Member Blog

Change in the workplace is as inevitable as it is in life with the most common changes in the last twenty years being linked to technology. Though most workplace changes are beneficial, they can cripple your company if you are none-the-wiser on how best you should handle them. Most organisations grapple with the employee resistance and monetary needs that some changes introduce to their operations. Even so, unplanned change does not spell the downfall of all businesses because a few have learnt how best to adapt their companies to changes.

Below are a few tactics your company can use to remain afloat in the face of change.

Accept the notion of change

It is understandable for some people to become upset with change because it means embarking on new ideas. Even so, for you to move forward, you should first accept that change does occur. In so doing, you will not get stuck in past mindsets and be left behind by your competitors who embrace the industry changes. Other than this, accepting change enables your company to boost its productivity and keep evolving to remain relevant.

Predict and prepare for any changes while remaining focused on the present

Be ready to change your business plan to mirror any changes in the future. However, to successfully do this, you should have precise information on what is happening in the present so that you can continually develop new ideas to incorporate into your business plan. With a bird’s eye view of your industry, you can better understand any issues that might crop up and the changes that might arise. With this approach, you can change your plan in the shortest possible time to adapt to any unplanned industry changes.

Be creative

Few businesses have kept their doors open by doing what everyone else is doing. While it is important to keep tabs on social media and the internet to know what is going on, do not have a rigid mindset. Get a 360-degree of your company and learn about different cultures or ways of running companies in different environments. These steps will boost your creativity such that you can easily integrate changes to your operations without making the mistakes other industry players might make.

Watch your competition

When radical changes happen in your industry, you are sure that they will also affect your competitors. You can get some ideas on how to handle the changes by looking at how your competitors are handling them. For instance, in recent times, clients are quite intent on the décor of the companies they engage with since this shows how well they pay attention to seemingly small details. As such, investing in some interior products like artwork or wallpaper for your décor might be what will set you apart from your competitors that are still stuck on simple functional spaces.

Be in the loop about business environment changes

Most business owners or managers only focus on the controllable environment of their operations which is their internal structures. Even so, you should be in the know on the changes happening in your uncontrollable business environment, including the political, economic and social spheres. After all, the happenings in these spheres dictate the changes that will affect your internal operations. With a knowledge of the changes in your political, social and economic environment, you can better prepare your company for anticipated changes.

Maintain your pace

Adapting to change does not happen in a flash. Your pace might initially decrease as the organisation adjusts to the new normal. To match the changes to your operations, adapt them to mirror the pace of your operations. When you adjust the changes to match your pace, this hastens their adaptation.

There are several reasons why as many as 50% of businesses fail within five years, but one of the leading ones is a failure to adapt to marketplace changes. Thankfully with the tactics above, you are sure to minimise the risk of your company closing down because of changes that will affect it. There are also online platforms on which you can learn different ways of supporting your business for it to cope with changes that might otherwise cripple it.

Whether you want help to buy, sell or value a business, MHA Larking Gowen’s Corporate Finance specialists will work as your trusted advisor. They are transparent in their services to you; always making sure you know and understand what work is being done on your behalf, what we are charging and why.

With offices based throughout Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk and a reach that extends to all of the UK and overseas, MHA Larking Gowen possesses an extensive network of contacts. This, combined with access to the best industry tools available, enables them to get the best result. And you can rest assured, they always have their clients’ best interests at heart, taking the time to get to know your business and understanding the bigger picture.

MHA Larking Gowen is aware of a highly acquisitive buying organisation that is looking to acquire businesses that meet the following acquisition criteria:

The buyer is interested in:

• Environmental, Energy, Waste, Construction and Engineering focused
• Minimum EBITDA requirement £500k
• Offering either turnkey or bespoke solutions

About the buyer:

• Bespoke end-to-end solutions provider
• Large project work undertaken throughout UK and abroad
• Highly acquisitive group, and any locations considered

If you are a business owner, or have a client or contact that operates a business matching the criteria above and is interested in a potential sale, then please get in touch with Jack Minns at MHA Larking Gowen for a confidential discussion about how he might be able to assist with a full sale process or an introduction to the buyer above.

[email protected]

It’s time to embrace a new hybrid model of working – that is, part home, part office-based. Investing in your IT infrastructure now is therefore a great way to support employees in this new working world while future-proofing your business.

Essential software

To ensure staff are able to hit the ground running with anywhere working, mobile devices and laptops need to be supplied with preinstalled software. Microsoft 365 includes apps such as Outlook for access to emails; SharePoint for remote editing, uploading, and access to files; Phone System for receiving and making calls remotely, and Teams for conference calls and collaboration tools so the team still feels like a team. Microsoft 365 also ensures all cloud services are secure, easing any security concerns about employees accessing files remotely.

Workstation set up

It’s good practice to provide laptop and device stands to reduce neck and back injuries caused by poor posture and from extended periods of looking down. A healthy remote working set up also includes a separate keyboard and mouse as risers often make using the inbuilt laptop ones rather tricky. Encourage staff to assess their own workstations and request anything they need to make things more comfortable. It’s also important to make it easy for staff to transition from home to office working, so consider creating dedicated hot desks for your anywhere workers to minimise disruption.

Behind the scenes

Businesses need to be mindful of their entire IT infrastructure. It’s fruitless giving staff brilliant laptops and redesigning the office environment if the system can’t cope with multiple users logging in from multiple locations. Carry out server upgrades regularly or speak to your provider about capacity to ensure nothing goes wrong.

By investing in your IT infrastructure now, you’re future-proofing your business and getting ahead of the curve when it comes to this new hybrid way of working.

If you’re planning on making remote working part of your business and need a helping hand, call us on 01284 700015 or email [email protected].

The decision to take your business into the Cloud is a business decision.  It’s technology-based sure, but it’s just one of many technical solutions that you could implement to meet the requirements of your business.  Used right, it can help drive your business goals- but using it right, means using it securely. Security should inform, or at least be a key factor of your organisation’s decision on which Cloud model and which Cloud provider you choose- It’s not just an afterthought.

In the end, security is still your responsibility

The datacentre, the infrastructure or the server may not be yours, but your data is your data no matter where it is.  The data is still your business’ financial details, your HR details, your clients’ details and even your IP- whether stored on servers in your office or in the cloud -, it’s always your ultimate responsibility to make sure it is all sufficiently secured. 

Cloud service providers may well provide tools to help you secure your data, but it’s up to you to define your organisation’s security policies and to make sure that the controls required to comply with them are implemented to your defined requirements.

Shared security and different cloud models

OK – so the ultimate responsibility is yours, we’ve established that.  But if the datacentre isn’t yours, it’s not fully within your control – right?

That’s true.  So in practice, with Cloud Services you’re looking at a ‘shared responsibility’ approach to security.  So what does that mean?

It’s your data on their infrastructure, so it makes sense that the responsibility for overall security is split, and with public cloud being multi-tenanted by nature it’s in everyone’s interest that everyone takes their responsibility seriously.

Exactly where the line of demarc for responsibility is will depend on the cloud model being consumed.  Again it makes sense; under the bonnet of your ‘as-a-Service’ solution is, by design, not your concern, so you can’t actually secure it technically.  That said, it’s still ultimately your responsibility to make sure it does happen, which mean paying attention to service agreements, cloud provider published standards etc.

In the case of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions such as Salesforce or Office 365 for example where all you get is an application, your main responsbility is how you control access to that application and protecting the data within it.

At the other end of the spectrum, if you’re consuming an Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) offering such as Amazon EC2 or Google Cloud Platform (GCP) then your scope of security responsibility becomes much broader.  As you have more control over what is deployed and how, you now have to consider things like network and application security, patching of Operating Systems and applications and securing remote access- all this as well as the access control and data protection that lands on your plate with SaaS.

There’s a bunch of “in-between” too, and the only way you can be sure that your business is as secure in the cloud as it is elsewhere (and is secure as it needs to be) is to first recognise what your business is responsible for with every cloud service you consume.  Once you know the scope, your security and IT teams or partners can create, adapt and apply the requisite business security policies accordingly.

This is why security is such a key factor in deciding whether to use cloud services and which cloud services you should adopt, and also why it’s a business decision and not a technical one.

It’s always a balancing act- sure that collaboration tool is free and easy to use but does it mean you lose control over your critical data?  Add too many ‘hoops’ for your employees to jump through though and productivity will drop or worse, you’ll stumble into ‘Shadow IT’ territory as staff find their own, easier ways to work outside of the business’ control.

So cloud should be part of your business strategy, and your cyber security strategy should be comprehensive enough to secure it- but in order for your Cloud workloads and data to be secure both parties have a part to play. 

You pay your Cloud Provider to keep up their end of the bargain, and you really can’t afford not to keep yours.

Whether it’s the thought of having to care for an elderly relative, or pondering the prospect of how we will manage in our twilight years, maintaining one’s independence will surely be at the forefront of our minds.

While it might be something people dread, growing old is a privilege. The latter part of life can sometimes be the most rewarding if we are adequately prepared. It is no great surprise that as humans age, things start to get more difficult. The activities that we once took for granted can become more of a struggle, and we may need to ask for help or adapt. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean we need to lose our independence entirely. Planning for the future is important, so here are a few ideas that can assist us in maintaining our independence as we age:

Be Physically Active

Regardless of how physically active we were in our youth, everyone will start to notice differences in how their body works as they age. Much of this will be due to muscle loss, which actually starts to decline from the age of 40. The more active you are, the more you’ll be able to limit the effects of this. There is no need for vigorous exercise. Even going for a short walk or taking yoga classes can make a world of difference.

Keep Mobile

In addition to physical mobility, our ability to get about using transport is also key when it comes to maintaining independence in old age. For many seniors, the ability to drive safely becomes problematic. As a result, it’s a good idea to familiarise oneself with local public transport infrastructure and consider the possibility of using a scooter, such as those from East Coast Mobility, to get around.

Stay Mentally Stimulated

It’s normal to experience some degree of cognitive decline as we age. For example, you might find you need to start writing a shopping list so you don’t forget things, or you may need to have a diary to keep track of appointments. However, there are many things you can do to slow down the aging process. In addition to regular physical activity, mental exercises can also be used to strengthen the mind. Whether it’s reading, doing jigsaw puzzles or crosswords, these activities help to keep the mind engaged.

Embrace Technology

It’s easy to assume that technology is something that belongs to younger generations. However, making an effort to embrace technology allows older people to stay independent too. Social media platforms can help us maintain contact with family and friends overseas. Getting to grips with home technology by using smart locks and automatic lighting systems will help make life more manageable.

Pursue a New Hobby

There is no better time to pursue that hobby you never had time for before than in your twilight years. Whether it means traveling the world or taking up crochet, this is the perfect time to take up a new hobby without the pressures of life getting in the way. Trying out new pursuits will keep you stimulated, help you make new friends and can be great for mental health as well.

Aging is an inevitable part of life, but it doesn’t have to be branded as a negative experience. The sooner we start to take action, the easier it will be to keep our minds and bodies strong as we age. Making an effort to stay mentally and physically active will not only help us maintain our independence as we age, but help us handle many of the challenges that life throws our way as well.

Making the bold move to go it alone and start your own business can be scary. For many, this is unknown territory. Small business owners come from a variety of different backgrounds, and we each have our own skill set. Regardless of one’s area of expertise, there are certain things that every new startup needs to thrive. Whether you are a marketing guru, a creative genius or a tech whiz, here are a few things to consider when launching your startup:

Good Leadership

There is a huge difference between being able to manage people and being a leader. Management is an important part of running a business smoothly. However, having a good leader at the helm provides real inspiration for employees and instills a sense of purpose, giving people a reason to show up every day and be invested in the future of the company. Not everyone is a born leader, but this doesn’t mean that leadership skills can’t be learned. Whether it is at a formal business school or through reading relevant literature, it is possible to acquire and develop good leadership qualities.

A Clear Vision

Part of being a good leader is to have a clear vision for your business. Those that focus on micromanaging the day-to-day affairs of the business often forget the bigger picture. Having a clear vision for the business while remaining mindful of the details is important. However, this is often easier said than done if you’re in charge of sales, marketing and balancing the books in addition to leading an organisation. One way to circumvent this issue is to surround yourself with a strong team and delegate well.

Strong Branding

Building a strong brand that stands out from the competition requires investment. Don’t cut corners and try to do it yourself. Instead, hire the right people to design your logo, set up your website and manage your social media presence. Using reputable service providers such as Leiston Press to create promotional items or marketing material could also give your brand an edge.

Ethical Values

As a new business, you may not have the financial cushioning to be able to offer your staff lucrative employment packages and benefits, but it’s important to pay people fairly. Workers who feel taken advantage of are unlikely to stay loyal to their employer and won’t think twice about jumping ship as soon as a better offer comes along. Implement ethical company values  and nurture talent wherever possible. Employee loyalty will serve you well in the long-term.

Starting your own business can be stressful, but if you have all the right elements in place, there is no challenge you won’t be able to handle. It’s important to understand that it won’t all be smooth sailing, but establishing strong foundations will certainly assist your venture in thriving. Don’t be afraid to ask for help and advice from contacts and try to learn as much from the experience of others as possible.

Instagram. It’s great, isn’t it? It allows you to share lots of lovely pictures of your products and your team. But there’s a catch: You can only add one link on the site, and that’s in your bio… So what do you do when you want to share more than one link?

There are several solutions, but the most prominent is Linktr.ee.

In this article, we take a look at what Linktree does, how it works, and how to create an alternative that drives traffic straight to your site.

What is Linktree?

Linktree is a tool that allows you to share multiple links via Instagram.

What does Linktree do?

It basically creates a simple landing page that hosts multiple links. You pop the link to this landing page in your Instagram bio, in order to drive traffic to specific areas of your site.

How does Linktree work?

Linktree works by creating a landing page on their site, which features multiple links to your site.

You simply copy and paste your Linktree landing page URL into your Instagram bio to raise awareness of other parts of your site.

Is Linktree free?

There is a free version and a premium version, which (at the time of writing) costs $6 per month.

The free version has limited functionality and doesn’t allow you to add much branding. However, you can add a profile picture and change the colour of the background to one of their presets.

How to get Linktree?

You just need to visit the Linktr.ee website and create an account. When we tried it, it took about 5 minutes to set up, front to back.

Linktree alternatives

You don’t have to use Linktree to share multiple links. There is a bunch of other options out there but the best way is to create a landing page on your own site.

Yes, it’ll take you a few more minutes to do, but you’ll be directing traffic to your own site, rather than Linktree. Not does it drive traffic, but it’s free and gives you complete control over the branding.

How to make your own Linktree

You can create your own version of Linktree by building a landing page on your own website. Simply list the most important links on your site in order to direct users to specific information. For instance, you could feature your latest article, your newsletter sign-up page and your contact page. There’s no limit to how many you include.

Give it a short URL, like www.yoursite.com/instagram and then add the link to your Instagram bio.

Simple!

Tudor Lodge Consultants is very happy to announce that they are working with gin subscription company, 

●      Fixing landing pages: landing pages are what customers will see first when they arrive on the site. Therefore, making sure that these pages have relevant keywords, headings, and important customer information clearly on each page in an organised manner is highly important for SEO. This is something our dedicated team is working hard to update.

About I Love Gin

It was just days before the coronavirus lockdown, at a local networking event where I met Lucy Whittaker, founder and lead trainer of Alpha Vesta CIC, and after listening to her journey from spending many years working as a frontline domestic abuse practitioner, partnered with her academic study and her very strong ethos that ‘we need to do more in order to reach people sooner before their lives often reach crisis point and they end up embroiled in the criminal justice system and social care arenas’, that I realised how little I knew and truly understood about domestic abuse, and especially the impact of domestic abuse within the workplace, and here is where my journey to fill that lack of knowledge started. 

I never realised how incredibly complex domestic abuse is.  Not all domestic abuse is characterised by patterns of coercive control, and some incidents of domestic abuse are characterised by underlying vulnerability and a toxic mix of unmet needs that occasionally spiral into some form of emotional abuse and violence.

Did you know that one in four women and one in six men will be affected by domestic abuse at some point during in their adult lifetime (HM Government, 2019) and the NSPCC have released a report this year estimating one in five children are growing up in a home where domestic abuse in occurring (NSPCC, 2020).

In a Home Office study released last year on the Social and Economic Costs of Domestic Abuse is estimated to be £66 billion per year with £14 billion of that as a direct cost to the economy in terms of lost economic output. 

High absenteeism, lateness, impact on mental health and wellbeing sit very prominently but studies have also shown that one in two victims of domestic abuse said their work colleagues were also affected, and one in ten will have to leave their job due to the abuse (Opinium Research commissioned by Vodafone, 2019) and broader patterns of poor career progression (KPMG, 2019), high recruitment costs, low staff morale and productivity have also emerged.

With one third of a working adult’s life being spent in work, employers are in a unique position to create a supportive workplace with a culture that encourages all health and wellbeing needs and to help break the silence around the domestic abuse issue.

With the funding Alpha Vesta have received from the Essex Police Fire and Crime Commissioner, the Essex Community Foundation and The National Lottery, Lucy has been able to deliver fully funded online awareness sessions and training workshops to put into action Alpha Vesta’s strong foundation and mission statement of ‘Breaking the cycle of domestic abuse through awareness, prevention and early interventions in the Workplace’.

For more information about the impact of domestic abuse in the workplace, please visit www.alphavesta.com

To book on one of Alpha Vesta’s events please visit https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/alpha-vesta-cic-30277303852

S Potter Talent Ltd working in collaboration with Alpha Vesta CIC.

Apprenticeships, you don’t need an apprenticeship strategy, you just hire a young person and sign them up to college – don’t you?

Well yes, you could adopt this approach, but I strongly recommend you don’t.  Would you be this flippant with purchasing a new piece of equipment for your business, I doubt it, so why would you take this approach with hiring an apprentice?

Hiring an apprentice is an investment and like any other business investment you would carry out due diligence, and the same approach needs to be applied to your apprenticeship programme. 

Grab yourself a blank sheet of paper and start by looking at:

 

* taken from the House of Commons Library, Briefing Paper Number 06113, 9th April 2020 – Apprenticeship Statistics by Niamh Foley

1. Apprenticeships must be aligned with the business strategy

Take a strategic view of your business needs for the future to enable you to identify the skills you require.

2. ‘Mind the Gap’

How can you prepare for the future if you don’t know where your current skill gaps are within your business? The results from carrying out a skills analysis will identify the training required to fill these gaps.

3. The integrated approach

Take a look at your existing training programmes and map these to the available apprenticeship standards. This will enable you to see which courses, you would normally have to pay for, can be replaced by using the apprenticeship standards whilst taking advantage of the apprenticeship levy.

If you don’t pay the apprenticeship levy, that’s ok, you will only need to pay 5% of the cost of the standard!

4. Finding the right training provider for your needs

Take the time to compile a broad range of questions for the training provider, having this information will enable you to assess if they will be able to meet your needs.

5. Communicate and engage your employees

Running apprenticeship programmes is a team effort, it is so important to make sure the support is there throughout the business, and it is key to engage your employees from the outset and keep them up to date with how things are going.

If you are keen to find out more about running an apprenticeship programme within your business, please feel free to contact Sue via the website or [email protected]

We are all coming to terms with the very real impact of the Covid pandemic with more cases in Norfolk and the third lockdown in place. Whilst much of the pandemic feels out of the control of individuals, there are legal provisions which individuals can make to protect their interests and wishes if circumstances arise in the future should they fall ill and be unable to make decisions for themselves. This is true for all ages including young people.

As reported in the Dereham Times, a 25 year old woman who had tested positive for coronavirus, went to sleep at home on December 31 2020 and woke up in intensive care on January 3 2021. In Private Client terms, this is referred to as a temporary loss of capacity. Other potential causes of loss of capacity can happen at any age including accidents and brain injury, mental health problems or drug addiction.

As explained by our Private Client Paralegal Rachel Frammingham, ideally young people should consider putting legal protections in place to protect against loss of capacity – including Lasting Powers of Attorney and a Will – whatever their age.

Do young people need LPAs?

The existence of a Lasting Powers of Attorney can appoint someone to make decisions for you in the event you are unable to make those decisions yourself. We can assist you in creating Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA).

Whilst they are traditionally considered for older individuals with capacity issues in later life including dementia, anyone over the age of eighteen is legally entitled to set up an LPA given they have full mental capacity at the time.

If an individual has registered LPAs in place, these kick in upon incapacity so the individual’s appointed Attorneys can act on their behalf whilst they are incapacitated:

1. for their health and welfare decisions (medicines, medical treatment); and

2. for their property and financial decisions if needed (more appropriate for the longer term where bills need paying etc.)

Then, in situations of temporary loss of capacity, after the individual regains capacity, for example after coming out of a coma, they can manage their affairs normally again.

The two types of LPA are independent of one another. Oftentimes, an individual may consider putting in place a Property and Financial Affairs LPA, whereas the Health and Welfare LPA is also very important – especially given the current pandemic.

Without an LPA, the Court of Protection exists to make decisions on financial or welfare matters and appoint Deputies to make required ongoing decisions for the incapacitated individual. This can, however, become a long-winded and expensive process. Creating your own LPA to a time schedule that suits you gives you the control.

Crucially, your LPA must be set up before you lose mental capacity – so if you are young and in good health, now could be a good time to consider appointing your Attorneys who you know well and trust to carry out your wishes should you ever lose capacity in the future.

Do young people need a Will?

It is important to have a legally valid Will at all ages, and many of our clients set up their Will at the same time as making an LPA. As with LPAs, you can make a Will from age 18 if you are of sound mind. A legally valid Will allows you to choose your own Executors and Beneficiaries rather than your possessions and financial assets automatically passing to those entitled under the Intestacy Rules whom you may not want to benefit. Particularly if you have had children, a Will can include a guardian clause naming your chosen legal guardians if you were to pass away.

If you have children under 18 and die without making a Will, although your estate/money will pass to your children under the Intestacy Rules, that child’s parent (whether you are still with them or not) would be the person to administer your estate and hold the money until the child is 18. We often act for clients who are no longer with their child’s other parent to make Wills appointing someone else (such as another member of their family) to act as executor and to look after the money until their child is old enough.

Rachel Frammingham is a Paralegal in the Hatch Brenner Solicitors Private Client team. Contact Rachel via [email protected] or call 01603 660 811.

Read more: Can you help me write my will?

Reference: https://www.derehamtimes.co.uk/news/woman-25-three-days-unconscious-with-covid-6888924