I’m happy paying for Premium WordPress plugins – you should be too!

Premium WordPress plugins are often overlooked in preference to free plugins. This might not be good for your website.

Your premium plugins needn’t cost much, but could give you a better and safer solution.

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I’m happy paying for Premium WordPress plugins – you should be too! is another great post from: DMJ Computer Services

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Flexing to keep your best employees & attract more applicants

If you want to attract and retain top quality staff – and who doesn’t? –  maybe it’s time to consider some different approaches.  For instance, is the best way to get things done really via a routine of nine-to-five every day in a single place of work?  And is there more you could do to get the very best out of your people by helping them create a happy and healthy work-life balance?


The option to work flexibly is consistently shown in research as one of the most prized benefits.  It’s also the one that’s most likely to retain and motivate existing staff.  Gradually, the focus is beginning to shift away from traditional working patterns, in response to UK population trends like the rising number of working mothers in the UK, the increase in pension age, the rapidly ageing population – and the emergence of the so-called ‘sandwich generation’ where individuals are called upon to care for both their children and elderly relatives.  Modern service-based jobs are significantly different to the manufacturing jobs of the past, technology has improved and become widely available and people work differently. 

So the idea is starting to take root that there’s a connection between supporting employees’ work/life balance and retaining and attracting them, with recent research showing:
·         53% of employees would rather have flexible working over a 5% salary increase.  

 

·         81% look for flexible working options before joining a company, way beyond any other typical benefit such as an enhanced pension scheme (35%), private healthcare insurance (28%) or commission (28%).  Prioritising flexible working when looking for a new role is particularly true amongst parents of young children and with adult dependants.

 

·         63% wanted flexible start and finish times.

 

·         SME employers told a recent study that their major areas of focus in 2017 to reduce the likelihood of having to recruit new people to replace those who’ve left will be employees’ work/life balance (35 per cent) and offering more flexible working practices (21 per cent). 

Interestingly, the most significant benefit for businesses embracing flexible working is greater productivity. In a recent study 92% of employers believed that those who work flexibly are just as, if not more, productive than those who work regular hours. 
 
The other benefits cited were attracting and retaining top talent, a better work-life balance and happier employees. A report by Vodafone showed profits increased thanks to the practice, while Inc. reported that stress increased without flexible working, which in turn reduces profitability.  

 

Flexible working has a wide number of permutations: flexi-hours, term-time working, annual hour working, job-sharing, 9-day fortnight, 4.5-day weeks, on-call working, zero-hours contracts. 

For any of them to work, the business will need to “trust its employees to take accountability of their own workload and time management to get things done, whether this is at 9am in the office or 9pm at home. If businesses cannot trust their employees to work flexibly then surely they cannot trust them with anything else such as confidential business information and financial details? And if businesses do not trust their employees, then it begs the question of why they hired them in the first place,” says Peter Cheese, CIPD Chief Executive.

 

For expert advice on creating flexible working arrangements that work for both your business and your employees, and staying within the law if you have a flexible working request, contact The Human Resource today on 07884 475303.

 

 

 

 

 

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Accountants call on Chancellor to help businesses

Word Worker press release A Swindon accountancy firm is calling on the Chancellor to use his Autumn Statement to give businesses a break. Chancellor Phillip Hammond will deliver his Autumn Statement in Parliament on November 23. It will be his first major announcement since taking on the role and since the Brexit vote in June. […]

The post Accountants call on Chancellor to help businesses appeared first on Word Worker – making words work for your business.

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Help! All My Staff Want Time Off Over Christmas!

 
So we’re quickly approaching the festive season, and everything’s going well in your business. You’ve got robust plans in place so you’re in the best possible position for maximising your profits, and you’re feeling pretty organised and in control. All of a sudden though, you’ve got a big issue on your hands. Your staff all want time off. Understandably, they want to enjoy the festivities, maybe travel long distances to visit relatives. You hadn’t planned for this though, and you’re now in a bit of a pickle.  

What should you do, and how should you approach this challenge without landing yourself in a nightmare situation?

Before we get into anything else, let’s consider where you stand in the eyes of the law. Thankfully, this is pretty clear-cut. As an employer, you have the right to determine when your staff take their leave. You can decide that you won’t accept leave requests during busier periods, including Christmas, or if it means too many people would be off at once.  So you aren’t obliged to give your workers the time off that they want.

Still though, this doesn’t mean that you should announce that everyone’s presence is required, and accept no more comments or questions on the matter. This approach will no doubt cause a great deal of unrest, and do you no favours.

The best course of action here is to ensure that you’re being fair and consistent. If everyone is being treated the same, then it’s more likely that they’ll accept that you can’t necessarily accommodate all requests.

You may decide to let your staff decide between taking holiday over Christmas or New Year, but not both. If you can’t grant leave for everyone, then you could let those who missed out that they’ll have priority when it comes to booking in their dates for 2017. Be firm, but reasonable, and never forget that your staff are simply human beings who probably want to enjoy some time putting their feet up with their families.

And on a final note, provided work can be done as usual you may want to consider offering your staff the option to work from home. If you can still meet your operational requirements, then this could prove to be a good compromise.

By now, you probably recognise that conflict over holiday requests during the Christmas period could have largely been avoided if you’d only anticipated these issues in advance. It’s much easier to manage holiday requests if you’re specific with people well in advance about requests you can accept and those you can’t – and why! Maybe this is a wake-up call to get your ducks in a row for the year ahead.

If you want to speak with an expert about how to manage your HR planning and communicate your policies, get in touch with us at The Human Resource today on [email protected]. We’ll have an initial no-obligation chat about your circumstances, and we’ll establish if we’re a good fit to work together. 

Download our free E-book on managing holiday requests here.

 

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Ahead on the block

Last week I told you I was going to use Tim Urban’s blog “100 blocks a day” to plan my week (waitbywhy.com).  Tim has  a lot of interesting things to say about the human’s ability to procrastinate despite knowing that our time on the planet is finite.    To plan Day 1 and the week ahead, I refreshed my to do list for next few weeks.  I have recently started using Magdalena Bak-Maier’s grid system of four quadrants; the page is split horizontally between life and work, and vertically between the

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East Midlands landlords’ association links with tenant screening service

Word Worker press release: The country’s oldest landlords’ association has teamed up with a tenant screening company to offer a new vetting service to its members. Nottingham-based EMPO – East Midlands Property Owners association – is partnering with Tenant Screening to encourage its members and the region’s landlords to vet tenants before renting their properties. […]

The post East Midlands landlords’ association links with tenant screening service appeared first on Word Worker – making words work for your business.

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New role for experienced Swindon recruiter

Word Worker press release: Swindon recruitment company Field has promoted Andrea Saunders to a new role, as part of its expansion plans. Andrea joined the Commercial Road-based company a year ago as an account manager, to head the team sourcing temporary staff for one of its larger clients, Nationwide. Because of an expansion of the […]

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Business owners go on air to talk about life as entrepreneurs

Word Worker press release A popular Cirencester business networking group hit the airways when some of its members teamed up for a show broadcast on local Corinium Radio. Virginia Stourton, founder of the networking group Rekindle the Spirit, is also a director of the community radio station. During the group’s monthly meeting she donned her […]

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