Month: January 2019

Living in the UK, we aren’t subject to extreme weather conditions – thankfully! But that means that when the little white specs of frozen rain start floating down from the sky – the country is at standstill!
SNOW!

How do we deal with suddenly having to child-mind a group of adults peering through the windows hoping that they get a half day to go and play in the snow? How do we maintain focus when it won’t stop snowing and people are much more interested in what is going on outside? How do we cope with people phoning in asking to work from home because they can’t open their front door due to the 0.9mm deep snow blizzard outside?

Firstly, snow is exciting, and I believe you should let people get excited – it’s a free morale booster and generally will put everyone in a better mood. Harness the power of snow and maybe let your staff go outside and have their five minutes of fun – they’ll soon be back in with frozen fingers and icicles on their noses with it all out of their system! It’s all about a balance of trust and if you can’t trust your employees – you might want to think about the culture in your workplace. When it comes to your staff calling in saying they can’t make it to work – this is a tricky one and really a topic in which your HR advisors should step in. It’s all dependent on your team, your business, their job role and its flexibility… and how much snow is really outside.

Remember! The work environment must be reasonable and cannot be lower than 16°C in normal working conditions and 13°C if the work involves demanding physical exertion.
If you need any advice on snow-day policies, call or get in touch with us via our website!

I am often asked “what’s better, working for somebody else or working for yourself”?  In truth it really does depend on what day / week it is but I have had this conversation so many times now that I almost have a prepared answer.  From my perspective:

Benefits of Corporate world (in no particular order).

You are guaranteed a payment at the end of each month.

Employee benefits are available for you.

Your workload and day is decided for you (albeit this depends on your position, and I suppose you may not see this as a benefit).

You have consistency of work pattern (you typically work Monday to Friday and leave / return home at consistent times).

You don’t necessarily have to be that good to earn great money.  Some people are just great at climbing the slippery pole by being a great magpie or by getting cherry blossom poisoning (from kissing too many shoes – quote from grandad off Only Fools and Horses).

You can go on holiday or be sick without your workplace falling apart.

You can just concentrate on what you are good at.  For example, if you work in HR, you haven’t also got to be head of Sales, Marketing, Accounts and PR.

Benefits of Working for yourself (again in no particular order).

You set your own agenda and earning targets that deliver your view on what is considered a success.

You are not judged by corporate colleagues by what your perceived salary is, company car level or whether you have an exec car park space.

You are not overlooked for promotion, because you refuse to tell people what they want to hear or play the macho game of “look how many hours I’m working”.

You don’t have to invite management consultants into your business so that you can be interviewed about your role and the company and then watch open mouthed as they present “their” findings that you have presented countless times before, but have been over embellished with unachievable targets, that you are now expected to deliver.

You have flexibility to decide your own work pattern and work-life balance (If you can get your head around it and stay disciplined).

You can choose who you want to work with and do business with.   No more putting up with Mr. / Mrs. Knob Head.  You shouldn’t need to “watch your back” constantly just in case a so-called work colleague is preparing to “throw you under a bus”.

Contrary to popular belief, as long as you are patient, you work hard and offer a first-class service you will never have better job security.  After all you are not going to sack yourself!  Gone are the days of corporate comfort and coasting into retirement without any fear of being made redundant, or forced out as your face now doesn’t fit with the new boss.

Oh and then there’s not having to fear the dreaded Private Equity acquisition where you get sold the standard “we will invest in the business and support its growth” and then on day 2 (despite you knowing it is going to happen) you are left surprised by the fact that they don’t  actually know what they have bought ,or the standard and brutal cost cutting exercise commences where they don’t simply slice off the fat, they start to remove the bones.

Lastly, you have the chance to make your fortune!  Whether it’s building a business for the long term handing it through your family or building a business to sell it and set you and your family up for life that fact is it’s in your hands!

The effort you put in has a direct correlation to what you take out! (oh, and you also need a bit of luck along the way).

Author: Duncan Turner

We all know that if you work in a sensitive profession there are certain rules about how you publicly display yourself online, but what about the rest of us? There’s no harm in the world seeing that photo your friend tagged you in with your head down the toilet after one too many espresso martinis… right? It just shows your fun and outgoing side…right?
Wrong.

Did you know that a study conducted by YouGov in 2018 at least one in five employers not only snooped candidate’s social media profiles to whittle them down – they are actually turning prospective employees down after looking at their social media profiles. This is not a good sign as you are being judged before you even get a chance to walk through the door! They are doing this because there are often so many applicants, some recruiters will often pick on the smallest thing to cut the bunch down. ‘Oh, this guy went on a night out on a Sunday two years ago.’ ‘That means they will be late every Monday morning…NEXT!’
…Okay so that might have been a little dramatic, but you get my point.

How many of you can truly say that your social media profiles are a true reflection of who you are in your work-life? I know mine isn’t! Would you want that photo of you from a hen or stag do with a blow-up doll on your back and a willy straw hanging out of your mouth to be passed around your potential new office? Not me!
A bit of advice… when it comes to social media – keep your private life just that – private! At least until you get through the door and you are out of your probationary period. Then you can let your colleagues know your weird and wonderful ways.
If you need any help and advice on recruitment, get in touch!

So, you want to start your own business?  Fed up of your hard work and efforts making other people wealthy?  Fearful that if you’re not careful you will reach retirement age without enough wealth to enjoy your retirement?  You have an invention that you think can disrupt the market?  You see an opportunity to offer a better service than that other guy?  Or, you want a better work life balance to spend more time with the family or on the golf course.

It really doesn’t matter what your motivation is, the reality is we have never been in a better time to set up your own business.  Technology has made it possible for anybody to do it, however, it isn’t all about the technology.  Here are just a few of my personal tips/ considerations before you take the dive.

Research your idea / Market – before you take the leap or invest heaps of money into an idea; do your research! Is there a market?  Is there a demand for the product?  Be careful with convincing yourself that you can be the next Steve Jobs by dictating the demand through creating a new product.  It’s a great story, but almost impossible to replicate.  Don’t however, think you have got to find a niche market.  You can be successful entering into an already competitive market by having a key point of difference or quite simply being better than the other business.  Ultimately though, do your research!

Understand what makes you stressed / anxious – This is critical.  Starting a business isn’t the right course of action for everybody!  Don’t think that the route to a stress free and happy life is all about earning lots of money.  My advice is that you need to be in a good place to even consider this move.  The truth is that you probably won’t be able to take a salary from your business for quite a few months.  If you get it right and you get a bit of luck then, without a doubt, you can earn significantly more by starting your own business; however, it’s a medium to long road and initially chasing the money shouldn’t be your driver.  If you can do it, my advice is to save up to 12 months of income (if you’re lucky you may be made redundant at the right time or you may need to secure some investment) so that you don’t have to worry about paying your bills as you start your business.  If you get a little anxious with worrying about where the next paycheque is coming from, then this is essential.  If you get super anxious worrying about this, then maybe setting up your own business isn’t for you.

Chase the opportunity and not the cash – Successful businesses are all built on reputation and trust.  The contacts you make prior to starting your business as you navigate through the corporate world will become the key to your early revenue.  If you act like a “knob head” at work you can kiss that good will good bye.  Treat people fairly and consistently and they will remember you and refer your business.  You will find that your business will be mostly driven by your contacts and therefore whilst your business is in the first couple of years of its growth chase the opportunity and make the contacts.  The cash will come later down the line!

Think like a big business – If you have ambitions to grow your business and ultimately maybe sell it down the line then start thinking like a big business early (within reason).  My advice is don’t pretend or try to be an expert in everything.  If you are not an accountant, then don’t try and run your finances by yourself on an excel spreadsheet.  A good accountant can cost you as little as £80 per month and this is money well spent (www.ajsaccounting.co.uk). Don’t get into a mess with your cash flow and tax returns.  This kills more businesses than anything else. I would also utilise one of the excellent online accountancy systems available.  I personally use Xero and can cost as little as £10 per month.  Get your HR policies and procedures in place early (www.harwoodhrsolutions.co.uk).  It’s not as expensive as you think and for as little as £50 per month you can have an HR function as competent as a PLC.  If you are dealing with customers, then get yourself a CRM system.  Again, the market offers many options that will be tailored for various sectors. I use (www.sentle.com).  If you don’t get these tools in early then its 100 x more complicated and expensive to introduce them down the line.

Get used to a different way of working – If you have spent your career to date in the corporate world, then you will be used to being accountable Monday to Friday 8am to 10pm (if you’re lucky).  When you start a business, nobody is chasing you down and expecting you to be anywhere.  This can feel weird and uncomfortable, but you need to adjust quickly.  You need to be a good self-starter that is well disciplined.  Plan well and use your time effectively.  Never has an old school “to do list” been more important.  If what you are working on is not helping your business to set up or grow, then don’t do it.  You haven’t got space in your diary for “nice to do’s”. On the flip side stop beating yourself up in the early days if you are not productive for 12 hours a day, 5 days a week.  It’s a fact that in the first months of set up you will have space in your diary.  You can fill this with social media work or networking opportunities, but you will have space.  Don’t convince yourself that you are not being as efficient as you were when you worked in corporate world.  Just because you were in the office didn’t mean that you were productive.  In fact, if you were honest, when you were working at the corporate office you were at best (on average) only 50% productive.  Enjoy the opportunity and excitement of growing your business.  Before long, you will be fighting to find the time to strategize.

Consider taking on a key employee(s) early – If you are growing a business rather than working as an independent consultant then you will need good people to grow your business.  My tip is don’t put the decision to add a support off.  Starting and growing a business is tough and can be a lonely place.  You will have great days (when you secure a customer) and really bad days (when you don’t get paid on time).  It is great to have somebody to bounce off.  When one is down the other is positive.  Selecting this individual is critical and they will need a reason to join a start-up which from their perspective is a risk.  My advice is that you need to secure this individual by selling the longer-term opportunity where they will be rewarded with an equity stake.  It goes without saying that if you know and have worked with this individual before then this is ideal!

Get used to not being paid on time – Unfortunately, despite you having payment terms laid out and contracts in place you very rarely get paid on time!  If you plan for this then this helps you to manage your cashflow.  There are a number of different companies that can help you to manage this however, don’t be surprised by the reluctance to pay and the fact that once a month you become a debt collector!!

Work hard, stay honest and maintain your customer service – If you do this and follow the above advice then you stand more than a fair chance of being a success.

If you require any support, guidance or simply want to make great connections then please contact me at duncan@harwoodhrsolutions.co.uk.

Author: Duncan Turner

At Harwood we pride ourselves in being amongst the best HR professionals in the country. I am afraid to say (maybe controversially) that the HR world, has more average HR professionals than great. I don’t mean this disrespectfully as I have a theory as to why this is the case. And by the way, this isn’t just my opinion. HR has historically had a poor reputation. At senior boards across the world HR is often overlooked as the HR leaders in the business are not seen as being required at that level. I have had the good fortune of working as an HR professional for over 23 years and have also held senior level operational roles, so have had the benefit of seeing things from different perspectives.

Too often my fellow HR professionals, blame those boards for not being people focused, out of touch with modern thinking or are dinosaurs. Whilst I am sure in some cases this is true, in most cases it is not true. Most senior leaders today recognise the importance of people and like to think of themselves as good people managers / leaders (even if in some cases they are not). The reason they don’t see the need for HR to be present at board level, is more based on the fact that the HR professional’s in their business aren’t seen as being able to add commercial value and instead are that team that keeps our employees happy and their “backsides out of the window” when they make the inevitable mistake.

We should also be careful not to confuse the short-term popularity HR gets when there are large scale redundancies to be completed or restructures to navigate. Or indeed, get carried away that various firms have appointed HR to the board because “it’s seen as the right visual move”.

The harsh reality is, that a large section of our HR community are confused as to what HR does and how it should be perceived. Unsurprising really, considering that it’s probably the function in the business that has remarketed itself several times in several years. Is it Personnel, Human Resources, People Operations, People Happiness, Employee Engagement team, people resource team, Employee success team! And many other versions exist! This constant rebranding, only serves to make the function look woolly and too concerned about its true value in the business. This desperate attempt to rebrand to secure its future only results in further scepticism about its true value and confirms that there is genuine debate over the value the function adds, fuelling the already poor view the organisation has for HR.

So, what is my advice? I have given this significant thought throughout my career and have held myself to the following values. I consider that by doing so I have been extremely successful. I suppose the largest piece of evidence I have for this approach, is working from being a regional HR Director in a business through to being appointed the Chief Operations Officer of the same business.

• 1) Be Commercially aware – This is often said and not understood. Understand your business and how it works. This is critical and when I say understand your business, I mean in detail! Understand how that piece of machinery works; or the process for how that sale is captured; or how that sale progresses through the system to end up on the delivery truck. Understand how the system works and the difficulties employees have with it. Understand the “full picture”. If you don’t understand this then you cannot be an effective HR professional.

• 2) Be seen- Don’t sit in the office all day away from the manufacturing plant ;or in that regional office rather that the HQ because its closer to home. Be seen in the business regularly. Walk the business and meet and get to know the employees. All of them!

• 3) Don’t try and over complicate HR legislation – One of my biggest issues with HR! Even the largest HR consultancy’s sell their services based on “risks of tribunal”. Putting fear into line managers with falling foul of HR policy and procedure is poor practice. It is our job to simplify HR and to provide line managers to manage with confidence. Management nervousness creates more issues and claims. Let’s be realistic! Unless somebody acts totally unprofessionally, the real risks at tribunal are pretty low. When you compare the risks to health and safety issues, or a company breaching regulatory rules, they are negligible. Stop acting like the HR police! It is not the way you build a positive commercial reputation.

• 4) Be efficient and effective – Despite taking the complexity out of HR for your operational managers, doesn’t mean they don’t need you. Actually, what happens is that they get you involved more and earlier in the process. Be there and be efficient. Get things resolved swiftly. Time is Money!!!

• 5) Be proactive with cost / efficiency savings – Now that you are an expert in the operations in the business, you now need to be the first person to highlight efficiency savings and changes to improve productivity through people. Whether it’s a restructuring programme, re-designing job role, identifying system or process changes then bring them to the table. Not all will be adopted but it’s your job to be the company’s eyes and thinking in this area.

• 6) Hire the best people and fire problem people fast – Be the Company’s objective eyes with people performance. The very best leaders can have blind spots and as an effective HR leader your relationship with the leadership team will allow you to advise and guide and you will be heard. Then take the lead and help with the process efficiently. You also need to be involved (HR team) in all hiring decisions. If you introduce great people to the organisation, then your reputation will grow.

• 7) Help Line Managers to manage performance – Don’t overcomplicate things with 20-page appraisal forms, or online systems that take line managers months to complete. Make is simple and effective.

• 8) Only introduce an HR System if it is really required – Too many HR professionals believe a system is the answer to everything. It’s not! In fact, it can create more problems. They are only as good as the data that is inputted, and they can over complicate processes and cost a load of money. If you get this wrong, it may end your HR career with the company. At best your reputation at a senior level will be damaged.
• 9) Provide HR Metrics that Matter – Metrics are critical; but present the right metrics. For this you need to understand your company’s culture and where it is in its journey. For example, if you have entered a turnaround business with significant issues, then you may not want to present the employee satisfaction results. The board won’t thank you for presenting the obvious. Prepare stats that will genuinely aid the organisations performance. Always report on headcount metrics. It is your job to manage the headcount levels within budget. Measure turnover figures, these are always helpful as leavers / money and indicate cultural issues. However, avoid measuring misleading facts. A classic example is presenting in house recruitment savings by working out how much you would have spent on external agencies if you didn’t recruit internally. This has no value as it isn’t a true budget saving and simply looks like a function justification exercise.

Anyway, this is a snippet of my guidance for what it’s worth. If you want any help or support with developing your HR career, help with your HR function then please don’t hesitate to contract me. duncan@harwoodhrsolutions.co.uk

Author: Duncan Turner

Following a successful career in senior HR and leadership roles, Duncan Turner was so unimpressed with the services available to micro and start-up businesses that he decided to do something about it. And so Harwood was born……..

There’s no such thing as a one size fits all answer to HR, but that’s all that was out there in the marketplace. There really was very little support available for the start-up business, at a time when it’s probably one of the last things on the minds of the founders, but crucial to get right. Our service is designed to help businesses as they scale and grow right from day one, whatever the end-goal in terms of size.

Interestingly, we have found that established businesses, from SMEs through to larger corporate players, are just as keen on the flexibility of the business model. Small businesses like the fact that they can sign up with us for free on a pay-as-you-go basis and benefit from discounted rates and access to a suite of useful document templates, but larger organisations are attracted by being able to bespoke their service and retain us as their HR partner without being shackled by multi-year contracts; our varied client portfolio to supports this.

We are able to offer the service we do because of the technology and infrastructure we have behind the scenes. All of our locations offer cloud-linked access to our client files and all of our communication channels are linked, offering a seamless, personalised experience every time one of our clients contacts us. It also means we’re always offering support that reflects current legislation, so we never have to worry about out of date documents or files.

We make it really simple for customers to identify the products and services they need; allowing us to offer an individual, tailored service. Our client portal is another key part of our flexible offer, giving clients the ability to access current, relevant information and assets whenever they need them.

The team at Harwood, are focused on delivering a fuss-free, personal, first class service!

Author: Zoe Lidster