Get a grip and go on leave

Bosses should set the right example for their employees by switching off when out the office, it has been claimed.

A survey conducted recently by the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) found that over a third of managers continue to work while on annual leave, with four out of ten returning from their break more stressed than when they left.

Some 80 per cent of bosses said they responded to emails while on holiday, over half said they received phone calls and ten per cent admitted they even went into the office.

In response to the survey CIPD advised that managers in particular have a duty to set an example to staff by taking a proper break from work.

Gareth Osborne of APA warned that “Modern technology, designed to make lives easier, could actually be making things worse and disabling people from really switching off. Its fine to stay in touch for the big decisions but it appears that all too many people are still processing the trivia. Where possible, PAs should take a firm grasp of the situation and severely limit the information going to their bosses while on leave (and vice versa). Better delegation of responsibility would also help.”

APA

Banks to come under cosh again

Banks are set to come under renewed pressure from the government to increase lending to small firms. Business Secretary Vince Cable says banks are "not acting in the national interest" and measures may be needed. He has suggested dividends and bonuses could be a target as part of a "carrot and stick" approach to boost lending.

Mr Cable is due to unveil a joint consultation paper with the Treasury containing options to improve cash flow to businesses. Under the proposals, banks could be made to sign up to the same type of lending agreements placed on the part-nationalised RBS and Lloyds. These include penalties on executive remuneration for failures to boost lending.

In a Sunday Times interview, Mr Cable said: "We are very worried about the behaviour of the banks. They are not acting in the national interest. I don't think they get it. At the moment we are talking to them in an amicable way and we are monitoring them, but if this doesn't work there are combinations of carrots and sticks that can be employed and they are under no illusions about that - and we are not either."

A spokesperson for the British Bankers’ Association said, “Demand for lending is currently low as businesses are not keen to take on additional borrowing when the economic outcome is uncertain”

Other options due to be outlined by Mr Cable include proposals for regional stock exchanges in cities such as Birmingham and Edinburgh and more government loan guarantees. The banking industry, meanwhile, maintain that lending to smaller firms is stable while it is rising among larger companies.

APA will be following these announcements closely and engaging with Mr Cable to ensure they best fit the needs of business; especially small business.

APA
Source: BBC News

APA joins call to 'Make Tax Simple'

Simplifying the UK's tax system will have a range of benefits for small businesses, it has been claimed. Andrew Hubbard, immediate past president of the Chartered Institute of Taxation, said companies operating in the sector are subject to a number of quite complex rules, which continue to change year-on-year.

He said small business taxation has become "a very unstable system" due to the large number of anomalies. "Small businesses and their advisors will spend a lot of time playing around with the numbers, trying to work out what the best way to structure them is as opposed to getting on with running the business," Mr Hubbard said. He commented that the boundary between employment and self-employment has been a very difficult area. "In many ways, it is an advantage to be self-employed because from an individual's perspective you are not under PAYE, you've got much more opportunity for claiming relief under expenses and you only pay your tax twice a year," Mr Hubbard explained.

Gareth Osborne of APA said "We need to create a simple system that gives new businesses stability so that they know what tax regime they are going to need for the foreseeable future and then help them genuinely understand it. At present, the burdens on small businesses in terms of the complexity of the tax system take up a disproportionate amount of time.”

Chancellor George Osborne announced this week that the Office for Tax Simplification has now been officially established. Let’s all hope it can make an immediate impact.

APA

Save us from ourselves

Everyone has done it at one time or another. You dash off an email to a colleague or client and when they reply it’s clear they have taken immediate offence to what you have written.

Now a technology firm has come up a system which it claims will stop misunderstandings

ToneCheck, developed by Canadian firm Lymbix, works as an add-on to Microsoft’s Outlook email service and checks the tone of your email in the same way a spell-checker does. After you have composed an email, you simply hit Tonecheck button and it scans the email and tells you the dominant tone of the message.

Users can even set a tone ‘tolerance’ and the system will stop you sending an email before checking if it falls outside of your usual parameters. You can then adjust the tone before sending or simply ignore the warning and send it regardless. The program’s sensitivity can also be adjusted and it offers eight different ‘emotional ratings’ to help you get the tone of your email right. These include Affection and Amusement at the positive end of the scale while Sadness, Anger, Fear and Humiliation are the emotions most users will try and avoid.

Lymbix has also developed a version which monitors your updates on Twitter for any unintentional deviation in tone.

The service is available as a download from today and is free for the first 30 days. APA will be giving it a road test and reporting in the next Members email.

Check it out at: http://ww.tonecheck.com/

Shelley, APA

Sweet baby George James

APA announced recently the birth of baby George to its Director Carly Beales and her partner Terry. APA Directors had a day out in Kent yesterday with the new family, in their new home (Carly never does things by halves) and we can report that all are doing extremely well and George is, as predicted, a bright and bouncy boy with a great temperament – just like his Mum.

Carly has promised to remain engaged with APA while absent from her day job at the Bank of America and still focusing most of her energy on George, Terry and the new home (multi-tasking at its best!). Well done Carly.

Gareth, APA

'Pulling a Sickie'

A new study has highlighted stress as the major cause of employee absence in the UK workplace. In an online poll conducted by smallbusiness.co.uk, 48 per cent of respondents said physical and emotional pressures are directly responsible for the majority of unauthorised days off. Some 27 per cent of absence days were said to be employee 'sickies', where the worker has made up a false excuse for failing to come into work.

Meanwhile, back problems accounted for ten per cent of days away from the workplace, the same proportion as annual leave, with just three per cent of absences down to 'other reasons'.

Commenting on the poll, Gareth Osborne of APA said, “There is a massive difference between those who are happy to ‘pull a sickie’ for the weakest reason and the ‘troopers’ who soldier on and come into work when they really are too ill and should genuinely stay at home; to avoid infecting the entire organisation. Common sense lies somewhere in between.”

Employers claim that workplace absence costs the economy £17 billion per year and currently an employer is rendered "powerless" when an employee calls in sick.

APA will be taking this matter up with the Secretary of State for Business in its forthcoming meeting.

APA

It’s not the size but the result that matters

I read a wonderful statement made recently by Doug Richards, the former Dragon, and thought it must be repeated here. Doug said:

“A business success can be measured on the bottom line. A business success is not measured on its top line. I have heard celebrity entrepreneurs brag about their businesses, calling out their total revenue as though the sheer volume of cash that their business touched was somehow meaningful. I picture them skinny dipping in all that cash as it washes by, cackling irrationally and not realising that the flow of cash is not the same as the stickiness of profit. The reality was that they made a skinny one per cent profit on all that cash. A business with one tenth the revenue that makes ten per cent on its money is precisely as successful. Revenue is just not profit.”

“It [success] is not measured by the number of people it employs. Over and over I hear people talk about the size of their organisations. All I hear is the cost of their payroll. Is this just a man thing? Are we really comparing size still as adults? Get over it. In business size doesn’t matter.”

I agree passionately with Doug about profit but both revenue and profit would be excellent and doubly exciting!

Gareth, APA

The plane truth

Now here’s a surprise. Outspoken Irish entrepreneur Michael O'Leary of Ryanair has publically apologised “unreservedly” to his arch rival, easyJet founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou.

Earlier this year, O’Leary ran a series of ads depicting Sir Stelios as Pinocchio with the words: “easyJet’s – Mr Late Again,” telling Sir Stelios to “stop hiding the truth” about flight delays, saying easyJet should resume publishing weekly details of on-time performance.

When Sir Stelios initially requested an apology, O’Leary was defiant; making a host of ridiculous gibes. So Stelios decided to take legal action.

The libel suit was settled out of court, with O’Leary issuing a public apology this week in the Guardian and Daily Telegraph. Sir Stelios accepted £50,100 in damages, which he will donate to his philanthropic foundation and will be used for the Stelios Award for Disabled Entrepreneurs. “It is not very often that someone as arrogant and as powerful as O'Leary is forced to apologise in public and in writing,” says Sir Stelios. "I took this legal action to protect my reputation. I am not a liar and that statement was libellous.” He dedicated the victory to all those "who have suffered verbal abuse at the hands of O'Leary”.

“Boys will be boys!” Said APA DG, Gareth Osborne, “But I really think we should keep childish playground rivalries out of a serious business like aviation. What next? Aerial dogfights.”

APA

Unemployment falls - in part!

Latest official figures have revealed that unemployment fell by 34,000 people in the three months to May. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the number of people out of work stood at 2.47 million people across the quarter. At the same time, those claiming Jobseeker's Allowance fell in June by 20,800 to 1.46million.

While the number of people in work rose, suggesting many businesses recruited in a bid to get more done, the increase was in part down to a record 148,000 rise in the number of part-time workers. The ONS said the percentage of workers in part-time jobs was 27 per cent – the highest since records began in 1992 - totalling 7.82 million.

Last week, the Recruitment and Employment Confederation reported that the number of both temporary and permanent appointments increased during June 2010.

APA.

Humbling the Banks - but is it enough?

UK Government has laid out the details of its proposed levy on Banks as they seek to raise 2.5 billion pounds a year to help stave off the costs of any future financial crises.

The Treasury has detailed its plan, which it plans to introduce in stages from 2011, and has asked for feedback by October 5. Along with France and Germany, Britain has been pushing for banks to pay for their part in the financial crisis and to implement measures to encourage them to move away from risky funding, which triggered the liquidity crunch.

The key points are:

Levy Rate - The government will first introduce a 0.04 percent levy on balance sheets in 2011, rising to 0.07 percent in 2012. There will also be reduced rate for longer-maturity funding initially set at 0.02 percent and rising to 0.035 percent.

Coverage - The levy will apply to three areas of banking and only to entities who have relevant liabilities of 20 billion pounds or more. These are 1) Global consolidated balance sheets of UK banking groups and building societies, 2) Aggregated subsidiary and branch balance sheets of foreign banks operating in the UK and 3) Balance sheets of UK banks in non-banking groups

To see the Treasury's consultation document, please click http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/consult_bank_levy_condoc.pdf

APA will be taking the opportunity to respond to the Consultation on behalf of the banking interests of Members and their businesses and would welcome comments and opinion.

Gareth, APA

On-line media - do's and don'ts

Companies without an acceptable Social Media policy in place are flirting with calamity, it has been claimed.

The managing director of the Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM) Europe, said collaboration without governance is "a recipe for disaster". He was commenting on a new report from Gartner, which claimed that social networks will replace email as the primary vehicle for interpersonal communications for 20 per cent of business users by 2014.

AIIM advises companies to put a policy in place stating that contributions to non-company websites are the personal responsibility of employees and do not reflect the company's views or attitudes. This protects the company and allows it to deal with any "indiscreet" member of staff within the terms of its disciplinary procedures.

Colin Minto of APA said, “It’s simply a matter of common sense, with a policy you can detail what is acceptable when using the social media channels and what isn’t. How else can you expect staff to know? There are enough horror stories out there to make Company Directors recognise the importance of this action but sadly too few are going the extra mile and creating a policy.”

APA Members can find sample Social Media and Blogging Policy documents in the Knowledge Zone of the website; Members Area/Knowledge Zone/PA Best Practice Guides.

APA

The long and winding road

Interest rates have been frozen for yet another month following the meeting of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), the base rate will remain at its historic low of 0.5 per cent for a 16th consecutive month as the Bank attempts to support a full economic recovery.

In addition, no change was made to the MPC's £200 billion quantitative easing programme, halted in February, at the two-day meeting. Both decisions were widely expected in light of the government's austerity measures announced in George Osborne's emergency Budget last month.

APA has warned that the severe but necessary public sector cuts risk plunging the UK back into recession and recommends extreme caution. With this danger in mind, the Bank of England is not expected to increase its base rate before 2011. The European Central Bank has chosen to keep interest rates on hold at one per cent.

Gareth said, “We are all going to be pushing the car for a long time before the engine starts but I am confident it will. After that we will have to nurse it gently for a while and hope normal running resumes in the near future.” He apologised for his car analogy and blamed it on the mix of stunning weather and the British Grand Prix.

APA

Blogging for APA

All APA Members at Fellow grade are permitted to apply for ‘Bloggers Rights’ and post their thoughts about their role as a PA and comments about issues of life and business impact on how they do their job from day-to-day.

APA’s Blog is rightly acclaimed and has a high Google ranking ensuring that the issues important to our Members are seen by the widest possible audience. We have strict standards on material content and a definite house style but everything else is up to you.

If you are interested in having your say then simply email Gareth (gareth.osborne@paprofessional.com) and he will send you details of the application process and simple instructions to register to Blog.

APA

Government cuts to hit business suppliers

Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude met with chief executives of the 19 biggest suppliers to the government this week to discuss what they could do to help cut the cost of the services they provide, his office said.

The Minister is planning to renegotiate key government contracts as part of its efforts to tackle a record budget deficit running at 11 percent of national output. It has already committed to making 6.2 billion pounds of savings from government spending in the 2010-2011 financial year.

"I am laying down the challenge to major government suppliers to ask them what they can do to take costs out of contracts," said Mr Maude, joint head of the government's efficiency board. "Some of this will come out of margins, but we will also invite ideas on how we can structure things differently to reduce complexity and cost. We will look to put into effect immediate savings and also create plans to further reduce costs in the medium to long term."

Chief executives who met with Maude on Thursday included those of computer manufacturers Hewlett Packard and IBM, telecoms providers British Telecom and Vodafone, and consultancy firm Accenture.

Gareth, APA.

Big isn't always beautiful

The government should consider actions to intervene to help small businesses suffering from late payment at the hands of larger organisations; it has been claimed by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB). This call comes after computer firm Dell was added to the Forum of Private Business' list of companies which regularly make late payments, alongside firms such as Argos, Carlsberg and United Biscuits.

APA broadly support this call and Director General, Gareth Osborne, said, "Small businesses rely on prompt payment, at least in line with agreed terms, but all too often large organisations; particularly public bodies, take advantage. Even APA has occasional difficulty extracting payment from larger organisations that should know, and act, better. In most cases it is simply poor credit management practice and failure to adhere to their own policy for payment but who complains? We are all too afraid of losing the business!”

The FSB spokesperson claimed that larger organisations continue to lean on small businesses over payment issues, even though they have the cash flow to pay earlier. APA will be acknowledging the FSB’s call and writing to Ministers but it recognises this is not a new problem and may be difficult to solve, “The problem has definitely been heightened by the impact of the recession and tighter financial constraints imposed by the High Street banks but has been around for decades, Gareth concluded. “Large organisations all too often abuse their smaller suppliers!”

APA

Beware of the Mismatch

The private sector will not want to grow fast enough to absorb job losses from government-funded organisations, APA has warned.

Gareth Osborne, Director General of APA has warned the Government that there is a strict limit to the number of new employees the private sector will want to absorb even though signs show increased demand in recent months. He said: "The minimal growth in private sector demand for new workers is not yet anything near strong enough to compensate for the suggested public sector job losses and won’t be for some years to come. For public sector workers the biggest problem they face is a skills mismatch and government would be well advised to address this quickly."

Gareth was commenting after exclusive reports from the Guardian, based upon leaked government data, claims that 100,000-120,000 public sector jobs will go each year until 2014 as the government reduces spending. However, he noted that private sector businesses are "increasingly conscious" that they face a skills shortage as the economy continues to improve.

According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development's recent Resourcing and Talent Planning survey, 68 per cent of organisations have experienced recruitment difficulties in recent months. In 67 per cent of cases, this was due to an absence of the skills they were looking for among jobseekers.

APA.