Why Employers Should Look to Soft Skills Over Technical Skills

Research has revealed that almost half of UK companies are finding it a challenge to source skilled workers. Because of this, just over 20 per cent are seeking out candidates with outstanding soft skills so they can work on honing the necessary technical skills on the job.

The research, conducted by Robert Half, shows the soft skills that UK business leaders are willing to prioritise. These include openness to new ideas, willingness to accept change and good communication abilities. Team spirit and flexibility also rank as important to employers.

It is vital in this fast-moving digital-led age of work that employees have the skills to adapt to change. Employers are therefore keen to source workers with the ability to keep pace.

Matt Weston is UK managing director of Robert Half. He says, ‘It’s no longer enough to simply execute on the day-to-day tasks. Being adaptable, collaborative and open to innovation and change are vital employee characteristics for modern organisations. As the skills shortage continues to tighten, businesses looking to tap into a wider talent pool need to consider the long-term value a candidate’s attitude and soft skills can bring to a role.’

Matt says that this means employers need to look beyond the qualifications listed on a CV. Candidates who make a point of showcasing their soft skills on paper should be put at the top of the pile.

Why are soft skills important in the workplace?

Soft skills are sometimes referred to as transferable skills. They are not specialised or technical but more in line with the personality of an employee. Soft skills include teamwork, problem solving and communication.

Soft skills hinge on attitude and are personality-driven. For this reason it is vital to consider soft skills when taking on a new member of staff. Even the skill of being able to demonstrate soft skills is something important to look for.

Soft skills are important because your staff represent you in front of your clients. Communication and attitude are therefore vital. In addition to this, soft skills are important when it comes to interactions between colleagues. How do your people work together? What’s their approach to teamwork? To sharing knowledge? A healthy and productive working environment hinges on soft skills.

So, if you are finding it a challenge to source new talent with the right technical skills, instead look more to their soft skills. Because if you can bag a great attitude and approach, making up the technical skills with training should come easy.

Five Days Paid Leave for Working Carers Could be on the Cards

The case for five day’s statutory paid leave for carers is being discussed by the government. This is good news for everyone, including employees and employers.

The government has set up a working group comprised of representatives from various departments and the Treasury to look into the implications of giving carers certain employment rights.

Around one in nine UK workers find themselves juggling caring responsibilities with paid work and a third of working age carers hold down full time jobs. One in six carers had at some point given up their jobs in favour of dedicating their time to their caring duties, and almost three million reduced their working hours to allow sufficient time for caring responsibilities. These are significant figures.

Recommendation to revise the Flexible Working Regulations

It has been recommended that the Flexible Working Regulations 2014 should be revised so that the right to flexible working is in place starting from an employee’s first day in the job. This right currently only applies to those with 26 weeks’ of continuous employment.

The government has set up a taskforce to investigate how flexible working could be promoted, taking into consideration the Prime Minister’s call for businesses to advertise all jobs as flexible from the outset, unless genuine commercial reasons exist not to. This would mean a shift of responsibility from the employee requesting flexible working, to the business offering it as standard.

Raman Sankaran is chief commercial officer at health insurance provider Simplyhealth. He has said that there is a strong business, economic and social imperative to get support for working carers right.

“The government has identified the need to increase the status of carers, sharing its vision for them to receive the same recognition in the workforce as parents.

However, for any attempt to raise awareness of the challenges facing working carers to initiate a permanent change in workplace culture, this must be underpinned by the introduction of practical measures and working practices that can help alleviate the pressures they face on a daily basis,” he said.

As an employer, you may be waiting with anticipation to learn whether there will be any new legislation introduced covering flexible working for carers. You may however decide that your workers are too valuable to you to wait, and perhaps consider offering flexibility to those members of staff who have caring responsibilities. It is of course currently up to you, but in the name of goodwill and staff morale, it may be something to think about. You could always discuss it with your local bookkeepers if you have any concerns.

How to Deal with a Summer Heatwave

The summer heatwave of 2018 has hit the headlines for so many reasons. It is perhaps the fact that is has been so prolonged that has taken us all by surprise, not least employers who have to deal with cries of ‘it’s too hot to work’ from their staff.

So, is there actually a temperature limit when it comes to working conditions? And can employees officially cry off when the mercury rises to a certain point? A summer heatwave can be a bone of contention for any employer, so let’s take a look at some of the most common issues that arise when things really start to hot up in the workplace.

Is there a maximum working temperature?

There is a benchmark that suggests people work best in a temperature range of between 16 and 24 degrees Celsius. It may however come as a surprise to many employees that there is in actual fact no fixed minimum or maximum temperature limit for the workplace. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) does state that the working temperature should be ‘reasonable’ depending on the type of work and the workplace.

The Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers recommends temperatures for a range of working environments. These include 20 degrees Celsius for offices and dining rooms; 18 degrees for shops and hospital wards; 16 degrees for factories where light work is involved, and 13 degrees for heavy work in factories. However, there is no set legal limit.

Employers should therefore observe the guidelines, and be reasonable in their approach. Remember that morale is important, but there should of course be limits to your reasonableness. For example, if your office is air-conditioned, the temperature outside should not really factor.

The daily commute

There is no real excuse for staff to avoid travelling to work during hot weather. Public transport does of course hit challenges when extremes of weather come into play, so if your employees genuinely cannot make it into work because of cancelled trains or issues on the roads, you will need to be prepared with a policy on commute-related absence.

Promote well-being

Taking care of your workforce during a heatwave is the responsible thing to do as an employer. Ensure there is access to plenty of cool drinking water and encourage staff to drink clear fluids in place of coffee and other caffeine-containing drinks. Bear in mind that the average recommended daily water intake increases during hot weather. Remind everyone to steer clear of heavier meals and stick to lighter snacks, and of the merits of staying in the shade rather than using a lunchbreak to top up the tan. There is no harm either in swapping the cake run for an ice-lolly run!

Special consideration

If you have employees who may be particularly susceptible to the heat then you’ll need to take special measures. Anyone suffering from medical conditions, who is pregnant or who is taking medication may require rest breaks more frequently. You may need to provide personal fans if there is no air conditioning, or relocate affected staff to cooler areas if they are situated in especially warm spots such as close to windows. If your workforce has to wear personal protective clothing that may be difficult to work in under high temperatures, you’ll need to give that consideration too, as you would any personnel who work outdoors and may be exposed to the risks of skin cancer, sunburn and sunstroke.

Dress Code

If you operate a strict dress code, you may consider a dress-down period during the hot weather to make things more comfortable for your staff. Clients and visitors will no doubt understand your decision, and your people will thank you for the temporary relief.

Introduce a heatwave policy

If you do not have a clear policy in place concerning extreme weather, it’s time to draw one up. Cover everything from heatwaves to blizzards and you’ll be prepared for everything. It is important that employees are aware of protocol in such situations, and it will assist with consistency too. Once a policy is in place and there are set rules, no one can claim unfair treatment.

If you are unsure how to deal with heatwave related situations arising this summer, why not talk to your local bookkeepers? They will help you work out whether your staff should be paid for any unplanned leave taken related to the weather and should be able to steer you in the right direction in creating a heatwave and weather policy.

Recommendations for Keeping Your Books in Line

Surrounded by boxes of receipts? Using Word to produce your invoices? Excel to keep track of your earnings and outgoings? It’s time to get your small business books in line!

Nowadays there are all sorts of easy to use online bookkeeping systems that can help you manage your invoicing and purchase transactions and keep you on top of everything. They can be accessed any time, any place you have an internet connection.

These systems offer a lot more than keeping track of income and expenditure; they provide a total management platform. Features such as invoicing and statements with built-in card payment facilities; payment reminder letters for overdue accounts; quotes that you can later convert to invoices and a purchase order system are all geared towards making the life of the small business owner so much easier.

Online Bookkeeping Systems: So Many Benefits

Most online bookkeeping systems will link with your bank accounts, allowing you to see precisely what you have in your accounts and on your cards, and what you owe at any given time.

You can mark invoices as paid; run reports to see who owes what and work out your cash flow and profit and loss position for any time period. Receipts can be scanned in so you have all your records in one place, so there is no need for paper filing systems. You can also prepare your VAT returns and even submit them through some of the platforms. In other words, you will be able to keep your business running smoothly, and stay on top of your current financial position. And with all this information readily at hand, it makes everything so much more a piece of cake when it comes time to submit your annual returns.

Your accountant can also usually be given access to the platform so their work for you is cut down too. They can run management reports and journals to help you keep one step ahead when it comes to your tax and VAT position.

Free Trials and Useful Links

Many online bookkeeping systems offer a free trial, which is great for making sure you are comfortable with it before you commit. Billing is usually monthly or yearly.

Here are some useful links for you to a range of online bookkeeping systems. Why not have a look through and see which one could be best for your particular needs?

Kashflow: https://www.kashflow.com/

QuickBooks: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/uk/

Sage: https://www.sage.com/en-gb/

Xero: https://www.xero.com/uk/

Free Agent: https://www.freeagent.com/

Financial Force: https://www.financialforce.com/financial-management/accounting/

Still not sure? Why not have a chat with your bookkeepers? They’ll know what will suit you best and will also be able to help you get set up once you make your choice.

Data Vulnerability Could Cost Small Businesses Dear

According to research, almost one million businesses in the UK are at risk of losing company data because they do not back it up. A further 2.8 million risk losing valuable information because they are storing back-up copies in the same location as the original data. This is according to Beaming, a business internet service provider.

Beaming’s survey reveals that 83 per cent of UK firms do back up their data, however half of these save it on storage devices or servers that are on the same premises as the source data, rendering them at serious risk should there be a malware attack or theft or loss of data.

Just as much of concern is that the remaining 17 per cent of businesses surveyed don’t make back-ups at all. The survey reports that of all company types, micro companies and sole traders are least likely to back up their data.

Old School Back-Up Routines

Some small and medium sized businesses are still asking personnel to take physical back-ups home with them, and around a third of large and medium sized organisations copy data to their own servers.

Only 35 per cent of UK businesses are said to store their back-up data off the premises, and 13 per cent of micro businesses and 15 per cent of sole traders use a cloud storage service such as Google or Microsoft as their back-up system.

The recommendation by business continuity experts is that back-ups are made to data storage facilities a minimum of 30 miles from the company premises in order to reduce the risks posed by natural disasters. A lot of businesses however that follow this guidance use cloud storage, and have not bothered to find out exactly where their data is held.

Time to Think Seriously About Data Storage

Sonia Blizzard is managing director of Beaming, the company behind the survey. She says that a lot of businesses, especially the smaller ones, are not doing enough to protect their sensitive data.

She says, ‘The introduction of GDPR has highlighted the need for secure and resilient data storage in order to mitigate the risk of significant data loss.’

‘We’d encourage businesses to think seriously about private cloud or co-location services when it comes to storing highly sensitive data or mission critical applications. These should only be accessed through the most secure forms of connectivity.’

It is vital to think about how your business would function should a loss of data occur. It is also crucial to be aware of the fines that can now be levied under GDPR following a data breach.

If you are unsure as to the integrity of your data storage and back-up methods, you should take advice from an IT security expert without delay.

Research source: http://smallbusiness.co.uk/company-data-safety-store-2544068/

Can a Disqualified Director act as a Shareholder?

All sorts of grounds can lead to director disqualification. Non-payment of debt to HMRC; wrongful and fraudulent trading in insolvency; failure to comply with company legislation; unfit conduct and criminal conviction are some of them.

Directors are disqualified under the Companies Act 1990. Disqualification orders can apply for up to 15 years, and are issued with a range of restrictions.

Disqualified Director Restrictions

Disqualified directors are not permitted to act as trustees; they cannot sit on the board of a charity, police authority or school; neither are they allowed to act as a registered social landlord. They cannot sit on a health board or social care body and they are banned from practising as an accountant, solicitor or barrister.

In addition, a director disqualification order will also prevent those disqualified from acting as a director of any UK registered company or any overseas company with links to the UK. It is also not allowed to form, run or market a company. Any breach of the terms of the disqualification order could lead to a custodial sentence of up to two years.

Despite all of this, disqualified directors are actually not banned from owning shares. Anyone disqualified as a director is still permitted to purchase shares in public companies and can also hold shares in UK registered private limited companies.

A Grey Area of Law

This may of course appear confusing, because as we said, disqualified directors are forbidden from forming, running or marketing a company. So how does this work?

The law states that disqualified directors cannot be directors of UK companies. They can’t form a company, but they are allowed to hold shares. In other words, they can part-own a company with other non-disqualified directors, providing those non-disqualified directors are responsible for marketing and running it.

It is a bit of a grey area of law, but for the present time the answer to our original question is yes, a disqualified director can be a shareholder.

If you have been disqualified as a director and are unclear on your rights, the best thing to do to ensure you do not breach the terms of your disqualification order is to take professional advice.

Physical Data Security for GDPR Compliance

More than 50 per cent of organisations do not use a physical lock to protect their IT equipment, according to the Kensington IT Security & Laptop Theft Survey.

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) states that practical steps must be taken to secure sensitive data. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) recorded nearly 700 data security incidents between April and June 2017, of which 3.5 per cent resulted from data being kept in an insecure location, or theft of the only copy of encrypted data.

In the finance sector 256 per cent of reported data breaches are down to lost or stolen devices.

A physical security plan is vital to protect data. The devices on which data is stored need to be safeguarded, and the plan must extend to remote workers. In-roads to data breaches can come from anywhere in the organisation. Devices such as laptops, personal computers, tablets, portable drives and smartphones must all be protected. Also bear in mind that your insurance provider will have particular requirements when it comes to physical security measures. These must be adhered to if your cover is to remain valid.

The following measures should prove helpful in securing your data in a physical sense:

Portable Device Lockdown

Ensure all portable devices are stored in an insurance graded safe when not in use. Set a lock-away policy for staff leaving their desks, even if it’s just to attend a meeting or take a break. Never leave portable devices in a vehicle. Invest in a custom designed lockable laptop case to keep your devices safe when you’re on the move. It also stands to reason that the utmost care should be taken when travelling on public transport with portable devices.

Office Lockdown

Regardless of whether your office is located within your home, or in commercial premises, it is crucial that it is securely locked when you are not in it. Ensure you use British Standards approved locks and that these are professionally fitted. If you don’t, you may be in breach of insurance requirements. Door bars, grilles and shutters add another layer of security where workspace is particularly vulnerable, such as offices on ground floors.

Record and Monitor

CCTV monitoring doesn’t only provide vital evidence in the event of a break-in, it also acts as a deterrent AND, when combined with motion detection, prompts alerts to be sent to a smartphone or tablet. Real time images of what’s going on in your business premises will help you take the appropriate action to protect what is valuable.

Control and Deter

Security lighting deters intruders by literally putting them in the spotlight, whilst access control allows you to manage precisely who enters your premises. Even if you work from home, you can see who is at your door before opening it using a smart doorbell. On a larger scale, you can control access to your premises via codes, fobs and swipe cards or even biometric entry via the likes of fingerprints or iris recognition.

Always Take Specialist Advice

Not sure what security measures to put in place? Always talk to an experienced, accredited security expert before you make any investments. Tailored advice will make all the difference.