Operating and growing a small business is never easy especially when economic and geopolitical uncertainties persist that are new to many entrepreneurs. While removing all COVID-19 restrictions was a sigh of relief for many small and medium-sized (SME) UK businesses, just as economic activity picked back up, the invasion of Russia into Ukraine put the world into a state of shock yet again.
A couple of weeks ago, one of our clients – a travel technology company with global operations – told our team something that we wouldn’t hear a few years ago: learning and development opportunities have become a key aspect of their retention strategy.
As the Covid-19 pandemic left businesses with little choice other than to accelerate their digital transformation efforts at a rapid rate, traditional office-based roles changed in structure dramatically overnight. Today, as more decision-makers come to terms with remote work, ensuring employee motivation and engagement is a key priority.
By Julie Mott
In the wake of the pandemic, which accelerated the pace of digitisation worldwide at an unprecedented rate, technology has revolutionised businesses in every sector. The recruitment industry is no exception. The developing capabilities of technology like artificial intelligence (AI) and applicant tracking systems (ATS) help automate the most time-consuming recruitment tasks and allow employers to more efficiently refine candidate shortlists.
By Sam Smith
What does the future of business look like? It’s an age-old question that is constantly on the lips of senior management, thought leaders, and CEOs. Today’s leaders have a responsibility to empower the entrepreneurs of tomorrow – this, more than anything else, will be fundamental to the growth of Britain’s economy.
Against the current economic backdrop, and with a potential recession looming, business owners with significant wealth tied up in their companies are looking to de-risk their positions. Some are weighing up ways to crystallise part of the value they have created by selling a portion of their shareholding to a private equity sponsor. These kinds of private capital-backed ‘cash-out’ deals are becoming more common these days.
The professional status quo has been well and truly disrupted. In particular, the pandemic gave the global working population a chance to re-evaluate their values. Whether greater autonomy, a complete change in direction, or more flexibility, many realised what they want from a career. We are seeing the result of this mindset shift via the so-called Great Resignation, and employers have felt the brunt.
Ping-pong tables, bucket-list experiences, bottomless sweets dispensers… employee work perks these days are many and varied. But do work perks actually work? Just as some say that the truly happy person never posts on social media, I contend that the truly satisfied employee doesn’t need work perks. At least, not as we commonly understand them.
By Uday Tank
In the past, digital marketing took a blanket approach to lead generation that was sometimes obtrusive and annoying. On almost every forum, platform, and web page, users were bombarded with blaring banner ads or videos that started before the page was even fully loaded, and they almost always played too loudly at the most inconvenient times. Here are our favourite ways to combine email and Facebook marketing.
By Annabel Sim
There’s a significant power shift happening in B2B purchases, with the pendulum swinging firmly in the employee’s favour. With 82% of corporate purchasers wanting the same experience they have as consumers, long gone are the days of having to phone up the only trusted provider for some new stationery. Staff want to control who they buy from and when. For most, price is second to getting the best product or services as soon as possible.
