Business Butler Blog - hr

For far too long, particularly in industry, ‘soft’ skills have been seen as the responsibility of HR while the operations department, maintenance, logistics, finance etc. concentrate on the ‘hard’ skills that generate value. As somewhat of a disruptor I take a contrary view. Firstly, why spend any time at all on soft skills if they do not contribute to the bottom line? Secondly, ...

Most of us understand the importance of delivering exceptional customer experiences to drive loyalty, repeat business, and growth. But have you considered the impact of a bad employee experience on your customer experience (CX) and ultimately, your bottom line? A robust employee experience (EX) strategy is essential. Why? So, you can increase productivity, reduce costs, enhance customer interac...

A promotion gives you more responsibility, new opportunities, new skills and – let’s not forget, more money. Not to mention a huge sense of achievement.

So now that we’ve sold it to you, how do you go about getting one? Easy, you follow these four simple tips to get you where you want to be. Don’t say we never do anything for you!

How to get ...

Following on from two years of mainly positive news about homeworking there appears to be a shift in opinion on its effects on workers, bosses and businesses. You probably remember all the good vibes when the working from home (WFH) revolution was gathering pace. Workers loved the new freedom and bosses agreed that productivity hadn’t suffered, in fact in those early months it had improved.

Remember when you and your colleagues would often work late just to finish an important project or start earlier at your boss’s request? Maybe you took your work home just to get the job done? Going above and beyond your contracted hours was seen as a prerequisite and you did so not out of fear of losing your job but because of your diligence and dedication to the company you worked for. Well t...

Even working from home (WFH) doesn’t offer a safe haven from the dreaded workplace bully. Bullying claims from workers in the UK have surged recently and now WFH has taken a toll because of it. Allegations of bullying jumped 44%, a study found and video calls and messaging apps may be adding to the problem. Let’s delve deeper into this.

Record numbers

Most people wo...

A recent article suggests that employees are being pigeonholed by their job titles and not being utilised fully by companies? Another even suggests whether job titles are even needed in today’s business world.

What do I mean by this? Well, some employees in big companies are overlooking talented staff beca...

It started with working from home, now the four-day work week, what other unfathomable changes will the Covid-19 pandemic enforce onto the business world?

The four-day work week has been discussed in a bid to measure whether or not it will boost productivity giving employees a longer weekend. Workers would still be paid the same as their five-day work...

In recent articles P&O Ferries have come under fire after letting go of 800 workers, replacing them with Indian agency workers and paying them less than £2 an hour. According to a union, they have claimed that the P&O Ferries crews in Dover are being paid a shocking sum of £1.81 an hour. Imagine trying to live off those wages, it would be practically impossible.

The Rail, Maritime...

In this blog I will be discussing what a Chief Happiness Officer is and why the role is becoming more popular amongst workplaces. It may seem like a made-up title or perhaps not much of an important job but in recent times happiness officers have been helping companies bloom.

In essence the chief happiness officer is a HR Manager with a certain qualification and certain beliefs in that ha...

IKEA has recently announced that it is slashing sick pay for unvaccinated staff who are forced to self-isolate due to being in close contact with someone with Covid-19. They will only be entitled to Statutory Sick Pay of £96.35 a week unless there are mitigating circumstances. This is a massive decrease compared to the average gross wage of £400 for shop floor workers.

A spokesperson for ...

Until a week ago few people would have heard the name Vishal Garg unless they were unfortunate enough to work for him. As the CEO of Better.com, an online mortgage company based in New York, he recently made headlines around the world for his ruthless approach to staff redundancies.

The bearer of bad news

Garg gathered together 900 staff for a Zoom call and fired th...

There is no doubt that the world of business and the working environment have changed considerably since the pre-Covid-19 pandemic days. First there was the mass migration to homeworking, then a fragmented return to office based work and now many companies have adopted the hybrid model which offers workers the best of both.

Reducing hours but not salaries

The l...

Portugal has made it illegal for employers to contact staff by phone, text message, or email outside of their normal working hours. The ground breaking legislation titled ‘right to rest’ is aimed at improving work-life balance following an increase in the number of remote workers.

Attracting entrepreneurs to Portugal

Portugal's Minister of Labour and Social Security...

Ever since the mass migration to homeworking there has been one big concern facing business owners and managers. Will the staff be as productive working from home (WFH) as they are in the office?

Trust is crucial

The word trust is often banded about as being a key component in developing long-term relationships between a business and its customers. Trust, however, i...

Amazon is a company that divides opinion and is often in the news regarding staff welfare issues. This time though the news appears to be positive from the world’s leading online retailer. 

The American giant has started paying staff a £50 weekly bonus at some of its UK warehouses, which is very generous of them, but this isn’t performance related, it’s just for being punctual. Now c...

With the world of business gradually returning to normal as lockdown restrictions are eased, the much anticipated mass migration back to work hasn’t materialised as expected. Tens of thousands of employees are happy working from home (WFH) and are reluctant to return to the office – and who can blame them? Remote working means you no longer face the dreaded commute to work, there is greater fle...

Following the announcement that people in England no longer have to work from home (WFH) from 19 July – and the rest of the UK will follow suit shortly - there will be tens of thousands of workers preparing to return to their offices for the first time in 18 months.

This is great news for business and the economy, although there is still some confusion about what this actually means, so h...

A Guest Blog by Caryl Thomas, HR Expert.

We’re almost a week into 2021. What has made your list of to-do’s or resolutions for this year? In stark contrast to Januarys gone by, the BBC reports that many people are looking to quit the gym. They’re not throwing in the towel as such, but have found new ways to exercise since life in lockdown.

Hobbies and passion project...

A Guest Blog by Caryl Thomas, HR Expert.

This time of year is usually filled with festivities. From Christmas parties to the legendary Secret Santa gift exchange, there is normally no shortage of reasons to get together with friends, family and co-workers during December.

But after a difficult year curtailing coronavirus, and with continued efforts to keep the risk ...