Recruiting Staff? Got £30,000 handy?

21 / 03 / 2014

If you want to succeed in business there’s a magic formula. You have to drive sales up and manage costs tightly so they stay down. There’s not much more to it than that, although volumes have been written about how to achieve both parts of the formula. The costs of employing people is very high so if you re to...

Plan ahead: The World Cup is coming!

19 / 03 / 2014

Over the past few weeks we have marveled at the ability of individuals to somersault on the ice, and ski at great speeds down icy slopes. As the memory of the Winter Olympics fades it is time to turn our thoughts to another great sporting event of 2014 – the World Cup. Although the World Cup is still three months...

Business and Budgets

17 / 03 / 2014

This week we’ll learn what the Chancellor’s budget contains. Mr Osborne like many before him always says that he’s going to help business. (I have yet to hear a Chancellor say that he plans to make life even more difficult for businesses). Businesses have a variety of needs. From an HR point of view there are several areas were I’d...

Self-Employed or Employees? A costly mistake for Companies

14 / 03 / 2014

Many companies that use self-employed contractors may have one or two for whom they are the only client. We come across the situation where the contractor works five days a week for the same company and has done so for years in some cases, he has no other clients, uses the company’s tools and equipment and with a high ‘retainer’...

How to Shift Your Team Members’ Motivation

12 / 03 / 2014

I have always been rather curious when someone, usually a manager, says that a member of their team is not motivated. I’m curious because I don’t believe that this is possible, and the manager is deluding themselves with what might seem like a plausible excuse for the poor performance of someone they are responsible for. The reason I say that...