News

Potential National Living Wage Increase


At the Conservative party conference, the chancellor pledged to increase the National Living Wage to £10.50 per hour by 2024. He also said that the age at which one qualifies for this wage will drop from its current age of 25 to 21. The current National Living Wage for over-25s is £8.21. The current minimum […]

Is overwork and presenteeism ruining your workforce?


We’ve written on the blog before about the problems of presenteeism. This is when employees continue to turn up for work despite being physically or mentally unwell. Old-fashioned management will hail this as displaying loyalty and grit, while those more in touch with modern research will know that presenteeism can lead to a dramatic drop […]

Lack of flexible working options is costing London SMEs up to £18,600 every year in rent


By not offering their staff any flexible working options, London’s SMEs are wasting up to £18,600 every year in rent, a recent research report from conference call provider PowWowNow has been able to suggest. Figures published in the report suggest that by allowing just 1 in 5 of their workforce to work remotely, London based […]

5 Minutes Matter – Minimising time theft


Time theft is widespread across virtually all industries. This is the unethical practise of not working during paid work time, and thus receiving money for doing nothing Behaviours leading to time theft Buddy punching (recording incorrect arrival and/or departure times thanks to a co-worker clocking in or out for them) Taking longer breaks and lunches […]

Visitor Management Software Update


We believe in offering our customers the best quality products and services that we can, so we are constantly looking for enhancements to be made to our software, as well as incorporating customer requests wherever possible. The most recent update to our Self Service Visitor Management app (available for iOS and Android) extends the ability […]

Accommodating remote workers is vital


More and more workplaces are needing to grapple with the additional needs of remote workers, as that option becomes steadily more popular. Over the last ten years, the number of UK workers moving into remote working positions has increased by almost 250,000 according to the Office of National Statistics (ONS). This has prompted a shift […]

Problems of Presenteeism


Absenteeism is a well-known problem for employers, and has probably been so for as long as the concept of employment has existed. For example, there is an Ancient Egyptian document from more than three thousand years ago which lists which workers are absent due to illness! Unplanned absences disrupt the workforce, can cause rota difficulties […]

Importance of monitoring sickness absences


The accurate monitoring of sickness absences is vital in any workplace. This means something more ‘track-able’ than a phone-call, or an email to their line manager. Having reliable data allows employers to recognise any developing patterns, or unbalanced amounts of sickness absences. It is important not to immediately jump to negative conclusions if you discover […]

Five Uses of Biometrics


Biometrics are measurements and/or calculations of the human body, used to identify people. There are many different types of biometrics, as there are many parts of the human body which can uniquely identify you. Most of the common ones are: fingerprints, iris recognition, voice recognition, hand geometry. There is a more complex type of biometric […]

Bringing annual leave procedures up to date


With the summer holiday season well and truly approaching, your company might already have fallen foul of the many problems caused by out-of-date and inefficient holiday booking procedures. Annual leave entitlement A common problem from inexperienced companies without a specialised HR and accounts system is problems working out what the holiday entitlement is for their […]