guide To Celebrating Christmas And Religious Festivals Religious belief has been a protected characteristic in the workplace for a very long time. However, many businesses are still struggling to fully understand how to recognise this when it comes to...
by Kate Underwood | Nov 8, 2018 | General
What Are the Rules Surrounding Small Businesses Enforcing Training Agreements? Training Agreements can be hugely beneficial. As a small business, it is essential to keep employee turnover as low as possible as the cost to replace can be a lot more than you think....
by Kate Underwood | Oct 31, 2018 | General
Why You Should Already Be Using BreatheHR Software If you’re a regular to my blog posts, I realise I might sound a bit like a broken record on the topic of HR Systems, but I really do believe they are one of the most valuable tools for any small businesses with...
by Kate Underwood | Oct 25, 2018 | General
Do You Always Carry Out Return To Work Interviews? Cards on the 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? Maybe you see it as just another...
by Kate Underwood | Oct 18, 2018 | General
Here Are My Five 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 this brilliant and easy-to-use UK-based HR system, I’d like to share these five sensational tips...
by Kate Underwood | Oct 4, 2018 | General
The Many, Surprising Benefits of Hiring An Intern This summer, I was very fortunate 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. Not only did I gain great...
by Kate Underwood | Sep 27, 2018 | General
BreatheHR System – The UK’s Number One HR Software I very much advocate the use of an HR system to all my clients, and number one for me is the BreatheHR System for helping small business owners to escape the admin of managing employees. BreatheHR System...
by Kate Underwood | Sep 20, 2018 | General
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...
by Kate Underwood | Sep 13, 2018 | General
Your Back To School Policy Could Be Good For Your Business The Summer holidays are over, the leaves are turning beautiful golden brown colours, children have started back to school and the peak leave period is over. Surely then, it’s now safe to say that business, as...
by Kate Underwood | Sep 6, 2018 | General
Hurry! Time Is Running Out To Take Advantage Of The Childcare Voucher Scheme in April 2018, the Government Childcare Voucher Scheme extended its joining-date deadline for new members by another six months. The initiative, which allows parents to save up to £933 a year...
by Kate Underwood | Aug 30, 2018 | General
Managing Annual Leave In Your Business Running a business comes with many challenges, perhaps none more so than managing annual leave, especially balancing the demands of your business against the needs of your staff to take time off! Inevitably there will be peaks...
by Kate Underwood | Aug 23, 2018 | General
Need An HR System? Check Out BreatheHR! If you’re already a client of mine, you’ll know I love a sound HR system, and you’ll also know that I highly recommend BreatheHR. If you’re thinking about implementing up an HR System, or you’re not sure why you’d want one for...
by Kate Underwood | Aug 15, 2018 | General
Chillax! It’s National Relaxation Day I know, I know – there’s a ‘National Day’ for everything these days! Though National Donut Day may sound heaven-sent, thank goodness all these celebrations are not all Bank Holidays or nothing would get done! The History Of...
by Kate Underwood | Aug 10, 2018 | General
Dining Report: Food Safety & The FSA Survey Here at Kate Underwood HR, we now have quite a few clients on our books who are in the ‘food trade’. So, to go hand in hand her blog on food allergies, I thought I’d ask our friend Ruth from Simply Safer to be this...
by Kate Underwood | Aug 2, 2018 | General
What To Look For When Choosing A Cloud Based HR System I believe a cloud based HR system is a must for all of my clients, and all small businesses with employees. Not only do they save time, but in the new GDPR world we live in, you need to make sure your...
by Kate Underwood | Jul 26, 2018 | General
Breathe HR Just Got Even Better! Ask any of my clients and colleagues, family friends or nerdy neighbours how much I adore technology, and they will undoubtedly tell you that I have a reputation as THE geek of all HR geeks! The thing is, I fully admit being a...
by Kate Underwood | May 22, 2018 | General
How To Recognise & Deal With An Employee’s Poor Performance It can seem easier to ignore poor performance from an employee. Dealing with the situation can seem daunting to managers and sometimes it’s uncomfortable to deal with things you would rather avoid....
by Kate Underwood | May 8, 2018 | General
Important Working Time Regulations Update In March this year, I featured a guest blog ‘5 things employers should know about working time regulations and holiday’. However, a recent case in the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has prompted me to add some...
by Kate Underwood | Apr 23, 2018 | General
Employee Experience: 4 Brilliant Ways To Improve Engagement “Take care of your employees, and they will take care of your business. It’s as simple as that.” Richard Branson. We don’t hear many negative views of working for Virgin, so it’s safe to say they have...
by Kate Underwood | Mar 28, 2018 | General
What Are Your Options If An Employee Makes A Flexible Working Request? When it comes to flexible working, once known as “flexi-time”, the modern workplace has undergone momentous changes over recent years. Technological advances mean that more and more...
by Kate Underwood | Mar 13, 2018 | General
Recent surveys have shown that some business leaders in the UK are lacking key management skills essential for businesses to develop in the way they want to. Whilst leaders appear competent in technical skills, budgeting and financial management, they can sometimes...
by Kate Underwood | Feb 6, 2018 | General
Eight Ways To Avoid Wasting Time & Money When Hiring Employees When it comes to hiring employees, according to a CIPD study, it costs about £2,000 to recruit a new member of staff. Bear in mind, that’s just the recruitment process, the overall cost is a lot...
by Kate Underwood | Jan 16, 2018 | General
5 Simple Ways Small Businesses Should Prepare For GDPR Over the last week, the main topic of HR conversation has been about how small businesses need to prepare for GDPR. Some discussions have been very proactive, but there are many that believe they do not need to...
by Kate Underwood | Oct 5, 2017 | General
Contractor Or Worker? Ask These Three Questions To Find Out! In the last couple of weeks, I have performed quite a few HR Health Checks where I have had to determine whether a team member is a contractor or worker. As part of the health check, I must ascertain if the...
by Kate Underwood | Sep 28, 2017 | General
How To Stay Productive At Work In Our Always-On World If any one person had a cure-all answer to how to stay productive at work, then they’d be a millionaire. The National Office for Statistics recently calculated that productivity in Britain has lately been...
by Kate Underwood | Sep 21, 2017 | General
How To Calculate Annual Leave For Part-Time Employees One of the most commonly asked questions, when I am doing my HR Health Check, is “How to calculate annual leave for part-time employees?” Although employers are giving their employees holidays there are...
by Kate Underwood | Aug 26, 2017 | General
Do You Have A Pets At Work Policy? We all know that Britain is known for its love of pets but what are the practicalities of having a Pets at Work Policy in your workplace? You might have seen a few pictures of my cat (and IT Manager), Jess helping me out. Days like...
by Kate Underwood | Jul 27, 2017 | General
Employment Tribunal Fees Deemed Unlawful: What Now For Small Businesses? Yesterday it was announced that Employment Tribunals Fees were unlawful and are to be abolished. What Does This Mean For The Government? In an unprecedented move, and a two year investigation,...
by Kate Underwood | Jul 5, 2017 | General
Making Tough Redundancy Decisions In today’s working life as an employee, people will have an average of 10 jobs in their lifetime. Therefore, working in HR is not always pink and fluffy. Unfortunately, sometimes, you have to be confident and ruthless enough to...
by Kate Underwood | Jun 21, 2017 | General
What Steps Should You Take To Keep Your Employees Cool? English weather is joked about all around the world and perhaps deservedly so. However, we do experience the occasional heatwave, and with climate change, just like sea-levels, their frequency is on the rise. So,...
by Kate Underwood | May 21, 2017 | General
Maternity Leave: Your Options As An Employer When small businesses on an employee, bosses accept there will be challenging times ahead. You must change your way whole way of thinking, prepare for short-term absences and cover holidays; but nothing will prepare for the...
by Kate Underwood | Apr 13, 2017 | General
These Benefits Of E-Learning Will Keep Your Small Business Compliant One of the common issues that I often come across with small businesses is trying to find a cost-effective way to ensure that their team is compliant in statutory training. To combat this, I have...
by Kate Underwood | Mar 14, 2017 | General
What Is A Virtual HR Director? And Why Do You Need One Today? As a small business owner, you’re probably under the impression that you don’t need an HR department or even a Virtual HR Director. If you head up a newly-formed Startup or only have a few...
by Kate Underwood | Mar 8, 2017 | General
How Do You The Best Out Of Your Probationary Period? I often get asked how long a probationary period should be. Recruiting the right candidate is usually a tricky task but employees do have tools to make sure you have made the right decision. If you have a constant...
by Kate Underwood | Feb 17, 2017 | General
Are You Paying Your Employees The National Living Wage? This week, the news has highlighted some well-known companies not paying their employees the legal minimum. Companies as large as Debenhams, Subway and Lloyds Pharmacy have not been paying their employees the...
by Kate Underwood | Jan 27, 2017 | General
How To Support An Employee Going Through Divorce Employees from time to time will have some personal issues that will affect them. As an employer, you need to decide how much support you want to give to them. Today, we’re going to be looking at an all too common...
by Kate Underwood | Dec 31, 2016 | General
How Do You Achieve Perfect Work-Life Balance? How to achieve the best work-life balance is, of course, one of the eternal questions and one that may remain elusive for decades to come. As 2016 draws to a close, I started to consider starting my own business and found...
by Kate Underwood | Dec 9, 2016 | General
How To Prepare For Your First-Ever Employee A few weeks ago, CharlieHR tweeted asking for guest bloggers and, since I’m trying to do more blogging, I thought I would give it a try. It was tough choosing a topic but finally found one that would be useful, so...
by Kate Underwood | Dec 7, 2016 | General
All Yule Need To Know About Surviving Christmas At The Office! Christmas at the office can be almost as bad as going home to visit the family. For some, it’s a time of spreading joy, love and peace to all men, for others it’s filled with useless gifts, bad...
by Kate Underwood | Dec 5, 2016 | General
A Refreshing Alternative To Going To Court by Sarah French Working within the Human Resources industry means no day or case is ever the same. In this way, HR can be a little bit like family law lawyers. As HR professionals, we often become the confidant to our...
by Kate Underwood | Nov 28, 2016 | General
4 Ways Small Businesses Can Manage Employee Holidays Over the last few years, new events such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday have become popular in the UK as employee holidays. From a business perspective, you need to make sure you can deal with holiday requests on...
by Kate Underwood | Nov 8, 2016 | General
Are Verbal Offers Of Employment Contractual Or Not?”Verbal offers are not worth the paper they’re not written on!”In today’s blog, we’re going to be asking whether verbal offers of employment are legal. Due to the internet, the amount of...
by Kate Underwood | Nov 8, 2016 | General
The 2017 Legislation Update: Changes To The Childcare Voucher Scheme As you may or may not be aware, there are quite a lot of legislation changes coming in 2017. The one we’re going to be taking a look at today is the Childcare Voucher Scheme. I’ll begin...
by Kate Underwood | Oct 25, 2016 | General
The Workplace Pension: 4 Important Things You Don’t Get Told Have you seen the workplace pension advert on TV? The one with the big fluffy purple monster talking about how employers have to follow new pension regulations and the new workplace pension scheme?...
by Kate Underwood | Oct 10, 2016 | General
How To Offer Benefits To Stay Competitive (Without Breaking The Bank) National Minimum Wage increased on the 1st of October, and in April 2017, the National Living wage will also rise again. So, how does a small business remain competitive and keep their talent...
by Kate Underwood | Sep 30, 2016 | General
Do You Have Fair Process & Procedures? When it comes to fair process and procedures, I’m quite often asked: “Is that really necessary?” My response is always something along the lines of “Well, if you were in that situation, how would you...
by Kate Underwood | Aug 4, 2016 | General
5 Steps To Check Your Job Applicant’s Right To Work In The UK Hiring a new team member is exciting, but it comes with legal responsibilities. One of the biggest? Ensuring every employee, without exception, has the right to work in the UK. Skipping this step—or...
by Kate Underwood | May 2, 2016 | General
Harness HR Technologies Now… Or Get Left Behind Just because you’re a small business does not mean you can’t harness the same HR Technologies as the large corporates. Just to let you into a secret, you don’t have to have deal with Excel...
by Kate Underwood | Feb 28, 2016 | General
What Is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)? Corporate responsibility is sometimes known as corporate social responsibility, or CSR for short. It is defined as “the responsibility of an organisation for the impacts of its decisions on society and the...
by Kate Underwood | Feb 15, 2016 | General
Do You Need To Issue A Contract Of Employment? I wish there were an easy, yes or no answer to this question, but like everything in life, the devil is in the details. With all the red tape nowadays it can get very confusing whether someone is an employee or a...
by Kate Underwood | Feb 7, 2016 | General
Why A Social Media Policy Is A Must For Your Small Business Hands up who has a smartphone! Of course you do – it’s the twenty-first century! We live in a world where a whopping “77% of consumers say they are more likely to buy from a brand they...
by Kate Underwood | Jul 5, 2015 | General
How To Deal With Employee Sickness I have just spent some time reading a few great articles around employee sickness and how much it costs small businesses. During my time, I have heard a multitude of excuses as for why someone cannot come into work, some obviously...
