Aug 19, 2019 | HR, Management, Tips
The school summer holidays may be nearing an end but for those of us without kids, September marks the start of the more affordable holiday period. With just a couple of weeks to go its time to start thinking about your exit strategy to do list.
Last on the list will be your email out of office. But what will you go with? The standard “I’m away until…” or something little more adventurous?
Waste no more time thinking about it and simply copy and paste one of these:
The Classic
Hi,
Thanks for your email. I’m currently out of the office until [date] and will have no access to my emails.
If the matter is urgent, please contact my colleague NAME at EMAIL. Alternatively, I’ll be in touch upon my return.
Many Thanks
NAME
The Smart Casual
Hi!
Thanks for your email. I’m out of the office until [date] relaxing in the sun without a care in the world.
I’ll be back to you upon my return but if it can’t wait, feel free to contact NAME at EMAIL.
Regards
NAME
The Smart Ass
I’m on holiday! Outlook has kindly agreed to tell everyone how happy I am to be away, lying on a beach far away from my emails.
Future me will deal with my bulging inbox on the DATE however, if you need help sooner than that please contact NAME at EMAIL.
I hope you have a great week at work!
NAME
The Control Freak
Thanks for your email. I’m out of the office on holiday, due back on DATE however, I will have limited access to my emails and will endeavour to help from afar.
If however, you require urgent assistance, please contact NAME at EMAIL.
Regards
NAME
The Gamer
Thanks for your email. Tomb Raider is out tomorrow. By total coincidence I’m away for a week. I’ve told HR I’ll be back on DATE but that entirely depends on my ability to stop the Mayan apocalypse.
If your need is urgent, you can contact NAME at EMAIL while I’m busy defending humanity.
Regards
NAME
Whatever you go with, ensure you give people alternatives way of getting in touch with your business while you’re away. Wherever possible state a return date however, its good practise to manage expectations by informing people of your planned holiday ahead of time.
By all means have a bit of fun with it however, make sure you won’t get into trouble!
Enjoy your holiday.
Our expert IT recruitment consultants are here to take the pressure off you when recruiting someone new, permanent or contract. We liaise with candidates with the utmost care to ensure that their candidate experience is a positive one. Call us on 0207 788 6600 and let us help you Recruit Someone Worth Recruiting.
Aug 14, 2019 | HR, Management
One-third of workers said they have left a job because the company didn’t offer flexible work opportunities like working from home and flexible scheduling, according to FlexJobs’ annual survey released Wednesday. Currently, 16% of employees said they are searching for a new job because of flexibility issues.
The report surveyed more than 7,300 employees to determine how work flexibility affects career decisions. The majority (80%) of employees admitted that they would be more loyal to their employers if they had flexible work options. And, more than half (52%) of respondents said they have tried to negotiate flexible work arrangements with their companies, the report found.
“In a tight labour market, companies cannot afford to ignore the value employees place on having flexible work options, but leaders also can’t dismiss the very real bottom-line impact offering flexibility has on their employees’ productivity and retention rates,” Sara Sutton, founder and CEO of FlexJobs, said in a press release. “The flexible job market is currently very robust, so flexible job seekers are also feeling empowered to seek jobs that are more compatible with their life. In fact, 80% of job seekers say they are confident in their flexible job prospects.”
Every year since the report was first conducted in 2013, the following four factors have always been reported as the top reasons people seek flexible work:
– Work-life balance (75%)
– Family (45%)
– Time savings (42%)
– Commute stress (41%)
Some 65% of workers said they are more productive working outside of a traditional office environment, the report found. They cited fewer distractions (74%), fewer interruptions from colleagues (72%), reduced stress from commuting (70%, and minimal office politics (64%) as their main reasons.
A lack of flexible work options also can have negative side effects on an employee’s physical and mental health, which is why remote work and flexible schedules are becoming the new normal for global businesses.
The majority (78%) of employees said that having a flexible job would allow them to live a healthier life, and 86% said they would be far less stressed, the report found.
Nearly half (44%) of respondents said a flexible job would spark a “huge improvement” in their quality of life, with 53% saying it would have a “positive impact.”
(Article Courtesy of TechRepublic)
Our expert IT recruitment consultants are here to take the pressure off you when recruiting someone new, permanent or contract. We liaise with candidates with the utmost care to ensure that their candidate experience is a positive one. Call us on 0207 788 6600 and let us help you Recruit Someone Worth Recruiting.
Jul 23, 2019 | HR, Management
(1 min read)
A recent government survey reports nearly three quarters of Small to Medium Sized Enterprises (SME) plan to attack their markets prioritising growth and service improvement with new business sales, staff up-skilling, process improvement and recruitment high on the agenda.
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy’s survey focused on SME growth plans and the obstacles they expect to face.
New Business
71% of companies said they planned to grow sales while nearly half cited market competition as their main problem. This might indicate reduced demand and overcapacity in some sectors which means competitive edge must be the priority to sell more effectively and retain business.
Sales and Marketing success relies on a robust product/service proposition, a structured engagement and delivery process and of course the right talent to make it all work.
Before rushing out to direct or find new staff consider reviewing and possibly redefining the company business plan and strategy. What relevance does your product/service range have? Why do people buy from you and how are they behaving? What do you do differently and why does that matter? Who are your competitors and what are they doing? Where do you stand in terms of price and quality? What opportunities are out there? With all of that in mind, what do you want?
In short, reassess the market proposition and strategy to ensure your staff are well placed to achieve your goals. You’ll also stand a much better chance of securing quality talent with a confident, inspirational and well thought out strategy.
Up-Skilling, Training and Business Improvement
53% said that increasing the workforce was a priority while 61% intend on up-skilling existing staff over the next three years. Great news!
Given the economic climate and the risks associated with bad hires, it’s well worth taking the time to properly map out business critical requirements before investing in staff or training. Successful recruiting requires two main elements. A thorough, clearly defined and realistic job description and an equally robust interview and evaluation process. Hiring Managers recruiting on assumption, speculation and emotions frequently make poor selection decisions so, decide to invest time in fully preparing to recruit.
Recruiting quality staff is challenging but keeping them can be even more so. Investing in training is a great way to motivate, reward and demonstrate you value their contribution – three key elements in job satisfaction. Ensure that your training choices are in line with the company’s needs and critically, invest time into an implementation strategy. Consider the ‘use it or lose it’ philosophy. So much training knowledge is wasted because business leaders fail to facilitate opportunities to practically use and share new concepts, skills and techniques. Instead, get involved and see staff training as an opportunity for your business to improve and evolve.
Brexit Smexit
Interestingly, 71% of business leaders don’t consider Brexit to be a threat contradicting media scaremongers hell bent on convincing the country otherwise. Sure, people are concerned but what can they really do about consequences of exiting the EU? If the economy contracts and customer demand falls inevitable casualties will ensue however, you can safely predict they will be the hesitant MDs running shaky businesses with poor investment, mediocre products or services and low quality staff believing they can simply cut costs and weather the storm.
Whatever the future may have in store it would seem optimism is rife among the SME community despite the so-called economic uncertainty. In fact, the ‘glass half full’ perspective says that uncertainty doesn’t have to spell bad times. In fact, the very nature of uncertainty means things could well be fine! Either way, it’s business as usual for us all.
Good Hunting.
Jul 23, 2019 | HR, Management
(30 sec read)
An Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) has ruled that staff covertly recording conversations spoken during meetings at work may not always be considered as gross misconduct. In fact, the tribunal stated that it is acceptable in specific cases when, for example, an employee may be concerned about misrepresentation.
In this case, Tatiana Stockman, former employee of Phoenix House charity, believed she was unfairly dismissed following an irreconcilable disagreement with her manager. During the tribunal, Stockman admitted to recording private meetings at work. In response, Phoenix House’s legal team argued that recording workplace meetings without consent was ten demount to gross misconduct inferring that Stockman’s claim for unfair dismissal should be thrown out.
Instead, the EAT sided with Stockman and upheld the tribunal’s ruling on the grounds that Stockman’s motivations for recording the meeting were understandable and needed to be taken into account.
This case sets an interesting precedent for staff and managers everywhere. With most people owning smart phones with recording features, there can be no doubt similar cases will continue to arise.
Jul 1, 2019 | HR, Management
(2 min read)
Managers are paid to lead, organise and motivate. Most have successfully risen through the ranks before being rewarded with management opportunities to inspire others to follow in their glory. However, despite their professional strengths they are unlikely to have ever received formal training on how to interview and recruit someone.
Business leaders far and wide routinely overlook this key management skill rarely giving a thought to the risks and consequences that lay in wait should things go wrong, which they often do.
Here are 5 of the biggest risks your company faces without trained Hiring Managers:
Business Critical Vacancies
By far, the number one reason for costly selection mistakes or outright recruitment failure is a poorly executed recruitment process. From the very start, Hiring Managers need to know how to identify a business critical need to justify personnel investment. It’s amazing how many people are hired on a whim without any meaningful evidence they were ever needed in the first place.
Focus on the business critical need. It will dictate the role’s objectives which in turn highlight the essential skills, experiences and personality traits needed from someone to deliver. If the role falls outside of the Hiring Manager’s experience, do not allow them to guess. Hire a suitable consultant to map the vacancy first. Now armed with a job specification aligned with the business’s needs, the Hiring Manager is now ready to interview candidates.
Do not allow them to recruit on a hunch. If they fail to properly plan, expect to lose £thousands in bad decisions, lost time, recruitment fees and salaries.
Sexism
You would be amazed to know how many Hiring Managers ask sexist questions, often without realising it’s wrong. “What’s more important, career or family?” “Are you married?” “How do you feel about using your womanly charms with clients?” Aside from blatant prejudice, often the problem lies in dominant commercial thinking, putting the needs of the company ahead of the person. You don’t have to be a man to be sexist either! Women can be just as bad, be it with men or falsely believing their gender gives them the right to ask other women inappropriate questions.
Be sure your Hiring Managers have a well thought out interview plan and avoid discrimination related questions at all costs or suffer the embarrassing internal and public consequences. It’s only a tweet away!
Halo effect
A classic recruitment selection scenario costing companies all over the UK £millions every year. Put simply, it’s where an untrained Hiring Manager hits it off with a candidate after discovering how much they share in common. Blinded by feelings, they select the candidate above other more qualified people. The halo effect causes emotional decision making and often results in poor selection choices. Stick to the facts and consider social matching to be a bonus, not a priority.
Ageism
Let’s be clear – Despite staggering frequency, its not OK to ask someone how old they are or base selection decisions on age. No exceptions. Contrary to popular assumption, ageism can occur at any time of life depending on the scenario. In short, if a Hiring Manager declines a candidate because of their age, its illegal. Anyone suspecting ageism can pursue a claim through the courts. Win or lose, the process may tarnish your business with an unwanted reputation for discrimination. Judge people on their professional suitability and recruit accordingly. You might be surprised what advantages you can gain from a more diverse team offering wider ranges of experience, learning opportunities and cultural influence.
Ego Threat
Good Managers want the best team even if some of the superstars perform better than the Manager themselves ever did. Really good Managers are confident in their ability to get the best out of people and enjoy helping them develop and progress even if that means reporting to them one day. However, weak Managers, without adequate training, are often guilty of selecting equally weak candidates to reinforce their position in the company. These Managers tend to have inflated egos and despite their denials, prefer agreeable staff. Commercially, this is holding your business back stifling innovation and causing toxic environments for anyone with ambition. A sure-fire way to lose talent and market share to more progressive, open minded competitors.
This little list of five is far from exhaustive and while serious they are all easy to manage out of your business. Taking the time to properly address them with preventative measures and training will save you £thousands every year and ensure your business if protected from legal action and negative PR.
Our expert IT recruitment consultants are here to take the pressure off you when recruiting someone new, permanent or contract. We liaise with candidates with the utmost care to ensure that their candidate experience is a positive one. Call us on 0207 788 6600 and let us help you Recruit Someone Worth Recruiting.
Jun 25, 2019 | HR, Management
(1 min read)
Are you sitting comfortably?
You probably won’t be after reading these crazy but true short recruitment stories from our experiences with candidates and employers.
Without further waffle, let us begin…
Life in the fast lane
Barbara was cutting it fine. Racing along in the outside lane she had just 20 minutes to reach a busy M4 service station where she due to meet an IT Director for an off site interview. SatNav was adamant she’d make it but traffic was quite heavy. Suddenly, a powerful BMW roared close behind her and flashed to signal her out of the way. The two inner lanes were packed with cars and lorries but the BMW driver didn’t care and continued to flash driving closer and closer, bumper to bumper. After a mile of hostility, Barbara became increasingly nervous and slowed down. This decision enraged the BMW driver into a wild frenzy aggressively gesturing and visibly shouting at her. Eventually, there was a space to move over. The BMW driver roared past still yelling and shaking his fist.
15 minutes later, Barbara walked into the service station restaurant where, you guessed it, Mr BMW was sat there waiting for her. Red face awkward!
What did he just say?
One hot summers day in central London an up and coming Support Engineer was being telephone interviewed for position with a major competitor. He really wanted this job and was determined to give it his all. Having just selected an ideal sun-drenched bench on the edge of Hyde Park his phone rang as expected. After 15 mins the call was going really well. The interviewer had just started to explain why they were recruiting when she was interrupted with “Hey! You can !@&% Off!” before the phone went dead. Appalled, she immediately called him back and left an angry message complaining about his language, unprofessional attitude and unacceptable sense of humour believing this to be a bad competitor joke.
Actually, the poor candidate had suffered an opportunistic robbery having his phone snatched from his hand mid conversation by a charming, eloquent thief.
Licky Licky
This is gross. An IT Manager was patiently waiting in the reception of a major bank’s head office ahead of an interview. With a ping, the lift doors opened revealing the Head of HR. Walking directly towards the reception seating area she made eye contact with the IT Manager, smiled and extended a hand. The IT Manager arose, smiled back, licked his hand and gripped hers. Shocked and still moist with his saliva she starred at him for a few seconds in utter disbelief and led him to the interview secretly desperate to find a sink. He did not get the job.
Who does that!?
Do you come here often?
Every woman attends an interview to both get a job and find love. At least, that’s what some people seem to think! Recently, a senior software developer attended a management interview with a London marketing agency. After several minutes in reception she noticed a steady parade of men passing by seemingly without purpose making eye contact and grinning. Suddenly a tall man made his way towards her. Assuming he was the interviewer she stood up, collected her bag and smiled.
“Hi. I don’t make a habit of this but I noticed you sat out here and thought I’d move to make your acquaintance. I hear you’re a developer? You’re a rare breed. Love a lady coder.”
She left. He resigned. Karma restored.
It just slipped out
The interview was going really well. It had only been an hour and yet the interviewer and candidate were getting on like they’d been friends for years. Having already dealt with all the job related questions the pair were happily exchanging amusing anecdotes. The last story was so funny that the candidate fell apart laughing. The interviewer followed up with an equally amusing comment resulting in laughter so hard that the candidate’s bowels betrayed her and released a loud, short bottom burp. How do you recover from that!? It was going so well!
People are people and as such will always be inappropriate and unpredictable. We look forward to the next exciting episode of “Crazy but True!”
Our expert IT recruitment consultants are here to take the pressure off you when recruiting someone new, permanent or contract. We liaise with candidates with the utmost care to ensure that their candidate experience is a positive one. Call us on 0207 788 6600 and let us help you Recruit Someone Worth Recruiting.
May 29, 2019 | HR, IT, Management
There’s a lot of confusion right now about IR35; what it is, why it’s changing and what those changes will mean for the millions of self-employed contract workers currently operating in the UK.
Although many of the proposed changes to IR35 legislation are not yet set in stone, we have put together some helpful information to try and make sense of the latest developments and how they might affect you:
What is IR35?
IR35 is a piece of legislation that was introduced in 2000 to ensure the correct national insurance and income tax was paid by self-employed contractors. IR35 prevents tax avoidance, stopping workers who seek to hide their employment status from HMRC by supplying services to clients via an intermediary – a practice known as ‘disguised employment’.
What’s new with IR35?
In 2017 in the public sector, the onus shifted from worker to employer; employers became responsible for determining the correct tax status of their workers and took on the associated tax risks. From April 2020, it is expected that medium and large-sized businesses in the private sector will face the same shift in responsibility.
Back in March, the Government began an open consultation on the implementation of reforms to the off-payroll working rules from April 2020. The consultation asks for views from all sectors on subjects that include;
– the scope of the reform and impact on non-corporate engagers
– information requirements for engagers, fee-payers, and personal service companies
– addressing status determination disagreements
The consultation closed on 28th May 2019.
We’re not in Kansas anymore
There are many who see these changes as far more than a reform of current rules, calling it a ‘stealth-tax’ and alleging that the consultation seeks to mislead. Adrian Marlowe, chairman of the Association of Recruitment Consultancies (ARC), said to onrec; “…the proposals go significantly beyond compliance with the original IR35 rules… The device used is therefore at best a brand new tax burden, and at worst a new tax altogether.”
A lot of the disagreement stems from the new rule which states that payments to contractors must not include either employer’s NI at 13.8% or an Apprenticeship Levy which, at 0.5%, would mean each contract becomes 14.3% more costly to the company engaging a contractor.
What do these changes mean for you?
The anticipated changes to IR35 from April 2020 will mainly affect the businesses who receive contract services, rather than the workers themselves. However, it would be foolhardy to assume these effects will not trickle down and be felt by all.
Uncertainty surrounding the issue will likely cause companies to think twice before engaging new individuals through personal service companies (PSCs) so, if you are unsure about your status, you can use the HMRC employment status checker to confirm. Once you know where you stand, you will be better prepared to discuss reservations from potential clients.
With regard to the potential 14.3% increase in cost to engage, it is highly likely that all contracts will be renegotiated. Unfortunately, these changes seem set to be costly for both sides.
Our expert IT recruitment consultants are here to take the pressure off you when recruiting someone new, permanent or contract. We liaise with candidates with the utmost care to ensure that their candidate experience is a positive one. Call us on 0207 788 6600 and let us help you Recruit Someone Worth Recruiting.
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