Discrimination in the office happens more often than many business owners think. It can be disguised as harmless office banter or a joke, but it is worth your attention as it can negatively impact your culture and even lead to a hostile work environment.

As a small business owner, recruiting new employees can be a daunting and challenging task, especially if you’ve never done it before. No doubt whoever you hire to join your team will be an important part of your business growth so understandably you want to find the right fit early on.

Attracting top talent is becoming increasingly more difficult but there are several effective recruitment strategies you can use. In this blog post, we'll explore five ways small businesses can recruit their future employees.

Have you heard of the 4 day work week? It has been quite difficult to miss so far this year with the results of the UK’s 4 Day Week pilot trial being published.

61 companies and around 2,900 workers in the UK trialled the 4 day work week from June to December 2022. Out of the 61 companies that participated, a whopping 92% of them have chosen to continue with the shorter work week, with 18 even making it a permanent change.The results showed that employees experienced significantly less stress and burnout with a 4 day work week, with 39% reporting lower stress levels and a 71% reporting reduced burnout levels. Not only that, but the new schedule made it easier for employees to balance their work commitments with their personal lives, including household responsibilities and social engagements. Even household finances and relationships improved for some employees, highlighting just how transformative this work schedule can be.

Stressed employees are not good for business yet it is a problem that many businesses face.

The figures from The Health and Safety Executive 21/22 report showed that 914,000 people reported suffering from work-related stress, anxiety, or depression. And it's not just the impact on individuals that we should be concerned about; the economy has also suffered, with a staggering 17 million working days lost as a result of these conditions.

As well as being a cause of absenteeism in the workplace, high stress levels amongst employees can lead to a high employee turnover. When that stress builds up, it will often result in lower job satisfaction levels, and the employees are more likely start looking for new job opportunities. This is not ideal for your business either.

As a start-up entrepreneur, you want your team to succeed and make an impact in the market. But how do you create a strong team culture that will allow them to do so?

Building a strong team culture is both critical and challenging - it takes hard work, effective communication, strategy and commitment. Fortunately, there are many tried and tested strategies that can help you create a vibrant culture for your business so everyone works cohesively towards success.

How To Support Employees Celebrating Ramadan

Ramadan is approaching and over the years our team have been asked about temporary adjustments small business owners can make to support employees so we thought we would help by writing this blog.

One thing has become clear, each person will have different requests when it comes to celebrating, just like not every Christian observes Lent the same way neither does every Muslim observes Ramadan exactly the same way. So if you know an employee who is planning to observe Ramadan, talk to them about exactly what that means to them to understand the best way to offer support.

But before you do so you might like to read this blog first so you can have the conversation knowing what Ramadan is and understanding a few possible ways you can support your employees.

Although raising a child is a big job in itself, lots of parents don’t want to put their other job, their careers, on pause. In fact, research from That Works For Me shows that 98% of mothers want to keep working, while over 50% want to work four days a week or more. And since 86% of women will become mothers by the age of 40, it's important to pay special attention to parental leave and how you support employees who are parents. If you don't, your small business could lose reliable talent to other companies that offer more flexibility and understanding.

Sometimes you hire someone only to find out after a few weeks, that they are not the right fit for the company culture or they have massively overstated their previous experience. Other times, your business changes and that employee you hired 3 years ago hasn’t changed with it and now it is harming your growth. In these situations, you might consider letting your team member go.

First impressions can be powerful. In less than 20 seconds, someone can form an opinion about you. When you think about your job adverts, think about them as first impressions for potential employees.

A job advert is your opportunity to leave a great first impression and the better you craft the advert, the better the candidates you'll attract. That being said, there are a couple of things to keep in mind when writing a job advert.

Salary increases are an obvious way to retain employees however they might not always be feasible or enough on their own. Here are 6 ways you can retain employees aside from a salary increase.

We hear the phrase “inclusive culture” thrown around a lot, but what does it actually mean, and how do you build it?

An inclusive culture terms of the workplace is an environment where every employee feels valued and respected, regardless of race, nationality, gender, or sexual orientation. There's no room for discrimination or prejudice.

Mental health policies are an essential part of managing your team. Not only do well-considered mental health policies promote healthier and more productive teams, but they also create trust and loyalty between employers and employees.

Overall, they are good for everyone!

That’s why they are worth investing in.